CHAPTER XIV 



ACTIVE SOCIAL ADAPTATION 



Active spiritual (including social) adaptation was defined in the 

 Introduction as " the purposeful adjustment of the individual to 

 his spiritual environment, social, ideal and transcendental, the 

 work of true teachers and social reformers, and purposeful social 

 control." We have already noted many contributions to the 

 development of this phase of our subject, but have reserved till 

 now the discussion of it as a specific form of social progress. 



This doctrine of active spiritual adaptation has one root in the 

 monism of Schopenhauer with Will as the supreme characteristic 

 of the AH, especially as this has been interpreted through the 

 writings of Nietzsche (combined in his social philosophy with 

 neo-Darwinism), and through the philosophy of William Wtmdt 

 with emphasis on " teleology," and adopted in sociology by 

 Ratzenhofer and Ward. It has a second root in the a priorism of 

 Kant which brings into prominence the activity of the ego in the 

 acquirement of knowledge, also in his doctrine of the practical 

 reason with exaltation of the will, especially as this has issued in 

 modern pragmatism. It has a third root in modern social psy- 

 chology issuing in a kind of social reaUsm with its doctrine of 

 social will. 



Since Darwin there has been a growing tendency to fuse these 

 various philosophical teachings and interpret them in terms of 

 life and adaptation. We have noted this tendency in our pre- 

 vious discussions and the contributions to it by various social 

 philosophers, especially important being Tarde's theory of inno- 

 vation, Bagehot's doctrine of progress by discussion, the teaching 

 of Schaffle and other social psychologists concerning the social 

 will. Ward's theory of individual and social telesis, and the 

 emphasis placed by Patten and Carver on idealization, religion 

 and social control in the wide-spread production of surplus 

 and its wise use. In this chapter and the next, under " active 

 social adaptation " we will consider Novicow's " hierarchy of 



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