THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY 



ways the antique divisions of society, has con- 

 tributed to the same result ; until, in modern 

 times, the primitive mode of organization is 

 almost entirely effaced, leaving but few barely 

 traceable vestiges. Individual rights and obli- 

 gations, from being nothing, have come to be 

 all in all. While originally the individual was 

 thought to exist only for the sake of the state, 

 the state is now regarded as existing only for 

 the sake of the individual. 



It will thus be seen that the very same pro- 

 cess, which has resulted in the formation of 

 social aggregates of a higher and higher order, 

 has also resulted in the more and more com- 

 plete subordination of the requirements of the 

 aggregate to the requirements of the individual. 

 And be it further noticed, that the relative 

 strength of the altruistic feelings, which main- 

 tain the stability of the highest social aggrega- 

 tion, maintains also to the fullest extent the in- 

 dependence of its individual members ; while 

 the relative strength of the egoistic feelings, 

 which in early times prevented the existence of 

 any higher organization than the family or tribe, 

 was also incompatible with individual freedom 

 of action. Now this is precisely the reverse of 

 the state of things which we find in organic 

 evolution. In organic development, the indi- 

 vidual life of the parts is more and more sub- 

 merged in the corporate life of the whole. In 



327 



