In fine, science explains only a part, not the whole of the effect of
evolution. It concentrates its attention on one part or aspect of the
effect, on the survival of the fittest, and explains very simply and
satisfactorily that the environment kills off the creatures which are
not fit to cope with it, while the fittest to contend with it survive.
The fact that the survivors not only are best adapted to the
environment, but are also best adapted to bring the whole creation one
step nearer to those distant ideals in expectation of which it groaneth
and travaileth, is that part of the effect which science, for scientific
purposes, rightly ignores. Science does not undertake to estimate the
value of the effect produced, or even to consider whether when produced
it has any value.
But when the question is raised as to the cost at which the process of
evolution is carried on, it becomes necessary to bring into the account
the value of the result attained or to be attained. Possibly, creation
that groaned in her travail may rejoice that a man-child has been born.
But so much depends on what her child grows into. And he has free will.
We have the power now and here to dash her expectations to the ground.
The value of a thing to me is exactly what I am prepared to give or do
for it. I have no other way of estimating the value of the ideals for
which creation has laboured in the past, than by asking myself how far I
am prepared to go for the love of truth, of fellow-beings, and of God.
If I am prepared to give everything, and then count myself the gainer,
then indeed I may know that the cost of evolution has not been greater
than the value of the ideal: I know the highest price, and I know the
feelings of those who pay it. And they are the only persons who can
judge the value of the article, for they are the only people who get it.
The fact, however, that they do get it, that they get it in full, and
every man according to the measure with which he metes it, contains the
answer to our question. What is true now was true of earlier generations
and earlier men: the value of the ideal to every man was exactly what he
gave for it. It is the realisation of the ideal by me that is my reward,
though my object may be its realisation by others. But it is absurd to
say that their gain is my loss, or that their progress has been made at
my expense.
These considerations apply only of course to those men who have
sacrificed themselves for the sake of progress and the love of their
fellow-man. Most men, however, do not sacrifice themselves much; and
therefore they can hardly be brought out as martyrs to the cause of
progress, as the millions who have perished by the wayside in the march
of evolution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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