t of the life of
nature in a way which religion and idealism have failed to do.

Of late years _Socialism_ and _Individualism_ have come into prominence
as theories of life. Eucken attributes the movements in the first
instance to the receding into the background of the idea of an overworld
which gave meaning and value to life. When doubt was thrown upon
religion and idealism, when confidence in another world was shaken, man
lost to an extent his moral support. Where could he turn now for a firm
basis to life? He might, of course, turn from the invisible world to the
world of sense, to nature. But the first result of this is to make man
realise that he is separate from nature, and again he fails to find
support. He is an alien in the world of nature, and disbelieves the
existence of a higher world. When both are denied him he turns naturally
to his fellow-men--here at least he can find community of interest--here
at least he is among beings of his own type. Hence he confines his
attention to the life of humanity, and in this, the universe of
mankind, he hopes to find an explanation of his own life, and a value
for it.

The progress of humanity, then, must become the aim of life--all our
strength and effort must be focussed upon human nature itself. But an
immediate difficulty arises. Where are we to find Man? "Is it in the
social community where individual forces are firmly welded together to
form a common life, or among individuals as they exist for themselves in
all their exhaustless diversity?" If we put the community first, then
the social whole must be firmly rooted in itself and be independent of
the caprice of its members. The duty of the individual is to subordinate
himself to the community--this means socialism. If, on the other hand,
the great aim is to develop the individual and to give him the maximum
of opportunity to unfold his special characteristics, we arrive at an
opposing theory--that of individualism.

In the history of society we find an age of socialistic ideas followed
by one of individualistic ideas, and vice versa, and there is much that
is valuable in each, in that it tends to modify and disprove the other's
extreme position.

The present wave in the direction of _socialism_ arises, to an extent,
in reaction from the extremely individualistic position of previous
ages. Man is now realising that the social relations of life are of
importance as well as the character of his own life. He reali