Evolution is the Expansion of Life 307 



tteir union has as a result a greater vital intensity 

 for each of them, then union takes place. If an- 

 tagonism would produce a greater vital intensity, 

 antagonism results. The dominating principle ^ 

 in Nature is not struggle, nor is it association, 

 although this is more important than struggle. 

 The dominating principle of evolution is the ' 

 expansion of life. When association favours this 

 expansion, association takes place. When struggle ^'^ 

 favours it, struggle takes place. The entire uni- 

 verse is the result of certain genera] laws, and the - 

 expansion of life is one of the most important. 

 For those beings between which association is the 

 most advantageous combination, the vital inten- 

 sity of the units composing this association is in 

 direct proportion to the amount of their solidarity 

 or interdependence. For those beings for whom 

 it is not an advantage to unite, increase of vital 

 intensity must be sought in other ways. 



The philosophy of force has pictured the universe 

 as a perpetual battle-field, and "the struggle for 

 existence" has been worshipped as an idol, — a god, 

 sombre, cruel, unpitying, omnipotent, omnipres- 

 ent, and eternal. But really it does not deserve 

 this worship. The struggle for existence is simply 

 a law of Nature, like the law of gravitation; but no 

 one proposes to worship the law of gravitation as 

 a new divinity. Much more important than the 

 law of struggle is the law of association — the law of 

 mutual aid, which is the chief factor in evolution, 

 — but the philosophy of force has ignored this 



