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 CHAPTER XIV

THE MODERN MIND

Is there a modern mind? The question must be answered in the affirmative; though it is not easy to define precisely the meaning of the phrase. Of course, there is no modern as contrasted with an ancient or primitive mind, if by the phrase one means the appearance of any new mental powers or functions. But there is no doubt that the typical modern man has points of view and modes of thought markedly dif ferent from those of men living under more primitive con ditions. Normally he reacts in a different way to almost every situation which calls forth in him any conscious re sponse. To describe and explain as accurately and ade quately as space will permit these different mental attitudes and tendencies is the purpose of this chapter. But at the outset we must call attention to the fact that we have among us persons who represent almost every degree of approx imation to the modern attitude of mind. Many occupy yet almost the original, primitive point of view ; and few minds, perhaps, have been wholly weaned away from the primitive attitude, because the conditions which have brought about so important a readjustment of the mental focus have arisen in comparatively recent times. Those conditions are the profound changes which have taken place in every aspect of the environment in which men live.

Broadly speaking there are two general factors of the environment in which men live the natural and the human. By the natural is meant the conditions and forces of nature unmodified and uncontrolled by man. The human phase of the environment has three elements : first, the human beings composing the group with which one stands related ; second, human institutions those relatively fixed systems of re-

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