West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1905-06-15
THE GREAT DELUSION.
, rHEss, 2.Ii.

The general sentiment concerning the
great things to which the present generation
has fallen heir is well expressed by Jobn
fiske alt is an epoch which dwarfs all
others that can be named since the beginning
OF the historic period, If not since man be.
came distinctly human In their mental
habits, in their methods of INJURY and in
the data at their command, the men OF the
present day who have fully KEEP, pace with
the scientific movement are separated from
the men whose education ended in eighteen
hundred and thirty by an immeasurably
wider gulf than has ever before divided one
progressive generation of men from their
predecessors. The intellectual deyelop.
ment of the human race has been suddenly.
almost abruptly, raised to a higher plane
than that upon which ii had proceeded from
the times of the primitive troglodite to the
days OF our great-grandfathers.
J. II. Dennison, who has not KEEP, pace
with the scientific movement and therefore
lacks the intellectual statue recognized by
these authorities, SAYS that the sentiment,
voiced by MIR. Fiske is possibly accepted by
majority of so called educated men. who
do not consider the limitations of scientific
knowledge, aud have formed the habit of
thinking that the light which we possess To-.
day is, compared with that possessed by
Luther OF George Washington or Socrates,
as sunlight to starlight. Their view is tina,
we not only know infinitely more than
George Washington knew, but tina, we
alone possess the final criteria of knowledge.
Socrates and Washington knew good
deal, bu, they knew vaguely; they could
not distinguish accurately between fact and
delusion. Our supreme advantage is sup
posed to be not only that we know, but that
we KNOW that we know.
"This egotistic cas-, or vogue of thought
envelopes the mind of the age 1t is more
authoritative than Kaiser or Pope, than
dogma or creed. 1t percolates through all
classes, it penetrates our literature, it eolors
our judgement. It predetermines our view,
shapes the outline of our facts and is inter
woven in the texture Of our thought In a
fNiAiNh Va buI TYPICAL men ~
has bred sense of supreme qualification.
In the presence of a magisterial equipment
so vast aud complete. men of previous ages
appear dwarfed; their efforts seem infantile.
Even Jesus appears to grope. Our scientific
judiciary does indeed reverence the purity
OF his spirit; but when it comes to his
authority, or his views about God, they
tenderly, but firmly, put him out of court"
MIR. Dennison further applies test from
those who most thoroughly represent the
magisterial attitude of our times, TO see
what light they throw on the social problem;
what that radiance is which has caused the
glory of Socrates and of Jesus to grow pale,
and has made the intellectual distance from
Washington so great that we can hardly see
him.
Brooks Adams and Mr.. London are taken
as representative men who have carefully
studied the organization of society and
CLEARLY reflect the illumination of that phil
osoPhy which, more than any other, is the
distinguishing and magislerial equipment of
our day. 1t is by light of evolution that we
feel qualified to test the Bible, Christianity,
and, in fact, every human belief or moral
position. For evolution is to the popular
scientific mind so absolutely established as
to seem approximately identical with the
cosmos itself. Our social problems have
been studied by the light of natural selection,
the only light worth considering by these
men, so widely separated from our prede.
cessors. For natural selection is the author
alive type of evolution so far as living
organisms are concerned and evolution is
our distinctive magislerial equipment.
Mr.. Adams writes From the humblest
peasant to the mighliest empire humanity is
waging ceaseless and pitiless struggle for
existence in which the unfit perish. This
struggle IS maintained with every weapon
and by every artifce, and success is attained
not only by endurance and sagaciiy, but by
cunning aud ferocity. Chief, however,
among the faculties which have given
superiority, must rank the martial quality,
for history teaches us that nothing can com.
Pensate community for defeat in battle.
War is competition in its fercest form.
Human destiny has been wrought out hy
war. The story is written in blood, and
common sense teaches us that as has been
the past, SO will be the future"
Mr.. Atams's argument is, in short, that
the evolution Of human society, like that Of
the brute, must be along lines Of prtiless
warfare. Nature has decreed that animals
shall compete for life We can hope for
10 exemption from the common lot. The
Hague Tribunal is an idle dream Of peace to
allure mankind to his undoing.
Mr.. London maintains the same view and
argues that it is natural for laborsr TO d..
hercely hostile 20 another laborer who offers
to work for less pay or longer hours "when
a man klls with brick the man who has
taken bis place, he has no sense Of wrong.
doing. IN the deepes, hold Of his being.
though he does not reason the impulse. he
has an ethical sanction" Heis in the grin
Of natural selection. lie feels dinily that
he has Justification, jlst as the home.defend-
ing Boer felt with each bullet hs hred al
the invading English Behind every brick
thrown Is The selfish will % live Of himself
and the slightly aliruistic will TO live Of his
family The family group came into the
world before the state group, and society
being still ON the primitive tooih.and.naiI
basis, The aiil 90 live Of The state is not So