BY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS CAMBRIDGE
This book was written, originally and primarily, for use in a courseentitled "Introduction to Contemporary Civilization," requiredof all Freshmen in Columbia College. It is an attempt to give abird's-eye view of the processes of human nature, from man's simpleinborn impulses and needs to the most complete fulfillment of thesein the deliberate activities of religion, art, science, and morals.It is hoped that the book may give to the student and general readera knowledge of the fundamentals of human nature and a sense ofthe possibilities and limits these give to human enterprise.
Part I consists of an analysis of the types of behavior, a surveyof individual traits and their significance in social life, a briefconsideration of the nature and development of the self, individualdifferences, language and communication, racial and cultural continuity.Those fruits of psychological inquiry have been stressed whichbear most strikingly on the relations of men in our present-daysocial and economic organization. In consequence, there has been adeliberate exclusion of purely technical or controversial material,however interesting. The psychological analysis is in general basedupon the results of the objective inquiries into human behaviorwhich have been so fruitfully conducted in the last twenty-fiveyears by Thorndike and Woodworth. To the work of the first-mentioned,the author is particularly indebted.
Part II is a brief analysis, chiefly psychological in character, of thefour great activities of the human mind and imagination—religion,art, science, and morals. These are discussed as normal thoughcomplex activities developed, through the process of reflection,in the fulfillment of man's inborn impulses and needs. Thusdescriptively to treat these spiritual enterprises implies on thepart of the author a naturalistic viewpoint whose main outlineshave been fixed for this generation by James, Santayana, and Dewey.To the last-named the writer wishes to express the very specialobligation that a pupil owes to a great teacher.
Page iv The bookas a whole, so far as can be judged from the experience the authorand others have had in using it during the past year as a textat Columbia, should fit well into any general course in socialpsychology. It has been increasingly realized that the student'sunderstanding of contemporary problems of government and industry isimmensely clarified by a knowledge of the human factors which theyinvolve. This volume supplies a brief account of the essential factsof human behavior with especial emphasis on their social consequences.Part I may be independently used, as it has been with success, ina general course in social psychology. Part II, the "Career ofReason," presents material which many instructors find it highlydesirable to use in introductory philosophy courses, but for whichno elementary texts are available. The usual textbooks deal withthe more metaphysical problems to the exclusion of religion, art,morals, and science, humanly the most interesting and significant ofphilosophical problems. Where, as in many colleges, the introductoryphilosophy course is preceded by a course in psycholog