286 FROM COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART iv 



mation) of nature ; that man is the meaning, and there- 

 fore the goal, of the cosmic process which is seen in 

 this world. What lover of humanity, what believer 

 in its Divine goal, would refuse assent to this inter- 

 pretation of man's place in the present world ? 



Not soul helps flesh more now than flesh helps soul. 



This is evolutionism, but a very different evolu- 

 tionism from that studied in the previous pages. It 

 would have been impossible therefore to try to bring 

 in " Hegel " as well as " Darwin " in our present 

 study. The new social philosophy, if it follows 

 these lines, may be found to furnish not very much 

 in the way of dogmatic sociology. It may well turn 

 out that, on fuller reflection, the a priori scheme of 

 " all possible societies " will shrink into very small 

 compass, that the general programme formulated by 

 wise teachers will be notably vague. That will not 

 matter greatly. The wise social philosopher will 

 not claim that the one fount of wisdom for men or 

 societies is the fountain which he has enclosed. 

 Ethics proper will be among his data. He will 

 renounce as fraudulent and absurd the attempt to 

 deduce ethics from schemes of physical or even of 

 biological evolution. 



Have we then learned nothing, it may be asked, 

 from the naturalistic schemes passed in review ? 



They have contradicted each other (and them- 

 selves) so freely that it seems impossible to maintain 

 they have accomplished much. Nevertheless, we 

 may notice their two chief suggestions. 



First, it has been suggested that society is an 



