Man's Place in Nature 211 



*'let us understand, once for all, that the ethical 

 progi'ess of society depends, not on imitating the 

 cosmic process, still less in running away from it, 

 but in combating it." " The practice of that which 

 is ethically best — what we call goodness or virtue — 

 involves a course of conduct, which, in all respects, 

 is opposed to that which leads to success in the 

 cosmic struggle for existence." Nature has many 

 voices, but Huxley could hear no helpful word for 

 man in his endeavor after better-being. Similarly, 

 so far as we understand, Professor James, of Har- 

 vard, in his lecture, "Is Life Worth Living?" also 

 gives Nature up, finding no "universe," but a 

 " multiverse " ; "all plasticity and indifference," a 

 "harlot" and "mere weather." 



In Huxley's thesis we recognize several truths, 

 but not the whole truth. It is useful inasmuch as 

 it emphasizes the difference between man and pre- 

 human nature, between the ^^ov XoycKov ttoXltlkov 

 ^iKaXkrfKov (the rational, social, and altruistic 

 organism of the Stoics) and the rest of creation. 

 It is useful, since it hints at the fact that we can- 

 not find any ethical conduct in the strict sense in 

 even the most loving of animals, though it perhaps 

 exaggerates this difference. It is useful inasmuch 

 as it presses home the truth that man as a personal 

 agent has emerged from the drastic rule of Nat- 

 ural Selection; he is Nature's rebellious child and 

 must continue to rebel if he is to continue to hold 



