After Charles Darwin’s, “On the Origin of the Species” was published in 1859, thinkers saw the need to reconcile the idea of life evolving, human from animal, with the conventional understanding of mankind as God’s creation, superior and soul-bearing destined for life ever after.

As popular thinking slowly grasped the notion that survival in a changing world required adaptation, that only the fittest organisms would survive and thrive, unfair advantage was taken. Within the social milieu of the late 19th century western world, evolutionary thinking justified rampant social inequalities, unequal wealth distribution, as properly rewarding the most fit.

Such a philosophic stance produced an uneven playing field favoring ‘robber barons’ who undermined and swallowed up competition. Any sense of moral empathy for the harsh working conditions of the common laborer became subordinated to the pursuit of wealth despite the dictates of the Christian Church. Individualism became the rule; acquire what one could despite societal needs.

Within two decades, it became apparent that singular selfishness will lose out to a shared cooperative existence and that empathy, innate in the human animal, will produce stability. Morality and ethics are necessary components for mankind to realize life’s primary goal: a degree of happiness.

Not sure if the lessons are being learned.