REVIEWS 181 



Instincts are defined to be hereditary "specific and determinate propensities, 

 proclivities, aptitudes, that are, within the purview of the social sciences, to be 

 handled as irreductible traits of human nature." "Instinctive action is teleo- 

 logical, consciously so ; and the teleological scope and aim of each instinctive 

 propensity differs characteristically from all the rest." It is thus guided by in- 

 telligence and subject to the diversity of human characters. But through 

 all the diversity there is recognisable a generic human type of spiritual 

 endowment. 



The two chief instincts that contribute directly to the material well-being ot 

 the race, and therefore to its biological success, are the sense of workmanship 

 and the parental bent. They have much in common, and are inextricably 

 mixed. The definition of the parental bent is far wider than the procreation 

 of offspring. It includes much more than care for the welfare of one's own 

 children : it " has a large part in the sentimental concern entertained by nearly 

 all persons for the life and comfort of the community at large, and particularly 

 for the community's future welfare." The instinct of workmanship is not neces- 

 sarily simple. It may be taken " to signify a concurrence of several instinctive 

 aptitudes," each of which may or may not prove to be simple and irreducible 

 under psychological or physiological analysis. It " occupies the interest with 

 practical expedients, ways and means, devices and contrivances of efficiency and 

 economy, proficiency, creative work and technological mastery of facts." Much 

 of its functional content is "a proclivity for taking pains." 



This instinct of workmanship the author traces in the industrial arts of 

 savage societies, up through the predatory culture that he holds succeeded the 

 savage state, into the era of handicraft that blossomed in the fulness of the 

 Middle Ages, with its competition, its pecuniary standard and its individualism, 

 and on into the machine industry which began (roughly) in the third quarter 

 of the eighteenth century, and has not yet wrought out the full measure of its 

 influence, either on industry or on thought. The subject is one of profound 

 interest, and it is treated with conspicuous ability. Owing, however, probably to 

 the pressure of space in a small volume, the want of illustrations of the author's 

 points clouds his meaning too often and prevents the reader from following 

 the argument with full intelligence. His style, too, is somewhat heavy : the 

 sentences are long and involved. And there is no adequate means of checking 

 his generalisations, for want of exact references to the authorities he has used. 



This is particularly irritating in the earlier chapters, dealing with prehistoric 

 conditions and the status of savagery and the lower barbarism. Here many 

 statements and inferences are made that would require careful examination before 

 acceptance. In the later chapters Mr. Veblen is on more assured ground. The 

 discussion of the theology and metaphysics of the Handicraft and Machine eras 

 is excellent, and brings out with telling effect their relation to the condition of 

 industry, and to the social and economic position which resulted from the 

 industrial development. In the explanation of the rapid progress of Britain 

 towards the end of the era of Handicraft and onwards there is a curious omission 

 of all mention of coal. Even when comparing Britain with Scandinavia, where 

 the geographic isolation, reckoned by Mr. Veblen as the principal factor, was 

 similar, coal is still ignored. And yet it was one of the most important elements 

 contributory to the advance. The author looks forward to a day when the 

 machine industry will work itself fully out, when efficiency will no longer be 

 counted in the terms of pecuniary gain, when business men will no longer control 

 industry for their own advantage, and when Cotton Kings and Railway Kings 



