ed by idiosyncrasy of mental constitution. The
contradictions of, or rather _among_, ideas and beliefs, with which we
are now concerned, are more extensive and more varied than mere logical
duels; they are also less definite, less precise. In reality they are
culture conflicts in which the opposing forces, so far from being
specific ideas only or pristine beliefs only, are in fact more or less
bewildering complexes of ideas, beliefs, prejudices, sympathies,
antipathies, and personal interests.

It is assumed also, I suppose, that any idea or group of ideas, any
belief or group of beliefs, may happen to be or may become a common
interest, shared by a small or a large number of individuals. It may
draw and hold them together in bonds of acquaintance, of association,
even of co-operation. It thus may play a group-making role.
Contradictory ideas or beliefs, therefore, may play a group-making role
in a double sense. Each draws into association the individual minds that
entertain it or find it attractive. Each also repels those minds to whom
it is repugnant, and drives them toward the group which is being formed
about the contradictory idea or belief. Contradictions among ideas and
beliefs, then, it may be assumed, tend on the whole to sharpen the lines
of demarcation between group and group.

These assumptions are, I suppose, so fully justified by the everyday
observation of mankind and so confirmed by history that it is
unnecessary now to discuss them or in any way to dwell upon them. The
question before us therefore becomes specific: "Are contradictions among
ideas and beliefs likely to play an _important_ group-making role in the
future?" I shall interpret the word important as connoting quality as
well as quantity. I shall, in fact, attempt to answer the question set
for me by translating it into this inquiry, namely: What kind or type of
groups are the inevitable contradictions among ideas and beliefs most
likely to create and to maintain within the progressive populations of
the world from this time forth?

Somewhat more than three hundred years ago, Protestantism and
geographical discovery had combined to create conditions extraordinarily
favorable to the formation of groups or associations about various
conflicting ideas and beliefs functioning as nuclei; and for nearly
three hundred years the world has been observing a remarkable
multiplication of culture groups of two fundamentally different types.
One type is