nd the substance of the primitive Graeco-Oriental literature; in the
same way, the modern scientific theory of monism, the very soul of
universal evolution and the typical and definitive form of systematic,
scientific, experiential human thought boldly fronting the facts of the
external world--following upon the brilliant but erratic speculations of
metaphysics--is only a return to the ideas of the Greek philosophers and
of Lucretius, the great poet of naturalism.

The examples of this reversion to primitive forms are only too obvious
and too numerous, even in the category of social institutions.

I have already spoken of the religions evolution. According to Hartmann,
in the primitive stage of human development happiness appeared
attainable during the lifetime of the individual; this appeared
impossible later on and its realization was referred to the life beyond
the tomb; and now the tendency is to refer its realization to the
earthly life of humanity, not to the life of the individual as in
primitive times, but to series of generations yet unborn.

The same is true in the political domain. Herbert Spencer remarks
(Principles of Sociology, Vol. II, Part V, Chap. V,) that the will of
all--the sovereign element among primitive mankind--gradually gives way
to the will of a single person, then to those of a few (these are the
various aristocracies: military, hereditary, professional or feudal),
and the popular will finally tends again to become sovereign with the
progress of democracy (universal suffrage--the referendum--direct
legislation by the people, etc.).

The right to administer punishment, a simple defensive function among
primitive mankind tends to become the same once more. Criminal law no
longer pretends to be a teleological agency for the distribution of
ideal justice. This pretension in former days was an illusion that the
belief in the freedom of the will had erected on the natural foundation
of society's right of self-defense. Scientific investigations into the
nature of crime, as a natural and social phenomenon, have demonstrated
to-day how absurd and unjustified was the pretension of the lawmaker and
the judge to weigh and measure the guilt of the delinquent to make the
punishment exactly counterbalance it, instead of contenting themselves
with excluding from civil society, temporarily or permanently, the
individuals unable to adapt themselves to its requirements, as is done
in the case of the insane a