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

CRITICISM OF IDEALIST THEORY 733
"the State" or "the State at such" are employed, their
use is that of a class name intended to denote any member
of the class to which they belong. The State is considered
as a representative of its class and, in Dr. Bosanquet's
words, "is a brief expression for 'States qua States'.
Would my critics/ 9
asks Dr. Bosanquet, "find the same
difficulty in the title ofa book on 'the heart', or 'the steam
engine 1
?"
But the analogy does not hold. The nature and functions
ofthe heart are not modified by the existence ofother hearts.
The nature and structure of the State is, as I have already
indicated, profoundly- influenced by the existence of other
States and by its relations to them; nor can we hope ad-
equately to describe the nature of the State, unless these
relations and the modifications they entail in the State's
practice and structure are taken into account.
Secondly,
it is conceded that the account of the nature
of the State which is given by idealist theory is not strictly
true of States as we know diem, existing, as they do, in
imperfect actuality; it is true, it is explained, only
State, in so far as it realizes its true or ideal nature.
of the
THE SO-GALLED TRUE OR IDEAL NATURE
OF THE STATE. The "true or ideal nature" of the
State is, presumably, a Ideological expression 1 to denote
an organization which approximate* far more closely to
the State's real nature than any existing State with which
we are acquainted. It is, then, only to this ideal organization
that the theory purports to apply. If we enquire what the
State in its "true or ideal nature" will be like, we may
find some indication in the writings of fascist theorists,
which suggest that its model is to be found in the totalitarian
States of the modern world. These at any rate represent
a closer degree of approximation to the State in its "true
or ideal nature*' than any States which have hitherto
existed. Totalitarian States are regarded as approximating
more closely to the perfected or "ideal nature' 1
of the
*See Chapter I, pp. 30, 31.