Man the slave & master / by Mark Graubard.

  • Graubard, Mark, 1904-1992.
Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Man the slave & master / by Mark Graubard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    society, we are often negligent and indifferent to the consequences of such laxity. To make matters still worse, a fatal parasite wormed its way into the young science of human behaviour in the form of political propaganda. It is no uncommon occur rence to-day to hear a political orator ignorantly rave about the will to power, racial superiority, and purity of blood and culture. There is hardly an 'intellectual' in fascist coun tries who will hesitate to deliver long discourses on instincts, race, culture, blood, soil, biologic or national characteristics, and utilize such palaver to defend social and cultural atrocities. Fascist agitators have developed theories of behaviour based on fantasy but differing from those derived from 'case studies' in that they are obvious political fabri cations employed to nourish militarism and national insolence and inspire hatred of neighbouring nations or defenceless minorities. Additional obstacles to a scientific study of human behaviour are antiquated religious dogmas, particularly in the sphere of morals, hatched in the mind of primitive man and still retained. Ancient man created a complete philosophy and code of social and individual behaviour. These antiquated and ill-founded principles of human nature are inculcated into us from early childhood as natural laws and constitute a powerful hindrance to a scientific study of man. We are indeed so strongly conditioned by them that, critical and scientific as we may otherwise be, we fail, or find it extremely difficult, to attain objectivity in regard to moral values. It takes a special effort on the part of even the most alert individual to challenge received ethical notions, hallowed as they are by time, custom, and tradition. The objective method of science can recognize no such authority. It knows only one goal, and that is the accurate knowledge of reality. It pursues this goal for one purpose