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

CHAPTER XIII: THEORIES OF
THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF
SOCIETY
Introductory Note. In Part III I propose to consider
theories of the nature of the State and of the relation
between the State and the individual. Some of these
theories are concerned with the question of fact, others
with the question "ought". Theories of the first class ask,
"What is the nature of political organizations"? Theories
of the second, "What ought it to be"?
It is possible and also desirable to treat logic and metaphysics
without reference to time and circumstance.
The laws of logic, to take an extreme case, are not affected
by the circumstances of the period and place in which they
are apprehended and discussed. In the case of ethics the
divorce between theory and circumstance is not so marked,
and in my treatment of ethical theories in Part II, I
have found it necessary on occasion to* introduce a reference
to the historical conditions in which the theories
were put forward. Many would hold that these references
should have been more frequent than I have made them.
When, however, we come to theories of politics, it is
no longer possible to maintain a separation between theory
and circumstance. Topical considerations insist on intrud-
ing themselves, for the reason that topical considerations
both set the questions with which political theorists con-
cern themselves, and suggest the lines of the answers.
Hence views such as, for example, that which Hobbes
expresses on the impossibility of revolt1 , which strike us as
being both illogical and fantastic, become at least com-
prehensible when they are seen in their historical setting.
This is a book of philosophy and not of history; it is
'Seebdowpp.474,475.