268 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



ests to those of others, lies thus at the basis of civil- 

 ization. The ethical side of man's nature is the 

 foundation of social evolution. Whatever may have 

 been the origin of these instincts, they have led in 

 mankind to a notion of right and wrong, and to the 

 feeling of oughtness, both of which are fundamental 

 motives in human action. The development of altru- 

 ism has led to a feeling of obligation and duty, first, 

 toward the child, then toward the parent, later 

 toward the chieftain, the king, the emperor, and fin- 

 ally, the ultimate end of all, toward God. It involves 

 a sense of duty toward something in all cases. It is 

 this rather than the fear of consequences that leads 

 the majority of men to avoid theft or dishonesty, or 

 injustice toward their neighbor. While fear of pun- 

 ishment may with many people have its influence, it 

 weighs little with the mass of mankind in compar- 

 ison with the stronger force of the feeling of duty. 

 It is this that binds together the members of a family, 

 that unites families into tribes, and holds tribes into 

 a sufficiently close and permanent union to form king- 

 doms. It is this alone that makes possible the 

 gigantic associations of man that form nations, since 

 this it is that induces man not only to make but to 

 obey laws. 



Altruism does not produce centralization, but it 

 preserves organization. Whenever egoism has ob- 

 tained the mastery it has resulted in the degradation 

 of the people and the eventual disintegration of 

 nations, while the elevation of the ethical side of 

 man's nature has resulted in the growth of nations 

 and the advance of civilization. The factors which 

 are commonly the precursors of national destruction 

 are luxury, licentiousness, indolence, alcoholism, 



