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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2009
It is frequently contended that one of the gravest dangers of the future of civilization is that the organization of society will be carried so far as to imperil, if not indeed to destroy, social and individual liberty. If this is actually true, we seem compelled to choose between these two ends—either, that is to say, to subordinate or sacrifice freedom, or to minimize organization.
page 245 note 1 On the other hand Anarchy, in the sense of the disappearance of all State regulation, may be a highly desirable, ideal.
page 246 note 1 I should describe the self as an extremely complex system of psychological, and perhaps spiritual, factors, with which it may be necessary that a “body” of some sort should be combined. All its constituents may be transient, provided that the system which they form possesses a marked degree of permanence; but this seems to hold true of every real, from atom to galaxy. What characterizes the self is, therefore, the type of system and of permanence, both of which, still further, must not simply permit, but actively contribute towards, growth and development. All this implies, negatively, that the self need not be regarded as some hopelessly mysterious entity, nor again as a mere geometrical centre of experience. Nor should we, possibly with Hume, leave the house and then peer through the window in search of the self, in order to base a philosophic scepticism on this futile procedure.
page 246 note 2 So far, however, as microscopic changes are involved it is indubitable that, from the very nature of the situation, no investigation can demonstrate the operation of causation. But this, clearly, cannot justify the assertion that causation does not actually subsist in the subatomic realm.
page 247 note 1 It will be recalled that self-determination for small nations was one of the principal aims of the previous war and the Treaty of Versailles; cf. Fisher, H. A. L. in The Background and Issues of the War, pp. 7 ffGoogle Scholar.
page 248 note 1 The mathematical basis of Aesthetics is equally pertinent, although the artist is nearly always quite uneonscious of the principles to which he must nevertheless invariably conform. The proper sphere of Pragmatism, therefore, is not Philosophy but Art.