 |
 |
 |
|
|
|---|
|
E.D.Cope, A.M., Ph.D. (Heidelberg)
Macmillan, 1887,
pp.154-164.
Rationale of the Development of Intelligence
The history of material development shows that the
transition from stage to stage of development; experienced by the most perfect
forms of animals and plants in their growth from the primordial cell, is
similar to the succession of created beings which the geological epochs
produced. It also shows that the slow assumption of main characters in the line
of succession in early geological periods produced the condition of
inferiority, while an increased rapidity of growth in later days has resulted
in an attainment of superiority. It is not to be supposed that in
“acceleration.” the period of growth is shortened; on the contrary,
it continues the same. Of two beings whose characters are assumed at the same
rate of succession, that with the quickest or shortest growth is necessarily
inferior. “Acceleration” means a gradual increase of the rate of
assumption of successive characters in the same period of time. A fixed rate of
assumption of characters, with gradual increase in the length of the period of
growth, would produce the same result—viz., & longer developmental
scale and the attainment of an advanced position. The first is in part the
relation of sexes of a species; the last of genera, and of other types of
creation. If from an observed relation of many facts we derive a law, we are
permitted, when we see in another class of facts similar relations, to suspect
that asimilar law has operated, differing only in its objects. We find a marked
resemblance between the facts of structural progress in matter and the
phenomena of intellectual and spiritual progress.
If the facts entering into the categories enumerated in
the preceding section bear us out, we conclude that in the beginning of human
history the progress of the individual man was very slow, and that but little
was attained to; that, through the profitable direction of human energy, means
were discovered from time to time by which the process of individual
development in all metaphysical qualities has been accelerated ; and. that up
to the present time the consequent advance of the whole race has been at an
increasing rate of progress. This is in accordance with the general principle,
that high development in intellectual things is accomplished by rapidity in
traversing the preliminary stages of inferiority common to all, while low
development signifies sluggishness in that progress, and a corresponding
retention of inferiority.
How much meaning may we not see, from this standpoint, in the history of
the intelligence of our little ones! First they crawl, they walk on all-fours;
when, they first assume the erect position they are generally speechless, and
utter only inarticulate sounds. When they run about, stones and dirt, the
objects that first meet the eye, are the delight of their awakening powers; but
these are all cast aside when the boy obtains his first jackknife. Soon,
however, reading and writing open a new world to him; and, finally, as a mature
man he seizes the forces of Nature, and steam and electricity do his bidding in
the active pursuit of power for still better and higher ends.
So with the history of the species: first, the
quadrumane; then the speaking man, whose humble industry was, however, confined
to the objects that came first to hand, this being the “stone age” of
pre-historic time. When the use of metals was discovered, the range of
industries expanded wonderfully, and the “iron age ”saw many striking
efforts of human power. With the introduction of letters it became possible to
record events and experiences, and the spread of knowledge was thereby greatly
increased, and the delays and mistakes of ignorance correspondingly diminished
in the fields of the world’s activity.
From the first we see in history a slow advance as
knowledge gained by the accumulation of tradition and by improvements in habit
based on experience; but how slow was this advance while the use of the metals
was still unknown ! The iron age brought with it not only new conveniences, but
increased means of future progress ; and here we have an acceleration in the
rate of advance. With the introduction of letters this rate was increased
manifold, and in the application of steam we have a change equal in utility to
any that has preceded it, and adding to the possibilities of future advance in
many directions. By it power, knowledge, and means of happiness were to be
distributed among the many.
The uses to which human intelligence has successively
applied the materials furnished by Nature have been—first, subsistence and
defense; second, the accumulation of power in the shape of a representative of
that labor which, the use of matter involves—in other words, the
accumulation of wealth. The possession of this power involves new
possibilities, for opportunity is offered for the special pursuits of knowledge
and the assistance of the weak or undeveloped part of mankind in its struggles.
