East anD West Edited R. Hughes. Oxford University London. 7/6. speaks in this book, f r it seven lectures deliver to the Editor wis drawn to propose the theme by a remark heard in a lecture room—tnat the individual bad been discovered by Christianity d he felt that the statement was t true to historical fact, India for centuries before the Christian era had been awake to the individual and hi! soul; China; from the nitta century onwards, had made remarkable discoveries as to the nature of personal! ty and its value to society; the Hebrew prophets had brought the individual face to face with Jehovah; "And, if Socrates did not discover the individual, who was there who did?":
The assumption of this book is that windows opened on only one side are not enough. The historian can-hot ignore anthropology or physical geography, whilst tne political philosopher. whether he likes ìt or not, may easily find himself faced with problems for which the biologist or the student of has part of the religion essential data, Further, there are the Questions which arise over the existence ai an East and a West, not so long ago taken to be almost ant ith tical to each other, now. seen to have much in common: The end of the nineteenth century brought the apogee of Europeanism with its subamely Self-centred conviction that the culture of Western Europe was the only significant one in the world, (As Jon wid to his friends, "No doubt but ye e the people, and wisdom shall die with) The apogee, however, having been reached, the attendant decline set in. so that, until the Aryan myth sprang to life, most intelligent people were on the way to a more Modest frame of mind. For one thing our western politics have not proved sò admirable, as we imagined, for Another the outstanding peoples of the fast have shown themselves to be very different from what they were supposed to be.
Aristocrat And Commoner The first lecture on the list is by Dr. R: R. Marett, Reader in Social Anthropology, who takes as his subject The Individual in Primitive Society, and starts by saying that it is with fear and trembling thst he undertakes to speak about human individuality, for the truth is that he is very far from being sure what we ought to understand by that term. He turns from the orenda or wonderworking power of the Iroqutois to the mana of the Pacific region, and is struck by the' strong generic resem-blanco between the two—with this difference, that while orenda is held to be possessed by all, mana is reserved for persons of quality:
"in Tonga commoners wer digit acaned to be without immeat souls, like brute beasts; so that neither here nor hereafter could they come masters.. Lucie simply did pat Deere on any basis of equality exist for the likes of them Swing Of The Pendulum The Arunta Central of Australia i every one is held to possess t, the Koruna undergoes reincarnation, the arumburinga, on the other hand, persists from generation to generation. The personal note in p imita r e in primitive religion is discussed and the many other fvnys in which the individuality of is recognized in pri the plain man aye oncin retribution. The static itiye theory a actice—including
conditions of primitive society are, however, maintained by the taboos which protect the tribe against the pver-assertive individual, The indivious, on the whole, must walk in step with the rest of the tribe, and Jeadership, though not altogether unwelcome, has its dangers:
Like the artist, whọ is ten rany akin with" the diviner soothsayer et hoe genus omna arnee one primitive wonder-worker, and the eye and sll they are vision-arMether priest or doctor in the mak:
phetha Pin his inmost heart be al the crowd distance, Neve Wales he does so at the rink that Picton death as a witch in Ron of the Vulgar may ma the' powers of evil discern in "the 1
4 so prone is average mankin to 1 ruclty its saviours...
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.