II. The Evolution of Conduct

CHAPTER JI. THE EVOLUTION OF CONDUCT. § 3. We have become quite familiar with the idea of an evolution of structures throughout the ascending types of animals. To a considerable degree we have become familiar with the thought that an evolution of functions has gone 011 pari passu) with the evolution of structures. Now advancing' a step, we have to frame a conception of the evolution of conduct, as correlated with this evolution of structures and functions. 'J.'hese three subjects are to be definitely distinguished. Obviously the facts conlparative morphology sets forth, form a whole which, th.ough it cannot be treated ill general or in detail without taking into account facts belonging to comparative physiology, is essentially independent. No less clear is it that we may devote our attention exclusively to that progressive differentiation of functions, and COlli bination of functions, which acco111paniesthe development of structures-may say no more about the characters and COllllexions of organs than is implied in describing their separate and joint actions. And the subject of conduct lies outside the subject of functions, if not as far as this lies outside the subject of structures, still, far enough to make it substantially separate. For those functions which are already variously compounded to achieve what we regard as· single bodily acts, are endlessly re-com.pounded THE EVOLUTION OF CONDUCT. 9 to achieve that coordination of bodily acts which is known as conduct.

We are concerned with functions in the true sense, while we think of them as processes carried on within the body; and, without exceeding the limits of physiology, we may treat of, their adjusted combinations, so long as these are regarded as parts of the vital consensus. 1£ we observe how the lungs aerate the blood. which the heart sends to them; how heart and lungs together· supply aerated blood to' the stomach, and' so enable it to do its work ; how these co-operate lrith sundry secreting and excreting glands to further digestion and to remove waste matter; and how all of them join to keep the brain in a fit condition for carrying on those actions which indirectly conduce to maintenance of the life at large; we are dealing with functions. Even when considering how parts that act directly on the environment legs, arms, wings-perform their duties, we are still concerned with functions in that aspect of them constituting physiology, so long fiB we rebtrict our attention to internal processes, and to internal combinations of them. But we entel-on the subject of conduct when we begin to study such combinations among the actions of sensory and motor organs as are externally manifested. Suppose that lostead of observing those contractions of muscles by which the optic axes are converged and the foci of the eyes ad...

justed (which is a portion of physiology), and that instead or observing the cooperation of other nerves, muscles, and b.ones,by which a hand is moved to a particular place and the fingers closed (which is also a portion of physiology), we observe a ,veapon being seized by a hand under guidance of the eyes. \tVe now pass from the-thought of combined internal functions to the thought of combined external motions. Doubtless if we could trace the cerebral processes which accompany these, we should find an inner physio~ logical coordination corresponding with the outer coordina .. tion of actions. Bnt this admission is consistent, with tho 10 THE DA,l'A OF ETHICS. assertion, that when we ignore the internal combination and attend only to the external combination, we pass from a portion of physiology to a portion of conduct. For though it nlay be objected that the external combination instanced, LE too simple to be rightly included under the name conduct"

ret a moment's thought shows that it is joined with what we call conduct by insensible gradations. Suppose the weapon seized is used to ward off a blow. Suppose a counter .. Ijlow is gIven. Suppose the aggressor runs and is chased, Suppose there comes a struggle and a handing him over to the police. Suppose there follow the many and varied acts constituting a prosecution. Obviously the initial adjustnlent of an act to an end, inseparable from the rest, must be included with them under the same general head; and obviously from this initial simple adjustment, having intrinsically no moral character, we pass by degreeR to the most complex adjustments and to those on which llloral judgments are passed. Hence, excluding all internal coordinations, our subject here is the aggregate of all external coordinations; and this aggregate includes not only the simpleRt as well as the most complex performed by human beings, but also those per ...

formed by all inferior beings considered as less or more evolved. § 4. Already the question-What constitutes advance in tho evolution of conduct, as we trace it up from the lowest types of living creatures to the highest? has been answered by iluplication. A few examples will now bring the answer into conspicuous relief. We saw that conduct is distinguished from the totality of actions by excluding purposeless actions; but during evolution this di~tinction arises by degrees. In the very lowest creatures most of the movements from moment to moment nlade, have not more recognizable aims than havo the struggles of an epileptic. An infusorium SWl ms randomly THE EVOLUTION OF CONDUCT. 11 about, determined in its course not by a perceived object to be pursued or .escaped, but, apparently, by varying stimuli in its medium; and its acts, unadjusted in any appreciable way to· ends, lead it now into contact with some nutriti'fYe 5ubstance which it absorbs, and now into the Il;eighbourhood of some creature by which it is swallowed and digestf\(1.

