AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



THE aim of this book is to set forth the 

 nature of society as primarily a spiritual 

 rather than a biological reality. The term spirit- 

 ual as used in this connection is taken to refer 

 to the intellectual, artistic, and moral achieve- 

 ments of civilization — the accumulated capital 

 of knowledge and experience. In contrast with 

 this view, which is the traditional one in soci- 

 ology, is set forth the prevalent conception that 

 makes the biological factors the primary social 

 elements. It is admitted that in contrasting 

 sharply two such complex points of view suffi- 

 cient allowance is not made for many diverging 

 and reconciling theories, but in so brief a work 

 these modifications could not be given much 

 place. In emphasizing the creative influences of 

 the social environment, the author pleads guilty 

 to having pushed the argument a little beyond 

 the conventional limit usually set by sociologists. 

 The statistical study which appears in the 

 appendix and in chapter four was published in 

 practically the same form in the Quarterly Jour- 

 nal of the University of North Dakota, April, 



