(Transcribed from The Eagle and the Serpent, a Journal of Egoistic Philosophy and Sociology, June 15th, 1898. Any typos are the result of the OCR and my own lack of critical proofing. Full refund available at the door.)

DARWINISM IN SOCIOLOGY:
A REPLY TO NIETZSCHE’S CRITICS.

EVERY consistent system, in its ultimate analysis, is made up of a comparatively small number of principles. If each of these principles is firmly established, then the system stands as a whole ; if only some of them are established, the system is partially true and perhaps partially false ; and if all its principles are disproved, then the system is absolutely worthless. Instead, therefore, of examining seriatim all the objections—some of them very trivial—that are brought against Nietzsche’s system, let us briefly examine its most important principles, and if we find these firmly established or self-evident, then most of the objections will vanish of their own accord in candid, truth-loving minds.

1. In so far as there is a moral end at all, the highest social excellence, strength and vigour, is the only end that can be justified. The denial of this principle involves the absurdity that an inferior degree of social excellence is preferable to a higher social condition.

2. Human beings are not equal. The fact is obvious to everyone who is not wilfully blind. Those, Ito., ever, who wish to know the extent of the inequality and understand the matter fully in its scientific bearings, should consult Mr. Francis Galton’s ” Hereditary Genius,” and his other works on the subject.*

3. Individuals, healthy and well-constituted in mind and body, instinctively seek their further self-development, their higher physical and mental excellence, and the perpetuation of their type.

4. The highest excellence, the greatest strength and vigour of the social organism and of the human type, can only be attained by the further self-development of the physically and mentally superior individuals.

5. It is for the interest of the human species with a view to its further advancement, that the better class of individuals should have greater advantages than inferior individuals. We shall regard this principle as obvious until the time comes when agriculturists and horticulturists (much wiser men than ethiculturists), with a view to raising the best crops, give to inferior plants and weeds the same advantageous conditions of growth as the best plants. It is therefore absurd to advocate equality of opportunity, Semi-idiots should not have the advantage of a university education, and should not be admitted to the British Museum Library. And it is still more absurd to advocate, as many ethiculturists appear to do, that the inferior class should be allowed to breed like vermin, and that their spawn should be supported at the cost of the better classes.

6. The interests of superior and inferior individuals are necessarily antagonistic ; there has been a continuous conflict between them, and the inferior class have now gained a temporary ascendancy. The struggle for existence is universal among the lower animals ; it is therefore strange that the struggle should be regarded as something abnormal among human beings. The conflict in the human species is however disguised ; it is waged not so much with carnal as with spiritual weapons. Paul himself confesses that it is so ; and the work which Paul performed in the world is the most important of all studies for the Darwinian. Paul may be said to have patented the most effective imposture ever devised for giving advantage to the inferior class in the struggle for existence—namely, the system for “saving sinners ” ; and by so doing he has perhaps done more harm in the world than all the other scourges. of humanity taken together. To be sure the salvation promised is in another world, but the real purpose of the system—to save unworthy individuals in the present world —is thereby the better concealed. Christianity is the artful device by means of which 1. the slave class has successfully accomplished a revolt in half the world. We are greatly indebted to Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace for being the first to show the immense role which mimicry (the falsehood, imposture and hypocrisy of the lower animals) plays in nature ; it would surely be surprising if something of a similar kind did not present itself among human beings. All the devices of ascetic priests are of the nature of mimicry, they are devices for enabling inferior beings to maintain themselves in the hard struggle for existence in which they cannot compete on equal terms with the strong and healthy. Christianity is the ascetic religion par excellence; it is such an extraordinarily perfect system of mimicry and imposture, especially in its ethical aspects, that it is no wonder that it imposed on the most intelligent men in past ages, and held the world in bondage for nearly 2000 years. When falsehood plays such an immense role in nature, he who acts on the maxim ” Truth at all costs,” will soon find by hitter experience that ” honesty is the worst policy ” in dealing with deceitful and dishonest men who have no regard for the welfare of the human race.

7. Owing to the breaking up of the old social groups incidental to new modes of living, a considerable mal-adjustment of social conditions has taken place in historic times, and socialism and commercialism being both unsatisfactory, mankind is now in quest of a new system of organization, under which advantages will once more be reaped approximately proportionate to natural ability. Some 2500 years ago the social conditions under which human beings lived began to alter considerably in the more civilized portions of the world, owing especially to the extension of commerce (which followed the increased use of iron) and the introduction of money. Under the commercial and financial system with its substitution of gold for merit, advantages no longer accrue so approximately in proportion to natural ability, as under a non-monetary system which obliges every one to stand on his own merits. (Those who object to the word merit may put natural capacity in its place). Theognis, the Greek poet,** pointed out at a very early date the social evils which resulted from the new order of things ; the mal-adjustment, however, has tended rather to increase than diminish in the course of ages. Mankind has consequently been groping about for two and a half millenniums for a new social system under which to live. This mal-adjustment gave the special opportunity for Christianity to spring up, which caused the revolt of the slaves by its socialistic and ultra-socialistic teaching. But socialism, Christian or non-Christian, can never be the basis of a sound system of society. The commercial system, notwithstanding the loud assurances of professional political economists and the editors of commercial newspapers, is equally far from being the best system for the distribution of social advantages. Though still inheriting some of the instincts of the heroic age, we live at present for the most part under an anarchical, make-shift system, a hybrid growth of commercialism and Christian socialism, under which advantages are distributed largely at hap-hazard, and not necessarily to the deserving, as they would be under the ideal social system. We must, however, find such a system ; we must find men who can determine the merits and demerits, the valuable and the non-valuable qualities of their fellow-men, and who can reconstitute society on a new basis of genuine worth. From Nietzsche’s point of view. therefore, which regards commercialism as an altogether imperfect system, the special question of rent and interest does not come up for discussion. I’m king rent and interest, however, as facts which exist at present, we should look at them with reference to the moral end we have in view—in so far as they are a hindrance to its attainment, we should try to counteract their evil influence.

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