Reflections on the Barbarousness and the Civilisation of Nations and on the Savage State of Man

Summary

For a nation to be barbarous, if we understand the term in a precise, philosophical sense, is simply for it to be ignorant of the things that are useful to it and of how to attain them by the readiest means and those most conducive to the happiness of each individual. For a nation to be civilised is for it to be acquainted with these things. The ruler and governor is required to know what is advantageous to his people and how to secure it for them, and to have a desire so to do. The people are required simply not to obstruct by their opinions or habits the true benefits they are offered nor the true means employed to render them happy.

A nation ought not to be called barbarous so long as knowledge and opinion keep pace with each individual's needs and greatest expectations of happiness. But it can be more or less savage, a term which expresses the greater or lesser distance from the highest state of unison achievable among men, and from the greatest possible happiness divided among the greatest number. I keep stopping to provide definitions, but this is the only way we can hope to turn a wayward, unstable science into a more precise and reliable one, and to convert what has been a pretext for the unscrupulous and a formula for blood and misery into a science which is the friend of the people and the guardian of humankind.