The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29
THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE.
Evolution Depends on the influence
Of Everything, Good and Evil.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-.Sir: A
young student OF ancient and modern
philosophy has been debating with me
upon the question of the. struggle for
existence and its relation to the Euro
pean dogfight.
He says that II one fact more thar
another Is taught by the leading minds
of the past 1t is that the will to live
oomprehends a death conflict, or. to he
more explicit, "A struggle terrible and
relentless enougn to make life rest d.
rectly upon death. History actually does
appear To verify this view. Biology and
ethnology also seem to prove II. EvOlu-
tion. 1t is asserted. can proceed only
through hospitals. jails, battle fields.
mobbings. lynchings. catacombs and
g~raveyards. Happiness can come only
from suffering JOY from misery life
from death.
With due respect for the tremendous
weight of scholarship and authority
which 10 doubt supports Darwin. HuS-
ley and the philosophers. like Hegel,
who taught that the universe merely eN-
pressed a dualism. best illustrated by
the coexistence OF joy and pain. or GOOD
and bad, | take issue with the purely
metaphysical and improved character Of
these contentious.
In reality there is an error repeatedly
fallen into Of chasing as dudls. compile
ments or cOntraries states Of feeling
which are not correctly regarded as
such. Pain and pleasure are not COM
PIGMENTS. nor Is II right to believe that
pleasure could not exist witlout the
existence OF pain Pleasure would still
exist. hut would merely he called by
another name. or by no name at all.
since there would be no distinction OF
Sf.tas IN nnALn Tho EarE Axfefang. ~
pleasure, however. does not depend
upon the existence OF pain. Happiness.
a rather better term to use than
pleasure. is an ideal state and the goal
OF all human beings.
Pain. the low point Of the thermome-
ter. can he left behind. and left be-
hind permanently. There Is no logical
barrier to sucl a conclusion. II Is wholly
the faulty wisdom Of the first cropping
efforts OF the cerebrum Of man which
would affirm the %untenable idea that be-
cause pain exists 1t must therefore al
ways exist. or that because a certain
amount OF painful work makes for a full
Inner pail, the pail wouldn't be so full
or the mouth examining so enjoyable II
the work hadn't been so painful.
This Is rather spurious logic. 1t is as
much as TO say that by s~ubtractinS from
the amount OF water i'm a pitcher the
volume OF water will become greater. \
very secondary and short lived species
OF elation whloh suddenly arrives, like
a residual breath. when pain has
ceased, causes the superficial thinker 10
believe that his pleasure Is greater be-
cause his former pain was SO great
Herein is merely the wonderful restora-
tive and optimistic character OF human
nature. which constantly end either TO
forget pain or to idealize II and even
worship II.
Thus il is We nave the spectacle OF
a justification OF human misery par ey-
cellence. the European war n again,
with the sam old sophistry. pseudo
philosophy assures US hat pain is a
necessity. misery a virtue, lamentation
a sacred right and murder a religion.
How the heart calls for a real logi-
clan. a master mind, TO refute this
sickening bosh, this apostrophi2lng OF
evil, this utter confusion 81 speculation.
which amounts. after all is said and
done. merely to the profound conclusion
that happiness and misery or brother
hood aud murder aye one and the same
thing FRANKLIN HOPKINS.
New YORK, August %.