VII. THE EVOLUTIONARY VIEWPOINT
I have pointed out before that some of the older authors, like Gobineau, Klemm, Carus, Nott and Gliddon, assume characteristic mental differences between the races of man; and these have been revived by the growth of modern nationalism, with its exaggerated self-admiration of the Teutonic race, its Pan-slavism, and similar symptoms developing in other parts of the world; but these views are not supported by the results of unbiassed research.
There remains, however, one point of view to be considered, which might furnish a basis for investigation. The variety of forms in which the fundamental ideas occur were early correlated with general impressions regarding the degrees of civilization, and attention was directed to the recurrence of similar forms the world over, which appear to present an increasing degree of complexity of culture. This led anthropologists to the conclusion that the types of human culture represent an evolutionary series; that the primitive tribes of our times represent an older stage of cultural development, through which the more advanced types passed in earlier periods. If this is true, and if, furthermore, it could be shown that the single tribes develop independently, we might well say that those races must be less favorably developed in which earlier types of culture are found with great frequency, later developments rarely. I have referred to this possibility at another place (p. [125]). For this reason the theory of a uniform development of human civilization must be considered in our investigation of the relation between racial types and cultural progress. The investigations of Tylor and Bachofen, Morgan and Spencer, fixed the attention upon the data of anthropology as illustrating the gradual development and rise of civilization. The development of this side of anthropology was stimulated by the work of Darwin and his successors, and its fundamental ideas can be understood only as an application of the theory of biological evolution to mental phenomena. The conception that the manifestations of ethnic life represent a series, which from simple beginnings has progressed to the complex type of modern civilization, has been the underlying thought of this aspect of anthropological science.
The arguments in support of the theory that the development of civilization has followed a similar course everywhere, and that among primitive tribes we may still recognize the stages through which our own civilization has passed, are largely based on the similarities of types of culture found in distinct races the world over, but also on the occurrence of peculiar customs in our own civilization, which can be understood only as survivals (Tylor) of older customs, that had a deeper significance at an earlier time, and which are still found in full vigor among primitive people.
It is necessary to point out at least a few of the aspects of this general problem, in order to make clear the significance of the evolutionary theory of human civilization.
The social organization of primitive tribes shows similar traits in many different parts of the world. Instead of counting descent in the way we do, many tribes consider the child as a member only of its mother’s family, and count blood-relationship only in the maternal line, so that cousins on the mother’s side are considered as near relatives, while cousins on the father’s side are considered as only distantly related; other tribes have a strict paternal organization, so that the child belongs only to the father’s family, not to the mother’s; while still others follow the same principles as we adhere to, reckoning relationship in both directions. Connected with these customs is the selection of the domicile of the newly married couple, who sometimes reside with the wife’s tribe or family, sometimes with the man’s tribe or family. When the couple take up their residence with the social group to which the wife belongs, it is often found that the man is treated as a stranger until his first child is born. These phenomena have been made the subject of thorough studies, and the observation has been made that apparently the customs of residence and of descent are closely associated (Tylor). As a result of these inquiries, the conclusion has been drawn that everywhere maternal institutions precede paternal institutions, and that the social organization of mankind was such that originally perhaps no distinct family organization existed; that later on maternal institutions developed, which in turn were followed by paternal institutions, and again by the system of counting blood-relationship equally in maternal and paternal lines.
Similar results were obtained by the study of human inventions. It has been noted before that apes and monkeys sometimes use stones for defence, and in a way the artificial shelters of animals indicate the beginnings of invention. In this sense we may seek for the origin of implements and utensils among animals. In the earliest times when human remains appear on the surface of the earth, we find man using simple stone implements which are formed by rough chipping, but the multiplicity of forms of implements increases gradually. Since many implements may have been made of perishable materials, we are not able to tell whether at a very early time the implements and utensils used were really confined to the few stone objects that may now be recovered; but certainly the implements were few, and, comparatively speaking, simple. From this time on, the uses of fire, and of tools for cutting and striking, for scraping and perforating, have increased in number and complexity, and a gradual development may be traced from the simple tools of primitive man to the complex machinery of our times. The inventive genius of all races and of unnumbered individuals has contributed to the state of industrial perfection in which we find ourselves. On the whole, inventions once made have been kept with great tenacity, and, owing to incessant additions, the available resources of mankind have constantly been increased and multiplied.
An excellent example of the general theory of evolution of civilization is found in the theory of evolution of agriculture and of the domestication of animals as outlined by Otis T. Mason, W J McGee, and Hahn. They point out how, in the earliest beginnings of social life, animals, plants, and man lived together in a definite surrounding, and how, owing to the conditions of life, certain plants multiplied to the exclusion of others, and how certain animals were suffered in the neighborhood of the human camp. Through this condition of mutual sufferance and promotion of mutual interests, if I may use this term, a closer association between plants, animals, and man developed, which ultimately led to the beginnings of agriculture and to the actual domestication of animals.
Researches on art have led to similar results. Investigators have endeavored to show, that, since the cave-dwellers of France drew the outlines of the reindeer and mammoth on bone and antler, man has tried to reproduce in pictographic design the animals of the region in which he lived. In the artistic productions of many people, designs have been found which are readily associated with pictographic presentations, which, however, have lost their realism of form, and have become more and more conventional; so that in many cases a purely decorative motive has been interpreted as developed from a realistic pictograph gradually breaking up under the stress of æsthetic motives. The islands of the Pacific Ocean, New Guinea, South America, Central America, prehistoric Europe, have furnished examples for this line of development (see March, Haddon, Von den Steinen, Holmes), which therefore was recognized as one of the important tendencies of the evolution of human decorative art, which was described as beginning with realism, and as leading through symbolic conventionalism to purely æsthetic motives.