ILLUSTRATIONS AND CRITICISMS 



the progress of mankind does depend upon the 

 progressive conformity of the order of their 

 conceptions to the order of phenomena ; but, 

 after the inquiry contained in the preceding 

 chapter, I believe no further proof is necessary 

 to convince us that the progress of mankind 

 also depends upon the progressive conformity 

 of their desires to the requirements arising from 

 their aggregation in communities. If civilization 

 is a process of intellectual adaptation, it is also 

 a process of moral adaptation ; and the latter I 

 believe to be the more fundamental of the two. 

 The case is well stated by Mr. Spencer, in the 

 following passage : " Ideas do not govern the 

 world ; the world is governed by feelings, to 

 which ideas serve only as guides. The social 

 mechanism does not rest finally upon opinions ; 

 but almost wholly upon character. . . . All so- 

 cial phenomena are produced by the totality of 

 human emotions and beliefs : of which the emo- 

 tions are mainly predetermined, while the be- 

 liefs are mainly post-determined. Men's desires 

 are chiefly inherited ; but their beliefs are chiefly 

 acquired, and depend on surrounding condi- 

 tions ; and the most important surrounding 

 conditions depend on the social state which the 

 prevalent desires have produced. The social 

 state at any time existing is the resultant of all 

 the ambitions, self-interests, fears, reverences, 

 indignations, sympathies, etc., of ancestral citi- 



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