Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/482

 466 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

vaster expanses, become more and more the sport of irresistible waves and currents ?

On the one hand, it may be urged that, as one rises clear of bodily wants and promptings, one's self-determination contracts, one's life is more and more molded by conceptual rather than impulsive factors; that is to say, by ideas, ideals, beliefs, prin- ciples, and the like. The growing preponderance of such factors subjects a man more to his social environment, for these are just the things that are easiest taken on by imitation or stamped in by education. You say the stock of possessions to choose from grows with each generation. True, but nevertheless the incompatible ideas and ideals become fewer, because one of the incompatibles exterminates the other. Consider, moreover, how the diversity in the cultural elements offered one becomes less owing to the march of adaptation. Spelling becomes definite, idiomatic flex- ible speech falls under the tyranny of grammar and of style. The dictionary expands, but the number of synonyms declines as mean- ings become more shaded and precise. A religious ferment emancipates souls, but out of it dogmas soon crystallize and dose in on the mind. In time unrelated dogmas are compared and sifted, and the complementary ones are erected into an imposing theology like that of St. Thomas or Calvin, which from foundation to turret-stone offers the believer no option ! So from the discus- sions of jurists emerge general principles which transform a mass of incongruous, even contradictory, customs and statutes into a system of jurisprudence from which inharmonious elements have been expelled and which utterly dominates the ordinary intellect. Likewise ununified generalizations about the external world, each trailing off into the unknown with many inviting paths of suggestion, are integrated and the gaps filled in until there exists a body of articulated propositions called a science; and the generalizations of the various sciences find a still higher synthesis in systems of philosophy.

On the other hand, there is certainly a progressive diversifica- tion and enrichment of culture which offers one a greater number of options and permits him to indulge his individual fancy. The