Philosphy of History and Social Evolution

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1874. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... II. ORGANIC CHARACTERISTICS. Passions and instincts are the roots of individual and of social action. Bees swarm by instinct, seek for wax and honey in their daily rounds amongst the flowers, and build their honeycombs in a sheltered hive, wherever most conveniently situated. Other species of insects have different instincts, and obey these tendencies as fatally as an apple falls to the ground, or the earth moves round the sun in a predetermined orbit. Greater or lesser degrees pertain to each species. The spider has one sort of intellectual endowment, the ant-lion has another: one weaves a web to catch flies for his provision, the other delves a conical pit in fine sand for his unwary victims to fall into, but each of these operations denotes a particular kind of intellect to construct the snares intended to procure the prey the insects want to feed upon. These predacious instincts of small insects might be thought superior to the instincts of some of the higher animals, such as sheep, which seem almost devoid of intelligence beyond that of selecting food in accordance with the sense of taste; though, possibly, in a wild state, before their innate faculties have been blunted by artificial conditions, even sheep may know how and where to seek for the food which is by nature fitted for them. How far degrees of intelligence accompany various kinds of sensitivity or sensibility and instinct is not always easy to determine, even in the lowest polyps, such as the sea-anemone, while some degrees of intellect accompany the higher animals of all species, and still higher degrees of intellect belong to the innate instincts of mankind, even where the faculties of reason are undeveloped in individuals or in tribes. By faculties of reason, as distinct from intellect, we mea...