the civilization of illiteracy, by mihai nadin (c) mihai nadin the book's cover succinctly depicts the subject to see the book cover, and to read more details about the book (reviews, opinions, forum, etc.) go to http://www.nadin.ws/publications/books the author, who made this book available to you as a copyrighted gutenberg project etext, would like readers to let him know at nadin@utdallas.edu that they read the book or parts of it. foreward introduction literacy in a changing world thinking about alternatives progressing towards illiteracy? book one the chasm between yesterday and tomorrow contrasting characters choose a letter and click keeping up with faster living loaded literacy man proposes, man disposes beyond the commitment to literacy a moving target the wise fox "between us the rift" malthus revisited captives to literacy the epitome of the civilization of illiteracy for the love of trade "the best of the useful and the best of the ornamental" the rear-view mirror syndrome book two from signs to language semeion revisited the first record is a whip scale and threshold signs and tools from orality to writing individual and collective memory cultural memory frames of existence the alienation of immediacy orality and writing today: what do people understand when they understand language? a feedback called confirmation primitive orality and incipient writing assumptions taking literacy for granted to understand understanding words about images the functioning of language expression, communication, signification the idea machine writing and the expression of ideas future and past knowing and understanding univocal, equivocal, ambiguous making thoughts visible alphabet cultures and a lesson from aphasia language and logic logics behind the logic a plurality of intellectual structures the logics of actions sampling memetic optimism book three language as mediating mechanism the power of insertion myth as mediating pre-text differentiation and coordination integration and coordination revisited life after literacy literacy, language and market preliminaries products 'r' us the language of the market the language of products transaction and literacy whose market? whose freedom? new markets, new languages literacy and the transient market, advertisement, literacy language and work inside and outside the world we are what we do literacy and the machine the disposable human being scale of work, scale of language innate heuristics the realm of alternatives mediation of mediation literacy and education "know the best" ideal vs. real relevance temples of knowledge coherence and connection plenty of questions the equation of a compromise to be a child who are we kidding? what about alternatives? book four language and the visual how many words in a look? the mechanical eye and the electronic eye who is afraid of a locomotive? being here and there at the same time visualization unbounded sexuality seeking good sex beyond immediacy the land of sexual ubiquity the literate invention of the woman ahead to the past freud, modern homosexuality, aids sex and creativity equal access to erotic mediocrity family: discovering the primitive future togetherness the quest for permanency what breaks down when family fails? the homosexual family to want a child children in the illiterate family a new individuality discontinuity how advanced the past. how primitive the future a god for each of us but who made god? the plurality of religious experiences the educated faithful-a contradiction in terms? challenging permanency and universality religion and efficiency religiosity in the civilization of illiteracy secular religion a mouthful of microwave diet food and expectations fishing in a videolake language and nourishment sequence and configuration revisited on cooks, pots, and spoons the identity of food the language of expectations coping with the right to affluence from self-nourishment to being fed run and feed the hungry no truffles (yet) in the coop we are what we eat the professional winner sport and self-constitution language and physical performance the illiterate champion gentlemen, place your bets! the message is the sneaker science and philosophy-more questions than answers rationality, reason, and the scale of things a lost balance thinking about thinking quo vadis science? discovery and explanation time and space: freed hostages coherence and diversity computational science explaining ourselves away the efficiency of science exploring the virtual quo vadis philosophy? the language of wisdom in scientific disguise who needs philosophy? and what for? art(ifacts) and aesthetic processes making and perceiving art and language impatience and autarchy the copy is better than the original a nose by any other name crying wolf started early meta-literature writing as co-writing the end of the great novel libraries, books, readers why don't people read books? topos uranikos distributed the sense of design drawing the future breakaway convergence and divergence the new designer designing the virtual politics: there was never so much beginning the commercial democracy of permissiveness how did we get here? political tongues can literacy lead politics to failure? crabs learned how to whistle a world of worlds of tribal chiefs, kings, and presidents rhetoric and politics judging justice the programmed parliament a battle to be won "theirs not to reason why" the first war of the civilization of illiteracy war as practical experience the institution of the military from the literate to the illiterate war the nintendo war (a cliché revisited) the look that kills book five the interactive future: individual, community, and society in the age of the web transcending literacy being in language the wall behind the wall the message is the medium from democracy to media-ocracy self-organization the solution is the problem. or is the problem the solution? from possibilities to choices coping with choice trade-off learning from the experience of interface a sense of the future cognitive energy literacy is not all it's made out to be networks of cognitive energy the university of doubt interactive learning footing the bill a wake-up call consumption and interaction unexpected opportunities foreword no other time than ours has had more of the future and less of the past in it. the heat and beat of network interactions and the richness of multimedia and virtual reality reflect this time more than do the pages you are about to read. i wish i could put in your hands the new book, suggested on the cover, as the first page following all those that make up the huge library of our literate accumulation of knowledge. let's us imagine that it exists. as i see it, the book would read your mind.as you pause on a thought and start formulating questions. it should enable you to come closer to the persons whose thoughts are mentioned here, either through further investigation of their ideas or by entering into a dialogue with them. we would be able to interact with many of the individuals making this fascinating present happen. the emergence of a new civilization, freed from constraints borne by its members during a time to which we must bid farewell-this is the subject of the book. science and technology are themes of this intellectual expedition, but the subject is the ever-changing human being. the civilization we are entering is no promised land, make no mistake about that. but it is a realm of challenge. tentative upon entering the territory of new possibilities, we have no choice but to go ahead. some-the pioneers, inventors, entrepreneurs, even politicians of the so-called third wave-rush into it, unable to contain an optimism based on their own opportunistic enthusiasm (as real or fake as it might be). the young lead, unburdening themselves of the shackles of an education which made the least contribution to their innovative accomplishments. others hesitate. they don't even notice the chains of a literate heritage, a heritage that buffers them, as it buffers us all at various times, from the often disquieting changes we experience at all levels of our existence. in the palace of books and eternity, we were promised love and beauty, prosperity, and above all permanence. disinheriting ourselves from all that was, we are nostalgic for our lost sense of continuity and security. still, we cannot help feeling that something very different from what we used to expect is ahead of us. we are excited, though at times apprehensive. it might be that the cutting-edge language and look of wired, the magazine of the netizens, is more appropriate to the subject than is the elaborate prose of this book. but this is not yet another product of the cottage industry of predictions, as we know them from naisbitt, gilder, or the tofflers. to explain without explaining away the complexity of this time of change was more important to me than to ride the coattails of today's sound-byte stars. solid arguments that suggest possibilities fundamentally different from what they are willing to accept, or even entertain, make for a more deeply founded optimism. if you get lost along the intellectual journey to which this book invites, it can be only my fault. if you agree with the argument only because it tired you out, it will be my loss. but if you can argue with me, and if your argument is free of prejudice, we can continue the journey together. try reaching me, as my thoughts try to reach you through this book. unfortunately, i am not yet able to hand you that ideal book that would directly connect us. short of this, here is an address you can use: nadin@utdallas.edu. let's keep on touch! literacy in a changing world thinking about alternatives preoccupation with language is, in fact, preoccupation with ourselves as individuals and as a species. while many concerns, such as terrorism, aids, poverty, racism, and massive migration of populations, haunt us as we hurry to achieve our portion of well-being, one at least seems easier to allay: illiteracy. this book proclaims the end of literacy, as it also accounts for the incredible forces at work in our restlessly shifting world. the end of literacy-a chasm between a not-so-distant yesterday and the exciting, though confusing, tomorrow-is probably more difficult to understand than to live with. reluctance to acknowledge change only makes things worse. we notice that literate language use does not work as we assume or were told it should, and wonder what can be done to make things fit our expectations. parents hope that better schools with better teachers will remedy the situation. teachers expect more from the family and suggest that society should invest more in order to maintain literacy skills. professors groan under the prospect of ill-prepared students entering college. publishers redefine their strategies as new forms of