| EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS.[1] |
By HERBERT SPENCER.
THE following letter, published in the Athenæum, for August 5, 1893, was drawn from me in response to certain passages in the Romanes Lecture, delivered by the late Prof. Huxley at Oxford in the Spring of 1893.[2] These passages were supposed to be directed against doctrines I hold (see Athenæum, July 22, 1893); and it seemed needful that I should defend myself against an attack coming from one whose authority was so great. My justification for including this letter among these fragments is that since the Romanes Lecture referred to exists in a permanent form, it is proper that a permanent form should be given to my reply.
If it is not too great a breach of your rules, will you allow me space for some remarks suggested by the review of Prof. Huxley's lecture on "Evolution and Ethics," contained in your issue of the 22nd inst.?
The incongruity between note 19 of the series appended to the lecture, and a leading doctrine contained in the lecture itself, is rightly pointed out by your reviewer. In the lecture Prof. Huxley says:—
"The practice of that which is ethically best—what we call goodness or virtue—involves a course of conduct which, in all respects, is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint."—P. 33.
But in note 19 he admits that—
"strictly speaking [why not rightly speaking?], social life and the ethical process, in virtue of which it advances towards perfection, are part and parcel of the general process of evolution, just as the gregarious habit of innumerable plants and animals, which has been of immense advantage to them, is so."
- ↑ From Various Fragments, by Herbert Spencer, in press of D. Appleton and Company.
- ↑ As the Romanes Lecture was published in the Monthly (November and December, 1893), it seemed fitting that this reply to some of the more important points raised by Professor Huxley should also be given to our readers. We accordingly put the letter in type soon after it appeared in The Athenæum, but at the request of Mr. Spencer it was withdrawn. He having now given it permanent form, we feel at liberty to carry out our original intention.—The Editor,
