Society And its Purpose
Book 4 - Psychological Laws and the End of Civil Societies
CHAPTER 34
The objects of desire
830. Activity and movement exist, therefore, in the individual and society, which harmonise wonderfully with contentment and are legitimate means of social progress. The error of the system of resistance lies in the disavowal of these means and in the belief that movement and activity cannot be reconciled with the state of a contented spirit; the system sees nothing in movement except what is hard and evil. True social progress is the progress of virtuous desires, which come about through the harmonious development of the intellectual and moral faculties. Because these desires aim at real objects pertaining to the faculty of thought (we have also called it `the faculty of ends’), this faculty, through its development, becomes the mother of true progress.
831. An argument worthy of analysis would be the investigation of the laws governing the development of the faculty of thought, and the way in which legitimate desires, corresponding activity and subsequent progress come about in human beings through this faculty. We shall have to content ourselves with hinting at this.
The faculty of thought gradually develops as it comes to know more and better real objects; the extension or excellence of legitimate desires must come about in the same way. The faculty of abstraction also has an undoubted part to play in this development. Just as the progress of substantial perfection in society originates from the progressive development of the faculty of thought, so the progress of accidental perfection originates from the progressive development of the faculty of abstraction.
Note, however, that accidental perfection of society has no value unless it harmonises with substantial perfection. Any attempt to obtain accidental perfection without prior attainment of substantial perfection will result only in apparent, artificial refinement. If the matter is taken further so that accidental perfection becomes the end to the exclusion of substantial perfection, the result is corruptive refinement.
832. Let me explain this briefly. We need to remember that abuse of the faculty of abstraction consists, as we said, in mentally substituting vain abstractions for the real objects of the faculty of thought. This explains our mental sophisms and our wayward hearts.
833. On the other hand, the services and legitimate uses of the faculty of abstraction in social progress are:
1. To remove accidental defects from the process which substantially perfects human society.’
The faculty of abstraction sees relationships and qualities in isolation from things. Its function is to find distinctions, which are extremely useful to right judgment about things and their right use.
Every new, good object of the faculty of thought provides the spirit with a new possible aim, new material for its desire, a new principle of reasoning and a new stimulus to activity. However, under certain aspects this object may not be good. These aspects are seen only by the faculty of abstraction which however tries to reveal the object in its pure goodness, leaving aside, if possible, the evil that the object either possesses or brings with itself. If, at this stage, my faculty of thought, which re-presents entities in their entirety, is not assisted by corresponding progress in my faculty of abstraction, I will undoubtedly acquire along with the good the accidental evil that accompanies the good. I am, in fact, seeking to obtain that object without reference to my own advantage. If, on the other hand, my faculty of abstraction progresses in a way corresponding to the progress of the faculty of thought, I shall come to distinguish accurately the good present in the object from the accidental evil adhering to it. At one and the same time, I shall devote myself to obtaining all the good and to ridding myself of all the evil that the object could bring me under some accidental relationship.
It can rightly be said, therefore, that the accidental perfection brought to society by the progress made by the faculty of abstraction in harmony with that of the faculty of thought consists `in removing accidental evils from the act which substantially perfects society.’ Nevertheless, it would be extremely harmful, as well as erroneous, to believe that the evils accompanying the good can always be avoided. This vain, presumptuous hope pertains to the ruinous system of perfectionism, and arises, as we have often mentioned, from ignorance of the great ontological law of the limitation of things.
If, on the other hand, the faculty of abstraction is more advanced in its development than the faculty of thought, the subsequent disequilibrium gives rise to the error by which accidents are given priority over substance. We can say that the faculty of abstraction is abused relative to its first service when: 1. people hope that the good and evil which are indivisible in the nature of things can be divided; 2. substantial good is endangered through exaggerated fear of some accidental evil; 3. through exaggerated love of accidental good, there is some compromise with the substantial evil accompanying it.
834. Another service rendered by the faculty of abstraction is:
2. `To administer means for the attainment of good, that is, of ends presented to our soul by the faculty of thought.’
