Manhood of Humanity Part 16

It is obvious that at some point, all the absorbed food will be used to maintain life and none will be left for growth, and this last process will stop. This is another example which explains how the theory of dimensions is vitally important in life and shows why it is absolutely essential to take account of dimensions in the study of life problems.

_ 2 An Outline of the History of the Western European Mind_, by James Harvey Robinson. The New School for Social Research, New York, 1919.

This little volume gives condensed statements, as in a nutsh.e.l.l, of the historical developments of the human mind and contains a long list of the most substantial modern books on historical questions.

All the further historical quotations will be taken from this exceptionally valuable little book, and for convenience they will simply be marked by his initials-J. H. R.

3 (J. H. R.) "Late appearance of a definite theory of progress.

Excessive conservatism of primitive peoples. The Greeks speculated on the origin of things, but they did not have a conception of the possibility of indefinite progress ... Progress of man from the earliest time till the opening of the 17th century almost altogether unconscious.... Fundamental weakness of h.e.l.lenic learning. It was an imposing collection of speculation, opinions, and guesses, which, however brilliant and ingenious they might be, were based on a very slight body of exact knowledge, and failed to recognize the fundamental necessity of painful scientific research, aided by apparatus. There was no steady acc.u.mulation of knowledge to offset the growing emotional distrust of reason.... Unfulfilled promise of h.e.l.lenistic science. Influence of slavery in checking the development of science.... The deficiencies of Medieval culture. All the weaknesses of the h.e.l.lenic reasoning, combined with those of the Christian Fathers, underlay what appeared to be a most logically elaborated and definitive system of thought. Defects of the university education.... Little history of Natural science, in our sense of the word, taught in the universities.... Copernicus, 'De Revolutionibus...o...b..um Coelestium.' Libri VI, 1543.... Copernicus'

own introduction acknowledges his debt to ancient philosophers.

Still believed in fixed Starry Sphere. His discovery had little immediate effect on prevailing notions. Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) made it his chief business to think out and set forth in Latin and Italian the implications of the discovery of Copernicus.... Bruno burned by the Inquisition at Rome.... Keppler (1571-1630) and his discovery of the elliptical orbits of the planets. Galileo (1564-1642). His telescope speedily improved so as to magnify 32 diameters. His att.i.tude toward the Copernican theory, which was condemned by Roman Inquisition 1616.... Galileo's chief discoveries were in physics and mechanics. Isaac Newton (1642-1727) proved that the laws of falling bodies apply to the heavens. This made a deep impression and finally the newer conceptions of the universe began to be popularized.... Lord Bacon (1561-1626), the 'Buccinator' of experimental and applied modern science.... His lively appreciation of the existing obstacles to scientific advance; the idols of the tribe, cave, market-place, and theatre.... Necessity of escaping from the scholastic methods of 'tumbling up and down in our reasons and conceits,' and studying the world about us. Undreamed of achievements possible if only the right method of research be followed ... the distrust of ancient authority.... Descartes (1596-1650), ... he proposed to reach the truth through a.n.a.lysis and clear ideas, on the a.s.sumption that G.o.d will not deceive.... His fundamental interest in mathematics.... His claim to originality and his rejection of all authority.... Obstacles to scientific advance; the universities still dominated by Aristotle; the theological faculties; the censorship of the press exercised by both church and state; ..."

4 (J. H. R.) "Phases of religious complex. 'Religious,' a vague and comprehensive term applied to: (1) certain cla.s.ses of emotions (awe, dependence, self-distrust, aspirations, etc.); (2) Conduct, which may take the form of distinctive religious acts (ceremonies, sacrifices, prayers, 'good works') or the observance of what in primitive conditions are recognized as 'taboos'; (3) Priestly, or ecclesiastical organizations; (4) Beliefs about supernatural beings and man's relations to them: the latter may take the form of revelation and be reduced to creeds and become the subject of elaborate theological speculations.

"a.s.sociation of religion with the supernatural; religion has always had for its primary object the attainment of a satisfactory adjustment to, or a successful control over, the supernatural....

