472 Darwinism and Sociology 



fact, they yet lay stress on the point that it is a natural fact. To the 

 peace party Dragomirov's objection is urged that its attempts are 

 contrary to the fundamental laws of nature, and that no sea wall can 

 hold against breakers that come with such gathered force. 



But in yet another quarter Darwinism was represented as opposed 

 to philanthropic intervention. The defenders of the orthodox political 

 economy found in it support for their tenets. Since in the organic 

 world universal struggle is the condition of progress, it seemed 

 obvious that free competition must be allowed to reign unchecked in 

 the economic world. Attempts to curb it were in the highest degree 

 imprudent. The spirit of Liberalism here seemed in conformity with 

 the trend of nature : in this respect, at least, contemporary naturalism, 

 offspring of the discoveries of the nineteenth century, brought rein- 

 forcements to the individualist doctrine, begotten of the speculations 

 of the eighteenth : but only, it appeared, to turn mankind away for 

 ever from humanitarian dreams. Would those whom such conclusions 

 repelled be content to oppose to nature's imperatives only the pro- 

 tests of the heart ? There were some who declared, like Brunetiere, 

 that the laws in question, valid though they might be for the animal 

 kingdom, were not applicable to the human. And so a return was 

 made to the classic dualism. This indeed seems to be the line that 

 Huxley took, when, for instance, he opposed to the cosmic process 

 an ethical process which was its reverse. 



But the number of thinkers whom this antithesis does not satisfy 

 grows daily. Although the pessimism which claims authorisation 

 from Darwin's doctrines is repugnant to them, they still are unable 

 to accept the dualism which leaves a gulf between man and nature. 

 And their endeavour is to link the two by showing that while Darwin's 

 laws obtain in both kingdoms, the conditions of their application are 

 not the same : their forms, and, consequently, their results, vary with 

 the varying mediums in which the struggle of living beings takes 

 place, with the means these beings have at disposal, with the ends 

 even which they propose to themselves. 



Here we have the explanation of the fact that among determined 

 opponents of fwar partisans of the "struggle for existence" can be 

 found : there are disciples of Darwin in the peace party. Novicow, 

 for example, admits the "combat universel" of which Le Dantec 1 

 speaks ; but he remarks that at different stages of evolution, at 

 different stages of life the same weapons are not necessarily employed. 

 Struggles of brute force, armed hand to hand conflicts, may have been 

 a necessity in the early phases of human societies. Nowadays, 

 although competition may remain inevitable and indispensable, it 

 can assume milder forms. Economic rivalries, struggles between 



1 Les Luttes entre Societes humaines et leurs phases successives, Paris, 1893. 



