298 Darwin's Theory of Social Progress 



apart from any transitory pleasure or pain, to certain 

 lines of conduct. He might then declare — not that 

 any barbarian or uncultivated man could thus think — 

 I am the supreme judge of my own conduct, and, in the 

 words of Kant, I will not in my own person violate the 

 dignity of humanity.^ 



And in his general summary he adds : 



Ultimately man does not accept the praise or blame 

 of his fellows as his sole guide, though few escape 

 this influence, but his habitual convictions, controlled 

 by reason, afford him the safest rule. His conscience 

 then becomes the supreme judge and monitor.^ 



He then describes the manner in which the higher 

 moral standard, as embodied in some new virtue 

 such as humanity, spreads to the other members 

 of the community : 



As soon as this virtue is honoured and practised by 

 some few men, it spreads through instruction and 

 example to the young, and eventually becomes 

 incorporated in public opinion.^ 



The intellectual faculties and especially imagina- 

 tion are of fundamental importance for the high 

 standard of conscience and morality. Imagin- 

 ation is one of the most powerful forces in creating 

 a social conscience and Darwin advocates its 

 cultivation as an important element of social 

 progress : 



' The Descent of Man, p. 125. • Idem, p. 636. 



3 Idem, p. 138. 



