Of the translation it may properly be said that, while the aim has been to give the work the clearest possible form consistent with that strict fidelity to the original which is {8} especially demanded by the character of its material, the translator has not hoped to make the work altogether "easy" reading. Peculiarities of the author's style have been, it is believed, largely preserved; and occasional difficulties of apprehension are no doubt to be expected, both from the method of treatment and from the profound and abstruse character of the topics treated. The translator will be well satisfied if it shall be found that he has succeeded in performing his task without adding unduly to the seeming obscurities of certain passages--obscurities which, however, will no doubt vanish before that degree of mental application without which such works may not be read at all intelligibly. Acknowledgments are properly due and are gladly rendered to George C. Dawson, Esq., of Chicago, and to Mr. Francis F. Browne, editor of _The Dial_, for valuable assistance in revising and perfecting this version. G. A. Z. CHICAGO, _October_, 1882. * * * * * {9} CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION ... 17 _PART FIRST:_ _THE DARWINIAN THEORIES_. BOOK I. THE PURELY SCIENTIFIC THEORIES. The Scientific Problem, ... 23 CHAPTER I. RISE OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES. Sec.1. Direct Predecessors, ... 30 Sec.2. Indirect Preparations, ... 33 CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES. Sec.1. Darwin, ... 38 Sec.2. The Followers of Darwin.--Ernst Haeckel, ... 45 Sec.3. Modifications of the Theory.--Moriz Wagner. Wigand, ... 52 CHAPTER III. PRESENT STATE OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES. Sec.1. The Theory of Descent, ... 61 Sec.2. The Theory of Evolution.--Archaeology, Ethnography, Philology, ... 77 Sec.3. The Theory of Selection, ... 100 {10} BOOK II. THE PHILOSOPHIC COMPLETIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES. The Philosophic Problems, ... 108 CHAPTER I. THE NATURO-PHILOSOPHIC SUPPLEMENTS OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES. Sec.1. The Origin of Self-Consciousness and of Free Moral Self-Determination, ... 115 Sec.2. The Origin of Sensation and of Consciousness, ... 127 Sec.3. The Origin of Life, ... 132 Sec.4. The Elements of the World; the Theory of Atoms, and the Mechanical View of the World, ... 140 CHAPTER II. METAPHYSICAL CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE DARWINIAN THEORIES. Sec.1. Elimination of the Idea of Design in the World.--Monism, ... 158 {11} _PART SECOND:_ _THE POSITION OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES IN REFERENCE TO RELIGION AND MORALITY._ BOOK I. HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL. Plan of Treatment, ... 185 _A. THE DARWINIAN THEORIES AND RELIGION._ CHAPTER I. MORE OR LESS NEGATIVE POSITION IN REFERENCE TO RELIGION.