3. IMPORTANCE OF PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT.
Man not only thinks but he thinks progressively. The average horse of to-day, for example, is probably no more intelligent than was the average equine of the time of Alexander the Great, whose war horse, Bucephalus, attained historical fame. Yet, intellectually, the average man of to-day is far above the average man of Alexander’s time. “Horse-knowledge” is more or less stationary. Through instinct each generation makes use of the knowledge of its ancestors without any noticeable accretions. But “man-knowledge” is a growing product of progressive thought. Man appropriates all the knowledge of his forbears, and then adds to this a bit of his own. By being able to think progressively, man is enabled to stand upon the shoulders of his ancestors and thus to take advantage of a broader vision.
We are now led to the conclusion that man’s supremacyis due not only to his ability to think, but to his power of progressive thought.