146 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 
In the writings of Durkheim is brought out clearly the concept 
of social consciousness with some kind of objective reality, — 
whether phenomenal or ontological is not discussed. Granted 
that there is some kind of real objective unity that is applicable 
to human beings in association whether phenomenal or ontologi- 
cal, static or dynamic, whether predominatingly mediated by 
thought, feeling, will, or a combination of these, we have next to 
enquire if there is anything in this unity corresponding to the 
self-consciousness characteristic of highly-developed man. This 
seems to be the bone of contention among social psychologists 
today, together with that other related and perplexing problem 
as to the relation between the individual mind and the social 
mind. Discussion of the development of thought along this line 
would carry us through the whole range of recent socio-psychical 
literature, but we may call attention in passing to James’ doc- 
trine of selves and self-consciousness as of special importance. 
According to him we have a “ hierarchy of the mes.” ‘‘ A toler- 
ably unanimous opinion,” he says, “‘ ranges the different selves of 
which a man may be ‘ seized and possessed,’ and the consequent 
different orders of his self-regard in a hierarchical scale, with the 
bodily me at the bottom, the spiritual me at the top, and the 
extra-corporeal material selves and the various social selves 
between.” 1 
This concept, making the approach to the discussion of social 
self-consciousness from the point of view of biology and individual 
psychology as do Schaffle, Fouillée, Ratzenhofer, McDougall, 
Giddings and most of the other sociologists and social psycholo- 
gists, is repudiated by Dewey, Cooley,? Boodin® and a few others 
who make the approach from the point of view of spiritualistic 
monism and by Gumplowicz from the point of view of positivistic- 
social-pluralism, all of whom arrive at what might legitimately be 
termed social realism. According to them individual conscious- 
ness and self-consciousness are differentiations of original group 
consciousness. A clarifying discussion of the whole subject is the 
1 Briefer Course, p. 190. Cf. McDougall, Soctal Psychology, chs. VII and VIII. 
2 Social Organization, ch.1; Human Nature and the Social Order, ch. I. 
3 Op. cit. 