The cultural mind viewed as the product of a long and hazardous process of acc.u.mulation.... Spontaneous generation of superst.i.tions.

Prevalence of symbolism, mana, animism, magic, fetishism, totemism; the taboo (cf. our modern idea of 'principle'), the sacred, clean and unclean; 'dream logic'-spontaneous rationalizing or 'jumping at conclusions';... The 16th book of the Theodosian Code contains edicts relating to the Church issued by the Roman Emperors during the 4th and 5th centuries. They make it a crime to disagree with the Church; they provide harsh penalties for heretical teaching and writing, and grant privileges to the orthodox clergy (exemptions from regular taxes and benefit of the clergy).... Christianity becomes a monopoly defended by the state.... Psychological power and attraction in the elaborate symbolism and ritual of the church....

Allegory put an end to all literary criticism.... Flourishing of the miraculous; any unusual or startling occurrence attributed to the intervention of either G.o.d or the Devil.... Older conceptions of disease as caused by the Devil.... Our legal expression 'act of G.o.d'

confined to unforseeable natural disasters. How with a growing appreciation for natural law and a chastened taste in wonders, miracles have tended to become a source of intellectual distress and bewilderment.... Protestants shared with Roman Catholics the horror of 'rationalists' and 'free-thinkers.' The leaders of both parties agreed in hampering and denouncing scientific discoveries....

Witchcraft in its modern form emerges clearly in the 15th century.... Great prevalence of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries in Protestant and Catholic countries, alike.... Trial of those suspected of sorcery. Tortures to force confession. The witches' mark. Penalties, burning alive, strangling, hanging. Tens of thousands of innocent persons perished.... Those who tried to discredit witchcraft denounced as 'Sadducees' and atheists.... The psychology of intolerance. Fear, vested interests, the comfortable nature of the traditional and the habitual. The painful appropriation of new ideas.... The intolerance of the Catholic Church: a natural result of its state-like organization and claims.... Its doctrine of exclusive salvation and its conception of heresy both sanctioned by the state. Doubt and error regarded as sinful.... Beginnings of censorship of the press after the invention of printing, licensing of ecclesiastical and civil authorities....

Protestants of 16th century accept the theory of intolerance."

5 (J. H. R.) "The Socio-psychological foundations of conservatism: Primitive natural reverence for the familiar and habitual greatly reenforced by religion and law. Natural conservatism of all professions. Those who suffer most from existing inst.i.tutions commonly, helplessly accept the situation as inevitable. Position of the conservative; he urges the impossibility of altering 'human nature' and warns against the disasters of revolution. Conservatism in the light of history: History would seem to discredit conservatism completely as a working principle in view of the past achievements of mankind in the recent past and the possibilities which opened before us.... Futility of the appeal of the conservative to human nature as an obstacle to progress.... Culture can not be transmitted hereditarily but can be acc.u.mulated through education and modified indefinitely."

6 (J. H. R.) "Formulation and establishment of the evolutionary hypothesis. Discovery of the great age of the earth; ... gradual development of the evolutionary theory.... Darwin's 'Origin of the Species,' 1859. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903).... Haeckel (1834-1919) and others clarify, defend and popularize the new doctrine.

Subsequent development of the evolutionary doctrine by Mendel, Weisman, DeVries and others. Weakening of the special creation theory by other evidence such as archeology and biblical criticism.

The significance of the doctrine for intellectual history. Character of the opposition to the evolutionary theory. Popular confusion of 'Darwinism' with 'evolution.' Revolutionary effects of the new point of view. Does away with conception of fixed species (Platonic ideas) that had previously dominated speculation. The genetic method adopted in all the organic sciences, including the newer social sciences. Problem of adjusting history to the discoveries of the past 50 years. Bearing of evolution on the theory of progress.

Organic evolution and social evolution."

