Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/507

 THE RA CE-PRESER VA TION DOGMA 49 "

In reality, the preservation of the species is the natural result of the actions of individuals — it is the preservation of the indi- viduals themselves, in their efforts, be it noticed, to preserve themselves, not the race. It is evident enough that if the individual be preserved the species will be preserved ; that the individual endeavors to preserve himself, and is aware of this effort and its aim ; that he neither thinks, nor is there any reason why he should think, of the future prosperity and development of the race ; and that in all his actions no springs can be dis- cerned that do not relate to present welfare. I do not see why the tendency to preserve the race, rather than the individual's tendency to preserve himself, should be given as an ultimate pos- tulate. And the latter tendency is not only a postulate, but an experiential truth : the individual desires to live and be prosper- ous, and he lives and is prosperous; and from this the preservation and prosperity of the race naturally follow. That every individ- ual must conform to the requirements of other individuals, no one will dispute ; but this conformity is a means to his own hap- piness, which is the final end of all his actions. And we may go farther and say that the preservation of the individual is not yet the ultimate term of reduction ; for deeper still we find the feelings of pleasure and pain, upon which the preservation of the individual, as well as of the race, depends, and in which all pros- perity consists. Pleasure and pain, as is well known, are the only ultimate facts of hedonism ; and a hedonism that admits other ultimate facts, or "postulates," appears to me to be incon- sistent.

We must now approach the subject from a more delicate point of view. I refer to those phenomena bearing directly on the perpetuation of the race, especially the function of reproduc- tion and the rearing of offspring. It is customary to speak of an "instinct" of self-preservation and an "instinct" of race- preservation ; and, as the latter is often identified with sexual appetite, a few remarks on this subject may not be out of place.

By an instinct seems to be meant a conscious, but not cogniz- ing or purposive, adaptation of an animal's acts to its environment, or the animal's capability of thus acting; the conscious element