Chapter IX

THE RELATION OF EVOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.

The difficulty of the problem--The light on it by evolution--
Evil must be based on the constitution of Nature and therefore
universal--Some of its forms 365

(1) _Physical evil in animal kingdom_--Condition of organic
evolution is struggle with an apparently inimical environment
--In its course it seems evil--Looking back from the end it
is good. 365

(2) _Physical evil in relation to man_--Necessary condition
of social evolution is also struggle with a seeming evil
environment--But looking back from the end this evil is also
seen to be good--Without it man would never have emerged from
animality. 366

(3) _Organic evil--Disease_--This also is the necessary
condition of acquisition of knowledge of organic Nature--In
the course of evolution it seems evil, but from the end it is
seen to be good--In the physical world, laws of Nature are
beneficent in their general operation, and only evil in their
specific operation through our ignorance. 367

(4) _Moral evil--Moral disease_--Difference between this
and other forms of evil--Can this also be transmuted into
good?--This is only the highest form of evil, and therefore
subject to the same laws of evolution--Here also elevation
comes only through knowledge and power, and these only through
struggle with apparent evil--In course it seems evil,
looking back from end it is seen to be good to the race--
In all, therefore, the individual is sacrificed to the race,
but impossible here--A way of escape found in the nature of
a moral being--In this case not only final victory for the
race, but also within the power of the individual--In this
case success is in proportion to honest effort in right spirit
--Roots, of evil in the necessary law of evolution--It is
the necessary condition of all progress--Without it a moral
being is impossible--From philosophic point of view things
are not good and evil, but only higher and lower--All things
good in their places--Evil is discord--Good is due relation
--Action and reaction of higher and lower is the necessary
condition of true virtue 369