xii THE EARTH BEFORE HISTORY 



adapt it to human needs, and to render them more and more at 

 one through the creation and multiplication of " values " of all 

 kinds. 



In connexion with the manifestations of this social logic 

 which concerns either the inner life or the external activity of 

 societies — there arises a very important and subtle question and 

 one which has already presented itself in regard to mental 

 evolution, namely the role of the individual and his relation to 

 society. We have seen that mental development introduced 

 into social organization elements that were human in origin — 

 that is to say, individual — and remodelled the " Institutional " 

 form without, however, entirely depriving the individual of his 

 specific faculty of thinking. Indeed, in addition to being the 

 agent of mental logic, the individual is also, it seems, the agent 

 of social logic. These institutions which appear as something 

 objective and with a large measure of constraining force, these 

 actions of the group which spring apparently from a collective 

 will, do not entirely escape the consciousness of the individual. 

 In fact, what is the " social consciousness " — if we would not 

 be duped by words — except the representation of society in the 

 consciousness of individuals ? Even the most striking phenomena 

 of social life, those that arise from what might be called " herd 

 conditions ", admit of an active participation of the individual, 

 however effaced this may seem to be. In these states — which are 

 essentially affective — although the individual representations 

 are sharpened and have become harmonized through a common 

 emotion, and although, to a certain degree, a unity of consciousness 

 can be temporarily realized, individuals are always found 

 who unquestionably respond in a high degree to the needs of the 

 group as regards canalizing and directing the manifestation : they 

 are, in consequence, not simple elements of society but true 

 social agents. But apart from these " herd " manifestations — 

 which for numerous reasons have become less and less frequent in 

 the course of history — can it be said that the representation of 

 society has been especially unequal in intensity or in precision 

 in the minds of different individuals ? Society, let me repeat, 

 does not think : it is the individual who thinks. He can, however, 

 also be more than a social agent : an initiator, a social inventor. 

 Mental and social logic have the same profound source and here 

 they meet. Born of the success of activity, thought in the individual 

 concerns itself with serving action and perfecting social life. 