I Jacking those developed senses and motor powers which higher animals possess, ninety-nine in the hundred of these nlinute animals, severally living for but a few hours, ais ... appear either by innutrition or by destruction. The conduct is constituted of actions so little adjusted to ends, that life continues only as long aathe accidents of the environnient are favourable. But when, among aquatic creatures,· we observe one which, though still low in tJ~pe, i~ much higher than the infusorium-say a rotifer-we see how, along with larger size, more developed structures, and greater power of combining functions, there goes an advance in con... duct. We see how by its whirling cilia it· sucks in as food these small animals moving around; how by its prehensile tail it fixes itself to' some fit object; how by withdrawing its outer organs and contracting its body, it preserves itself from this or that injury from time to time threatened; and how thus, by better adjusting its own actions, it becomes less dependent on the actions going on around, and so pre serves itself for a longer period.

A superior sub-kingdom, as the MolhlIsca,still bettet exemplifies this contrast. When we compare a low mollusc, such as a floating ascidian, with a high mollusc, such as Q cephalopod, we are again shown that greaterorganicevolu ... tion is accompanied by more evolved conduct. At the mercy of·· every marine creature large enough to swallow it, a,nd drifted about by currents which may,chance to keep it t),t sea or may·· chance to leave it fatally strand~d, the ascidian .displays but IHtle adjustment of acts to ends in c0mparison with the cephalopod; which, no\v crawling over the beach,· now exploring the rocky crevices, now swimming .12 THE DATA OF ETHICS. through the open water, now darting after a fish, now hiding itself from some larger animal ina cloud of ink, and using its suckered arms at one tilne for anchoring itself and at another for holding fast its prey; sel~cts, and combines, and proportions, its. movements from nlinute to minute, so as to evade dangers which threaten, while ntilizing chances of fi)od which offer: so showing us varied activities which, in achieving special ends, achieve the general end of securing continuance of the activities.

Among vertebrate animals we sirnilarly trace up, along with advance in structures and fnnctions, this advance in conduct. .A. fish roaming about at hazard in search of something to eat, able to detect it by smell or sight only within short distances, and now and again rushing away in alarm on .the approach of a bigger fish, makes adjustments of acts to ends that are relatively few and simple in their kinds; and shows us, as a consequence, how small is the average duration of life. So few survive to maturity that, to make up for destruction of unhatched young and small fry and half-grown individuals, a nlil1ion ova have to be spawned by a cod-fish that two may reach the spawning age. Conversely, by a highly-evolved mammal, such as an ele phant, those general actions performed in common with the fish are far better adjusted to their ends. By sight as well, probably, as by odour, it detects food at relatively great distances; and when, at intervals, there arises a need for escape, relatively-great· speed is attained. But the chief difference arises from the addition of new sets of adjust ments. We have combined actions which facilitate nutrition -the breaking offof succulent and fruit-bearing branches, the selecting of edible growths throughout a comparatively wide reach; and, in case of danger, safety can be achieved not by flight only, but, if necessary, by defence or attack: bringing into comhined use tusks, trunk, and ponderous feet. Fur~ ther, we see various subsidiary acts adjusted to subsidiary ends-now the going into a river for coolness, and using th(:l THE EVOLUTION OF CONDUCT. 18 trunk as a, means of projecting~ water over the body; now the employment of a bough for sweeping away flies front the back; now the making of signal sounds to alarm the herd, and adapting the actions to such sounds when made by others. Evidently, the effect of this more highly evolved conduct is to secure the balance of the organic actions throughout far longer periods.

