Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/523

 SOCIAL CONTROL 509

desire a reflective period in which, generalizing from his experi- ence, he concludes that pleasure is the sole object of rational endeavor. Now this hedonic creed of life, despite a certain Epicurean mildness, makes on the whole for self, rather than for others, and is in this way a disintegrating force. Those sages who have thought to socialize men by marshaling purely hedonic considerations have always failed. Naked, unshamed hedonism is anti-social. The social policy is to discredit the calculus of feelings, so that men may again pass under the dominion of the object. 1 For only on this condition can society reinstate its ideals and values as goals of endeavor.

To this end the ascetic teacher snubs the healthy instincts, abases the " body," rejects the common-sense sanctions of pleas- ure and pain, flouts the " carnal " reason, disparages the " nat- ural " man, and in every way seeks to break down the hedonist appraisal of life. It is true this leaves little to strive for. It abolishes at a stroke four-fifths of willing. But the void thus created may in itself be prized as " Nirvana;" or it may be filled by exalting public activities ; or certain " inward " goods "salvation," "peace," "love of God," "union with God," "the Beatific Vision " - may become goals of endeavor. Along this line, then, the ascetic, be he Buddhist, stoic, Christian, or Sufi, tames lustful, grasping, vying men and transforms them into quiet, untroublesome members of society.

But this is not enough. The tamed energy of the anchorite wasting itself in fast and penance and self-torture is socially useless. The unlimited saint would do away with associate life about as quickly as the unlimited sinner. Urging, therefore, " weakness of the flesh " or " hardness of heart " or other excuse, the ascetic teacher usually manages to stop short of an extreme pessimism that would plunge the race into quietism or suicide. The simple, naive life in fraternal communities is approved, and the teacher addresses himself to cutting away as proud-flesh all riches, luxury, or ambition. He joins the ethic of compassion to the gospel of renunciation, so that the strong,

See MARTINEAU, Typet of Etkual Theory, Vol. II, pp. 321-3.