A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

94.
It is extremely doubtful whether the offspring of the more sympathetic
and benevolent parents, or of those who were the most
faithful to their comrades, would be reared in greater numbers
than the children of selfish and treacherous parents belonging
to the same tribe. lIe who was ready to sacrifice his life, as
many a savage has been, rather than betray his comrades, would
often leave no offspring to inherit his noble nature. The bravest
men, who were always willing to come to the front in war, and
who freely risked their lives for others, would on an average
perish in larger numbers than other men. Therefore it hardly
seems probable, that the number of men gifted vnth such virtues,
or that the standard of their excellence, could be increased
through natural selection, that is, by the survival of.the ,.
fittest ••• 14
The words I have underlined, the use of the conditional mood Hwould"
and the doubt-provoking "probably" reveal the difficulties faced by
sooial evolutionists in their attempt to preserve their 'bnilinear schemes
of cultural development. n
15 In fairness to Darwin, however, I must
acknowledge his sincere and honest admission that tithe horrid doubt always
arises as to whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed
from the lower animals, are of any value or are at all trustworthy."
16 He is asking, in effect, how safe it is to assume that the
moral criteria by which we judge human behaviour are valid or even reliable
when our very judgement is the result of natural selection.
The difficulties that were experienced in outlining a convincingevolutionary
ethic show just how unsatisfactory was the common nineteenth
oentury assumption that conclusions drawn from a theory of biological
evolution would apply just as appropriately to the social
sciences. Peter Uedawar justly observes that "psychosocial evolution
differs from ordinary genetic evolution in three important ways" and
that "differences of tms magnitude should be acknowledged by a dis-
tinction of terminology. It
17
Another source of confusion is revealed
by P. J. Bowler who writes that the use of the word "evolution" by
Herbert Spencer
appears to arise directly out of the embryological context, with
the result that the idea of progression became connected indirectly