We have no need of abstractions to carry out any activity which directly attains an end because such activity does not require the instrumentality of means. Abstractions are necessary every time the end is distanced from us by a series of means that we have to employ to reach the end. Every artificial society, even civil society, is a complex of means brought about by human beings to attain a given end. Societies therefore can rightly be called products of the faculty of abstraction.
We should not be surprised to see that the spirit of association continues to increase throughout humanity. This is a necessary consequence of the continual development of the faculty of abstraction. Civil society, one of the principal societies, does not choose its end of itself, but finds it chosen and determined in the nature of things; it conceives its end mentally by means of the faculty of thought. Civil society is, therefore, a legitimate child of the faculty of abstraction, and as such is a pure means, a complex of means; it is not an end. Consequently, the function of the faculty of abstraction is to order and regulate civil society in such a way that 1. it attains the end proposed for it by the faculty of thought; 2. the families composing this society are helped as much as possible and at the same time harmed or disturbed as little as possible; finally, 3. the individuals composing the families never lose their contentment of spirit but increase their real, true good to the limit of their possibility of enjoyment.
All the arts rendering the use of external things more comfortable, less costly, more delightful and elegant, and all the arts devoted to showing how several benefits can be drawn from a single object are simply consequences of the continual, increasing development of the faculty of abstraction. All these things are useful if they have a solid end previously established for human beings by the faculty of thought. It is always true that `the applications of the faculty of abstraction bring true utility when, and only when, they are subordinate to the ends established by the faculty of thought.’ By nature the faculty of abstraction serves the faculty of thought. Disaster follows if the maid tries to extricate herself from service; her erratic activity, not directed to any end, is a sign of madness.
As we have seen, the abuse of the faculty of abstraction when applied to the search for happiness consists in an error of practical reason; we want to obtain an end abstractly conceived by means of a particular object not on a par with the abstraction. Similarly, the imperfect use of the same faculty of abstraction applied to the search for a particular good consists in not sufficiently determining the means for obtaining that end, and that end alone, without which the badly defined means brings, together with the desired end, some other unforeseen, harmful consequence.
835. A third service of the faculty of abstraction is:
3. To provide suitable signs for communicating our ideas.’ It is, therefore, the faculty which diffuses the teachings of the learned minority and the process of civilisation amongst the populace. It is the faculty underlying methods, languages and writing — printing, lithography and so on are its work. Modern inventions are almost entirely the result of progress made by the faculty of abstraction. What we have seen so far is truly wonderful, but there is more to come.
836. The faculty of abstraction sometimes advances in a straight line, and sometimes spreads out. When I have some distant end to attain, I must line up, as it were, a series of means that lead me straight to the end; when I want to influence many people rather than target a single point, the calculation I need to evaluate the means available to me becomes more complicated.
This is the case if, for example, I want to influence many individuals through inventions for promoting culture. Because the action of the means is very extensive, I have to calculate all the elements composing the means, not only to see if they will obtain the end I propose for myself, but also to decide if they produce other effects along with the end I have in view.In other words, I have to calculate both their direct and indirect action. It is not sufficient for me to obtain my end; I have to obtain it free from defects. The desire to see a rapid diffusion of insight often lacks this kind of sagacity. For instance, I may propose some method suitable for teaching the whole world how to read and write. This method will be useless if, at the same time, it nourishes presumption and pride in those following the method, or renders young minds mechanical and material. I have to provide my method with sufficient precautions to ensure that young people derive good not evil from it. They must not be harmed through insufficient determination and provision on my part. If this is achieved, humanity may justly thank me for my discovery.
837. The faculty of abstraction would make greater progress in this respect if it were used in an orderly fashion, without harm to the faculty of thought. People today have a wonderful aptitude for fixing the means necessary to obtain some external end; this is not the case with moral ends. Weakness in the faculty of thought does not permit ends to be posited firmly and completely. The only end permitting us to judge if methods are adequate or harmful rather than useful, is that which is perfectly and fully conceived.
838. Upright people will embrace the methods we are speaking of, and prudent people will praise them, when they are well-defined, supported and protected against everything that can corrupt them or render them indirectly harmful, and balanced in such a way that they tend neither to left nor right.