Thus, while the first men possessed the power of speech, and could
advance a little in knowledge through the accumulation of the experiences of
their predecessors, they possessed no means of accumulating the power of labor,
no control over the activity of numbers—in other words, no wealth.
But the accumulation of knowledge finally brought this advance about.
The extraction and utilization of the metals, especially iron, formed the most
important step, since labor was thus facilitated and its productiveness
increased in an incalculable degree. We have little evidence of the existence
of a medium of exchange during the first or stone period, and no doubt barter
was the only form of trade. Before the use of metals, shells and other objects
were used : remains of money of baked clay have been found in Mexico. Finally,
though in still ancient times, the possession of wealth in money gradually
became possible and more common, and from that day to this avenues for reaching
this stage in social progress have ever been opening.
But wealth merely indicates a stage of progress, since it is but a
comparative term. All men could not become rich, for in that case all would be
equally poor. But labor has a still higher goal; for, thirdly, as capital, it
constructs and employs machinery, which does the work of many hands, and thus
cheapens products, which is equivalent in effect to an accumulation of wealth
to the consumer. And this increase of power may be used for the intellectual
and spiritual advance of men, or, otherwise, at the will of the men thus
favored. Machinery places man in the position of a creator, operating on Nature
throughan increased number of “secondary causes.”
Development of intelligence is seen, then, in the following directions:
First, in the knowledge of facts, including science; second, in language; and,
as consequences of these, the accumulation of power by development—first,
of means of subsistence; and, second, of mechanical invention; and, third, in
the apprehension of beauty.
Thus, we have two terms to start with in estimating the
beginning of human development in knowledge and power : first, the primary
capacities of the human mind itself; second, a material world, whose infinitely
varied components are so arranged as to yield results to the energies of that
mind. For example, the transition-points of vaporization and liquefaction are
so placed as to be within the reach of man’s agents ; their weights are so
fixed as to accord with the muscular or other forces which he is able to exert;
and other living organizations are subject to his convenience and rule, and
not, as in previous geological periods, entirely beyond his control. These two
terms being given, it is maintained that the present situation of the most
civilized men has been attained through the operation of a law of mutual action
and reaction—a law whose results, seen at the present time, have depended
on the acceleration or retardation of its rate of action; which rate has been
regulated, according to the degree in which a third great term, viz., the law
of moral or (what is the same thing) true religious development, has been
combined in the plan. What it is necessary to establish, in order to prove the
above hypothesis is—
I. That in each of the particulars above enumerated the
development of the human species is similar to that of the individual from
infancy to maturity.
II. That from a condition of subserviency to the laws of
matter, man’s intelligence enables him, by an accumulation of power, to
become in a sense independent of those laws, and to pursue a course of
intellectual and spiritual progress.
III. That failure to accomplish a moral or spiritual
development will again reduce him to a subserviency to the laws of matter.
This brings us to the subject or moral development. And
here I may be allowed to suggest that the weight of the evidence is opposed to
the philosophy, “falsely so called,” of necessitarianism, which
asserts that the first two terms alone were sufficient to work out man’s
salvation in this world and the next; and, on the other hand, to that
anti-philosophy which asserts that all things in human progress, intellectual
and moral, are regulated by immediate divine interposition instead of through
instrumentalities. Hence, the subject divides itself at once into two great
departments—viz., that of the development of mind or intelligence, and
that of the development of morality.
That these laws are distinct, there can be no doubt,
since in the individual man one of them may produce results without the aid of
the.other. Yet it can be shown that each is the most invaluable aid and
stimulant to the other, and most favorable to the rapid advance of the mind in
either direction.
Spiritual or Moral Development
In examining this subject, we first inquire (Section a) whether there is
any connection between physical and moral or religious development: then
(b), what indications of moral development may be derived from history.
Finally (c), a correlation of the results of these inquiries, with the
nature of the religious development in the individual, is attempted. Of course
in so stupendous an inquiry but a few leading points can be presented here.
