在现代文化中，那些自以为意志坚强而又讲究实际的人，容易把人性的自私视为平常，把人生想当然地看作适者生存的斗场，这些人既包括有影响力的政客和商人，又包括才智平平的野心家和活动家。根据这种人生观，人类不论具有多么文明的外表，要想生存，他所依赖的基本法则就是弱肉强食的森林法则。所谓“适者”就是那些能够把超级的力量，绝顶的狡猾和彻底的无情用到斗场中来的人。
这种适者生存哲学的泛滥，使那些在个人比拼，企业竞争和国际交往中自私而无情的人，以遵循自然法则为由，寻求到了良心上的安慰。但是，如果能够公正无私地观察，那么就有资格质问：老虎的残忍，猿猴的狡猾，深林里服从弱肉强食法则的一切动物行为，是否都可以作为人类的适者生存法则的实际证据呢？
英文鉴赏
The Law of the Jungle
People in our culture who like to think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic, including influential political leaders and businessmen as well as go-getters and hustlers of smaller caliber, tend to take it for granted that human nature is “selfish”and that life is a struggle in which only the fittest may survive. According to the philosophy, the basic law by which man must live, in spite of his surface veneer of civilization, is the law of the jungle. The “fittest”are those who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior cunning, and superior ruthlessness.
The wide currency of this philosophy of the “survival of the fittest” enables people who act ruthlessly and selfishly, whether in personal rivalries, business competition, or international relations, to allay their consciences by telling themselves that they are only obeying a “law of nature”. But a disinterested observer is entitled to ask whether the ruthlessness of the tiger, the cunning of the ape and obedience to the “law of the jungle” are actually evidences of human fitness to survive. (S.I. Hayakawa)
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