The need for instruction on the duty of the individual to the community

Abstract

The historian, who is in the happy position of being wise after the event, can generally put his finger on the particular internal change or changes which led to the collapse of the various ancient communities, and, with equally belated wisdom, can perhaps even indicate by what measures the evil could have been averted if taken in time. He may ascribe the breakdown to a change in the social habits or in the moral standpoint of the people, to which the government and other national institutions were not sufficiently elastic to respond, or to ill-considered, inexpedient changes in the form of government, or in the organisation of industry with which the political or industrial development of the people could not keep pace. With such enquiries as these we are here not concerned, at least it is not proposed to deal with them in this paper. What does concern us is to observe that, as all civilisations depend for their continued existence on the continuance of conditions which enable men to live and work together, a civilisation is doomed when the relations between the individuals and the community, that is, between the parts and the whole, cease to be a harmony and become a discord.