If it be true that the period of human existence on the
earth has seen a gradually increasing predominance of higher motives over lower
ones among the mass of mankind, and if any parts of our metaphysical being have
been derived by inheritance from pre-existent beings, we are incited to the
inquiry whether any of the moral qualities are included among the latter; and
whether there be any resemblance between moral and intellectual development.
Thus, if there have been a physical derivation from a
pre-existent genus, and an embryonic condition of those physical characters
which distinguish Homo—if there has been also an embryonic or infantile
stage in intellectual qualities—we are led to inquire whether the
development of the individual in moral nature will furnish us with a standard
of estimation of the successive conditions or present relations of the human
species in this aspect also.
a. Relations of Physical and Moral Nature.
Although, cæsteris paribus, men are much
alike in the deeper qualities of their nature, there is a range of variation
which is best understood by a consideration of the extremes of such variation
as seen in men of different latitudes, and women and children.
(a) In Children.—Youth is distinguished by a
peculiarity, which no doubt depends upon an immature condition of the nervous
center concerned, which might be called nervous impressibility. It is
exhibited in a greater tendency to tearfulness, in timidity, less mental
endurance, a greater facility in acquiring knowledge, and more ready
susceptibility to the influence of sights, sounds, and sensations. In both
sexes the emotional nature predominates over the intelligence and judgment. In
those years the character is said to be in embryo, and theologians, in
using the phrase, “reaching years of religions understanding,” mean
that in early years the religious capacities undergo development
coincidentally with those of the body.
(b) In Women—If we examine the metaphysical characteristics
of women, we observe two classes of traits—namely, those which are also
found in men, and those which are absent or but weakly developed in men. Those
of the first class are very similar in essential nature to those which men
exhibit at an early stage of development. This may be in some way related to
the fact that physical maturity occurs earlier in women.
The gentler sex is characterized by a greater
impressibility, often seen in the influence exercised by a stronger character,
as well as by music, color, or spectacle generally; warmth of emotion,
submission to its influence rather than that of logic; timidity and
irregularity of action in the outer world. All these qualities belong to the
male sex, as a general rule, at some period of life, though different
individuals lose them at very various periods. Ruggedness and sternness may
rarely be developed in infancy, yet at some still prior time they certainly do
not exist in any.
Probably most men can recollect some early period of
their lives when the emotional nature predominated—a time when emotion at
the sight of suffering was more easily stirred than in maturer years. I do not
now allude to the benevolence inspired, kept alive, or developed by the
influence of the Christian religion on the heart, but rather to that which
belongs to the natural man. Perhaps all men can recall a period of youth when
they were hero-worshipers—when they felt the need of a stronger arm, and
loved to look up to the powerful friend who could sympathize with and aid them.
This is the “ woman stage” of character: in a large number of cases
it is early passed; in some it lasts longer; while in a very few men it
persists through life. Severe discipline and labor are unfavorable to its
persistence. Luxury preserves its bad qualities without its good, while
Christianity preserves its good elements without its bad.
It is not designed to say that woman in her emotional
nature does not differ from the undeveloped man. On the contrary, though she
does not differ in kind, she differs greatly in degree, for her qualities grow
with her growth, and exceed in power many fold those exhibited by her
companion at the original point of departure. Hence, since it might be said
that man is the undeveloped woman, a word of explanation will be useful.
Embryonic types abound in the fields of nature, but they are not therefore
immature in the usual sense. Maintaining the lower essential quality, they yet
exhibit the usual results of growth in individual characters; that is, increase
of strength, powers of support and protection, size and beauty. In order to
maintain that the masculine character coincides with that of the undeveloped
woman, it would be necessary to show that the latter during her infancy
possesses the male characters predominating—that is unimpressibility,
judgment, physical courage, and the like.
If we look at the second class of female
characters—namely, those which are imperfectly developed or absent in men,
and in respect to which man may be called undeveloped woman—we note three
prominent points: facility in language, tact or finesse, and the love of
children. The first two appear to me to be altogether developed results of
“impressibility,” already considered as an indication of immaturity.