And now, on studying the doings of the highest of mama / mals,mankind,we not only find that the adjustments of acts .to ends are both 'more numerous and better than among lower mammals; but we find the same thing on com-' paring the doings of higher races of men with those of lower races. If we take anyone of the major ends achieved, we see greater completene.3s of achievement by civilized than by savage; and we also .see an achievement of relatively numerous minor ends subserving major ends. Is it in nutritiun? The food is obtained more regularly in response to appetite; it is far higher in quality; it is free from dirt; it is greater in variety; it is better prepared. Is it in warmth? The characters of the fabrics and forms of the articles used for clothing, and the adaptations of them to requirements from day to day and hour to hour, are much superior. Is it in dwellings? Between the shelter of boughs alnd grass which the· lowest savage builds, and the mansion of the civilized man, the contrast in aspect is not more ex treme than is the contrast in n,umber and efficiency of the adjustments of acts to ends betrayed in their respective constructions. And when with the ordinary activities of the savage we compare the ordinary civilized activities as the business of the trader, which involves multiplied and complex transactions extending over long ~ periods, or as professional avocations, prepared for by elaborate studies and daily carried on in endlessly-varied fornls, or as political discussions and agitations,. directed now to the carrying of this measure and now to the defeating of that,-we see sets of adjustments of ~cts to ends, not only immensely exceeding 14 THE DATA GF ETHIeR.

those seen among lower races of men in variety and intri· cacy, but sets to which lower races of men present nothing analogous. And along with this greater elaboration of life produced by the pursuit of more numerous ends, th8ro goes that increased duration of life which constitutes the snpreme end. And here is suggested the need for supplementing this conception of evolvi~g conduct. For besides being an improving adju~tment of acts to ends, such as furthers pro longation of life, it is such as furthers increased amount of life. Reconsideration of the examples above given, will show that length of life is not by itself a measure of evolu tion of conduct; but that quantity of life must be taken into account. An oyster, adapted by its structure to the diffused food contained in the water it draws in, and shielded by its shell from nearly all dangers, may live longer than a cuttle fish, which has such superior powers of dealing with numerous contingencies; but then; the sum of vital activities during any given interval is far less in the oyster than in the cuttle-fish. So a worm, ordinarily sheltered from most enemies by the earth it burrows through, which also supplies a sufficiency of its poor food, may have greater longevity than many of its annulose relatives, the insects; but one of these during its existence as larva and imago, may experience a greater quantity of the changes which con stitute life. Nor is it otherwise when we compare the more evolved with the less evolved. among mankind. The differ..

ence between the average lengths of the lives of savage and civilized, is no true measure of the difference between the totalities of their two lives} considered as aggregates of thought, feeling, and action. Hence, estimating life by multiplying its length into its breadth, we must say that the augmentation of it which accompanies evolution of conduct, results from increase of both factors. The more multiplied and varied adjustments of acts to ends, by which the more developed creature from hour to hour fulfils more numerOllfi THE EVOLUTION OF CONDUCT. 15 requirements, severally add to the activities that are carried on abreast, and severally. help to make greater the period through which such simultaneous activities endure. Each further evolution of conduct widens the aggregate of actiollH while conducing to elongation of it. § 5. Turn we now to a further aspect of the phenomena, ~eparate from, but necessarily associated with, the last.

'rhus far we have considered only those adjustments of acts to ends which have for their final purpose complete individual life. Now we have to consider those adjustments which have for their fiual purpose the life of the species. Self-preservation in each generation has all along depended on the preservation of offspring by preceding generations. And in proportion as evolution of the conduct subserving individual life is high, implying high organization, there must previously have been a highly-evolved conduct sub~ serving nurture of the young. Throughout the ascending grades of the animal kingdom, this second kind of conduct presents stages of advance like those which we have observed in the first. Low down, where structures and functions arc little developed, and the power of adjusting acts to ends but slight, there is no conduct, properly so named, further ing salvation of the species. Race-maintaining conduct, liko sf'l£-maintaining conduct, arises gradually out of that which cannot· be caned conduct: adjusted actions are preceded by unadjusted ones. Protozoa spontaneously divide and subdivide, in consequence of physical changes over which they have no control; or) at other times, after a period of quiesconce, break up into minute portions which severally grow into new individuals. In neither case can conduct be alleged. Higher up, the process is that of ripening, at intervals,' gerrn-cells and sperm-cells, which, on occasion, are sent forth into the surrounding water and left to their fate: perhaps one in ten thousand surviving to maturity.

