The Evolution of the Family

Abstract

We live in an age when the theory of evolution is being applied to all the phenomena of the universe. It is natural, therefore, that we should attempt to explain the sequence of the various forms of government by this hypothesis. Political science, although it is a favourite study in America, is not much regarded in England. We are, perhaps, too much absorbed in political practice to believe in the reality of political theory. Still it is probable that, as democracy advances, and as the necessity of educating the masses of our population in politics becomes more imperative, political science will claim a larger share of attention. This science is divided into two branches, the one deductive and speculative, the other inductive and historical. The Elements of Politics, by Professor Sidgwick, is perhaps the first attempt to treat the first division thoroughly and systematically in the English language. The writer essays, with more or less success, to trace every ramification of the perfect modern state, as it ought to be, based upon the theory of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. The second department has not yet been worked out, but there is no reason why this should not be done. Anyone who attempted it would have to separate the facts of government from all other social phenomena, and to seek to arrange them in such an order, proceeding from the more simple to the more complex, that he could arrive at some conclusion, more or less valid, as to the manner in which the state had been evolved and differentiated amongst human beings. Attempts have been made to effect this in isolated parts of the whole field.