Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Development
APPENDIX B
ON 'SELECTION'
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THE various sorts of 'Selection' which it seems well to distinguish in different connections may be thrown together in the following table, the corresponding sections of the book (as far as there are such sections) being in each case given in brackets in the table beside the description: —
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| Selection* | ||
| Sort | Means | Result |
| 1,2 Natural Selection {I. (Darwin, Wallace, Spencer) [40]; II (Pfeffer) [40]. |
1. Struggle for Existence
(Darwin, Wallace). |
1. 'Survival of the Fittest' Individuals (Spencer). |
|---|---|---|
|
2. Inherent Weakness,
without Struggle. |
2. Destruction of Unfit Individuals | |
| 3. Germinal Selection (Weismann). | 3. Struggle of Germinal Elements | 3. Survival of Fittest Germinial Individuals |
| 4. Intra-Selection (Roux, Weismann, Delage). |
4. Struggle of Parts (Roux) | 4. Survival of Fittest Organs |
| 5. Functional Selection (Baldwin). | 5. Overproduction of
Movements (Bain, Spencer, Baldwin) |
5. Survival of Fittest Functions |
| 6. Organic Selection (Baldwin, Osborn, Lloyd Morgan ) [Appendix A]. |
6. Accommodation
(Baldwin); Individual Adaptation (Osborn); Modification (Lloyd Morgan). |
6. Survival of
Accommodating individuals. |
| 7. Artificial Selection (Darwin). | 7 Choice for Planting and for
Mating together. |
7. Reproduction of Desirable Individuals |
| 8. Personal Selection**[40] | 8. Choice | 8. Employment and Survival of Socially Available Individual |
| 9 Sexual Selection (Darwin) [40] |
9. Conscious Selection by
Courting, etc. |
9. Reproduction of Attractive Individuals. |
| 10 Social Selection**[40, 120] | 10. Social Competition of
Individuals and Groups with Natural Selection (Malthus, Darwin). |
10. Survival of Socially
Fittest Individuals and Groups |
| 11 Social Suppression**[38ff.] | 11. Suppression of Socially
Unfittest (by Law, Custom, etc.) |
11. Survival of the Socially Fit |
|
12 Imitative Selection** [40, 121,307] Social Generalization** [121, 310ff] |
12. Imitative Propogation
from Mind to Mind with Social Heredity |
12. Survival of Ideas |
| 13 Physiological Selection (Romanes) |
13. Infertility | 13. Survival of the Divergent |
| 14. Reproductive Selection (Pearson). |
14. Enhanced fertility | 14 Survival of the Most Fertile |
| * I am indebted to Professor
Lloyd Morgan for several suggestions utilized in the Table. ** Suggested in this work. |
||
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Certain remarks may be added to which I give numbers corresponding to those topics in the table to which they respectively relate:
4, 5, 6. By a singular coincidence M. Delage uses the phrase ' Selection organique' (Struct. du Protoplasma, etc., p. 732) to describe Roux' ' Struggle of the Parts'; inasmuch as I had used ' Organic Selection' (Ment. Devel., 1st ed. p. 174) for the similar concept which I now call ' Functional Selection' (5). Seeing that Weismann's ' IntraSelection' (4) was directly applied by him to his interpretation of Roux' ' Struggle,' Delage's phrase is not likely to have currency as a substitute for Intro-Selection. As 'Functional Selection' (5) is a special means of motor accommodation, it is additional (and in a sense, subordinate) to Intro-Selection, since it has a functional reference.
7, 8, 9. I do not give a separate heading to Professor Lloyd Morgan's phrase ' Conscious Selection,' since it will be seen that, as he uses it, i.e., in broad antithesis to ' Natural Selection,' it really includes all those special forms of selection in which a state of consciousness plays the selecting role[1] (7, 8, 9, 11, 12) ; it may become ambiguous in reference to cases where natural selection operates on mental and social variations (5, 6, 10) ; and even when applicable, as in sexual selection (9),[2] with respect to the ' means' of the selection, it is still ambiguous with respect to the I result I of the selection. This last ambiguity, which is brought out in the table (8, 9),[3] makes it desirable to confine the phrase' Conscious Selection' (if used at all) to cases which result in continuance of what is desirable for consciousness or thought. I have suggested 'Personal Selection' (8) for the selection by human personal choice, analogous to Sexual Selection (9) and to Romanes' ' Psychological Selection.' Furthermore, Darwin's ' Artificial Selection' should be used, as he used it, with reference only to securing results by induced mating (his ' Methodical' as opposed to his ' Unconscious' Selection).
10, 11, 12. In all the sorts of so-called 'selection,' considered as factors in progress from generation to generation, in which the laws of natural selection and physical reproduction do not operate together, I think it is extremely desirable that we discard the word 'selection'
(550) in toto, and give to each case a name which shall apply to it alone. The cases of the preservation of individuals and groups by reason of their social endowments do illustrate natural selection with physical reproduction, so I propose ' Social Selection' (10) for that. But in the instances in which either physical heredity is not operative (12), or in which it is not the only means of transmission (11), we cannot secure clearness without new terms; for these two cases I have suggested ' Social Suppression' (11) and ' Social Generalization' (12). The phrase ' Imitative Selection' is given in the table alternatively for the latter (12), seeing that the discussions of the topic usually employ the term ' Selection' and use the ' Natural Selection' analogy. ' Selection' may be used also when there is no reference to race-progress (and so no danger of misuse of the biological analogy) ; since it then means presumably the conscious choice' of psychology and of pre-Darwinian theory.[4]
