immediate difficulty arises. Where are we to find Man? "Is it in the
social community where individual forces are firmly welded together to
form a common life, or among individuals as they exist for themselves in
all their exhaustless diversity?" If we put the community first, then
the social whole must be firmly rooted in itself and be independent of
the caprice of its members. The duty of the individual is to subordinate
himself to the community--this means socialism. If, on the other hand,
the great aim is to develop the individual and to give him the maximum
of opportunity to unfold his special characteristics, we arrive at an
opposing theory--that of individualism.

In the history of society we find an age of socialistic ideas followed
by one of individualistic ideas, and vice versa, and there is much that
is valuable in each, in that it tends to modify and disprove the other's
extreme position.

The present wave in the direction of _socialism_ arises, to an extent,
in reaction from the extremely individualistic position of previous
ages. Man is now realising that the social relations of life are of
importance as well as the character of his own life. He realises the
interdependence of members of a community, and the conception of the
State as a whole, a unit, instead of a mere sum of individuals, grows
up. The modern industrial development and the organisation of labour
have, too, emphasised the fact that the value of the individual depends
largely upon his being a part of society. His work must be in
co-operation with the work of others to produce the best effect; for in
such co-operation it produces effects which reach far beyond his own
individual capacity. Hence his life appears to receive value from the
social relations, and the social ideal is conceived. The development of
the individual no longer becomes the aim but rather the development of