expression and communication vie for public attention and dollars. lawyers, journalists, the military, and politicians worry about the role and functions of language in society. probably most concerned with their own roles in the social structure and with the legitimacy of their institutions, they would preserve those structures of human activity that justify literacy and thus their own positions of power and influence. the few who believe that literacy comprises not only skills, but also ideals and values, say that the destiny of our civilization is at stake, and that the decline in literacy has dreadful implications. opportunity is not part of the discourse or argument. the major accomplishment of analyzing illiteracy so far has been the listing of symptoms: the decrease in functional literacy; a general degradation of writing skills and reading comprehension; an alarming increase of packaged language (clichés used in speeches, canned messages); and a general tendency to substitute visual media (especially television and video) for written language. parallel to scholarship on the subject, a massive but unfocused public opinion campaign has resulted in all kinds of literacy enterprises. frequently using stereotypes that in themselves affect language quality, such enterprises plead for teaching adults who cannot read or write, for improving language study in all grades, and for raising public awareness of illiteracy and its various implications. still, we do not really understand the necessary character of the decline of literacy. historic and systematic aspects of functional illiteracy, as well as language degradation, are minimally addressed. they are phenomena that affect not only the united states. countries with a long cultural tradition, and which make the preservation and literate use of language a public institution, experience them as well. my interest in the subject of illiteracy was triggered by two factors: the personal experience of being uprooted from an east european culture that stubbornly defended and maintained rigid structures of literacy; and involvement in what are commonly described as new technologies. i ended up in the usa, a land of unstructured and flawed literacy, but also one of amazing dynamics. here i joined those who experienced the consequences of the low quality of education, as well as the opening of new opportunities. the majority of these are disconnected from what is going on in schools and universities. this is how and why i started thinking, like many others, about alternatives. my mayflower (if i may use the analogy to the pilgrims) brought me to individuals who do many things-shop, work, play or watch sports, travel, go to church, even love-with an acute sense of immediacy. worshippers of the instant, my new compatriots served as a contrast to those who, on the european continent i came from, conscientiously strive for permanency-of family, work, values, tools, homes, appliances, cars, buildings. in contrast, the usa is a place where everything is the present, the coming moment. not only television programs and advertisements made me aware of this fact. books are as permanent as their survival on bestseller lists. the market, with its increasingly breathtaking fluctuations, might today celebrate a company that tomorrow disappears for good. commencement ceremonies, family life, business commitments, religious practice, succeeding fashions, songs, presidents, denture creams, car models, movies, and practically everything else embody the same obsession. language and literacy could not escape this obsession with change. because of my work as a university professor, i was in the trenches where battles of literacy are fought. that is where i came to realize that a better curriculum, multicultural or not, or better paid teachers, or cheaper and better books could make a difference, but would not change the outcome. the decline of literacy is an encompassing phenomenon impossible to reduce to the state of education, to a nation's economic rank, to the status of social, ethnic, religious, or racial groups, to a political system, or to cultural history. there was life before literacy and there will be life after it. in fact, it has already begun. let us not forget that literacy is a relatively late acquisition in human culture. the time preceding writing is % of the entire story of the human being. my position in the discussion is one of questioning historic continuity as a premise for literacy. if we can understand what the end of literacy as we know it means in practical terms, we will avoid further lamentation and initiate a course of action from which all can benefit. moreover, if we can get an idea of what to expect beyond the safe haven now fading on the horizon, then we will be able to come up with improved, more effective models of education. at the same time, we will comprehend what individuals need in order to successfully ascertain their manifold nature. improved human interaction, for which new technologies are plentifully available, should be the concrete result of this understanding of the end of the civilization of literacy. the first irony of any publication on illiteracy is that it is inaccessible to those who are the very subject of the concern of literacy partisans. indeed, the majority of the millions active on the internet read at most a -sentence short paragraph. the attention span of students in high school and universities is not much shorter than that of their instructors: one typed page. legislators, no less than bureaucrats, thrive on executive summaries. a -second tv spot is many times more influential than a -column in- depth article. but those who give life and dynamics to reality use means other than those whose continued predominance this book questions. the second irony is that this book also presents arguments which are, in their logical sequence, dependent on the conventions of reading and writing. as a medium for constituting and interpreting history, writing definitely influences how we think and what we think about. i wondered how my arguments would hold up in an interactive, non-linear medium of communication, in which we can question each other, and which also makes authorship, if not irrelevant, the last thing someone would worry about. since i have used language to think through this book, i know that it would make less sense in a different medium. this leads me to state from the outset-almost as self-encouragement-that literacy, whose end i discuss, will not disappear. for some, literacy studies will become a new specialty, as sanskrit or ancient greek has become for a handful of experts. for others, it will become a skill, as it is already for editors, proofreaders, and professional writers. for the majority, it will continue in literacies that facilitate the use and integration of new media and new forms of communication and interpretation. the utopian in me says that we will find ways to reinvent literacy, if not save it. it has played a major role in leading to the new civilization we are entering. the realist acknowledges that new times and challenges require new means to cope with their complexity. reluctance to acknowledge change does not prevent it from coming about. it only prevents us from making the best of it. probably my active practice of literacy has been matched by all those means, computer-based or not, for coping with complexity, to whose design and realization i contributed. this book is not an exercise in prophesying a brave new world of people happy to know less but all that they have to know when they need to. neither is it about individuals who are superficial but who adapt more easily to change, mediocre but extremely competitive. its subject is language and everything pertaining to it: family and sexuality, politics, the market, what and how we eat, how we dress, the wars we fight, love, sports, and more. it is a book about ourselves who give life to words whenever we speak, write, or read. we give life to images, sounds, textures, to multimedia and virtual reality involving ourselves in new interactions. transcending boundaries of literacy in practical experiences for which literacy is no longer appropriate means, ultimately, to grow into a new civilization. progressing towards illiteracy? here is as good a place as any to explain my perspective. language involves human beings in all their aspects: biology, sense of space and time, cognitive and manual skills, emotional resources, sensitivity, tendency to social interaction and political organization. but what best defines our relation to language is the pragmatics of our existence. our continuous self-constitution through what we do, why we do, and how we do all we actually do-in short, human pragmatics-involves language, but is not reducible to it. the pragmatic perspective i assume originated with charles sanders peirce. when i began teaching in the usa, my american colleagues and students did not know who he was. the semiotic implications of this text relate to his work. questioning how knowledge is shared, peirce noticed that, without talking about the bearers of our knowledge-all the sign carriers we constitute-we would not be able to figure out how results of our inquiries are integrated in our deeds, actions, and theories. language and the formation and expression of ideas is unique to humans in that they define a part of the cognitive dimension of our pragmatic. we seem endowed with language, as we are with hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste. but behind the appearance is a process through which human self-constitution led to the possibility and necessity of language, as it led to the humanization of our senses. furthermore, it led to the means by which we constitute ourselves as literate as the pragmatics of our existence requires under ever-changing circumstances. the appearance is that literacy is a useful tool, when in fact it results in the pragmatic context. we can use a hammer or a computer, but we are our language. the experience of language extends to the experience of the logic it embodies, as well as to that of the institutions that language and literacy made possible. these, in turn, influence what we are and how we think, what we do and why we do. so does every tool, appliance, and machine we use, and so do all the people with whom we interact. our interactions with people, with nature, or with artifacts we ourselves generated further affect the pragmatic self-constitution of our identity. the literate experience of language enhanced our cognitive capabilities. consequently, literacy became larger than life. much is covered by the practice of literacy: tradition, culture, thoughts and feelings, human expression through literature, the constitution of political, scientific, and artistic programs, ethics, the practical