Know Thyself 19 



sequence. How many, in our country at least, had 

 even guessed before these last months, what a philoso- 

 phy of Militarism and a theory of the State are capa- 

 ble of doing? 



To know one's self implies a theory of self. The 

 bloody disorder now filling the world is, I am persuaded, 

 largely a consequence of inadequate and erroneous the- 

 ories of self and of society, that have prevailed 

 through the centuries, and though improved, still pre- 

 vail. It has seemed to me that the occasion will justify 

 us in thinking on this great matter even though our 

 thoughts can be in baldest outline only. 



My fundamental thesis is twofold: there are many 

 more vital constituents in human nature than dominat- 

 ing theories of man have taken account of; and these 

 constituents interact upon one another far more widely 

 and fundamentally than theory has recognized. 



To each of the great primal divisions of man's na- 

 ture taken separately, to spiritual man and to physical 

 man, great attention has been given. Particularly in 

 previous centuries theology and philosophy wrought 

 out doctrines of man's spiritual nature with unbounded 

 zeal and industry and skill. And in modern times 

 biology with its numerous subdivisions has builded in 

 the realm of his physical nature with no less zeal and 

 industry and skill. But never have the theories in the 

 two realms been brought together into anything like 

 a consistent harmonious whole. Indeed it has too 

 often been a cardinal doctrine of each side that no such 



