MARXISM AND DARWINISM. il 



had to arise which later developed to moral feelings. 

 That our customs and morals are nothing other than 

 social feelings, feelings that we find among animals, is 

 known to all; even Darwin spoke about "the habits 

 of animals which would be called moral among men." 

 The difference is only in the measure of conscious- 

 ness; as soon as these social feelings become clear to 

 men, they assume the character of moral feelings. 

 Here we see that the moral conception — which bour- 

 geois authors considered as the main distinction be- 

 tween men and animals — is not common to men, but 

 is a direct product of conditions existing in the animal 

 world. 



It is in the nature of the origin of these moral 

 feelings that they do not spread further than the social 

 group to which the animal or the man belongs. These 

 feelings serve the practical object of keeping the group 

 together; beyond this they are useless. In the animal 

 world, the range and nature of the social group is de- 

 termined by the circumstances of life, and therefore 

 the group almost always remains the same. Among 

 men, however, the groups, these social units, are ever 

 changing in accordance with economic development, 

 and this also changes the social instincts. 



The original groups, the stems of the wild and 

 barbarian people, were more strongly united than the 

 animal groups. Family relationship and a common 

 language strengthened this union further. Every indi- 

 vidual had the support of the entire tribe. Under such 

 conditions, the social motives, the moral feelings, the 

 subordination of the individual to the whole, must 

 have developed to the utmost. With the further de- 

 vek)pment of society, the tribes are dissolved and their 

 places are taken by new unions, by towns and peoples. 