experience of law. in this book, i use a broad definition of literacy that reflects the many facets it has acquired over time. those readers who think i stretch the term literacy too far should keep in mind all that literacy comprises in our culture. in contrast, illiteracy, no matter what its cause or what other attributes an individual labeled illiterate has, is seen as something harmful and shameful, to be avoided at any price. without an understanding that encompasses our values and ways of thinking, we cannot perceive how a civilization can progress to illiteracy. many people are willing to be part of post- literate society, but by no means are they willing to be labeled members of a civilization qualified as illiterate. by civilization of illiteracy i mean one in which literate characteristics no longer constitute the underlying structure of effective practical experiences. furthermore, i mean a civilization in which no one literacy dominates, as it did until around the turn of the century, and still does. this domination takes place through imposition of its rules, which prevent practical experiences of human self-constitution in domains where literacy has exhausted its potential or is impotent. in describing the post-literate, i know that any metaphor will do as long as it does not call undue attention to itself. what counts is not the provocativeness but that we lift our gaze, determined to see, not just to look for the comforting familiar. this civilization of illiteracy is one of many literacies, each with its own characteristics and rules of functioning. some of such partial literacies are based on configurational modes of expression, as in the written languages of japan, china, or korea; on visual forms of communication; or on synesthetic communication involving a combination of our senses. some are numerical and rely on a different notation system than that of literacy. the civilization of illiteracy comprises experiences of thinking and working above and beyond language, as mathematicians from different countries communicating perfectly through mathematical formulae demonstrate. or as we experience in activities where the visual, digitally processed, supports a human pragmatics of increased efficiency. even in its primitive, but extremely dynamic, deployment, the internet embodies the directions and possibilities of such a civilization. this brings us back to literacy's reason for being: pragmatics expressed in methods for increasing efficiency, of ensuring a desired outcome, be this in regard to a list of merchandise, a deed, instructions on how to make something or to carry out an act, a description of a place, poetry and drama, philosophy, the recording and dissemination of history and abstract ideas, mythology, stories and novels, laws, and customs. some of these products of literacy are simply no longer necessary. that new methods and technologies of a digital nature effectively constitute an alternative to literacy cannot be overemphasized. i started this book convinced that the price we pay for the human tendency to efficiency-that is, our striving for more and more at an ever cheaper price-is literacy and the values connected to it as represented by tradition, books, art, family, philosophy, ethics, among many others. we are confronted with the increased speed and shorter durations of human interactions. a growing number and a variety of mediating elements in human praxis challenge our understanding of what we do. fragmentation and interconnectedness of the world, the new technology of synchronization, the dynamics of life forms or of artificial constructs elude the domain of literacy as they constitute a new pragmatic framework. this becomes apparent when we compare the fundamental characteristics of language to the characteristics of the many new sign systems complementing or replacing it. language is sequential, centralized, linear, and corresponds to the stage of linear growth of humankind. matched by the linear increase of the means of subsistence and production required for the survival and development of the species, this stage reached its implicit potential. the new stage corresponds to distributed, non-sequential forms of human activity, nonlinear dependencies. reflecting the exponential growth of humankind (population, expectations, needs, and desires), this new stage is one of alternative resources, mainly cognitive in nature, compensating for what was perceived as limited natural means for supporting humankind. it is a system of a different scale, suggestively represented by our concerns with globality and higher levels of complexity. therefore, humans can no longer develop within the limitations of an intrinsically centralized, linear, hierarchic, proportional model of contingencies that connect existence to production and consumption, and to the life-support system. alternatives that affect the nature of life, work, and social interaction emerge through practical experiences of a fundamentally new condition. literacy and the means of human self-constitution based on it reached their full potential decades ago. the new means, which are not as universal (i.e., as encompassing) as language, open possibilities for exponential growth, resulting from their connectivity and improved involvement of cognitive resources. as long as the world was composed of small units (tribes, communities, cities, counties), language, despite differences in structure and use, occupied a central place. it had a unifying character and exercised a homogenizing function within each viable political unit. the world has entered the phase of global interdependencies. many local languages and their literacies of relative, restricted significance emerge as instruments of optimization. what takes precedence today is interconnectivity at many levels, a function for which literacy is ill prepared. citizens become netizens, an identity that relates them to the entire world, not only to where they happen to live and work. the encompassing system of culture broke into subsystems, not just into the "two cultures" of science and literacy that c.p. snow discussed in , hoping idealistically that a third culture could unite and harmonize them. market mechanisms, representative of the competitive nature of human beings, are in the process of emancipating themselves from literacy. where literate norms and regulations still in place prevent this emancipation-as is the case with government activity and bureaucracies, the military, and legal institutions-the price is expressed in lower efficiency and painful stagnation. some european countries, more productive in impeding the work of the forces of renewal, pay dearly for their inability to understand the need for structural changes. united or not in a europe of broader market opportunities, member countries will have to free themselves from the rigid constraints of a pragmatic framework that no longer supports their viability. conflicts are not solved; solutions are a long time in coming. one more remark before ending this introduction. it seems that those who run the scholarly publishing industry are unable to accept that someone can have an idea that does not originate from a quotation. in keeping with literacy's reliance on authority, i have acknowledged in the references the works that have some bearing on the ideas presented in this book. few, very few indeed, are mentioned in the body of the text. the line of argument deserves priority over the stereotypes of referencing. this does not prevent me from acknowledging here, in addition to leibniz and peirce, the influence of thinkers and writers such as roberto maturana, terry winograd, george lakoff, lotfi zadeh, hans magnus enzensberger, george steiner, marshall mcluhan, ivan illich, yuri m. lotman, and even baudrillard, the essayist of the post-industrial. if i misunderstood any of them, it is not because i do not respect their contributions. seduced by my own interest and line of reasoning, i integrated what i thought could become solid bricks into a building of arguments which was to be mine. i am willing to take blame for its design and construction, remaining thankful to all those whose fingerprints are, probably, still evident on some of the bricks i used. in the years that have gone by since i started thinking and writing about the civilization of illiteracy, many of the directions i brought into discussion are making it into the public domain. but i should be the last to be surprised or unhappy that reality changed before i was able to finish this book, and before publishers could make up their minds about printing it. the internet was not yet driving the stock market, neither had the writers of future shock had published their books churning prophecies, nor had companies made fortunes in multimedia when the ideas that go into this book were discussed with students, presented in public lectures, outlined to policy-makers (including administrators in higher education), and printed in scholarly journals. on starting this book, i wanted it to be not only a presentation of events and trends, but a program for practical action. this is why, after examination of what could be called the theoretical aspects, the focus shifts to the applied. the book ends with suggestions for practical measures to be considered as alternatives to the beaten path of the bandage method that only puts off radical treatment, even when its inevitability is acknowledged. yes, i like to see my ideas tested and applied, even taken over and developed further (credit given or not!). i would rather put up with a negative outcome in discussions following publication of this book, than have it go unnoticed. book one the chasm between yesterday and tomorrow contrasting characters the information produced in our time, in one day, exceeds that of the last years. what this means can be more easily understood by giving some life to this dry evaluation originating from people in the business of quantifying data processing. zizi, the hairdresser, and her companions exemplify today's literate population. portrayed by hans magnus enzensberger, she is contrasted to pascal, who at the age of sixteen had already published his work on conic sections, to hugo grotius, who graduated from college at fifteen, and to melanchton, who at the age of twelve was a student at the once famous heidelberg university. zizi knows how to get around. she is like a living address on the internet at its current stage of development: more links than content, perennially under construction. she continuously starts on new avenues, never pursuing any to the end. her well-being is supported by public money as she lives off all the social benefits society affords. zizi's conversations are about her taxes, and characters she reads about in magazines, sees on television, or meets