Socialism and the American Spirit

Twenty years ago a leading matter of debate among thoughtful people in the English-speaking world was "the reconciliation of Science and Reliĝ ion."Peace between these forces has been practically attained, lifier much discussion, through the recogni- tion of the simple fact that each holds a rightful place in human nature.Neither can be accepted as repre-" senting the entire compass of our being, nor should either be denounced by the other.Religion and Science are still vigorous and intact after the long and eager debate.The one power seriously injured was the dogmatic spirit, exemplified equally in theo- logians destitute of scientific training or method, and in natural scientists ignorant of philosophy and the- ology.Now that the dust of this controversy is settled, it should be plain to all that neither Science : nor Religion can suffer real harm from the other.It i is as plain that no "reconciliation" is needed, if each/ power wiU put away dogmatism, and be content to/ rule supreme over its part of that human nature/ which includes both, and much more than both, in itf^ \ SOCIALISM AND THE AMERICAN SPIRIT.jlargeness and complexity.The adjustment of know- tedge and faith in the creed and the practice of fenerations and individuals must be left, where it belongs, with each generation, with each individual, as 'life gives enlightenment.ITT-t the present day, another pair of supposed com-b atants concentrate upon themselves the attention of J civilized mankind in a large degree.The "social problem " which deeply occupies the mind and heart pf our time is essentially the issue between Individ- I JLialism and Socialism .Are the two reconcilable, or ^biyst one be preferred to the other by progr essive traces?Voices are not wanting to tell us that there ^ps no half-way house between State Socialism and lAnarchy, between an enormous extension of the functions of the State on one hand, and a virtual, ^^abolition of State control on the other.The ears ot them that will listen are filled with the cries of ex- tremists who unite only in denouncing the actual order, employing a rhetoric and a logic which pay little heed to reason, and a sentimentality that has small concern for the laws of economics or the funda- mental realities of human nature.When they occa- sionally give attention to each other, the Socialist has little difficulty in showing that the Anarchist is a sen- timentalist of the future, who dreams of an impossible race of men needing no constraint, since they have arrived at perfect virtue and entire reasonableness: the Anarchist has no more difficulty in demonstrating that the Socialist is a sentimentalist of the present, far astray in supposing that the majority of men can safely be trusted with extreme power over the minor- ity.Meantime, the man of scientific temper cannot rec- '"''The Alpha and Ome^a of Socialism is the transformation of private and competing capi- tals into a united^collective capital .'''''' in contrast with the precision of these two defi- nitions of Socialism, the definition of Individualism _ already given from the "Century Dictionary" " The theory of government which favors the nonrin- terference of the State in the affairs of individuals "seems vague^W e shall do well, therefore, to define the term again, in exact contrast with the words |of Dr. Schaffle.Economic Individualism would then |be the system of production by means of i^^v^Xi^M^i- Ital (held by single persons, firms, corpor ations _ or ^cooperative associations) : this method of production f demands a free labor-con tract^o ppu comp etition^-a.Tifl distribution to individuals.j[he Alph a and _Omega of individualism is, accordingly, priyatej^cnnipftt-î ng capitals, with a large measure of individual free- dom from State control.As a matter of fact, however, the complete antithe- sis of State Socialism is scientific Anarchism, the doctrine that aU interference of the State with the individual is unadvisable, and that the State in the sense of Government should be abolished.The actual condition of civilized man in the modern State is, of course, the logical negation of anarchy, and the institution of private capital is everywhere recognized

Communism · Economic history · Economics · Keynesian economics · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · Academic Freedom and Politics · American Political and Social Dynamics · Law · Philosophy

• Introduction to Political Economy

  E J Mishan•Introduction to Political Economy…•2013

  Add to list

• The Labor Movement in America

  R C Miller, Marjorie Ruth Clark et al.•The Mississippi Valley Historical…•1938

  Add to list

• Profit-Sharing and Cooperative Production

  L L Price•The Economic Journal•1892

  Add to list

• Social statics, abridged and revised; together with The man versus the state

  Herbert Spencer-González, Herbert Spencer•Social statics, abridged and…•1892

  Add to list