Excerpt from The Development of Western Civilization: A Study in Ethical Economic and Political Evolution Lest some readers may receive the impression that my view Of society is materialistic, I desire to say that it is not. I am con cerned here only with the problem of social evolution. The origin of the universe, the final destiny of the individual, the possibility Of new light from a supranatural world, are problems which do not concern this inquiry. This last, at least, depends on a social development until some fulness of time is reached. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.