on vacation. as superficial as such conversations can be, they are full of catch phrases associated or not with the celebrations of the day. her boyfriend, -year-old bruno g., graduated with a degree in political economy, drives a taxi cab, and still wonders what he wants to do in life. he knows the name of every soccer team that has won the championship since ; he knows by heart the names of the players, which coach was fired when, and every game score. melanchton studied reading, writing, latin, greek, and theology. he knew by heart many fragments from the classical writers and from the bible. the world he lived in was small. to explain its workings, one did not need to master mathematics or physics, but philosophy. since melanchton can no longer be subjected to multiple choice or to iq tests, we will never know if he could make it into college today. the question posed about all the characters introduced is a simple one: who is more ignorant, melanchton or zizi? enzensberger's examples are from germany, but the phenomena he brings to his readers' attention transcend national boundaries. he himself-writer, poet, publisher-is far from being an internet buff, although he might be as informed about it as his characters are. as opposed to many other writers on literacy and education, enzensberger confirms that the efficiency reached in the civilization of illiteracy (he does not call it that) makes it possible to extend adolescence well into what used to be the more productive time in the life of past generations. everyone goes to college-in some countries college education is a right. this means that over half of the young people enter some form of higher education. after graduating, they find out that they still don't know what they want. or, worse yet, that what they know, or are certified as knowing, is of no consequence to what they are expected to do. they will live, like zizi, from social benefits and will get extremely angry at anyone questioning society's ability to provide them. for them, efficiency of human practical experiences translate into the right to not worry whether they will ever contribute to this efficiency. while still students, they demand, and probably rightly so, that everything be to the point. the problem is that neither they nor their teachers can define what that means. what students get are more choices among less significant subjects. that, at least, is how it looks. they probably never finish a book from cover to cover. assignments are given to them in small portions, and usually with photocopied pages, which they are expected to read. a question-and-answer sheet is conveniently attached, with the hope that the students will read the pages to find the answers, and not copy them from more dedicated classmates. that zizi probably has a vocabulary as rich as that of a th-century scholar in the humanities can be assumed. that she likely uses fewer than , of these words only says that this is how much she needs in order to function efficiently. melanchton used almost all the words he knew. his work required mastery of literacy so that he could express every new idea prompted by the few new practical experiences of human self-constitution he was involved in or aware of. he spoke and wrote in three languages, two of which are used today only in the specialties they are part of. two or three sentences from a tourist guidebook or from a tape is all zizi needs for her next vacation in greece or italy. for her, travel is a practical experience as vital as any other. she knows the names of rock groups, and lip-syncs the songs that express her concerns: sex, drugs, loneliness. her memory of any stage performance or movie surpasses that of melanchton, who probably knew by heart the entire liturgy of the catholic church. like everyone else constituting their identities in the civilization of illiteracy, zizi knows what it takes to minimize her tax burden and how to use coupons. the rhythm of her existence is defined more by commercial than natural cycles. and she keeps refreshing her base of practical information. living in a time of change, this is her chance to beat the system and all the literate norms and constraints it imposes on her. melanchton, despite his literacy, would have been lost between two consecutive tax laws of our time, and even more between consecutive changes in fashion or music trends, or between consecutive versions of computer software, not to say chips. he belonged to a system appropriate to a stable world of relatively unchanging expectations. what he studied would last him a lifetime. zizi and bruno, as well as their friend helga-the third in enzensberger's text-live in a world of unsettled, heterogeneous information, based on ad hoc methods delivered by magazines, or through the internet, that one has only to scan or surf in order to find useful data. at this juncture, readers familiar with the world wide web, whether passionate about it or strongly against it, understand why i describe zizi as a living internet address. to derive some meaning from this description, and especially to avoid the appearance of drawing a caricature of the internet, we need to focus on the pragmatic context in which zizi constitutes herself and in which the internet is constituted as a global experience. the picture one gets from contrasting the famous melanchton to zizi the hairdresser is not exactly fair, as it would be unfair to contrast the library of alexandria to the internet. on the one hand, we have a tremendous collection representative of human knowledge (and the illusion of knowledge). on the other we have the embodiment of extremely effective methods for acquiring, testing, using, and discarding information required by human pragmatics. the world in which melanchton worked was limited to central europe and rome. news circulated mainly by word-of- mouth. melanchton, like everyone who was raised with and worked amid books, was subjected to less information than we are today. he did not need an intel inside computer or search engine to find what he wanted. he would not understand how anyone could replace the need for and pleasure of browsing by a machine called browser. his was a world of associations, not matches, no matter how successful. human minds, not machines, made up his cognitive world. literacy opened access to knowledge as long as this knowledge was compatible with the pragmatic structures it embodied and supported. the ozone hole of over- information broke the protective bubble of literacy. in the new pragmatic context, the human being, thirsty for data, seems at the mercy of the informational environment that shapes work, entertainment, life-in short, everything. access to study was far from being equal, or even close to some standard of fairness, in melanchton's time of obsession with excellence. information itself was very expensive. in order to become a hairdresser-were it possible and necessary years ago-zizi, as well as the millions who attend career training schools, would have had to pay much more for her training than she did in our age of unlimited equal access to mediocrity. knowledge was acquired through channels as diverse as family, schools, churches, and disseminated in very few books, or orally, or through imitation. individuals in melanchton's time formed a set of expectations and pursued goals that changed minimally over their lifetime, since the pragmatic context remained the same. this ended with the dynamic practical experiences of self-constitution that led to the pragmatic context of our day. ended also are the variety of forms of human cooperation and solidarity-as imperfect as they were-characteristic of a scale in which survival of the individual was essential for the survival and well-being of the community. they are replaced by a generalized sense of competition. not infrequently, this takes the form of adversity, socially acceptable when performed by literate lawyers, for instance, yet undesirable when performed by illiterate terrorists. more suggestive than precise, this description, in which zizi and melanchton play the leading characters, exemplifies the chasm between yesterday and today. a further examination of what is going on in our world allows the observation that literate language no longer exclusively, or even dominantly, affects and regulates day-to-day activities. a great amount of language used in the daily routine of people living in economically advanced countries was simply wiped out or absorbed in machine transactions. digital networks, connecting production lines, distribution channels, and points of sale spectacularly augment the volume and variety of such transactions. practical experiences of shopping, transportation, banking, and stock market transactions require literacy less and less. automation rationalized away the literate component of many activities. all over the world, regardless of the economic or technological level reached, communication-specific endeavors, such as advertisement, political campaigns, various forms of ceremonial (religious, military, athletic), make crystal clear that literate language use is subordinated to the function or purpose pursued. the developments under scrutiny affect surviving pre-literate societies-the nomadic, animistic population of sudan, the tribes of the brazilian amazon forests, remote populations of africa, asia, australia-as they affect the literate and post- literate. without going into the details of the process, we should be aware that commodities coming from such societies, including the commodity of labor, no less than their needs and expectations, are traded on the global market. in the african sahara, tv is watched-sets connected to car batteries-as much as in the high mountains of peru populated by illiterate incas. as virtual points of sale, the lands with pre-literate societies are traded in the futures markets as possible tourist resorts, or as a source of cheap labor. experiences of practical self-constitution as nomadic, animistic, and tribal are no longer confined to the small scale of the respective community. in the effective world of a global pragmatics of high efficiency, their hunger and misery shows up in ledgers as potential aid and cooperation programs. don't read here only greed and cynicism, rather the expression of reciprocal dependencies. aids on the african sub- continent and the ebola epidemics only capture the image of shared dangers. across the atlantic ocean, the plants of the disappearing amazon rain forest, studied for their healing potential, capture an image of opportunity. in such situations and locations, the pragmatics of literacy and illiteracy meet and interact. choose a letter and click images substitute text; sounds add rhythm or nuance; visual representations other than written words become dominant; animation introduces