Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as
in the original. A row of asterisks represents a thought break except
in poetry where a row of asterisks indicates an ellipsis. A complete
list of corrections follows the text.
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
AND
MORAL PROGRESS
[Illustration: Alfred R. Wallace
_Photo: Reginald Haines_]
[Illustration: Alfred R. Wallace signature]
Social Environment
and
Moral Progress
BY
Alfred Russel Wallace
O.M., D.C.L.Oxon.
F.R.S., &c.
Author of "The Malay Archipelago," "Darwinism,"
"Man's Place in the Universe," "The World of Life,"
&c. &c.
Cassell and Company, Ltd
London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
1913
First Edition _March 1913_.
_Reprinted April and June 1913._
Contents
PART I.—HISTORICAL
CHAPTER PAGE
1. INTRODUCTORY 1
2. MORALITY AS BASED UPON CHARACTER 4
3. PERMANENCE OF CHARACTER 8
4. PERMANENCE OF HIGH INTELLECT 15
5. SPEECH AND WRITING AS PROOFS OF INTELLIGENCE 28
6. SAVAGES NOT MORALLY INFERIOR TO CIVILISED RACES 31
7. A SELECTIVE AGENCY NEEDED TO IMPROVE CHARACTER 36
8. ENVIRONMENT DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 40
9. INSANITARY DWELLINGS AND LIFE-DESTROYING TRADES 47
10. ADULTERATION, BRIBERY, AND GAMBLING 55
11. OUR ADMINISTRATION OF "JUSTICE" IS IMMORAL 62
12. INDICATIONS OF INCREASING MORAL DEGRADATION 67
PART II.—THEORETICAL
13. NATURAL SELECTION AMONG ANIMALS 75
14. SELECTION AS MODIFIED BY MIND 93
15. THE LAWS OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 103
16. MORAL PROGRESS THROUGH A NEW FORM OF SELECTION 125
17. HOW TO INITIATE AN ERA OF MORAL PROGRESS 150
INDEX 159
Social Environment
and
Moral Progress
PART I.—HISTORICAL
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Before entering on the question of the relation of morality to our
existing social environment, it will be advisable to inquire what
we mean by moral progress, and what evidence there is that any such
progress has occurred in recent times, or even within the period of
well-established history.
By morals we mean right conduct, not only in our immediate social
relations, but also in our dealings with our fellow citizens and with
the whole human race. It is based upon the possession of clear ideals
as to what actions are right and what are wrong and the determination
of our conduct by a constant reference to those ideals.
The belief was once prevalent, and is still held by many persons, that
a knowledge of right and wrong is inherent or instinctive in everyone,
and that the immoral person may be justly punished for such wrongdoing
as he commits. But that this cannot be wholly, if at all, true is shown
by the fact that in different societies and at different periods the
standard of right and wrong changes considerably. That which at one
time and place is held to be right and proper is, at another time or
place, considered to be not only wrong, but one of the greatest of
crimes. The most striking example of this change of opinion is that as
to slavery, which was held to be quite justifiable by the most highly
civilised people of antiquity, and hardly less so by ourselves within
the memory of persons still living. The owners of sugar estates in
Jamaica cultivated by slaves were not stigmatised as immoral by their
relatives in England or by the public at large; and it was the horror
excited by the slave-trade in Africa, and in the "middle passage" on
the slave ships, rather than by the slavery itself, that so excited
public opinion as to lead to the abolition first of the one and then of
the other.
We are obliged to conclude, therefore, that what is commonly termed
morality is not wholly due to any inherent perception of what is
right or wrong conduct, but that it is to some extent and often very
largely a matter of convention, varying at different times and places
in accordance with the degree and kind of social development which
has been attained often under different and even divergent conditions
of existence. The actual morality of a community is largely a product
of the environment, but it is local and temporary, not permanently
affecting the character.
To bring together the evidence in support of this view, to distinguish
between what is permanent and inherited and what is superficial and not
inherited, and to trace out some of the consequences as regards what we
term "morality" is the purpose of the present volume.
CHAPTER II
MORALITY AS BASED UPON CHARACTER
Though much of what we term morality has no absolute sanction in human
nature, yet it is to some extent, and perhaps very largely, based
upon it. It will be well, therefore, to consider briefly the nature
and probable origin of what we term "character"—in individuals, in
societies, and especially in those more ancient and more fundamental
divisions of mankind which we term "races."
