e and nation
distinctive psychic and social characteristics.

XXXVII

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

The aim of the present work has been to gain insight into the real
nature of both Japanese character and its modern transformation.

In doing this we have necessarily entered the domain of social
science, where we have been compelled to take issue with many, to us,
defective conceptions. Our discussions of social principles have,
however, been narrowly limited. We have confined our attention to the
interpretation of those social and psychic characteristics
differentiating the Japanese from other races. Our chief contention
has been that these characteristics are due to the nature of the
social order that has prevailed among them, and not to the inherent
nature of the people; and that the evolution of the psychic
characteristics of all races is due to social more than to biological
evolution.

This position and the discussions offered to prove it imply more than
has been explicitly stated. In this closing chapter it seems desirable
to state concisely, and therefore with technical terminology, some of
the more fundamental principles of social philosophy assumed or
implied in this work. Brevity requires that this statement take the
form of dogmatic propositions and unillustrated abstractions. The
average reader will find little to interest him, and is accordingly
advised to omit it entirely.

Let us first clearly see that we have made no effort to account for
the origin or inherent nature of psychic life. That association or the
social order is the original producing cause of psychic life is by no
means our contention. Given the psychic nature as we find it in man,
the problem is to account for its diverse manifestation in the
different races and civilizations. This, and this alone, has been our
problem.

Psychic nature is the sole and final cause of social life. Without
psychic nature there could be no association. Personalized psychic
nature is the sole and final cause of human social life. Numberless
conditions determine by stimulation or imitation the manifestation of
psychic life. These conditions differ for different lands, peoples,
ages, and political relations, producing diverse social orders for
each separated group. These diverse social orders determine the
psychic characteristics differentiating the various groups. Social
life and social order are objective expressions of a reality of which
psychic natur