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

THE SPLIT 139
For if the essential nature of man is to be a soul or spirit,
if his specific end is the salvation of his soul and the
development of his spirit, it is no longer possible to maintain
the Greek view of man's nature as something which
finds its fulfilment only in the State.
.So long as it was thought that the true end of man could
be realized only in society, society could be plausibly
represented not only as an indispensable condition, but
as an integral part of his development. When, however,
the realization of man's true end was postponed to the
next world, the case for regarding the State as both natural
and indispensable to him lost its force. Hence theories
arose which represented society not as a natural, but as
an artificial growth, developing not as an integral part
of man's nature, but as a device to suit his convenience.
Once again the cable was cut between society and morals;
and politics, as a result, could be pursued independently
of ethics.
Influence of View of Man as a Reasonable Being.
further influence arising from a different source operated
in the same direction. The eighteenth century has often
been called the Age of Reason. In contradistinction to the
Christian view that man's real nature was that of a soul
to be saved, or a spirit to be developed, men like Voltaire,
Hume, Godwin, Paine and Adam Smith, insisted that it
was that of a reasonable and reasoning being. The opera-
tions of reason might, they held, be warped by prejudice,
obscured by passion, distorted by emotional bias. Reason
could, however, on occasion win free from these influences.
To the extent that it did so, to the extent that man became
reasonable in his disposition, objective and impartial in
his judgment and serene in his outlook, to that extent he
realized his true nature. In so far as man achieves this
condition of being reasonable, he stands in no need of
external rules or regulations; for he has only to consult
his reason and it will tell him what is best Moreover,
since it is reasonable to do what is best, he will act as his
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