Human nature and the social orderCooley, Charles Horton
Science
Human nature and the social order
Cooley, Charles Horton
Individualism; Social psychology; Sociology
If one is inclined to neither party he may take refuge in
the expectation that the controversy, resting, as he may hold that it
does, on a false conception of life, will presently take its proper
place among the forgotten _débris_ of speculation.
Thirdly we have _primitive individualism_. This expression has been used
to describe the view that sociality follows individuality in time, is a
later and additional product of development. This view is a variety of
the preceding, and is, perhaps, formed by a mingling of individualistic
preconceptions with a somewhat crude evolutionary philosophy.
Individuality is usually conceived as lower in moral rank as well as
precedent in time. Man _was_ a mere individual, mankind a mere
aggregation of such, but he has gradually become socialized, he is
progressively merging into a social whole. Morally speaking, the
individual is the bad, the social the good, and we must push on the work
of putting down the former and bringing in the latter.
Of course the view which I regard as sound, is that individuality is
neither prior in time nor lower in moral rank than sociality; but that
the two have always existed side by side as complementary aspects of the
same thing, and that the line of progress is from a lower to a higher
type of both, not from the one to the other. If the word social is
applied only to the higher forms of mental life it should, as already
suggested, be opposed not to individual, but to animal, sensual, or some
other word implying mental or moral inferiority. If we go back to a time
when the state of our remote ancestors was such that we are not willing
to call it social, then it must have been equally undeserving to be
described as individual or personal; that is to say, they must have been
just as inferior to us when viewed separately as when viewed
collectively. To question this is to question the vital unity of human
life.
The life of the human species, like that of other species, must always
have been both general and particular, must always have had its
collective and distributive aspects. The plane of this life has
gradually risen, involving, of course, both the aspects mentioned. Now,
as ever, they develop as one, and may be observed united in the highest
activities of the highest minds. Shakespeare, for instance, is in one
point of view a unique and transcendent individual; in another he is a
splendid expression of the general life of mankind: the difference is
not in him but in the way we choose to look at him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account