In order to bring this doctrine into better relief, it may be well to contrast it superficially with the Darwinian theory of transformation.  In general, Hegel’s doctrine is a concept of value, Darwin’s is not.  What Darwinians mean by evolution is not an unfolding of the past, a progressive development of a hierarchy of phases, in which the later is superior and organically related to the earlier.  No sufficient criterion is provided by them for evaluating the various stages in the course of an evolutionary process.  The biologist’s world would probably have been just as rational if the famous ape-like progenitor of man had chanced to become his offspring-assuming an original environment favorable for such transformation.  Some criterion besides the mere external and accidental “struggle for existence” and “survival of the fittest” must be furnished to account for a progressive evolution.  Does the phrase “survival of the fittest” say much more than that those who happen to survive are the fittest, or that their survival proves their fitness?  But that survival itself is valuable:  that it is better to be alive than dead; that existence has a value other than itself; that what comes later in the history of the race or of the universe is an advance over what went before-that, in a word, the world is subject to an immanent development, only a comprehensive and systematic philosophy can attempt to show.

The task of Hegel’s whole philosophy consists in showing, by means of one uniform principle, that the world manifests everywhere a genuine evolution.  Unlike the participants in the biological “struggle for existence,” the struggling beings of Hegel’s universe never end in slaying, but in reconciliation.  Their very struggle gives birth to a new being which includes them, and this being is “higher” in the scale of existence, because it represents the preservation of two mutually opposed beings.  Only where conflicts are adjusted, oppositions overcome, negations removed, is there advance, in Hegel’s sense; and only where there is a passage from the positive through its challenging negative to a higher form inclusive of both is there a case of real development.

The ordinary process of learning by experience illustrates somewhat Hegel’s meaning.  An individual finds himself, for instance, in the presence of a wholly new situation that elicits an immediate, definite reaction.  In his ignorance, he chooses the wrong mode of behavior.  As a consequence, trouble ensues; feelings are hurt, pride is wounded, motives are misconstrued.  Embittered and disappointed with himself, he experiences great mental sorrow.  But he soon learns to see the situation in its true light; he condemns his deed and offers to make amends.  And after the wounds begin to heal again, the inner struggles experienced commence to assume a positive worth.  They have led him to a deeper insight into his own motives, to a better self-comprehension.  And he finally