26 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS 



X 



I see no reason to doubt that, at its origin, 

 human society was as much a product of organic 

 necessity as that of the bees.^ The human fomily, 

 to begin with, rested uj^on exactly the same con- 

 ditions as those which gave rise to similar associ- 

 ations among animals lower in the scale. Further, 

 it is easy to see that every increase in the duration 

 of the family ties, with the resulting co-operation 

 of a larger and larger number of descendants for 

 protection and defence, would give the families 

 in which such modification took place a distinct 

 advantage over the others. And, as in the hive, 

 the progressive limitation of the struggle for 

 existence between the members of the family 

 would involve increasing efficiency as regards 

 outside competition. 



But there is this vast and fundamental difference 

 between bee society and human society. In the 

 former, the members of the society are each organi- 

 cally predestined to the performance of one particu- 

 lar class of functions only. If they were endowed 

 with desires, each could desire to perform none 

 but those offices for which its organization speci- 

 ally fits it ; and which, in view of the good of the 

 whole, it is proper it should do. So long as a new 

 queen does not make her appearance, rivalries and 

 competition are absent from the bee polit}^ 

 ^ Collected Ensays, vol. v., Prologue, pp. 50-54. 



