“Kultur”- Applied Evolution Notes of an Address Given at Bible Intitute of Los Angeles tke Past Summer, Düring Bible Conference Bÿ PROF. HOWARD W. KELLOGG Formerly of Occidental College
m u st go to war, the ruthlessness w ith which such w ar was to be waged and had even revealed th e philosophic back ground, upon which his reasoning depended. Back of him lie von T reit- schke and Nietzsche. B u t th is is merely to sh ift responsibility from individual to individual. W here does th e phil osophy of these men classify? W ith w h at o ther phases of th is philosophy are we fam iliar and w hat o ther con clusions th a n those justify ing w ar are inevitable? Unerringly we are confronted by cer ta in trade-w ords as it were— “E lim in ation ,” “ survival of the fittest,” “Evo lution of th e Superm an,” “N atu ral se lection.” W ithou t th e scaffolding furnished by Darwin, Spencer and Haeckel th is mon strosity of thinking could never have bu ilt its pinnacles of shame. Biolog ical necessity justifies w ar and all th e hideousness of its demoniacal frig h t fulness. i Mugge in his book on F ried rich Nietzsche states Nietzsche’s positions as follows: 1. The world is am oral, (th a t is non- m oral) w ithou t goal or purpose,— an artistic phenomenon. 2. Mankind has no goal either. But a goal is of value— artistic value. Therefore we assume a goal— th e sup erman. 3. Every religion or system which delays the coming of th e superman must be^ abolished. Only the moral code of strong and m asterfu l men is compatible w ith th e tru e aims of life.
N th e first sentence of the book, “Conquest and Kul- tu r ,” Guy S tanton Ford says, “The present w ar is in th e la st analysis a w ar between ideals, and thu s between th e peoples who
uphold them .” In America, our th ink ing had long been done in an atmosphere charged w ith pacifism and w ith th e fatuous hope th a t men would soon realize : th eir brotherhood. On th e b reaking ou t of th e war, our feeling for long was th a t of onlookers not a little annoyed th a t, th e world-neighborhood should be dis tu rb ed by a braw l in th e alley, we were too dignified, if no t too proud to fight, and we felt th a t all would soon be well — a t least when the parties had become sober. We could no t conceive th a t a nation should deliberately choose w ar and our sp irit of fairness insisted th a t no meddling should be done. Slowly, iaga|inst every instinct, we were convinced th a t th e w ar was not an accident, th a t it was deliberately planned and th a t to our own nation had been assigned a part, th a t of paying the expenses when all was over. The program was so absurd th a t it must somehow be accounted for. In w h at condition of m ind could men com ceive of such an enorm ity? And then th e lite ra tu re of Germany was ques tioned and th ere th e whole plot stood revealed. W ith brazen effrontery B ernhardi in his book, “Germany and th e next W ar,” had outlined th e reasons why Germany
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