7 (J. H. R.) "The Deists and philosophers destroy the older theological anthropology and rea.s.sert the dignity of man; the growth of criticism and liberalism has made the a.n.a.lysis of social inst.i.tutions somewhat less dangerous; the general growth of knowledge has reacted in a stimulating way upon the sciences of society; the great increase in the number, complexity and intensity of social problems has proved a strong incentive to social science; The Darwinian hypothesis has rendered preposterous any conception of a wholly static social system. However, the modern social sciences in our capitalistic order meet much the same resistance from the 'vested interests' that theological radicalism encountered in the Middle Ages, and social science has in no way approached the objectivity and progressiveness of present day natural science....

Grave effects of vested rights in hampering experiments and readjustments.... Obstacles to readjustment presented by consecrated traditions.... Influence of modern commercialism in the inordinate development of organization and regimentation in our present educational system. Psychological disadvantages of our conventional examination system. As yet our education has not been brought into close relation with prevailing conditions of our ever increasing knowledge.... Excellent aims and small achievements of sociology in practical results. (_Because of absolute lack of any scientific base._ Author.) General nature of the problem of social reform: psychological problems involved in social reform movements: violent resistance of the group to that criticism of the existing inst.i.tutions, which must precede any effective social reform...."

8 (J. H. R.) "During the past two centuries the application of the scientific discoveries to daily life has revolutionized our methods of supplying our economic needs, our social and intellectual life, and the whole range of the relations of mankind. The impulse of invention, iron, coal, and steam essential to the development of machinery on a large scale; machinery has in turn begotten the modern factory with its vast organized labor, the modern city and finally, our well nigh perfect means of rapid human inter-communication. The tremendous increase in the production of wealth and the growing interdependence of nations has opened up a vast range of speculation in regard to the betterment of mankind to the abolition or reduction of poverty, ignorance, disease, and war.... Man advances from a tool-using to a machine-controlling animal. The rise of the factory system; the concentration and localization of industry; increased division of labor and specialization of industrial processes. The great increase in the volume of capital and in the extent of investments; the separation of capital and labor and the growth of impersonal economic relationship. Problems of capital and labor; unemployment and the labor of women and children; labor organizations. Increased productivity and the expansion of commerce. Industrial processes become dynamic and everchanging-a complete reversal of the old stability, repet.i.tion and isolation."

9 It may be contended by some that animals have been making "progress"

or some may say that animals also "bind-time." This use of words would again become mere verbalism, a mere talking about words-mere speculation having nothing to do with _facts_ or with correct thinking, in which there is no intermixing of dimensions. The peculiar faculty belonging exclusively to humans which I designate as "time-binding" I have clearly defined as an _exponential function_ of _time_ in the following chapter. If people are pleased to talk about the "progress" of animals, they can hardly fail to see clearly that it differs both in function and in type or dimension from what is rightly meant by human progress; human time-binding capacity lies in an entirely different dimension from that of animals. So, if any persons wish to talk of animal "progress" or animal "time-binding," they should invent a suitable word for it to save them from the blunder of confusing types or mixing dimensions.

This mathematical discrimination between cla.s.ses, types, dimensions is of the utmost importance in the natural sciences, because of the trans.m.u.tation of species. To adjust the Darwin theory to dimensionality is a somewhat more difficult problem; it involves the concept of the "continuum"; but with the modern theory of de Vries, these things are self evident. If animals really progress, which is doubtful because they are an older form of life than humans and they have not shown any noticeable progress to the knowledge of man, their progress is so small in comparison with man's that it may be said, in mathematical terms, to be _negligible_ as an infinitesimal of higher order.

10 It must be remembered here that our world is, first of all, a dynamic conglomeration of matter and energy, which to-day, as well as in the first period of primitive organic life, took and takes different known and unknown forms. One of these forms of energy is the chemical energy, with its tendency to combinations and exchanges. Different elements act in different ways. The history of the earth and its life is simply the history of different chemical periods, with different transformations of energy. A strange fact is to be noticed about nitrogen. Nitrogen chemically has an exceptional inertness toward most other substances, but once it is a component part of a substance, almost all of these combinations are a very powerful source of energy, and all of them have a very strong effect upon organic life. Nitric acid acts through oxidation, the substances are burned up by the oxygen given off from the acid.

