xi i ARISTO CRA CY AND E VOL UTION 



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It may be slight to the speculative philosopher, but to the practical 



man it is all-important ...... 69 



As for the two other arguments, which admit the great man's greatness, 



but deny that it is his own, . . . . .71 



they are both true speculatively, but are practically untrue, or 



irrelevant ; . . . . . . .71 



just as statements of averages and classification of goods may be true 



and relevant for one purpose, and false and irrelevant for another 72 



Thus the argument that the great man owes his faculties to his 

 ancestors, and through his ancestors to the society which helped 

 to develop his ancestors, though a speculative truism, . . 73 



leads to nothing but absurdities if we apply it to practical life . . 74 



For if the great workers owe their greatness to the whole of past 

 society, the men who shirk work owe their idleness to it ; and if 

 the former deserve no reward, the latter deserve no punishment . 75 



The same argument applies to morals ; and if accepted, we should have 

 to admit that nobody really did, or was really responsible for, any- 

 thing . . . . . . . ' . 76 



Finally, let us take the argument that most of what the great man 

 does depends on past discoveries and past achievements, to which 

 he does but add a little ...... 77 



If this argument means anything, it must mean that greatness is com- 

 moner than it is vulgarly thought .... 78 



But is this the case ? Does Shakespeare's debt to his antecedents 



make Shakespeares more numerous ? . . . -79 



Shakespeare's contemporaries had the same national antecedents that 



he had ; but they could not do what he did ... 80 



Men inherit the past only in so far as they can assimilate it .80 



Socialists say that inventions once made become common property . 81 



This is absolutely untrue . . . . . .81 



The discoveries and inventions of the past are the property of those 



only who can absorb and use them .... 82 



Thus the introduction of the past into the question leaves the differences 



between the great man and others undiminished ... 82 



If the ordinary man does anything, the great man does a great deal more 83 



and in practical reasoning he is a true cause for the sociologist . 83 



And, curiously enough, Mr. Spencer unconsciously admits this . 84 



He declares that the Napoleonic wars were entirely due to the malefi- 

 cent greatness of Napoleon ..... 84 



