THE ATTITUDE OF PHILOSOPHY 



Ideas may be refuted by argument, but only by 

 true ideas can they be expelled." Have we not 

 seen that our beliefs are in a measure wrought 

 into the very substance of our brains, so that 

 the process of eradicating them must be a pro- 

 cess of substitution which, as involving structu- 

 ral changes, must needs be gradual ? 



But secondly, the evolutionist must recognize 

 that, even were it possible to effect a sudden 

 conversion of mankind to a faith based upon 

 scientific knowledge, such a conversion would 

 not bring about the desired result of inaugurat- 

 ing a higher and better state of society. Not 

 by a change of opinion, but by a change of 

 heart, is the grand desideratum to be obtained. 

 It is not by accepting all the theorems com- 

 prised in the Doctrine of Evolution, or in any 

 other doctrine whatever, that men are to obey 

 the dictates of selfishness less and the dictates 

 of sympathy more. Yet this is the transfer of 

 allegiance upon which, as we have elsewhere 

 shown, the amelioration of society and the re- 

 lief of man's estate depend. 



And these considerations as to the critical 

 attitude of the evolutionist with reference to the- 

 ology will equally apply to his critical attitude 

 with reference to politics, concerning which I 

 need, therefore, add but few explanatory words. 

 Since it is the plain teaching of history that the 

 group of institutions making up the framework 

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