GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

THE SPLIT 127
referring, except incidentally, to the writers who may
happen to have advanced them.
At the point which we have now readied convenience
of exposition will be best served by treating these two
branches of thought separately. Indeed, during a period
of several hundred years they were largely pursued separately.
The separation continues until well on into the
nineteenth century. It is only in our own times that the
two have again been brought together, and doctrines such
as Communism and Fascism appear, which conceive of the
nature of the good life for man in terms which involve a
necessary reference to the nature of the State, or the
position of a class. It is only in certain kinds of society,
these theories maintain, that the good life is possible, if
only because an essential part of the good life consists in
service to society.
The reasons for the split between ethics and politics are
various and interesting, and in this Introduction to the
ensuing two Parts I shall try to give some account of them.
The Effect of Christianity. Among the most important
is -the effect of Christianity. Christianity places man's
true life not in this world, but in the next While the next
world is wholly good, this world is conceived to be at
least to some extent evil; while the next life is eternal,
life on earth is transitory. For man's life hereafter this,
his present existence, is to be regarded as a preparation
and a training, and its excellence consists in the thoroughness
and efficiency with which the training is carried out
Nothing on this earth is wholly and absolutely good, and
such goods as earthly life contains are good only as a
means to the greater goods which are promised hereafter.
An important corollary bears upon our present enquiry.
The good for man is not, as the Greeks thought, bound
up with the good of the State, but with the salvation of
his soul; it is to be realized not in a civic, but in a heavenly
society. Now' in the preparation of his soul for later
admission to this heavenly society, the State plays no