Social Inheritance 29 



any kind of life either to eradicate a weakness 

 or to introduce strength into the nature of our 

 children. Personal responsibility thus tends 

 to vanish entirely as we become filled with this 

 conception. We do not seem responsible for 

 our own acts, inasmuch as they are determined 

 by our inherited traits, nor are we responsible f 

 for our children 's inheritance, since it is beyond 

 our reach. The life one lives seems to weigh as ' 

 nothing and to be without any influence. ***** 

 Among animals, individuals certainly are not 

 responsible either for their own inheritance or 

 that of their offspring. But when we realize 

 that human social evolution has not been an 

 organic one, and that it has been due not to con- 

 genital but to acquired characters, not to organic 

 but to social heredity, the sense of responsibility 

 for our lives comes back to us with greater 

 force than ever. It is exactly these acquired 

 characters that are forming the future. It is 

 the lives that men live that create social inheri- 

 tance. It is not a matter of indifference to our 

 children or to posterity in general what kind of 

 life we individually live. We are responsible 

 for the social heritage that we give our children,^ 



