Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: further the interests of its members. This is particularly true of society; it not only has an aim, but its aim is to be found in the life and welfare of its members. § 3. The Problem Restated If it is accepted that the distinctive characteristics of a human society are that it is a psychical organization, that it is capable of growth and development, and that it finds its aim in the welfare of its members, it ought to be clear that genuine appreciation of the relation of the individual to society must rest upon insight into his relation to these characteristics. For this reason, we are able to limit our problem and to resolve it into a study of the relation of the individual to the existence of society as a psychical organization, into a study of his relation to its development and to its end or aim. § 4. The Individual And The Existence Of Society 1. The Distinguishing Mark of Man. — Many efforts have been made to point out what quality distinguishes man from other creatures. Some hold this mark to be the upright position of his body; others, that it is his free hands; others, that it is language; and the list might be lengthened to include laughter, sympathy, choice, and volition. Whatever arguments there may be in favor of one or the other of these characteristics, there is a growing opinion that the quality which distinguishes man more than any other is the higher powers of his intellect. 2. Higher Powers of the Human Intellect. — Certain of the higher powers of the human intellect are of importance in this connection. The first of these is self-consciousness. By self-consciousness is meant the consciousness of one's bodily states, feelings, thoughts, and actions as one's own, and the idea of one's self as a self that existed yesterday, exists today, and wil...