nor by the speculative writers, but by the philosophers. They alone were upon the main track of modern thought."[1]
Thus the early prophecy of philosophy became later the triumph of science. But it is not what philosophy has contributed to science but rather the influence which science in its doctrine of evolution has exerted upon philosophical thought that is to be my theme on this occasion. This influence has been both various and significant. To Darwin and the Darwinian discussion, philosophy owes the rise of genetic psychology, genetic logic, the evolutionary theory of ethics, the historical study of religion and of our institutional life, both political and social. A new interest and meaning have been given to the philosophy of nature, and particularly to the question of man's place in the cosmos, and his relations to the animal world of which he is a part and to which he is kin. The Origin of Species carried with it a challenge, to investigate the origin of all our philosophical concepts, and assess them at their sources.
The first and most obvious questions of a philosophical nature, however, which were suggested by the Darwinian hypothesis and subsequent controversy, have either been answered according to a general consensus of opinion, or else the interest in them has abated because other more pertinent and significant problems have claimed their place.
I have particularly in mind three problems which have been subjected to the fiery trial of heated discussion, but which have been superseded each in turn by others, suggested by a clearer and more penetrating appreciation of the central issues involved.
I would designate these more significant issues as they present themselves to the philosophical thought of the day—problems of the second order—second however not in importance, but second in the sense of their having displaced the earlier and less discerning lines of inquiry.
The questions of a philosophical nature which were precipitated by the Darwinian doctrines were as follows :
I. The first we may regard as a special case of the origin of species—What is man? Has he a common ancestry with the
- ↑ P. 87.