dynamics where written words could only suggest it. in technologically advanced societies, interactive multimedia (or hypermedia) combine visual, aural, dynamic, and structural representations. environments for personal exploration, organization, and manipulation of information proliferate in cd-rom formats, interactive games, and tutorial networks. high fidelity sound, rich video resources, computer graphics, and a variety of devices for individualized human interaction provide the technological basis for what emerges as a ubiquitous computing environment. the entire process can be provisionally summarized as follows: human cooperation and interaction corresponding to the complexity of the undertakings of our age is defined by expectations of high efficiency. relatively stable and well structured literate communication among the people involved is less efficient than rather fast and fragmentary contact through means other than those facilitated by, or based on, literacy. stereotyped, highly repetitive or well defined unique tasks, and the literate language associated with them, have been transferred to machines. unique tasks require strategies of specialization. the smaller the task assigned to each participant, the more effective the ways to carry it out at the expense of variety of forms and extent of direct human interaction, as well as at the expense of literacy-based interactions. accordingly, human self-constitution today involves means of expression and communication no longer based on or reducible to literacy. characteristics immanent in literacy affect cognitive processes, forms of human interaction, and the nature of productive effort to a lesser extent. nevertheless, the reshaping of human pragmatics does not take place by general agreement or without conflict, as will be pointed out more than once. while some fail to notice the decreased role of literacy and the deterioration of language in our life today, others surrender to illiteracy without even being aware of their surrender. we live in a world in which many people-especially those with more than undergraduate college education-complain about the low level of literacy while they simultaneously acquiesce to methods and necessities that make literacy less and less significant. furthermore, when invoking literacy, people maintain a nostalgia for something that has already ceased to affect their lives. their thinking, feeling, interpersonal relations, and expectations regarding family, religion, ethics, morals, art, dining, cultural and leisure activities already reflect the new illiterate condition. it is not a matter of personal choice, but a necessary development. the low level of literacy of those who receive an education from which society used to expect literate adults to graduate worries politicians, educators, and literacy professionals (writers, publishers, booksellers). they fear, probably for the wrong reasons, that people cannot live and prosper without knowing how to write or read at high levels of competence. what actually worries them is not that people write less well, or less correctly, or read less (some if at all), but that some succeed despite the odds. self-styled champions of literacy, instead of focusing on change, spend money, energy, and intelligence, not in exploring how to optimally benefit from change, but on how to stop an inexorable process. the state of affairs characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy did not come about overnight. norbert wiener's prophetic warning that we will become slaves of intelligent contraptions that take over intellectual faculties deserves more than a parenthetic reminder. some commentators point to the disruption of the sixties, which put the educational system all over the world in turmoil. the events of the sixties, as much as the new machines wiener discussed, are yet another symptom of, but not a reason for, the decline of literacy. the major hypothesis of this book is that illiteracy, in its relative terms mentioned so far, results from the changed nature of human practical experiences; that is, from the pragmatics corresponding to a new stage of human civilization. (i prefer to use pragmatics in the sense the greeks used it: pragma, for deeds, from prattein, to do.) regardless of our vocations-working in a large corporation or heading one's own business, farming, creating art, teaching language or mathematics, programming, or even participating in a university's board of trustees- we accept, even if with some reluctance, the rationalization of language. our lives take place increasingly in the impersonal world of stereotype discourse of forms, applications, passwords, and word processed letters. the internet, as world wide web, e-mail medium, data exchange, or chat forum effectively overrides constraints and limitations resulting from the participation of language in human pragmatics. our world is becoming more and more a world of efficiency and interconnected activities that take place at a speed and at a variety of levels for which literacy is not appropriate. still, complex interdependencies are reflected in our relation to language in general, and in our use of it, in particular. it seems that language is a key-at least one among many-to the mind, the reason for which artificial intelligence is interested in language. it also seems to be a major social ingredient. accordingly, no one should be surprised that once the status of language changes, there are also changes far beyond what we expect when we naively consider what a word is, or what is in a word or a rule of grammar, or what defines a text. a word on paper, one like the many on this page, is quite different from a word in the hypertext of a multimedia application or that of the web. the letters serve a different function. omit one from this page and you have a misspelling. click on one and nothing happens. click on a letter displayed on a web page and you might be connected to other signs, images, sounds, and interactive multimedia presentations. these changes, among others, are the implicit themes of this book and define the context for understanding why illiteracy is not an accident, but a necessary development. keeping up with faster living ours is a world of efficiency. although more obvious on the computer screen, and on the command buttons and touch-sensitive levers of the machines we rely quite heavily upon, efficiency expectations met in business and financial life insinuate themselves into the intimacy of our private lives as well. as a result of efficiency expectations, we have changed almost everything we inherited in our homes-kitchen, study, or bathroom-and redefined our respective social or family roles. we do almost everything others used to do for us. we cook (if warming up prefabricated dishes in a microwave oven still qualifies as cooking), do the laundry (if selecting dirty sheets or clothes by color and fabric and stuffing them into the machine qualifies as washing), type or desktop publish, transport (ourselves, our children). machines replaced servants, and we became their servants in turn. we have to learn their language of instructions and to cope with the consequences their use entails: increased energy demand, pollution, waste, and most important, dependence. ours is a world of brief encounters in which "how are you?" is not a question reflecting concern or expecting a real answer, but a formula. once it meant what it expressed and prefaced dialogue. now it is the end of interaction, or at best the introduction to a dialogue totally independent of the question. where everyone living within the model of literacy expected the homogeneous background of shared language, we now find a very fragmented reality of sub-languages, images, sounds, body gestures, and new conventions. despite the heavy investment society has made in literacy over hundreds of years, literacy is no longer adopted by all as a desired educational goal. neither is it actively pursued for immediate practical or long-term reasons. people seem to acknowledge that they need not even that amount of literacy imposed upon them by obligatory education. for quite a few-speech writers, editors, perhaps novelists and educators-literacy is indeed a skill which they aptly use for making a living. they know and apply rules of correct language usage. methods for augmenting the efficiency of the message they put in the mouths of politicians, soap-opera actors, businessmen, activists and many others in need of somebody to write (and sometimes even to think) for them are part of their trade. for others, these rules are a means of exploring the wealth of fiction, poetry, history, and philosophy. for a great majority, literacy is but another skill required in high school and college, but not necessarily an essential component of their current and, more important, future lives and work. this majority, estimated at ca. % of the population, believes that all one has to know is already stored for them and made available as an expected social service-mathematics in the cash register or pocket calculator, chemistry in the laundry detergent, physics in the toaster, language in the greeting cards available for all imaginable occasions, eventually incorporated, as spellers or writing routines, into the word processing programs they use or others use for them. four groups seem to have formed: those for whom literacy is a skill; those using it as a means for studying values based on literacy; those functioning in a world of pre- packaged literacy artifacts; and those active beyond the limitations of literacy, stretching cognitive boundaries, defining new means and methods of communication and interaction, constituting themselves in practical activities of higher and higher efficiency. these four groups are the result of changes in the condition of the human being in what was broadly (in fact, too broadly) termed post-industrial society. whether specifically identified as such or assuming labels of convenience, the conflict characteristic of this time of fundamental change has its locus in literacy; and more specifically in the direction of change towards the civilization of illiteracy. at first glance, it is exceedingly difficult to say whether language, as an instrument of continuity and permanence, is failing because the rhythm of existence has accelerated increasingly since the industrial revolution, or the rhythm of existence has accelerated because human interaction is no longer at the mercy of language. we do not know whether this acceleration is due to, or nourished by, changes in language and the way people use it, or if changes in language reflect this acceleration. it is quite plausible that the use of images, moreover of interactive multimedia and network-based exchange of complex data are more appropriate to a faster paced society