Nitric acid occurs in nature, in a combination called nitrates. From the soil the nitrates pa.s.s into the plant. Nitrite of amyl acts upon our organs in a most violent and spasmodic way. Nitrous oxide is the so-called laughing gas.

Alkaloids are compounds of a vegetable origin, generally of complex composition and capable of producing marked effects upon animals.

They all contain nitrogen. Explosives which are a chemical means of storing tremendous amounts of energy, are mostly of some nitrogenous compound. Alb.u.men is an organic compound of great importance in life, which, besides being the characteristic ingredient in the white of an egg, abounds in the serum of the blood and forms an important part of the muscles and brain. Alb.u.minoids play the most vital role in plant life and are an extensive cla.s.s of organic bodies found in plants and animals, as they are found to form the chief const.i.tuents of blood, nerves. All alb.u.minoids found in animals are produced by the processes fulfilled in plants. Their exact const.i.tution is not known; a.n.a.lysis shows that they contain approximately: Carbon 50-55%, Hydrogen 6.9-7.5%, Nitrogen 15-19%, Oxygen 20-24%, Sulphur 0.3-2.0%. Venous blood contains in 100 volumes: Nitrogen, 13; Carbonic Acid, 71.6; Oxygen, 15.3. Arterial blood: Nitrogen, 14.5; Carbonic Acid, 62.3; Oxygen, 23.2.

"Nitrogenous compounds in general, are extremely p.r.o.ne to decomposition; their decomposition often involving a sudden and great evolution of force. We see that substances cla.s.sed as ferments ... are all nitrogenous ... and we see that even in organisms and parts of organisms where the activities are least, such changes as do take place are initiated by a substance containing nitrogen....

We see that organic matter is so const.i.tuted that small incidental actions are capable of initiating great reaction and liberating large quant.i.ties of power.... The seed of a plant contains nitrogenous substances in a far higher ratio than the rest of the plant; and the seed differs from the rest of the plant in its ability to initiate ... extensive vital changes-the changes const.i.tuting germination. Similarly in the bodies of animals ... in every living vegetal cell there is a certain part that contains nitrogen. This part initiates these changes which const.i.tute the development of the cell.... It is a curious and significant fact that, in technology, we not only utilize the same principle of initiating extensive changes among comparatively stable compounds by the help of compounds much less stable, but we employ for the purpose compounds of the same general cla.s.s. Our modern method of firing a gun is to place in close proximity with the gunpowder which we choose to decompose or explode, a small portion of fulminating powder, which is decomposed or exploded with extreme facility, and which on decomposing, communicates the consequent molecular disturbances to the less easily decomposed gunpowder. When we ask what this fulminating powder is composed of, we find that it is a nitrogenous salt."-Spencer.

11 Of course, the geometric progression does not represent _precisely_ the law of human progression; it is here employed because it is familiar and serves, better perhaps than any other simple mathematical means, to show _roughly_ how human progress goes on.

The essential elements of a progression are the first term _P_ and the ratio _R_ and the number of the terms _T_; in the human progression _PR__1__, PR__2__, PR__3__, ... PR__T__, P_ is the starting status of the first generation, _R_ is the peculiar capacity of humans to bind time and is a _free gift_ and _law_ of _nature_, which it would be folly not to recognize and accept as such, _T_ is time, or number of generations. It is obvious that the magnitude, _PR__T_, is entirely dependent on the magnitudes of _PR_, and _T_. The existence of _R_ and _T_ is independent of humans, _R_ being a law of nature, _T_ a gift of nature, _P_ the starting status of the initial generation. With _P = 0_ or _R = 0_ THERE WOULD BE NO PROGRESS or progression at all; each term in the case of human progression is mainly dependent upon the time and the work done by the dead. The existence of _R_ and _T_ is entirely beyond human control. Humans can control only the MAGNITUDE of those elements by education. Here comes the tremendous responsibility of education. It is not necessary to use much imagination to see that if humanity had always been rightly educated, science would have long ago discovered the natural forces and laws essential to human welfare, and human misery would to-day be relatively small.

12 See Appendix III.