CHAPTER IX 



DARWIN'S THEORY OF SOCIAL PROGRESS 



THE central principle of Darwin's theory of 

 human progress, is found in mutual aid and 

 the moral law. ^ A greater contrast can hardly be 

 imagined than that between the true Darwinian 

 theory of social progress, as given in his own writ- 

 ings, and the doctrines of the philosophy of force 

 which we have examined in the preceding chapters, 

 and which are widely believed to find their scienti- 

 fic foundations in Darwin's works. 



The philosophy of force finds the cause of the 

 advance of civilization in the elements of fear, 

 collective homicide, and the struggle of one part 

 of mankind against the other — in the law which is 

 claimed to run through human society as well as 

 the animal world, of "Nature red in tooth and 

 claw." The belief in this distorted social Darwin- 

 ism is so universal that it comes to many persons 

 with a sense of shock as well as with a sense of 

 refreshment of the spirit, to rediscover Darwin's 



'Darwin's theory of social progress is contained in chapters 

 iii., iv., v., and xxi. of The Descent of Man. 



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