2l6 FROM COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART m 



view of man where natural selection is most likely 

 to be at home the sociological view, and the moral 

 view. Man is still an animal, an organism, though he 

 is also a citizen and a moral agent. 



First, then, biologically, does natural selection ap- 

 ply to man ? l 



The Struggle with the Beasts. When we read in 

 the Bible of man's dominion over the creatures, we 

 naturally think of domesticated animals, or of those 

 wild species which man and woman make use of 

 for food, clothing, ornament, etc. But man's suprem- 

 acy over savage and powerful animals is a far more 

 wonderful fact. There must have been a period of 

 sharp conflict. Even in the Old Testament (to quote 

 it again) we have traces of the dread lest wild beasts 

 should gain the upper hand, and make human life 

 heavy with torturing anxiety. The conflict ended 

 however in a decided victory for the seemingly weak 

 race of man. His dominion became a reality. His 

 fear and the dread of him affected even the most for- 

 midable among his animal subjects. It was fixed that 

 his life should follow its regular course, unhindered 

 on any great scale by the evil beasts. They could 

 only carry on a guerilla warfare. When they slay a 

 man, it is an " accident," and, in spite of such excep- 

 tions, the human race marches bravely onward. Men 

 have emerged from this struggle for existence. The 



1 The " Arrest of the Body " seems to imply that physical evolution 

 is at an end, and therefore that the force of natural selection, which 

 makes for evolution, is also at an end. And in the closing chapter 

 we shall quote names of high authority who deny that natural selection 

 applies to man or at least to civilised men Darwin, Professor K. Pear- 

 son, Professor Lloyd Morgan. But it may be well that we should here 

 look for ourselves into the details, and form our own judgment. 



