Theories of Development 



tions of life which the evolution theory, in its broader 

 sense, has developed. With the acceptance of that 

 theory as an explanation of human social life, there 

 necessarily follow new ethical conceptions and new 

 ideals. The purely social conception of the individual 

 tends to minimize his value as an individual. He is 

 supposed to belong to the race, owing all to others 

 but nothing to himself. This is making the individual 

 so social as to rob him of his birthright to individuality 

 and character. No room is left for that solitude with 

 nature in which talent unfolds itself. 



The humanistic standpoint is diametrically the oppo- 

 site of this. It lays all stress on the ideal, but leaves 

 no room for the practical. Instead of useful activity, 

 it emphasizes knowledge and art. These are assumed 

 to be social products; and \anguage, the sole means 

 of human intercourse, is taken to be the only means 

 by which knowledge can be acquired. All knowledge, 

 except that of tradition, which has stood the test of cen- 

 turies, is regarded with suspicion. Nature, the senses, 

 and the body, are considered vulgar. The child is 

 thought to be at bottom bad, and needs to be regen- 

 erated by that idealism which man, in his social capac- 

 ity, has developed by the exercise of the higher spiritual 

 faculties. Ethical ideas must be inculcated; and the 

 great fundamental truths, forming the basis of all 

 sound philosophy and the surest guarantee of the 

 permanency of civilized institutions, must early be 

 impressed on the plastic mind through the medium 

 of language. Memory, that faculty of the human 

 soul, must be stored with the best spiritual fruits of 

 human culture, and a passive obedience to authority 

 assured. 



The fundamental assumptions in this conception of 

 development, if it can be called development, are 

 these: (i) That man is extranatural; (2) that society 

 is a purely human or superhuman invention; (3) that 



