174 SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



is not a separate growth, but rather a differentiation 

 within the general mind." It has led Professor Gum- 

 plowicz to say, "The great error of individualistic psy- 

 chology^ is the supposition that man thinks. . . . The 

 whole belief in the freedom of human action is rooted in 

 the idea tliat man's conduct is the fruit of his thoughts and 

 that his thoughts are exclusively his own. This is an 

 error. He is not self-made mentally any more than he 

 is physically. His mind and thoughts are the product 

 of his social medium, of the social element whence he 

 arose, in which he lives." *^ 



If this social element into which we are born deter- 

 mines in large measure the course of our mental devel- 

 opment, it is important to understand the process by 

 which it has been formed and to know its limitations. 



Men inherited from their brute ancestors certain in- 

 stincts. But as life in society became increasingly com- 

 plex, new situations arose which could not be met by 

 instinctive reactions. Dispositions to perform a certain 

 reaction to stimulus, dispositions which had been in- 

 herited, not acquired in the life of the individual, were 

 obviously ill-adapted to direct the proper sort of reaction 

 to a unique situation. Indeed, new experiences crowded 

 upon one another with such rapidity that the temporary 

 compromise of habit had often to supplant the more con- 

 servative guide, — instinct. Every moment brings neces- 

 sities which must often be satisfied at once. Early men 

 experienced need, and it was followed at once by a blun- 

 dering effort to satisfy it. For example, mere instinct 

 could not be depended upon to solve the problem of 

 a warlike expedition. By trial and failure, new ways 

 were devised; they were often clumsy and blundering 



c Gumplowicz, op. cit., pp. 156, 160. 