Imagination is also a quality of impressibility, and, associated with finesse,
is apt to degenerate into duplicity and untruthfulness—a peculiarity more
natural to women than men.
The third quality is different. It generally appears at
a very early period of life. Who does not know how soon the little girl selects
the doll, and the boy the toy-horse or machine? Here man truly never gets
beyond undeveloped woman. Nevertheless, “impressibility” seems to
have a great deal to do with this quality also.
Thus the metaphysical relation of the sexes would appear
to be one of inexact parallelism, as defined in Section I. That the
physical relation is a remote one of the same kind, several characters seem to
point out. The case of the vocal organs will suffice. Their structure is
identical in both sexes in early youth, and both produce nearly similar sounds.
They remain in this condition in the woman, while they undergo a metamorphosis
and change both in structure and vocal power in the man. In the same way, in
many of the lower creation, the females possess a majority of embryonic
features, though not invariably. A common example is to be found in the plumage
of birds, where the females and young males are often midistinguishable.(1) But
there are a few points in the physical structure of man also in which the male
condition is the immature one. In regard to structure, the point at which the
relation between the sexes is that of exact parallelism, or where the
mature condition of the one sex accords with the undeveloped condition of the
other, is when reproduction is no longer accomplished by budding or gemmation,
but requires distinct organs. Metaphysically, this relation is to be found
where distinct individuality of the sexes first appears; that is, where we pass
from the hermaphrodite to the bisexual condition.
But let us put the whole interpretation on this partial
undevelopment of woman.
The types or conditions of organic life which have been
the most prominent in the world’s history—the Ganoids of the first,
the Dinosaurs of the second, and the Mammoths of the third period—have
generally died with their day. The line of succession has not been from them.
The law of anatomy and paleontology is, that we must seek the point of
departure of the type which is to predominate in the future, at lower stages on
the line, in less decided forms, or in what, in scientific parlance, are called
generalized types. In the same way, though the adults of the tailless apes are
in a physical sense more highly developed, than their young, yet the latter far
more closely resemble the human species in their large facial angle and
shortened jaws.
How much significance, then, is added to the law uttered
by Christ! — “Except ye become as little children, ye can not enter
the kingdom of heaven,” Submission of will, loving trust, confiding
faith—these belong to the child: how strange they appear to the executing,
commanding, reasoning man! Are they so strange to the woman? We all know the
answer. Woman is nearer to the point of departure of that development which
outlives time and peoples heaven; and if man would find it, he must retrace his
steps, regain something he lost in youth, and join to the powers and energies
of his character the submission, love and faith which the new birth alone can
give.
Thus the summing up of the metaphysical qualities of
woman would be thus expressed : In the emotional world, man’s superior; in
the moral world, his equal; in the laboring world, his inferior.
There are, however, vast differences in women in respect
to the number of masculine traits they may have assumed before being determined
into their own special development, Woman also, under the influence of
necessity, in later years of life, may add more or less to those qualities in
her which are fully developed in the man.
The relation of these facts to the principles stated as
the two opposing laws of development is, it appears to me, to be explained thus
; First, that woman’s most inherent peculiarities are not the
result of the external circumstances with which she has been placed in contact,
as the conflict theory would indicate. Such circumstances are said to be
her involuntary subserviency to the physically more powerful man. and the
effect of a compulsory mode of life in preventing her from attaining a position
of equality in the activities of the world. Second, that they are the
result of the different distributions of qualities as already indicated by the
harmonic theory of development; that is, of the unequal possession of
features which belong to different periods in the developmental succession of
the highest. There is then another beautiful harmony which will ever remain,
let the development of each sex be extended as far as it may.