than texts requiring more time and concentration. but it is less clear whether we use images and synesthetic means of expression because we want to be faster, and thus more efficient, or we can be faster and improve efficiency if we use such means. shorter terms of human interaction and, for example, the change in the status of the family have something in common. the new political condition of the individual in modern society also has something in common with the characteristics of human interaction and the means of this interaction. but again, we do not really know whether the new socio-economic dynamics resulted from our intention to accelerate interactions, or the acceleration in human interaction is only the background (or a marginal effect) of a more encompassing change of our condition under circumstances making this change necessary. my hypothesis is that a dramatic change in the scale of humankind and in the nature of the relation between humans and their natural and cultural environments might explain the new socio-economic dynamics. loaded literacy languages, or any other form of expression and communication, are meaningful only to the extent that they become part of our existence. when people do not know how to spell words that refer to their existence, we suspect that something related to the learning of spelling (usually the learner) does not function as we assumed it should. (obviously, literacy is more than spelling.) school, family, new habits-such as extensive television viewing, comics reading, obsessive playing of computer games, internet surfing, to name some of the apparent culprits-come under scrutiny. culture, prejudice, or fear of the unknown prevents us from asking whether spelling is still a necessity. cowardly conformity stops us short from suspecting that something might be wrong with language or with those literacy expectations deeply anchored in all known political programs thrown into our face when our vote is elicited. when spelling and phonetics are as inconsistent as they are in english especially, this suspicion led to the examination and creation of alternative alphabets and to alternative artificial languages, which we shall examine. but spelling fails even in languages with more consistent relations between pronunciation and writing. because we inherited, along with our reverence for language, a passive attitude regarding what is logically permissible under the guise of literacy, we do not question implicit assumptions and expectations of literacy. for instance, the belief that command of language enhances cognitive skills, although we know that cognitive processes are not exactly reducible to language, is accepted without hesitation. it is ascertained that literate people from no matter what country can communicate better and learn foreign languages more easily. this is not always the case. in reality, languages are rather loaded systems of conventions in which national biases and other inclinations are extensively embodied and maintained, and even propagated, through speech, writing, and reading. this expectation leads to well intended, though disputable, statements such as: "you can never understand one language until you understand at least two" (signed by searle). there is also the implication that literate people have better access to the arts and sciences. the reason for this is that language, as a universal means of communication, is consequently the only means that ultimately explains scientific theories. works of art, proponents of language argue, can be reduced to verbal description, or at least be better accessed through the language used to index them through labels, classifications, categories. another assumption (and prejudice) is that the level of performance in and outside language is in direct relation to competence acquired in literacy. this prejudice, from among all others, will come under closer scrutiny because, though literacy is declining, language use deviating from that normed by literacy takes astonishing forms. man proposes, man disposes knowledge of the connection between languages-taking the appearance of entities with lives of their own-and people constituting them-with the appearance of having unlimited control over their language-is essential for understanding the shift from a literacy-dominated civilization to one of multiple means of expression and communication. these means could be called languages if an appropriate definition of such languages (and the literacies associated with them) could be provided. in light of what has been already mentioned, the broader context of the changes in the status of literacy is the pragmatic framework of our existence. it is not only that the use of language has diminished or its quality decreased. rather, it is the acknowledgment of a very complex reality, of a biologically and culturally modified human being facing apparent choices difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize. life is faster paced, not because biological rhythms abruptly changed, but because a new pragmatic framework, of higher efficiency, came about. human interaction extends in our days beyond the immediate circle of acquaintances, or what used to be the family circle. this interaction is, however, more superficial and more mediated by other people and by various devices. the universe of existence seems to open as wide as the space we can explore-practically the whole planet, as well as the heavens. at the same time, the pressure of the narrower reality, of exceedingly specialized work, through whose product individual and social identification, as well as valuation take place, is stronger than ever before. on a different level, the individual realizes that the traditional mapping from one to few (family, friends, community) changes drastically. in a context of globality, the mapping extends to the infinity of those partaking in it. characteristic of the context of change in the status and function (communication, in particular) of literacy are fragmentation of everything we do or encounter and the need to coordinate. we become aware of the increased number and variety of stimuli and realize that previous explanations of their origin and possible impact are not satisfactory. decentralization of many, if not all, aspects of existence, paralleled by strong integrative forces at work, is also characteristic of the dynamics of change. it is not communication alone, as some believe, that shapes society. more encompassing effective forces, relatively independent of words, images, sounds, textures, and odors continuously directed at society's members, from every direction and with every imaginable purpose, define social dynamics. they define goals and means of communication as well. the gap between the performance of communication technology and the effectiveness of communication is symptomatic of the contradictory condition of contemporary humans. it often seems that messages have lives of their own and that the more communication there is, the less it reaches its address. less than two percent of all the information thrown into mass media communication reaches its audience. at this level of efficiency, no car would ever move, no plane could take off, babies could not even roll over in their cribs! the dependency of communication on literacy proved to be communication's strength. it delivered a potential audience. but it proved to be its weakness, too. the assumption that among literate people, communication not only takes place, but, based on the implied shared background, is always successful, was found to be wrong time and again. experiences such as wars, conflicts among nations, communities, professional groups (academia, a highly literate social group, is infamous in this respect), families and generations continuously remind us that this assumption is a fallacy. still we misinterpret these experiences. case in point: the anxiety of the business community over the lack of communication skills in the young people it employs. that the most literate segment of business is rationalized away in the massive re-engineering of companies goes unnoticed. we want to believe that business is concerned with fundamental values when its representatives discuss the difficulties mid-level executives have in articulating goals and plans for achieving them in speech or writing. the new structural forms emerging in today's economy show that business-people, as much as politicians and many other people troubled by the current state of literacy today, speak out of both sides of their mouths. they would like to have it both ways: more efficiency, which does not require or stimulate a need for literacy since literacy is not adapted to the new socio-economic dynamics, and the benefits of literacy, without having to pay for them. the reality is that they are all concerned with economic cycles, productivity, efficiency, and profit in trying to figure out what a global economy requires from them. re-engineering, which companies also called restructuring or downsizing, translates into efficiency expectations within an extremely competitive global economy. by all accounts, restructuring cut the literacy overhead of business. it replaced literate practical experiences of management and productive work with automated procedures for data processing and with computer-aided manufacturing. the process is far from over. it has just reached the usually placid working world of japan, and it might motivate europe's effort to regain competitiveness, despite all the social contracts in place that embody expectations of a past that will never return. in fact, all boils down to the recognition of a new status of language: that of becoming, to a greater extent than in its literate embodiment, a business tool, a means of production, a technology. the freeing of language from literacy, and the subsequent loss in quality, is only part of a broader process. the people opposing it should be aware that the civilization of illiteracy is also the expression of practical criticism in respect to a past pragmatic framework far from being as perfect as literacy advocates lead us to believe. the pragmatics of literacy established a frame of reference in respect to ownership, trade, national identity, and political power. distribution of ownership might not be new, but its motivations are no longer rooted in inheritance, rather in creativity and a selfish sense of business allegiance. one much circulated observation sums it up: if you think that the thousands of not yet fully vested microsoft programmers will miss their chance to join the club of millionaires to which their colleagues belong, think again! it is not for the sake of the owner of a business, or of a legendary entrepreneur, and certainly not for the sake of idealism. it is for their own sake that more and