登陆注册
15731200000005

第5章 CHAPTER II(3)

The annals of religion show that the moral life has always these two aspects, the particular and the general, as in the doctrines of freedom and predestination, or in (20) the wrestlings with sin followed by self-abandonment that we find in the literature of conversion. [3] Perhaps we may say that the deterministic attitude is morally good in at least two classes of cases: First, for nervous, conscientious individuals, like Spinoza, whose wills need rather calming than stimulating, also for any one who may be even temporarily in a state of mental strain; second, in dealing on a large scale with social or moral questions whose causes must be treated dispassionately and in a mass.

These questions of free-will versus law, and the like, are but little, if at all, questions of fact梬hen we get down to definite facts bearing upon the matter we find little or no disagreement梑ut of point of view and emphasis. If you fix attention on the individual phase of things and see life as a theatre of personal action, then the corresponding ideas of private will, responsibility, praise, and blame rise before you; if you regard its total aspect you see tendency, evolution, law and impersonal grandeur. Each of these is a half truth needing to be completed by the other; the larger truth, including both, being that life is an organic whole, presenting itself with equal reality in individual and general aspects. Argument upon such questions is without limit梥ince there is really nothing (21)at issue梐nd in that sense the problem of freedom versus law is insoluble.

Above all, the organic view of mind calls for social knowledge as the basis of morality. We live in a system and to achieve right ends, or any rational ends whatever, we must learn to understand that system. The public mind must emerge somewhat from its subconscious condition and know and guide its own processes.

Both consciously and unconsciously the larger mind is continually building itself up into wholes梖ashions, traditions, institutions, tendencies, and the like梬hich spread and diversify like the branches of a tree, and so generate an ever higher and more various structure of differentiated thought and symbols. The immediate motor and guide of this growth is interest, and wherever that points social structure comes into being, as a picture grows where the artist moves his pencil.

Visible society is, indeed, literally, a work of art, slow and mostly subconscious in its production梐s great art often is梖ull of grotesque and wayward traits, but yet of inexhaustible beauty and fascination. It is this we find in the history of old civilizations, getting from it the completed work of the artist without that strain and confusion of production which defaces the present. We get it, especially, not from the history of the theorist or the statistician, but from the actual, naive, human record to be found in memoirs, in popular literature, in architecture, painting, sculpture, and music, in the industrial arts, in every unforced product of the mind.

Social organization is nothing less than this variega -(22) - tion of life, taken in the widest sense possible. It should not be conceived as the product merely of definite and utilitarian purpose, but as the total expression of conscious and subconscious tendency, the slow crystallization in many forms and colors of the life of the human spirit.

Any fairly distinct and durable detail of this structure may be called a social type; this being a convenient term to use when we wish to break up the whole into parts, for analysis or description. Thus there are types of personality, of political structure, of religion, of classes. of the family, of art, of language; also of processes, like communication, cooperation, and competition; and so on. The whole is so various that from every new point of view new forms are revealed.

Social types are analogous to the genera, species, and varieties of the animal world, in being parts of one living whole and yet having a relative continuity and distinctness which is susceptible of detailed study. Like biological types, also, they exist in related systems and orders, are subject to variation, compete with one another, flourish and decay, may be flexible or rigid, and may or may not form prolific crosses with one another.

Without forgetting to see life as individuals, we must learn to see it also as types, processes, organization the latter being just as real as the former. And especially, in order to see the matter truly, should we be able to interpret individuals by wholes, and vice versa.

EndnotesSee his essay on Coleridge. Pollock's Spinoza, 2d ed., 195. Amply expounded, with due stress on the moral value of lettinggo, by William James, in his Varieties of Religious Experienee: "This abandonment of self-responsibility seems to be the fundamental act in specifically religious, as distinguished from moral practice. It antedates theologies and is independent of philosophies . . . it is capable of entering into closest marriage with every speculative creed." Page 289. 第一章CHAPTER III

PRIMARY GROUPSMEANING OF PRIMARY GROUPS -- FAMILY, PLAYGROUND, AND NEIGHBORHOOD-- HOW FAR INFLUENCED BY LARGER SOCIETY -- MEANING AND PERMANENCE OF "HUMANNATURE" -- PRIMARY GROUPS THE NURSERY OF HUMAN NATURE.

