Social environment and moral progress / by Alfred Russel Wallace.

  • Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Social environment and moral progress / by Alfred Russel Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    XV] Heredity and Environment to protect itself against others by means of chiefs and some quasi-military combinations. This requires organisation and foresight, and after a time the most powerful conquers the weaker, they intermingle, and still greater diversity arises. By this constant struggle the less advanced sufíer most, and the race as a whole takes a step forward in the march of civilisation. We see the best example of this mode of progress by antagonism in the small States of Ancient Greece, where each little kingdom developed its peculiar form of art, of government, and of civilisation, which it transferred to all parts of Europe ; and after two thousand years of degradation by Roman and Turkish conquest, its language still remains but ht tie altered, whüe its ancient literature and art are still un¬ surpassed. In like manner Rome brought law, literature, and military discipline to an equally high level ; and it too sank into a state of ruin and degradation, while its literature and its law continued to illumi¬ nate the civilised world during its long struggle towards freedom. Wherever con¬ ditions were favourable to progress in art or science, time was needed for its full growth and development ; while perpetual 121
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