more young and less young people use their chance in this hierarchy-free, or freer, environment in which they constitute their identity. what motivates them are arguments of competitiveness, not national identity, political philosophy, or family pride. all these and many other structural aspects resulting from the acquired freedom from structural characteristics of a pragmatic context defined by literacy do not automatically make society better or fairer. but a distribution of wealth and power, and a redefinition of the goals and methods through which democracy is practiced is taking place. we know, too, that the coercion of writing was applied to what today we call minorities. since writing is less natural than speaking and bears values specific to a culture, it has alienated individuality. literacy implies the integration of minorities by appropriating their activity and culture, sometimes replacing their own with the dominant literacy in total disregard of their heritage. "if writing did not suffice to consolidate knowledge," observed claude lévi-strauss, "it was perhaps indispensable in affirming domination. [...] the fight against illiteracy is thus identical with the reinforcement of the control of the citizen by authority." i shall not go so far as to state that the current attempt to celebrate multiplicity and to recognize contradiction brought about by irreducible differences among races, cultures, and practical experiences is not the result of literate necessities. but without a doubt, developments peculiar to the civilization of illiteracy, as this becomes the background for heterogeneous human experiences and conflicting value systems, brought multiplicity to the forefront. and, what is more important, illiteracy builds upon the potential of this multiplicity. beyond the commitment to literacy what seems to be the issue of putting the past in the right perspective (with the appearance of historic revisionism) is actually the expression of pragmatic needs in regard to the present and the future. the subject, in view of its many implications, deserves a closer examination outside, but not in disregard of, the political controversy it has already stirred up. writing is a form of commitment that extends from the phoenician agreements and egyptian records, religious and legal texts on clay and in stone, to the medieval oath and later to contracts. written language encodes, at many levels (alphabet, sentence structure, semantics, etc.), the nature of the relation among those addressed in writing. a tablet that the egyptians used for identifying locally traded commodities addressed very few readers. a reduced scale of existence, work, and trade was reflected in very direct notation. for the given context, the tablets supported the expected efficiency. in the framework of the roman empire, labeling of construction materials-roof tiles, drainage pipes-distributed within and outside the empire, involved more elaborate elements. these materials were stamped during manufacture and helped builders select what matched their needs. more people were addressed. their backgrounds were more diverse: they functioned in different languages and in different cultural contexts. their practical experience as builders was more complex than that of egyptian dealers in grain or other commodities who operated locally. stamping construction materials signaled a commitment to fulfill building needs and expectations. over time, such commitments became more elaborate and separated themselves from the product. with literacy, they became formalized contracts covering various pragmatic contexts. they bear all the characteristics of literacy. they also become representative of the conflict between means of a literate nature and means appropriate to the levels of efficiency expected in the civilization of illiteracy. a short look at contracts as we experience them today reveals that contracts are based on languages of their own, hard to decipher by even the average literate person. they quantify economic expectations, legal provisions, and tax consequences. written in english, they are expected to address the entire world. in the european community, each of the member countries expects a contract to be formulated in its own language. consequently, delays and extra costs can make the transaction meaningless. actually, the contract, not only the packaging and distribution labels, could be provided in the universal language of machine-readable bar codes. ours is a pragmatic framework of illiteracy that results in the generation of languages corresponding to functions but pertinent to the fast-changing circumstances that make the activity possible in the first place. in a world of tremendous competition, fast exchange, and accelerated growth of new expectations, the contract itself and the mechanisms for executing it have to be efficient. relations to power, property, and national identity expressed in language and stabilized through the means of literacy were also embodied in myths, religions, poetry and literature. indeed, from the epic poems of ancient civilizations to the ballads of the troubadours and the songs of the minstrels, and to poetry and literature, references were made to property and feelings, to the living and the dead. records of life were kept and commitments were reiterated. today many literates despair at the thought that these are displaced by the dead poetry or prose of the computer-generated variety. it is unquestionable that information storage and access redefined the scope of commitments and historic records, and ultimately redefined memory. from whatever angle we look at language and literacy, we come back to the people who commit themselves in the practical experience of their self-constitution. while the relation of people to language is symptomatic of their general condition, to understand how and why this relation changes is to understand how and why human beings change. with the ideal of literacy, we inherited the illusion that to understand human beings is to understand human language. it is actually the other way around-if we understand language as a dynamic practical experience in its own right. there is a deeper level that we have to explore-that of the human activity through which we project our being into the reality of existence, and make it sensible and understandable to others. it is only in the act of expressing ourselves through work, contemplation, enjoyment, and wonder that we become what we are for ourselves and for others. under pragmatic circumstances characteristic of the establishment of the species and its history up to our time, this required language and led to the need for literacy. as a matter of fact, literacy can be seen as a form of commitment, one among the successive commitments that individuals make and the human species enters. for over , years, these circumstances seemed to be eternal and dominated our existence. but as humankind outgrows the pragmatics based on the underlying structure of literacy, means different from language, that is, means different from those constituting the framework of literacy and of literacy-based commitments become necessary. a moving target the context of the subject of change comprises also the terminology developed around it. the variation of the meanings assigned to the words literacy and illiteracy is symptomatic of the various angles from which they are examined. literacy, as someone said (i found this credited to both john ashcroft, once governor of missouri, and to henry a. miller) has been a moving target. it has reflected changes in criteria for evaluating writing and writing skills as the pragmatic framework of human activity changed through time. writing is probably more than , years old. and while the emergence of writing and reading are the premise for literacy, a notion of generalized literacy can be construed only in connection to the invention of movable type (during the th century in china, and the early th century in western europe), and even more so with the advent of the th century high-speed rotary press. within the mentioned time-frame, many changes in the understanding of what literacy connotes have come about. for those who see the world through the book (torah, bible, koran, upanishads, wu ching), literacy means to be able to read and understand the book, and thus the world. all practical rules presented in the book constitute a framework accessed either through literacy or oral tradition. in the middle ages, to be literate meant to know latin, which was perceived as the language of divine revelation. parallel to the religious, or religion-oriented, perspective of literacy, many others were acknowledged: social-how writing and reading constitute a framework for social interaction; economic-how writing and reading and other skills of comprehending maps, tables, and symbols affect people's ability to participate in economic life; educational-how literacy is disseminated; legal-how laws and social rules are encoded in order to ensure uniform social behavior. scholars have looked at literacy from all these perspectives. in doing so, they have foisted upon the understanding of literacy interpretations so diverse and so contradictory that to follow them is to enter a maze from which there is no escape. one of will rogers' lines was paraphrased as: "we are all illiterate, only about different things." the formula deserves closer examination because it defines another characteristic of the context for understanding the relative illiteracy of our times. the degree of illiteracy is difficult to quantify, but the result is easy to notice. everything carried into the self-constitution of the individual as warrior, lover, athlete, family member, educator or educated in literacy-based pragmatics is being replaced by illiterate means. nobody expected that an individual who reads tolstoy or shakespeare will be a better cook, or devise better military plans, or even be a better lover. nevertheless, the characteristics of literacy affected practically all pragmatic experiences, conferring upon them a unity and coherence we can only look back upon with nostalgia. champions of sexual encounters, as much as innovators in new technologies and olympic athletes are extremely efficient in their respective domains. peak performance increases as the average falls in the range of mediocrity and sub- mediocrity. in this book i will examine many aspects of literacy pertinent to what is usually associated with it: the publications people write and read, communication at the individual and social levels, as well as many aspects of human activity that we do not necessarily consider in relation to literacy-military, sports, sex and family, eating-but which nevertheless were influenced by the pragmatic framework that made literacy possible and necessary. with