Page:  of 338
 
ii. In the future of our race there will no doubt
be enormous material changes; and especially it is
important not to underrate those which will natur-
ally arise from the transvaluation of values. For
example, all genuine social improvement depends
on the right valuation of the things which are in-
creased by sharing as compared with other values.
But this will only be part of the spiritual change,
the recognition of man's own full nature with all its
consequences; and this, we believe, will be the most
important change in the future, as it has been in
the past. The main result of our obvious "progress"
will be, if I am right, through forms of the unhappy
consciousness, to bring us to a sense of its worth-
lessness per se, which sense alone, it would seem,
can enable us to control and subordinate it to the
true values of life. It is worth noticing as an illus-
tration that the happiest results of mechanism and
applied science are those which, often through very
complex processes and discoveries, bring us back to
extreme practical simplicity. The bicycle, 1 electric
light and power--especially when worked by a water-
fall, as you see it in rough settlements of the U.S.A.,
or in a peasant village on the St. Gothard--the condi-
tions of healthy living as aimed at in town-planning
and house-building, are modest but very suggestive

The most
important
change in
the future
history of
our race
will be to
learn,
through
experience
of material
progress,
the de-
pendence
of values
on the re-
nunciation
involved in
self-recog-
nition. A
typical an-
ticipation
of a much
improved
society,
and the
problem
of its
valuation.

____________________
1 The very fascinating writer known as Vernon Lee has some-
where made this observation about the bicycle. I may remark on
the essence of the opposite character, as developed, for example, in
the technique of luxury. The point here is not primarily selfishness;
the point is letting ourselves get interested in contrivances to secure
trivial satisfactions, forgetting to enquire whether the whole affair is
worth while, judged by the real values of life. Then, before we know
it, we are in the hands of a Frankenstein's monster, and have to
learn, sadly, the relative worthlessness of the whole mechanism of
our lives

-321-

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com

Publication Information: Book Title: The Value and Destiny of the Individual: The Gifford Lectures for 1912 Delivered in Edinburgh University. Contributors: B. Bosanquet - author. Publisher: Macmillan and Co., Limited. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1913. Page Number: 321.
    
This feature allows you to create and manage separate folders for your different research projects. To view markups for a different project, make that project your current project.
This feature allows you to save a link to the publication you are reading or view all the publications you have put on your bookshelf.
This feature allows you to save a link to the page you are reading, which you can later return to from Projects.
This feature allows you to highlight words or phrases on the publication page you are reading.
This feature allows you to save a note you write on the publication page you are reading.
This feature allows you to create a citation to the page you are reading that you can paste into your paper. Highlight a passage to include that passage as a quotation.
This feature allows you to save a reference to a publication you are reading for your bibliography or generate a bibliography you can paste into your paper.
This feature allows you to print the page you are reading, including your notes or highlights (IE users must have "print background colors and image" setting selected.)
This feature allows you to look up words in encyclopedia.
  About Questia Tools
Close Window  
Questia's powerful research tools allow you to highlight, take notes, bookmark and even create instant citations and bibliographies. To use these features and save hours of work, you must create a Questia account.
Need a Questia account?
Sign up for a FREE trial now. Save time, stress and hassle, and get better grades with trusted, online research.

» Click here for our free trial

Already have a Questia account? Login now!
Error
Working...
Printing Preferences
Format for black and white printer: On Off
Print highlights: On Off
Print notes: On Off
Choose one of the options for printing:
Print this page (No Charge)
Print pages to