 Alexander’s ethical system is a kind of evolutionary ethics, akin to that of Leslie Stephen. By applying evolution to ethics, Alexander explains that one can mean either the mere integration of the biological into the ethical sphere, or treating morals as one part of a comprehensive view of the universe, in which a steady development from the lower to the higher can be observed, a development which follows the law of the survival of the fittest (Alexander 1889: 14). Alexander, of course, means both. He emphasises that while his ethical system, based on the organic nature of society, is due in part to the influence of the biological sciences, it would be an “entire misapprehension” to think that it were entirely due to this influence; his views are also the result of progress in ethics and politics (Alexander 1889: 7–8).