254 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



previous time in the history of the world, although 

 we are very far from realizing our ideal. Almost 

 the same stateijient might be made at the beginning 

 of any century. In spite of the various side eddies, 

 the progress toward the realization of the principles 

 concerned in this law has been constant. 



Altruism versus Egoism 



Egoism — Civilization, however, has not been the 

 result of the simple substitution of altruism for self- 

 ishness. Had this been the case, history would have 

 been very different from what it has been. Civiliza- 

 tion may best be understood as the result of a con- 

 stant struggle between the two principles of altruism 

 and egoism, greed and generosity, or the law of self- 

 hood and the law of love. In this long contest, which 

 we can trace in almost every incident of human his- 

 tory, it seems at first as if the victor were always 

 egoism rather than altruism. At all periods of 

 history the ruling impulses have seemed to be fear 

 and selfishness. This we may see in the early build- 

 ing of the nations, for they were founded upon con- 

 quest, which meant robbery, slaughter, and exter- 

 mination. We see it, again, in the destruction of 

 those nations which fell through the influence of 

 luxury, for luxury is always accompanied by a lack 

 of sympathy, which is a form of selfishness. We 

 can see it likewise in the wonderful development of 

 the Eoman Church, the one uniting force of the 

 Middle Ages. Here, what was originally altruism 

 became egoism. Though this church was founded 

 upon the principles of love for one 's neighbor, noth- 

 ing is clearer than that the growth of the church in 

 the Middle Ages was dominated by the ambitions, 



