CHAPTER VI 



THE CRITICAL ATTITUDE OF 

 PHILOSOPHY 1 



OUR outline sketch of the Cosmic Phi- 

 losophy based on the Doctrine of Evo- 

 lution would remain seriously defective 

 without some account of its critical bearing with 

 reference to past and present religious beliefs 

 and social institutions. Since the reception of 

 a number of definite opinions concerning man 

 in his relations to the universe and to his fellow 

 creatures must leave their possessor in a cer- 

 tain characteristic attitude — aggressive or sym- 

 pathetic, iconoclastic or conservative — toward 

 the multitude of opposite or conflicting opin- 

 ions by which he is surrounded, it becomes de- 

 sirable for us to ascertain whether the critical 

 temper of our Cosmic Philosophy tends toward 

 the subversion or the conservation of that com- 

 plex aggregate of beliefs and ordinances which 

 make up the social order amid which we live. 

 Our object will be best attained, and our results 

 will be most clearly presented, if we begin by 

 considering some of the philosophic contrasts 

 ^ [See Introduction, § 33.] 



VOL. IV 3 ^ ^ 



