HERBERT SPENCER 37 



a formal or structural test whereas increasing adaptation is a life 

 test. This point has weighty moral and religious implications. 

 The summum bonum of individual and group life should be re- 

 vealed by a study of cosmic and especially of social evolution, and 

 if we are theists we may believe that God's will is there revealed. 

 Now if increasing differentiation and integration is the one all- 

 inclusive formula of life and progress, every individual should 

 seek to hasten this process in his own life, so, too, should each 

 group, though it lead to destruction. To theists, this would be 

 God's will. If, on the contrary, progressive adaptation is the law 

 of life, every individual should seek to further the process in his 

 own life, so, too, should every group, though it call for a return to 

 a simpler form, — which Spencer terms retrogression. In this case 

 retrogression would mean progression for it would mean increased 

 adaptation to a change in the environment requiring such simpli- 

 fication for survival. Whether or not such simplification is 

 possible for a group is a mooted question but it certainly is pos- 

 sible for an individual. 



In his Principles of Ethics adaptation again comes to the front 

 as the test of the good. Moral conduct is there defined in two 

 ways: as " acts adjusted to ends " and as " the adjustment of 

 acts to ends." Spencer does not seem to have appreciated the 

 significance of the difference in these two statements but they 

 may be interpreted very differently, the first signifying merely 

 passive adaptation, the second, active adaptation, because the 

 process issues from intelligent purpose. With him the distinction 

 is merely between emphasis on the formed body of acts or on the 

 form alone. 1 



Spencer does give some place to purpose, to be sure, in his dis- 

 cussion of conduct, but nowhere does he bring out the contrast 

 between conduct that happens to be adjusted and conduct that is 

 purposely adjusted. This is shown by the following quotations : 

 " We are able to furnish no other test of perfection than that of 

 complete power in all the organs to fulfil their respective func- 

 tions." 2 " The perfection of man considered as an agent means the 

 being constituted for effecting complete adjustment of acts to 



1 Data of Ethics, p. 4. 2 Ibid., p. 36. 



