Darwin then admits, and even goes out of his way to prove that pleasure exceeds suffering in the living world. Yet he does not underestimate the role of pain in life; his objection is
Dr. Edwin Grant Conklin, a famous evolutionist, when he says: "If a man is the result of unintelligent forces and processes; … if men are born by millions only to be swept away by flood, famine, pestilence, and war; if they live and die like the beasts and leave only their bones and implements behind; if suffering and struggle are purposeless and lead to nothing—if this really were the teaching of evolution, then certainly it would be true that evolution debases man and destroys the hopes of mankind. But this is not true and it is not the teaching of evolution, but rather of pessimism and atheism.
"The blighting influence of atheism (with which Dr. Conklin seems to include agnosticism) is shown in just such conclusions as those mentioned, for it substitutes blind chance and necessity for plan and purpose, both in nature and in human life. If there is no teleology in nature, the course of evolution leading to man and to consciousness is the result of blind and blundering accident. If there is no purpose or value in human labor and suffering, life is not worth living."
It is such rhetorical generalizations as this, made by men who plainly know next to nothing about either atheism or agnosticism; who mistake prejudice for fact; who set up scarecrows of their own half superstitious imaginations for the joy of shooting them down; who even appear unable to separate two into one and one,—it is such generalizations, broadcasted from public platforms and university chairs, that help make clear thinking almost an impossibility in college "educated" circles. Indeed, those men almost make us admit the truth of their bugaboo picture as to the worthlessness of humanity, and agree with another biologist who has said that. "The evolution of consciousness is the greatest blunder in the universe." Surely no earthworm would tie himself into such a knot as does Dr. Conklin—and then be proud of it. C.L.F.
