Thomas Henry Huxley
English biologist and advocate of Darwin's theory (1825 to 1895); author of Evolution and Ethics.
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The idea that ethical nature, though born of cosmic nature, is necessarily at enmity with it is a fundamental truth
All I have endeavoured to do, at present, is to remove that which seems to have proved a stumbling-block to many—namely, the apparent paradox that ethical nature, while born of cosmic nature, is necessarily at enmity with its parent. Unless the arguments set forth in the Prolegomena, in the simplest language at my command, have some flaw which I am unable to discern, this seeming paradox is a truth, as great as it is plain, the recognition of which is fundamental for the ethical philosopher.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1893–1894This on korrents
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The idea that ethical nature, though born of cosmic nature, is necessarily at enmity with it is a fundamental truth
All I have endeavoured to do, at present, is to remove that which seems to have proved a stumbling-block to many—namely, the apparent paradox that ethical nature, while born of cosmic nature, is necessarily at enmity with its parent. Unless the arguments set forth in the Prolegomena, in the simplest language at my command, have some flaw which I am unable to discern, this seeming paradox is a truth, as great as it is plain, the recognition of which is fundamental for the ethical philosopher.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
The central task of every human life is finding the right balance between self-assertion and self-restraint
The motive of the drama of human life is the necessity, laid upon every man who comes into the world, of discovering the mean between self-assertion and self-restraint suited to his character and his circumstances.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Cultivation rests on a principle opposed to that of the cosmic process, not just at odds with nature
Not only is the state of nature hostile to the state of art of the garden; but the principle of the horticultural process, by which the latter is created and maintained, is antithetic to that of the cosmic process.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
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The traits of a good or bad citizen are far harder to judge than those of livestock
The "points" of a good or of a bad citizen are really far harder to discern than those of a puppy or a short-horn calf; many do not show themselves before the practical difficulties of life stimulate manhood to full exertion.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Fear of other people's opinion, more than of the law, is the greatest restraint on antisocial behaviour
It is needful only to look around us, to see that the greatest restrainer of the anti-social tendencies of men is fear, not of the law, but of the opinion of their fellows.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Law and morals oppose the cosmic process and tend to suppress the traits that win the struggle for existence
But it is none the less true that, since law and morals are restraints upon the struggle for existence between men in society, the ethical process is in opposition to the principle of the cosmic process, and tends to the suppression of the qualities best fitted for success in that struggle.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Self-restraint, though essential to every society, can ruin it when carried to excess
It is further to be observed that, just as the self-assertion, necessary to the maintenance of society against the state of nature, will destroy that society if it is allowed free operation within; so the self-restraint, the essence of the ethical process, which is no less an essential condition of the existence of every polity, may, by excess, become ruinous to it.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Strictly followed, the golden rule would negate law and can be obeyed only under a society that rejects it
Strictly observed, the "golden rule" involves the negation of law by the refusal to put it in motion against law-breakers; and, as regards the external relations of a polity, it is the refusal to continue the struggle for existence. It can be obeyed, even partially, only under the protection of a society which repudiates it.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Competition within society is a contest for the means of enjoyment, not for the means of existence
What is often called the struggle for existence in society (I plead guilty to having used the term too loosely myself), is a contest, not for the means of existence, but for the means of enjoyment.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Practising self-restraint and renunciation is not happiness, though it may be something better
But the practice of self-restraint and renunciation is not happiness, though it may be something much better.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
As civilization grows, the qualities that helped humans win the struggle for existence become defects
But, in proportion as men have passed from anarchy to social organization, and in proportion as civilization has grown in worth, these deeply ingrained serviceable qualities have become defects.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Evolution may explain good and evil tendencies but gives no better reason to prefer good
The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist. Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and the evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
It is a fallacy that people in society must look to the struggle for existence for progress, as plants and animals did
There is another fallacy which appears to me to pervade the so-called "ethics of evolution." It is the notion that because, on the whole, animals and plants have advanced in perfection of organization by means of the struggle for existence and the consequent "survival of the fittest;" therefore men in society, men as ethical beings, must look to the same process to help them towards perfection.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Social progress means checking the cosmic process at every step and replacing it with an ethical one
Social progress means a checking of the cosmic, process at every step and the substitution for it of another, which may be called the ethical process; the end of which is not the survival of those who may happen to be the fittest, in respect of the whole of the conditions which obtain, but of those who are ethically the best.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
Ethical conduct aims to fit as many as possible to survive, not at the survival of the fittest
In place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is directed, not so much to the survival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial theory of existence.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
The ethical progress of society depends on combating the cosmic process, not imitating or fleeing it
Let us understand, once for all, that the ethical progress of society depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
It would be folly to think a few centuries could subdue humanity's inborn cosmic nature to ethical ends
Moreover, the cosmic nature born with us and, to a large extent, necessary for our maintenance, is the outcome of millions of years of severe training, and it would be folly to imagine that a few centuries will suffice to subdue its masterfulness to purely ethical ends.
Evolution and Ethics: Prolegomena and Romanes Lecture (1893-1894) Said c. 1893–1894
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