XXITI 
DARWINISM AND SOCIOLOGY 
By C. BouGur. 
Professor of Social Philosophy in the University of Toulouse and 
Deputy-Professor at the Sorbonne, Paris. 
How has our conception of social phenomena, and of their history, 
been affected by Darwin’s conception of Nature and the laws of its 
transformations? To what extent and in what particular respects 
have the discoveries and hypotheses of the author of The Origin of 
Species aided the efforts of those who have sought to construct a 
science of society ? 
To such a question it is certainly not easy to give any brief or 
precise answer. We find traces of Darwinism almost everywhere. 
Sociological systems differing widely from each other have laid claim 
to its authority ; while, on the other hand, its influence has often 
made itself felt only in combination with other influences. The 
Darwinian thread is worked into a hundred patterns along with 
other threads. 
To deal with the problem, we must, it seems, first of all distinguish 
the more general conclusions in regard to the evolution of living 
beings, which are the outcome of Darwinism, from the particular 
explanations it offers of the ways and means by which that evolution 
is effected. That is to say, we must, as far as possible, estimate 
separately the influence of Darwin as an evolutionist and Darwin as 
a selectionist. 
The nineteenth century, said Cournot, has witnessed a mighty 
effort to “réintégrer ’homme dans la nature.” From divers quarters 
there has been a methodical reaction against the persistent dualism 
of the Cartesian tradition, which was itself the unconscious heir of 
the Christian tradition. Even the philosophy of the eighteenth 
century, materialistic as were for the most part the tendencies of 
its leaders, seemed to revere man as a being apart, concerning whom 
laws might be formulated &@ priori. To bring him down from his 
pedestal there was needed the marked predominance of positive 
can be no doubt that Darwin has done much to familiarise us with 
D. 30 