Character may be defined as the aggregate of mental faculties and
emotions which constitute personal or national individuality. It is
very strongly hereditary, yet it is probably subject to more inherent
variation than is the form and structure of the body. The combinations
of its constituent elements are so numerous as, in common language,
to be termed infinite; and this gives to each person a very distinct
individuality, as manifested in speech, in emotional expression, and in
action.
The mental faculties which go to form the "character" of each man or
woman are very numerous, a large proportion of them being such as are
required for the preservation of the individual and of the race, while
others are pre-eminently social or ethical. These latter, which impel
us to truth, to justice, and to benevolence, when in due proportion to
all the other mental faculties, go to form what we distinguish as a
good or moral character, and will in most cases result in actions which
meet with the general approval of that section of society in which we
live; and this approval reacts upon the character so that it often
appears to be better than it really is.
So great is the effect of this approval of our fellows that it
sometimes leads to behaviour quite different from what it would
be if this approval were absent. This is especially the case when
the approval leads to wealth or positions of dignity or advantage.
Occasionally, in cases of this kind the individual cannot resist his
natural impulses, and then acts so as to show his underlying real
character. We term such persons hypocrites for making us believe that
they were inherently good, instead of being so in appearance only
when the good action was profitable to them. Hence in a highly complex
state of civilisation it becomes exceedingly difficult correctly to
appraise characters as moral or immoral, good or bad; while there is no
such difficulty as regards the intellectual and emotional aspects of
character, which are less influenced by the general environment, and
which there is less temptation to conceal.
All the evidence we possess tends to show that although the actions
of most individuals are to a considerable extent determined by their
social environment, that does not imply any alteration in their
character. Everyone's experience of life, and especially the example of
his friends and associates, leads him to repress his passions, regulate
his emotions, and in general to use his judgment before acting, so as
to secure the esteem of his fellows and greater happiness for himself;
and these restraints, becoming habitual, may often give the appearance
of an actual change of character till some great temptation or violent
passion overcomes the usual restraint and exhibits the real nature,
which is usually dormant.
Now it is this inherent and unchangeable character itself that tends
to be transmitted to offspring, and this being the case, there can be
no progressive improvement in character without some selective agency
tending to such improvement. By means of a general discussion of the
nature and origin of "Character," I have elsewhere shown that there
is no proof of any real advance in it during the whole historical
period.[7:A] I show later on what the required selective agency is, and
how it will come into action automatically when, and not until, our
social system is so reformed as to afford suitable conditions. (_See_
Chapter XVI.)
[7:A] See _Character and Life_, edited by P. L. Parker, pp.
19-31. (Williams and Norgate; November, 1912.)
CHAPTER III
PERMANENCE OF CHARACTER
I will now call attention to a few of the facts which lead to the
conclusion as to the stationary condition of general character from
the earliest periods of human history, and presumably from the dawn of
civilisation. In the earliest records which have come down to us from
the past we find ample indications that general ethical conceptions,
the accepted standard of morality, and the conduct resulting from
these, were in no degree inferior to those which prevail to-day, though
in some respects they differed from ours.
As examples of great moral teachers in very early times we have
Socrates and Plato, about 400 B.C.; Confucius and Buddha, one
or two centuries earlier; Homer, earlier still; the great Indian Epic,
the Maha-Bharata, about 1500 B.C. All these afford indications
of intellectual and moral character quite equal to our own; while their
lower manifestations, as shown by their wars and love of gambling,
were no worse than corresponding immoralities to-day.
In the beautiful translation by the late Mr. Romesh Dutt, of such
portions of the Maha-Bharata as are best fitted to give English readers
a proper conception of the whole work, there is a striking episode
entitled "Woman's Love," in which the heroine, a princess, by repeated
petitions and reasonings persuades Yama, the god of death, to give back
her husband's spirit to the body. It is described in the following
verses:
"And the sable King was vanquished, and he turned on her again,
And his words fell on Savitri like the cooling summer rain:
'Noble woman, speak thy wishes, name thy boon and purpose high,
What the pious mortal asketh gods in heaven may not deny!'
