8 The Higher Usefulness of Science 



But probably a searching study of the whole prob- 

 lem would discover that the survival-of-the-fittest hy- 

 pothesis itself has not been so large an element in de- 

 termining Germany's course as has been a general 

 view of life, individual and social, into which the 

 narrower selection-theory could easily be made to fit. 

 A theology the God of which is first and foremost a 

 god of war may readily join forces, so far as its prac- 

 tical aims are concerned, with a general conception of 

 the universe one of whose main tenets is that all 

 progress in the living world is accomplished by om- 

 nipresent, ruthless conflict and destruction. 



A point which I wish to emphasize is that while the 

 general view of living nature to which I have been led 

 recognizes the utter inadequacy of the natural selection 

 hypothesis to account for the origin of the living world, 

 and so the un justifiability of applying it to the 

 progress of civilization in such a manner as many per- 

 sons, especially the Germans, have tried to apply it, 

 the moral aspect of the matter was by no means the 

 original, the impelling motive of my inquiries. Greatly 

 important as I am now persuaded my results are in 

 this way, they are yet only an incident, only a by- 

 product, of the inquiries. All my efforts in the larger 

 aspects of biology have been scientific in motive, and, 

 I hope, in spirit and method. They have been induced 

 by a deep-seated dissatisfaction with biological theo- 

 ries themselves, especially with theories of the cause 

 of evolution. 



