American Social Problems; An Introduction to the Study of Society

Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III The Life Of The Past I. Universal evolution 1. The work of Spencer 2. The evolution of worlds 3. Biological evolution 4. Mental evolution 5. Social evolution II. Life of primitive man 1. Sources of knowledge 2. Neanderthal man 3. Early characteristics III. Achievements of the past 1. The process of invention 2. Examples: textit{a. Tools and implements textit{b. Discovery of fire textit{c. Domestication of animals textit{d. Agriculture textit{e. Clothing /. Language Universal Evolution. — We have seen how Darwin worked out the theory of evolution in biology. It was left for another great Englishman, Herbert Spen- The work of cer, to show that not only have animal species sPencer come to be what they are by a slow, gradual development, but that nearly everything else in nature has, for centuries, been undergoing a slow but persistent change. Thus,the process of evolution applies to inanimate objects such as the rocks in the earth's crust which have not always been as we know them to-day. Again, that which is intangible, like our human intelligence, our moral code or our great social institution of the state, has not suddenly come into being but has slowly developed from most humble beginnings. Nothing is fixed or final, however permanent it may seem. The slowness of the change makes the development difficult to perceive. This conception of universal evolution Spencer developed in his " Synthetic Philosophy," a monumental work consisting of volumes on various related subjects. Those on sociology marked the beginning of a modern, scientific study of society. There are four phases of universal evolution, — (i) world, (2) biological, (3) mental and (4) social. Cosmic or world evolution deals with the development of...