Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/180

 1 66 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

of education as are fairly needed to bring to light abilities pos- sessed, or individuals endowed with peculiar talents in particular directions and unable to obtain opportunity for their application or development, it can scarcely be said that, as to such individ- uals, the existing social system is rationally justified.

In the formation of an estimate as to how many such unfor- tunate individuals there arc in any given society, it may be argued that whether or not a condition be rational to an indi- vidual upon a utilitarian basis must necessarily be left to the determination of that individual. His idea of pleasure or suc- cess, it may be said, may differ from our own, but as long as the conditions by which he is surrounded meet his own tests we cannot say that he is a victim to the social or political system that is maintained by his race.

If such an argument be raised, it is at once seen, however, that it will serve to justify, in this respect at least, some of the very worst civilizations. In fact, the lower the state of civiliza- tion, the easier and more complete would the justification be, for it would be exactly under those conditions that the individuals would be so ignorant and brutal that they would have neither the ability nor disposition to reason intelligently regarding their best interest. It is therefore a sufficient answer to this plea to say that the conditions under which such individuals have lived have never been such as to present a possibility for the forma- tion of truer and higher ideals of happiness and personal welfare.

To this it may be rejoined that this still implies that the one passing the judgment upon a society determines its rationality according to a standard which he himself sets up, and not accord- ing to one erected by the individuals themselves. This is true, and must necessarily be so. In the formation of any judg- ment whatever a critic must have established for himself an ideal or standard, in comparison with which the facts under con- sideration are judged, and, by their conformity or nonconformity to it, justified or condemned. In this sense every estimate of value, moral, economical, or political, is necessarily subjective. But it is not subjective in so far as the one by whom it is formed or stated eliminates from it all elements of personal bias or