Here, again, we see only development and disperf~ion :3 16 THE DATA OF ETHICS. going on apart {roln parental care. Types above these, as fish which choose fit places in which to deposit their ova, or as the higher crustaceans which carry masses of o'Va, about until they are hatched, exhibit adjustments of acts to ends which we may properly call conduct; though it is of the simplest kind. Where, as among certain fish, tho male keeps guard over the eggs, driving away intruders, there is au additional adjustment of acts to ends; and the appli cability of the name conduct is more decided. Passing at once to creatures far superior, Ruch as birds which, building nests and sitt,ing on their eggs, feed their broods for considerable periods, and give them aid after they can fly; or such as mammals which, suckling their young fot' a time, continue afterwards to bring them food or protect them while they feed, until they reach ages at which they can provide for themselves; we are shown how this conduct which furthers race-maintenanco evolves hand-in-hand with the conduct which furthers self. maintenance. That better organization which makes possible-the last, lllakes l)os~ible the first also. Mankind e~hibit a great progress of like nature. Compared with brntes J the savage, higher in his self-maintaining conduct, is higher too in his race-main taining conduct. A larger number of tl:t' wants of offspring are provided for; and parental care, enduring longer, extends to the disciplining of offspring in arts and habits which fit them for their conditions of existenc(). Conduct of thia order, equally with conduct of the first orJer, we see becoming evolved in a still greater degree as we ascend from savage to civilized. The adjustments of acts to endH in the rearing of children become far more elaborate, alike in number of ends met, variety of means used, and efficiency of their adaptations; and the aid and oversight are continued throughout a much greater part of early life.

In tracing up the evolution of conduct, so that we may flame a true conception of conduct in general, we have thus to recogniie these two kinds as mutuaHv dependent. Speak ..

THE EVOLUTION OF· CONDUCT. ,·17 ing generally, neither can evolve without· evolution oftha other ; and the .high est evolutions of the two must bereaehed simultaneously. § 6.. To conclude, however, that on reaching a perfect adjnstmeHt. of acts to ends subsel"ving individual life. and the rearing of offspring, the evolution ofctnduct becomes complete,· is ·toconclude erroneously. Or rather, I should say, it is an error to suppose that either of these kinds of conduct can assume its .highest form, without its. highest form being assumed by a third. kind of conduct yet to be nanled. The multitudinous creatures of all kinds which fill the Earth, cannot live wholly apart from one another, but are more or less in presence of one another..-are interfered with. by one another. In large meaSllre the adjustments of acts to ends which we have been considering, are componentso£ that C( struggle for existence" carried on bQth .. between members of the same species and between memhersof different species; and, very generally, a successful adjust ment n1ade by one creature involves anunsuccessfuladjust~ ment made by another creature, either of the same kind or ofa different kind. Thfltthe carnivore may Iiva herbivores must die; .and tLat its. young may be reared the young of weaker creatures must be orphaned. Maintenance of the hawk and its bl'oodinvolves the deaths of.many small birds ; find that .small birds may multiply, their progeny must be red with innumerable sacrificed worms and. larvffi.

CompetItion among members of the .. sulue species has allied) though less conspicuous, results. '.rhestronger oftencarrica off by force the prey which the weaker has. caught. Mono polizing certain hunting grounds, the more-ferocious drive others of their. kind into less favourable places. With plant .. eating animals, too, the like holds: the better food is secured by the more vigorous individuals, while the less vigorous and WQrt;e fed, succumb either directly from innutrition 01' 18 THE DATA OF ETHICS. indirectly from resulting inf'Jbility to escape enenlies. That is to say, among creatures whose lives are carried on anta gonistically, each of the two kinds of conduct delineated above, must remain imperfectly evolved. Even in such few kinds of them as have little to fear froIn enemies or compe.. tilors, as lions or 6gers, there is still inevitable failure in the adjustments of acts to ends towards the close of life.

