Universality of its Appeal 21 



current in the modem world, did not emerge as the 

 result of the thorough discussion of a subject 

 which recent events have shown to be one of the 

 most important questions in applied social science 

 — that is, the place of struggle and force as a factor 

 in human associations. On the contrary, it grew 

 up almost unnoticed, and as an unconscious by- 

 product of a debate between some of the greatest 

 minds of the age, over an entirely irrelevant, and, 

 as the modern world has largely come to regard 

 it, a socially unimportant subject — the theologi- 

 cal implications of the Darwinian theory as they 

 shaped themselves in the warfare between science 

 and traditional theology around the issue of evolu- 

 tion vs. special creation. Instead of subjecting it to 

 the searching analysis demanded by its practical 

 social importance, the intellectual world and 

 public opinion has accepted "social Darwinism" 

 uncritically and by almost unanimous consent as 

 an integral part of the theory of evolution. 



The causes of this almost miraculous success 

 are to be found largely in three factors: (i) the 

 universality of the appeal which "social Dar- 

 winism" makes to the human spirit, enhsting 

 both the highest aspirations toward perfection 

 and justice and the lowest instinct of selfish greed 

 and brute force; (2) the intellectual environment 

 in which the social applications of the theory of 

 evolution were developed, and (3) the influence 

 of historical events, especially the Franco-Prus- 

 sian war, and the rapid growth of Imperialism 



