Let us dwell for a moment on this sentence of Spencer’s. It seems to state a commonplace truth. But, like so much of the language of social and political theory, it is pervaded by an unconscious and, therefore, misleading analogy. Strictly speaking an individual is “made” biologically. Before his social environment and education begin to mould his personality, he must at least exist. We can never separate the individual from the personality he begins to take on shortly after he is born, but we can distinguish between certain powers and capacities that differentiate individuals in the same or similar social environments, We know that individuals subjected to similar environmental conditions sometimes react very differently. The very impact of the environment is not always similar, because different individuals may meet it differendy. Sometimes an enormous disparity is found in the achievements of those who begin with equal or similar opportunities. It is at least an open question whether this disparity may not be due to the presence or absence of certain strong biological capacities, or to something which is not part of the environing culture. But the use of the term “makes” or “produces” in Spencer’s account prevents a nicer discrimination between the indissoluble but distinguishable features of original nature and acquired culture in human beings.
Despite his misleading language, Spencer has admitted enough to compel him to come closer to the problem of heroic action in history. Granted that before the great man can remake his society, society must “make” him, whatever that means. This implies at least the possibility that some men can remake society. All men are “made” by society, but only a few can “remake” it. More than this the heroic determinist does not require as a fair recognition of a fact and problem. Spencer has to go further. The words with which he pronounced a blithe dismissal of the hero indicate that the hero is a force to be reckoned with—or
as a great man with the social forces of his times, one must remember that Lincoln, the adult man, represents a part of the social forces (since they helped to produce him) with which it is desired to contrast him.” “Great men are thus the products of their times, that is, their achievements influence the times. The great man is thus a medium in social change.” The study concludes: “The great man and his work appear therefore as only a step in a process, largely dependent upon other factors.” There is no admission at any point of the possibility that “the step” may ever redetermine the direction of the process. A false step may kill a man. Why may not a false step or a timely one spell great disaster or victory for a culture?
