226 HERKDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



various animal species, but it precedes social life ; the psycho- 

 logical phenomenon, which has its roots in the former, is mani- 

 fested only by the human species, and is a product of social life. 



Thus we may revert to our proposition that, although human 

 nature, considered from a physiological point of view, is essentially 

 identical everywhere ; nevertheless the ideological tendencies of 

 different societies are markedly different. It follows, as we have 

 said, that the organic constitution of human nature is insuffi- 

 ciently powerful to control these tendencies. The individual 

 organisation cannot restrain tendencies and aspirations which, 

 having originated in, and been developed by, a power which is 

 superior to the individual — ^namely, the society — necessarily 

 exceed the limits of individual control. Thus, as far as the indi- 

 vidual alone is concerned, we may say that his desires and ideo- 

 logical wants are potentially unlimited. 



To say that our desires are unlimited is to say that they are 

 insatiable. And any desire which is insatiable must be the 

 inevitable cause of suffering. For, although it may be main- 

 tained that progress is the law of life, and that life is synonymous 

 with activity — which is exceedingly true — it still follows that 

 progress, in order to justify its name, must be more than blind 

 progress, must be a definite movement towards a definite end. 

 Otherwise, we have no criterion whereby to judge if a given 

 movement has conduced to a result intrinsically better than the 

 starting-point ; and, where we imagine ourselves to see progress, 

 we may all the time be moving in an endless circle. And, if 

 life be synonymous with activity, nevertheless that activity 

 must have an aim in view. Action for the mere sake of action 

 will speedily result in fatigue and disappointment. To propose 

 to oneself an end which can never by any possibility be reached, 

 is to propose to oneself a useless expenditure of time and effort. 

 And if, having proposed to oneself an aim which one thinks to 

 be attainable, one discovers, after laborious striving, that this 

 aim is in the clouds, and that the wish to attain it is folly — when 