"'Thou hast,' so Savitri answered, 'granted father's realm and might,
To his vain and sightless eyeballs hath restored the blessed light;
Grant him that the line of monarchs may not all untimely end,
That his kingdom to Satyavan and Savitri's sons descend!'
"'Have thy wishes,' answered Yama; 'thy good lord shall live again,
He shall live to be a father, and your children, too, shall reign;
For a woman's troth endureth longer than the fleeting breath,
And a woman's love abideth higher than the doom of death.'"
And when at the end of the epic, the kings and warriors welcome each
other in the spirit world, we find the following noble conception of
the qualities and actions which give them a place there:
"These and other mighty warriors, in the earthly battle slain,
By their valour and their virtue walk the bright ethereal plain!
They have lost their mortal bodies, crossed the radiant gate of
heaven,
For to win celestial mansions unto mortals it is given!
Let them strive by kindly action, gentle speech, endurance long,
Brighter life and holier future unto sons of men belong!"
Mr. Dutt informs us that he has not only reproduced, as nearly as
possible, the metre of the original, but has aimed at giving us a
literal translation. No one can read his beautiful rendering without
feeling that the people it describes were our intellectual and moral
equals.
The wonderful collection of hymns known as the Vedas is a vast system
of religious teaching as pure and lofty as those of the finest portions
of the Hebrew scriptures. A few examples from the translation by Sir
Monier Monier-Williams will show that its various writers were fully
our equals in their conceptions of the universe, and of the Deity,
expressed in the finest poetic language. The following is a portion of
a hymn to "The Investing Sky":
"The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down
Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand.
When men imagine they do aught by stealth, he knows it.
No one can stand or walk, or softly glide along
Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell
But Varuna detects him and his movements spies.
* * * *
This boundless earth is his,
His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom.
Both oceans find a place within his body, yet
In the small pool he lies contained; whoe'er should flee
Far, far beyond the sky would not escape the grasp
Of Varuna, the king. His messengers descend
Countless from his abode—for ever traversing
This world, and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates.
Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky,
Yea, all that is beyond King Varuna perceives.
May thy destroying snares cast sevenfold round the wicked,
Entangle liars, but the truthful spare, O King."
The following passage from a "Hymn to Death," shows a perfect
confidence in that persistence of the human personality after death,
which is still a matter of doubt and discussion to-day:
"To Yama, mighty king, he gifts and homage paid.
He was the first of men that died, the first to brave
Death's rapid rushing stream, the first to point the road
To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode.
No power can rob us of the home thus won by thee.
O king, we come; the born must die, must tread the path
That thou hast trod—the path by which each race of men,
In long succession, and our fathers too, have passed.
Soul of the dead! depart; fear not to take the road—
The ancient road—by which thy ancestors have gone;
Ascend to meet the god—to meet thy happy fathers,
Who dwell in bliss with him.
Return unto thy home, O soul! Thy sin and shame
Leave thou behind on earth; assume a shining form—
Thy ancient shape—refined and from all taint set free."
In this we find many of the essential teachings of the most advanced
religious thinkers—the immediate entrance to a higher life, the
recognition of friends, the persistence of the human form, and the
shining raiment, typical of the loss of earthly taint.
But besides these special deities, we find also the recognition of the
one supreme God, as in the following hymn:
"What god shall we adore with sacrifice?
Him let us praise, the golden child that rose
In the beginning, who was born the Lord—
The one sole lord of all that is—who made
The earth, and formed the sky, who giveth life,
Who giveth strength, whose bidding gods revere,
Whose hiding place is immortality,
Whose shadow, death; who by his might is king
Of all the breathing, sleeping, waking world—
Who governs men and beasts; whose majesty
These snowy hills, this ocean with its rivers,
Declare; of whom these spreading regions form
The arms by which the firmament is strong,
Earth firmly planted, and the highest heavens
Supported, and the clouds that fill the air
Distributed and measured out; to whom
Both earth and heaven, established by his will,
Look up with trembling mind; in whom revealed
The rising sun shines forth above the world."
If we make allowance for the very limited knowledge of Nature at this
early period, we must admit that the mind which conceived and expressed
in appropriate language, such ideas as are everywhere apparent in
these Vedic hymns, could not have been in any way inferior to those of
the best of our religious teachers and poets—to our Miltons and our
Tennysons.