Yet already certain tendencies appear fairly clear. Governments tend
to become democratic, if we define democracy as "any form of
government in which the will of the people finds sovereign
expression." The tendency of society seems to be toward furnishing
all its members equality of opportunity to make the most of their
natural endowments. But if we are convinced that these statements
express even vaguely the tendency of human development in all its
past history, we are confident that these tendencies will continue
in the future for a period somewhat proportional to their time of
growth in the past. If we are wise, we try to make our own lives and
actions, and those of our fellows, conform to and advance them.
Otherwise our lives will be thrown away.
But if the theory of evolution be true, human history is only the
last page of the one history of all life. If we are to gain any
adequate, true, extensive view of human progress, we must read more
than this. We must take into account the history of man when he was
not yet man. And if we believe in the future continuance of
tendencies of a few centuries' growth, we shall rest assured of the
permanence of tendencies which have grown and strengthened through
the ages.
Our confidence in the results of historical study is therefore
proportioned to the extent and thoroughness of the experience which
they record, and to the time during which these laws can be proven
to have held good.
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