(c) In Men.—If we look at the male sex, we
shall find various exceptional approximations to the female in mental
constitution. Further, there can be little doubt that in the Indo-European race
maturity in some respects appears earlier in tropical than in northern regions
; and though subject to many exceptions, this is sufficiently general to be
looked upon as a rule. Accordingly, we find in that race—at least in the
warmer regions of Europe and America—a larger proportion of certain
qualities which are more universal in women; as greater activity of the
emotional nature when compared with the judgment; an impressibility of the
nervous center, which, cæteris paribus, appreciates quickly the
harmonies of sound, form, and color : answers most quickly to the friendly
greeting or the hostile menace; is more careless of consequences in the
material expression of generosity or hatred, and more indifferent to truth
under the influence of personal relations.
The movements of the body and expressions of the
countenance answer to the temperament. More of grace and elegance in the
bearing marks the Greek, the Italian, and the Creole, than the German, the
Englishman, or the Green Mountain man. More of vivacity and fire, for better or
for worse, is displayed m the countenance.
Perhaps the more northern type left all that behind in
its youth. The rugged, angular character which appreciates force better than
harmony, the strong intellect which delights in forethought and calculation,
the less impressibility, reaching stolidity in the uneducated, are its
well-known traits. If there be in such a character less generosity and but
little chivalry, there is persistency and unwavering fidelity, not readily
obscured by the lightning of passion or the surmises of an active imagination.
All these peculiarities appear to result, first,
from different degrees of quickness and depth in appreciating impressions from
without; and, second, from differing degrees of attention to the
intelligent judgment in consequent action. (I leave conscience out, as not
belonging to the category of inherited qualities.)
The above observations have been confined to the
Indo-European race. It may be objected to the theory that savagery means
immaturity in the senses above described, as dependent largely on
“impressibility,” while savages in general display the least
“impressibility,” as that word is generally understood. This can not
be asserted of the Africans, who, so far as we know them, possess this
peculiarity in a high degree. Moreover, it must “be remembered that the
state of indifference which precedes that of impressibility in the individual
may characterize many savages; while their varied peculiarities may be largely
accounted for by recollecting that many combinations of different species of
emotion and kinds of intelligence go to make up the complete result in each
case.
(d) Conclusions.—Three types of religion may
be selected from the developmental conditions of man : first, an absence of
sensibility (early infancy) : second, an emotional stage more productive of
faith than of works; thirdly, an intellectual type, more favorable to works
than faith. Though in regard to responsibility these states may be equal, there
is absolutely no gain to laboring humanity from the first type, and a serious
loss in actual results from the second, taken alone, as compared with the
third.
These, then, are the physical vehicles of religion—if the
phrase may be allowed—which give character and tone to the deeper
spiritual life, as the color of the transparent vessel is communicated to the
light which radiates from within.
But if evolution has taken place, there is evidently a
provision for the progress from the lower to the higher states, either in the
education of circumstances (“conflict ”) or in the power of an
interior spiritual influence (“harmony”), or both.
Note
1. Meehan states that the upper limbs and strong
laterals in Coniferæ and other trees produce female flowers and cones,
and the lower and more interior branches the male flowers. He calls the former
condition one of greater “vigor,” and the latter one of
“weakness,” and argues that the vigorous condition of growth produces
females, and the weaker males. What he points out, however, is in harmony with
the position here maintained—namely, that the female characters include
more of those which are embryonic in the males than the male characters include
of those which are embryonic in the female: the female flowers are the product
of the younger and more growing portions of the tree—that is, those last
produced (the upper limbs and new branches)—while the male flowers are
produced by the older or more mature portions—that is, lower limbs or more
axial regions. Further, we are not accustomed to regard the condition of rapid
growth as that of great vigor in animals, but rather ascribe that quality to
maturity, after such growth has ceased.
Meehan’s observations coincide with those of Thury
and others on the origin of sexes in animals and plants, which it appears to me
admit of a similar explanation.
Follow @JohnWijngaards
Join our Women Priests' Mailing List
for occasional newsletters:
An email will be immediately sent to you
requesting your confirmation.
Please, credit this document
as published by www.womenpriests.org!