同类推荐
  • 腹智禅师语录

    腹智禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 准提三昧行法

    准提三昧行法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 技术

    技术

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大乘止观法门释要

    大乘止观法门释要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Crowd

    The Crowd

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 刀塔西游之世界冠军

    刀塔西游之世界冠军

    这里没有是与非,只有胜与败,没有神与魔,只有强与弱!召唤那些耳熟能详的英雄们,用最纯粹的武力来证明自己,以力证道,才是王道!自从S1、S2世界总决赛以来,冠军似乎已经被韩国队霸占,而在这一年,S3的赛季来临,一只新星队伍SG战队自那中国DSPL甲级职业联赛而出,势如破竹踏入S3的顶尖队伍之列。不知是否能够创造奇迹?
  • 飘絮浮沉

    飘絮浮沉

    无为出生高贵,父亲是这个星球的掌控者,他自然从小丰衣足食。他很聪明,但无意中得到一块破损不堪的“玉碟”后,开始研究,终于大乘道法。在妻子死后,心灰意冷的他消沉了很久,在好友的勉励下振奋起来,开始一心研究功法。
  • 仙气收费员

    仙气收费员

    高居安,一个普通的小宅男,在马路上遇到了个飙二八杠的老头,从此他的世界变得多彩起来。你说你是修仙第一大派??你说你是魔道第一大宗??你是修真的?你是修魔的?你是修佛的?你是炼鬼的?你是为了匡扶正义?你是为了世界和平?......关我毛事,快缴费,不然断你仙气,让你们都扫大街去。万年尸王?你吼什么吼,就冲你着态度你家仙气我断定了,哭什么哭,哭也没什么用。千年妖狐?就冲你这脸蛋,你要多少仙气随便说。.................啥?鸿钧??那是我同事!!如来?那是我小弟!
  • 明初寒门子

    明初寒门子

    一样的历史,一样的人物,且看王安这只小蝴蝶怎样煽动大明的历史!
  • 大武侠之历练系统

    大武侠之历练系统

    万千世界,谁主沉浮?道不尽悲欢离合。金剑在手,谁能傲笑?说不完儿女情长。离离情愁,侠骨冰心,征途无止休。谁能停,为谁停,茫茫无间,前路空空。只道是,匆匆过客,瞥一眼间,千万年。轮回百转,爱恨情仇,侠之大者,莫能休。造物主造就世界万千,请随萧别离一同历练。
  • 快穿之宝贝儿穿慢点儿

    快穿之宝贝儿穿慢点儿

    她,喝了口汽水,竟然给呛死了,身边还多了一个坑爹的"呆萌"系统了,把她关在小黑屋……【后面自己YY】
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 明星玩家

    明星玩家

    人生四项基本原则:懂得选择,学会放弃;耐得住寂寞,经得起诱惑。来自华夏,混在“大染缸”,他的人生却是:女星太多,不懂选择;鱼与熊掌,不舍放弃。既耐不住寂寞,也经不得诱惑。何其壮烈!—————————————————来自星星的黑科技,全民游戏变成现实。不唱歌,不跳舞;没拼爹,没卖肉。武林高手闯荡娱乐圈全靠一个字,“玩”。玩game,玩人,一杆大枪打天下,问你怕是不怕?(韩娱、美娱、商业三种元素,以拟真LoL、WoW游戏内容串联人物、情节)
  • 新安志

    新安志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 神雕之龙洛潇潇

    神雕之龙洛潇潇

    身为神秘组织成员的凌洛,在一次重要任务中牺牲,意外穿越至神雕世界。置身乱世,拜师古墓。因为她的出现,原本神雕中的一切都发生了改变。然而,与此同时,一个神秘的阴谋,正在悄然进行着。本书为百合文,不喜误入!