A system in which the two great commandments were, to hate your
neighbour and to love your neighbour's wife.

A system in which the two great commandments were, to hate your
neighbour and to love your neighbour's wife.

Civilized man has always had a great inclination to read his conceptions and feelings into the mind of primitive man; read more

Civilized man has always had a great inclination to read his conceptions and feelings into the mind of primitive man; but he has only a limited capacity for understanding the latter's undeveloped mental life and for interpreting, as it were, his nature.

It is not at all simple to understand the simple.

It is not at all simple to understand the simple.

It is not a fragrant world.

It is not a fragrant world.

Society is like air; very high up, it is sublimated--too low down, a perfect choke-damp.

Society is like air; very high up, it is sublimated--too low down, a perfect choke-damp.

To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be read more

To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong...

People do not cooperate under the division of labor because they love or should love one another. They cooperate because read more

People do not cooperate under the division of labor because they love or should love one another. They cooperate because this best serves their own interests. Neither love nor charity nor any other sympathetic sentiments but rightly understood selfishness is what originally impelled man to adjust himself to the requirements of society, to respect the rights and freedoms of his fellow men and to substitute peaceful collaboration for enmity and conflict.

The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized read more

The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized the parts, the more elaborate co-ordination is needed to create a well-balanced whole. The ultimate criterion of the value of a functional whole is the degree of its internal harmony or integratedness, whether the "functional whole" is a biological species or a civilization or an individual. A whole is defined by the pattern of relations between its parts, not by the sum of its parts; and a civilization is not defined by the sum of its science, technology, art and social organization, but by the total pattern which they form, and the degree of harmonious integration in that pattern.

There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The read more

There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement, and its appeal is mainly to self-interest. On the other hand, a mass movement, particularly in its active, revivalist phase, appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self. A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.