20 U\ G. Lahgworthy Taylor 



II 



THEORY OF THE MATERIALISTIC CONJUNCTURE 



A catalogue of the materialistic conjuncture 1 includes all tangi- 

 ble useful" articles, whether they correspond to institutions (which 

 are psychic phenomena) or not. We may roughly class the forms 

 of the materialistic conjuncture into (a, environment proper) the 

 crust of the earth (Patten) and (b, conjuncture) mechanical 

 inventions and other more or less artificial modifications of mat- 

 ter, which might be regarded by themselves as constituting a 

 conjuncture or quasi-materialistic environment. 



. Thus we find a continuous series of conditions that must be 

 grouped together in order to afford a static contrast with the 

 psychic groups: (a) The crust of the earth, including improve- 

 ments made by man; drainage (Holland), artificial islands, clear- 

 ings of timber or stone, holes made for mines, exhaustion of at- 

 mosphere by combustion and breathing, dams, levelings, bridges, 

 roads, walls, buildings; (b) heavy machinery like docks and locks, 

 cranes, Bessemer retorts ; light machinery such as looms ; movable 

 machinery like wagons, cars, ships, locomotives ; and apparatus 

 for comfort or convenience, cloths, hand-tools, watches. 



In general, as the material modifications become more portable 

 they correspond more to active mental states. Men think of them 

 more often. They need more frequent replacement. Hence the 

 material and psychic conjunctures tend to overlap at this end 



a The writer has employed the terms "conjuncture" and "environment" 

 as synonyms, roughly speaking. The former term, however, seems to him 

 to connote a shorter-time point of view than the latter, and hence less of 

 fixity and unmodifiableness Therefore, he has allowed himself to use the 

 two words generally in a similar sens^, but taking care, in his selection for 

 any particular content, to note whether it calls for a little more or less of the 

 idea of durability. The reader will notice that the terms "environment," 

 "conjuncture," and "process" are employed to designate continuous points 

 of view, beginning with the most materialistic and permanent, and passing 

 over into the most psychic and temporary. No separate treatment, how- 

 ever, has been given to the "conjuncture" apart from the "environment." 

 It has been preferred to set them both over against the "process"; indeed it 

 is difficult often to draw a line between the more and the less in the matter 

 of environment; but, since the less cosmic point of view is the one that 

 touches us most, it has been preferred to use the term "conjuncture" unless 

 it is quite plain that very durable conditions are under consideration. 



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