794 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
an entirely mechanical manner. It is impossible for a mass of population entirely " determined " in its action, to result from many individuals relatively free, as the theories of individual free-will affirm. Accordingly, in new conditions of environment the individual acts according to the personality which has been formed within him. Human society is organized according to the nature of the individuals and the natural environment in which it exists. All the relations established between individuals depend upon these two factors. These, in their turn, are subject to the influences which are formed in them by social relations. Thus there takes place a continual transformation of natural environment, of individuals, of social relations, which, in a general and comprehensive way, is called social transformation, or evolution. (Individual Determinism and Social Science, by Giuseppe Fiamingo, in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1 896.)
Human Welfare and the Social Question. — III. Social Welfare. Altruism needs egoism in order to be able to set itself to work ; but egoism does not need altruism in the same way. All egoistic desires do not conflict with well-being. We can decide between egoism and altruism only from its standpoint of well-being. If desire were the only motive in human affairs, altruism would still be possible. In so far as one knows the feelings of his fellow beings, their joys and sorrows affect him. A true common feeling arises when a common cause operates in all. Then the con- sciousness that a great multitude has a common feeling strengthens that feeling in the individual. The morality arising from social feelings is experimental, changing con- stantly in its content. Morality (Sittlickkeit) directs itself to the general welfare of society. It is real morality in so far as it corresponds with the present social opinions on the general end of social welfare. It is problematical morality in so far as it corre- sponds with the opinions of present society, but still has the true general welfare for its end. It is morality in its narrower sense when it proceeds from the disposition of a well-balanced egoism. It is morality (Moralitat) in so far as it proceeds from the dis- position of universal love for humanity. Egoism which does not work for the general welfare can contribute nothmg to morality. Love for others is ethical only as it fur- thers the general welfare. IV. Nature and Culture. These ideas are not opposed to each other. Neither the subjective nor the objective is the startii)g point of knowledge, but the subjective connection of the two. The objective is an abstraction ; the two are always indissolubly bound together. The inner world (culture) of others can be inferred only from the external ; and I can do that only by analogy with my own. The over-mastery of the world of observation over the world of mental presentation is nature ; the mastery of the latter over the former is culture. Material culture depends upon the maintenance and development of the spiritual. Individual inner worlds, in order to shape a common world of ideas, need an outer world. The ultimate individ- ual end is always desire (Lust); the common end is often only a means to this end. Social democrats hold that economic development determines the whole spiritual and material culture ; but the outer world itself is effectuated by the spirit of the world of mental presentation. In order to maintain culture, labor is necessary. In last analysis the value of labor is determined by individual desires. Culture cannot be maintained without means of production. Only private ownership of capital can give the power- ful motive necessary for labor and concentration of power. Therefore ownership is the foundation of culture. Desire is the motive to culture labor ; but the effort must necessarily be put forth to make compatible the welfare of the individual and the general culture. Therefore follows the necessity for a social pedagogics. — Dr. von ScHUBERT-SoLDERN, " Das menschliche Gliick und die soziale Frage," in Zeitschrift fiir die Gesamte Staats-wissenschaft, No. 2, 1 896.
Children in the Prisons of Paris — Recent Reforms. — The Committee of Defense of Children brought before Courts, founded 1 89 1, has three spheres of action :
(1) legislative, to prepare bills for parliament or recommendations to government ;
(2) judiciary, to induce judges to act with more discrimination ; (3) in the administra- tive domain, to insist upon more personal, careful and affectionate treatment. The most important work is done in the last sphere, and the vital principle here is to pro-
