...seen as entailing a profound transformation of the mere animal and enforcing a reversal of polarities. The practice of that which is ethically best — what...existence. In place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self- restraint; in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that the...

...suspicion that he was merely proposing a variant of evolutionary moral naturalism, he explained that 'the practice of that which is ethically best, what we call goodness or virtue ... is directed, not so much to the survival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible...

...shows us, Huxley pointed out, that nature is not the source of our ethics, but of their destruction: "The practice of that which is ethically best - what we call goodness or virtue," Huxley insisted, "in all respects, is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle...

...in Huxley's vision of that struggle in the final pages of Evolution and Ethics (1894: 82-83): . . . the practice of that which is ethically best - what we call goodness and virtue — involves a course of conduct which in all respects is opposed to that which leads to...

...depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it ... the practice of that which is ethically best - what...leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. Ethical nature may count upon having to reckon with a tenacious and powerful enemy as long as the world...

...warns, fittest has a "connotation of best; and about best there hangs a moral flavor." By contrast, "what we call goodness or virtue - involves a course...of ruthless selfassertion it demands self-restraint ... It repudiates the gladiatorial theory of existence."1 In private correspondence of March 1894,...

...association of social progress and evolution by natural selection, she is sympathetic to Huxley's sense that "what we call goodness or virtue [ . . . ] involves...leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence" (327). It will be seen, however, that Wharton locates in Darwin's claim for an evolved morality a wellspring...

...writes, "the practice of that which is ethically best . . . involves a course of conduct which ... is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic...demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside ... all competitors, it requires that the individual shall . . . help his fellows; its influence is...

...world. These are respectively the ethical and the cosmic. The practice of that which is ethically l>est involves a course of conduct which in all respects...; in place of thrusting aside or treading down all competition, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows ;...

...a tropical jungle. They, as the fittest, the best adapted to the changed conditions, would survive. The practice of that which is ethically best — what...leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence I u place of ruthless self-assertion, it demands self-restraint ; in place of thrusting aside, or treading...