Evolution is Progress 283 



intellect does give a judgment in advance which is better 

 than unreasoned instinct, yet it is often in error. 



The exact sciences reach only to a very limited volume of 

 knowledge. Reasoning and logic by induction achieve only 

 few absolute certainties. They operate with a degree of 

 wisdom small in relation to the absolute; and so unreliable 

 that it seems to be part of the natural course that it shall be 

 perpetually supplanted; and so small that always the un- 

 known will stand away farther and greater. 



But the mystery of the greater future knowledge is not 

 simply a fascinating metaphysical marvel, the fact that new 

 knowledge waits still unknown, stands before us as a condi- 

 tion to be faced every new day, and indeed, it is so faced. 

 And notwithstanding the inability of philosophers to tell us 

 what is coming, we who live on, do so by meeting the onrush 

 of existence as best we may, according to our ability, using 

 such fragmentary understanding of it as we can get. In 

 the absence of positive knowledge, we must and do act upon 

 beliefs, with more or less faith, and with more or less wis- 

 dom. These beliefs vary in force and in usefulness, from 

 the grandest inspirations, revealing mainsprings of life, 

 down to the merest guesses of badly formed impulse. But 

 such as they are they are the basis of human conduct. 

 Therefore the absence of perfect knowledge of all things 

 does not relieve man, nor any living animal, from the 

 necessity of decision and action, nor from the consequences 

 of his conduct. He must proceed or stand still, upon such 

 wisdom as he finds available. Conduct, therefore, cannot 

 look for or demand infallible guidance, nor can the knowl- 

 edge of it, or of its laws, be exact knowledge. If considered 



