Society And its Purpose
Book 2 - The End of Society
CHAPTER 6
Continuation — The remote end is internal;
the proximate end can be partly internal
211. Continuing with our consideration of the psychological qualities of the remote and proximate ends of societies, we can make the following observations. The remote end, which consists in contentment of spirit, always relates to the individual and clearly has its seat in each individual composing society. This follows from what has been said, namely, that individuals are necessarily the end of societies and that societies are and can only be methods, systems, means which tend to increase individual happiness. The remote end is also seen as something invisible, remaining within the spirit of the person enjoying it. It is entirely subjective.
The proximate end is, as we said, composed of pleasure and good. We can say the same about pleasure as we said about the remote end: it is individual and invisible, enclosed in the subject enjoying the pleasure. The good, however, can be external. Thus the proximate end, in so far as its matter is external, material good, is itself external and pertains to what we have called visible and exterior society.