Death by starvation fr01TI inability to catch prey, shows a falling short of conduct froul its ideal. This iUlperfectly-evolved conduct introduces us by anti thesis to conduct that is perfectly evolved. Contemplating these adjustlnents of acts to ends which miss c0111pletenes8 because they cannot be made by one creature without other creatures being prevented from making thenl, raises tho thought of adjustments such that each creature may mako them without preventing them from being made by other creatures. That the highest form of conduct must be so distinguished, is an inevitable implication; for while the form of conduct is such that adjustments of acts to ends by SOlne necessitate non-adjustments by others, there remains room for rnodificatiolls which bring conduct into a form avoiding this, and so making the totality of life greater. From the abstract let us pass to the concrete. Recogniz ing men as the beings whose conduct is most evolved, let us ask under what conditions their conduct, in all threo aspects of its evolution, reaches its linlit. Clearly while the lives led are entirely predatory, as those of savages, the adjustments of acts to ends fall short of this highest form of conduct in every WHy. Individual life, ill carried on froln hour to hour, is prematurely cut short; the fostering of offspring often fails, and is incomplete when it does not fail; and inso far as the ends of self-maintenance and race maintenance are met, they are met by destruction of other beings, of different kind or of like kind. In social groups fornled by compounding and re-compounding primitive hordes, cond not remains imperfectly evolved in proportion as thero THE EVOLUTION OF CONDUCT. 19 continuE,.antagonisms between the groups and antagonisms between members of the same group-two traits necessdrily associated; since the nature which prompts international aggression prompts aggression of individuals on one another.

Hence the limit of evolution can be reached by conduct only, in porulanently peaceful societies. That perfect adjustment of acts to ends in maintaining individual life and reating new individuals, which is effected by each without hindering otners from effecting like perfect adjustulents, is, in its very definition, shown to constitute a kind of conduct that can be approached only as war decreases and dies oui. A gap in this outline must now be filled up. There remains a further advance not yet even hinted. For beyond so behaving that each achieves his ends without preventing others from achieving their ends, the members of a society may give mutual help in the achievement. of ends. And if, either indirectly by industrial cooperation, or directly by volunteered aid, fellow citizens can make easier for one another the adjustments of acts to e-q.ds, then their conduct assumes a still higher phase of evolution; ,sil~ce whatever facilitates the making of adjustments by each, increases the tot l1ity of the adjustments ma,de, and serves to render the lives of all more complete.

§ 7. The reader who recalls certain passages in F1'rst Prin ciples, in the PTin '~iples oj Briology,and in the Principles oj Psychology, will perceive above a re-statement, ill another forni, of generalizations set forth in tho~e works. Especially will he be reminded of the proposition that Life is "t~10 definite combination of heterogeneous changes, both sironl'! taneous and successive, in correspondence with external coexlstences and sequence:.;;'" and still more of that abridged and less specific formula, in which Life is said to be "the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations." 'l1he pl·esentation of the facts here made, differs from the 20 THE DATA OF ETHICS. presentations before made, mainly by ignoring the inner part of the correspondence and attending exclusively to that outer part constituted of visible actions. But the two are in harmony; and the reader who wishes further to prepare him self for dealing with our present topic from the evolution point of view, may advantageously join to the foregoing U10liJ special aspect of the phenomena, the more generS11 aspects before delineated.

After this passing remark, I recur to the main proposi ... tion set forth in these two chapters, which has, I think, been fully justified. Guided by the truth that as the con A duct with which Ethics deals is part of ·conduct at large, conduct at large must be generally understood before this part can be specially understood; and guided by the further truth that to understand conduct at large we must under stand the evolution of conduct; we have been lod to see that Ethics has for its subject-matter, that form which universal conductassu mes during the last stages of its evolution. We have also concluded that these last stages in the evolution of conduct are those displayed by the highest type of being, when he is forced, by increase of numbers, to live more and more in presence of his fellows. And there has followed the corollary that conduct gains ethical sanction in proportion as the activities, bec01uing less and less militant and more and more· industrial, .

are such as do not necessitate mutual injury or hindrance, but consist with, and are furthered by, cooperation and Dlutual aid. These implications of the Evolution-Hypothesis, we shall no,v see harmonize with the leading moral ideas men have other\'dse reached.