"Whichever theory we adopt to give a rational explanation of human existence, that theory must take into account and explain the mental nature we see at work in all modern communities"
About this Quote
Keith is laying down a boundary line for respectable theorizing: if your grand account of “human existence” can’t explain the psychology of people living in modern, mass societies, it’s not a theory so much as a metaphysical hobby. The sentence sounds evenhanded, but it’s doing gatekeeping work. “Whichever theory we adopt” flatters pluralism, then “must” snaps the door shut. He’s not inviting speculation; he’s policing it.
The key move is his insistence on “mental nature” as the decisive evidence. For an early 20th-century scientist, that phrase signals a shift away from purely anatomical or purely theological explanations toward something that treats mind, behavior, and social life as data. Keith’s era was crowded with sweeping stories about humanity: Darwinian evolution, Freudian psychology, racial typologies, imperial narratives of “civilization,” and the newly professionalized social sciences. By invoking “all modern communities,” he implies a comparative, empirical standard: modernity is the laboratory, and the mind is the specimen.
The subtext is also a warning against reductionism. Any account that explains humans only as bodies, only as economic actors, or only as spiritual beings is incomplete unless it can handle the messy, observable realities of belief, group loyalty, fear, aspiration, and conformity as they actually play out in contemporary life. At the same time, “modern communities” smuggles in a hierarchy: the modern becomes the benchmark for understanding the human, nudging “traditional” societies to the margins. Keith’s intent is scientific rigor, but it arrives wrapped in the period’s confidence that modernity is both the proving ground and the destination.
The key move is his insistence on “mental nature” as the decisive evidence. For an early 20th-century scientist, that phrase signals a shift away from purely anatomical or purely theological explanations toward something that treats mind, behavior, and social life as data. Keith’s era was crowded with sweeping stories about humanity: Darwinian evolution, Freudian psychology, racial typologies, imperial narratives of “civilization,” and the newly professionalized social sciences. By invoking “all modern communities,” he implies a comparative, empirical standard: modernity is the laboratory, and the mind is the specimen.
The subtext is also a warning against reductionism. Any account that explains humans only as bodies, only as economic actors, or only as spiritual beings is incomplete unless it can handle the messy, observable realities of belief, group loyalty, fear, aspiration, and conformity as they actually play out in contemporary life. At the same time, “modern communities” smuggles in a hierarchy: the modern becomes the benchmark for understanding the human, nudging “traditional” societies to the margins. Keith’s intent is scientific rigor, but it arrives wrapped in the period’s confidence that modernity is both the proving ground and the destination.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
|---|
More Quotes by Arthur
Add to List