the evident demise of philosophy as the science of sciences, began fragmentation of knowledge. doubt that a common instrument of access to and dissemination of knowledge exists is replaced by certitude that it does not. a so-called third culture, in the opinion of the author who brought it to public attention, "consists of rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives" in ways different from those of literary intellectuals. this is not c.p. snow's third culture of scientists capable of communicating with non-scientific intellectuals, but the illiterate scientific discourse that brings fascinating notions into the mainstream, via powerful metaphors and images (albeit in a trivialized manner). this is why the relation between science and literacy, as well as between philosophy and literacy, will be examined with the intention to characterize the philosophy and science of the civilization of illiteracy. but are we really equipped with the means of exploration and evaluation of this wide-ranging change? aren't we captive to language and literacy, and thus to the philosophic and scientific explanations based on them? we know that the system in place in our culture is the result of the logocratic view adopted. the testing of skills rated by score is to a great extent a measure of comprehension characteristic of the civilization of literacy. the new pragmatic framework requires skills related not only to language and literacy, but also to images, sounds, textures, motion, and virtual space and time. knowing this, we have to address the relation between a relatively static medium and dynamic media. we should look into how literacy relates to the visual, in general, and, in particular, to the controversial reality of television, of interactive multimedia, of artificial images, of networking and virtual reality. these are all tasks of high order, requiring a broad perspective and an unbiased viewpoint. most important is the comprehension of the structural implications of literacy. an understanding of the framework that led to literacy, and of the consequences that the new pragmatic framework of existence has on all aspects of our lives will help us understand how literacy influenced them. i refer specifically to religion, family, state, and education. in a world giving up the notion of permanency, god disappears for quite a number of people. still, there are many more churches, denominations, sects, and other religious factions (atheist and neo-pagan included) than at any other time. in the united states of america, people change life partners . times during their lifespan (if they ever constitute a family), and calculate the financial aspects of getting married and having children with the same precision that they use to calculate the expected return on an investment. the state has evolved into a corporation regulating the business of the nation, and is now judged on its economic achievements. presidents of states act as super-peddlers of major industries on whose survival employment depends. these heads of state are not shy about giving up the ideals anchored in literate discourse (e.g., human rights). but they will raise a big fuss when it comes to copyright infringement, especially of software. the irony is that copyright is difficult to define in respect to digital originals. through the literacy model, the state became a self- preserving bureaucratic machine rarely akin to the broad variety of options brought about by the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy. many more people than previous records mention become (or remain) illiterates after finishing the required years of schooling-a minimum of ten years-and even after graduating from college. some people know how to read; even how to write, but opt for scanning tv channels, playing games, attending sports events, or surfing the internet. aliteracy is also part of the broader change in the status of literacy. decisions to forego reading and writing are decisions in favor of different means of expression and communication. the new generation is more proficient in video games than in orthography. this generation will be involved in high-efficiency practical experiences structurally similar to the interactive toy and far removed from the expectation of correct writing. the internet shapes the choices of the new generation in terms of what they want to know, how, when, and for what purpose more than newspapers, books, and magazines, and even more than radio or television does. and even more than schools and colleges do. through its vast and expanding means and offerings, the internet connects the individual to the globe, instead of only talking about globality. networking, at many levels and in many ways, is related to the characteristics of our pragmatic framework. as rudimentary as it still is, networking excludes everything that is not fast- paced and to the point. can all these examples, part of the context of the discussion of literacy in our changing world, be interpreted as being in causal relation to the decline of literacy? that is, the less people are knowledgeable in reading and writing, or choose not to read or write, the less they believe in god or the more pagan they want to be? the more often they divorce, the less they marry or have children? the more they want or accept a bureaucratic machine to handle their problems, the more tv programs they watch and the more electronic games they play, the more they surf the infinite world of networks? no, not along this line of one-dimensional, linear, simplistic form of determinism. a multiplicity of factors, and a multiplicity of layers need to be considered. they are, however, rooted in the pragmatic framework of our continuous self- constitution. it is exhibited through the dynamics of shorter and faster interactions. it is embodied in the ever wider choices of ascertaining our identity. it takes the appearance of availabilities, fragmentation and global integration, of increased mediation. the dynamics described corresponds to the higher efficiency that a larger scale of human activity demands. to call attention to the multi-dimensionality of the process and to the many interdependencies, which we can finally uncover with the help of new technologies, is a first step. to evince their non-linearity, reflecting the meshing between what can be seen as deterministic and what is probably non-deterministic is another step in the argument of the book. without basing our discussion on human pragmatics, it would be impossible to explain why, despite all the effort and money societies invest in education, and all the time allocated for education-sometimes over a quarter of a lifetime-despite research of cognitive processes pertinent to literacy, people wind up less literate, but, surprisingly, not at all less efficient. some would argue-the late alan bloom, a crusader for culture and literacy, indeed a brilliant writer of the epilogue of human culture and nostalgia for it, already did-that without literacy, we are less effective as human beings. the debate over such arguments requires that we acknowledge changes in the status of human beings and of human societies, and that we understand what makes such changes unavoidable. the wise fox the world as it stands today, especially the industrialized world, is fundamentally different from the world of any yesteryear, the last decade and century, not to mention the past that seems more the time of story than of history. alan bloom's position, embraced by many intellectuals, is rooted in the belief that people cannot be effective unless they build on the foundation of historically confirmed values, in particular the great books. but we are at a point of divergences with no noticeably privileged direction, but with many, many options. this is not a time of crisis, although some want us to believe the contrary and are ready to offer their remedies: back to something (authority, books, some primitive stage of no-ego, or of the mushroom, i.e., psychedelic drugs, back to nature); or fast forward to the utopia of technocracy, the information age, the service society, even virtual reality or artificial life. humans are heuristic animals. our society is one of creativity and diversity, operating on a scale of human interaction to which we exponentially add new domains: outer space, whose dimensions can be measured only in light years, and whose period of observation extends over lifetimes; the microcosmos, mirroring the scale in the opposite direction of infinitesimal differentiations; the new continents of man-made materials, new forms of energy, genetically designed plants and animals, new genetic codes, and virtual realities to experience new spaces, new times, and new forms of mediation. networking, which at its current stage barely suggests things to come, can only be compared to the time electricity became widely available. cognitive energy exchanged through networks and focused on cooperative endeavors is part of what lies ahead as we experience exponential growth on digital networks and fast learning curves of efficient handling of their potential. the past corresponds to a pragmatic framework well adapted to the survival and development of humankind in the limited world of direct encounters or limited mediations. in terms pertinent to a civilization built around the notion of literacy, the current lower levels of literacy can be seen as symptomatic of a crisis, or even a breakdown. but what defines the new pragmatic context is the shift from a literacy- centered model to one of multiple, interconnected, and interconditioned, distributed literacies. it is well justified to repeat that some of the most enlightened minds overlook the pragmatics of bygone practice. challenged, confused, even scared by the change, they call for a journey to the past: back to tradition, to discipline, to the ethics of our forefathers, to old-time religion and the education that grew out of it, to permanence, and hopefully to stability. even those who wholeheartedly espouse evolutionary and revolutionary models seem to have a problem when it comes to literacy. all set to do away with authority, they have no qualms about celebrating the imperialism of the written word. other minds confess to difficulties in coping with a present so promising and, at the same time, so confusing in its structural contradictions. what we experience, from the extreme of moral turpitude to a disquieting sense of mediocrity and meaninglessness, nourishes skeptical, if not fatalistic, visions. the warning is out (again): we will end up destroying humankind! yet another part of the living present accepts the challenge without caring about the implications it entails. the people in this group give up their desire to understand what happens, as long as this makes life exciting and rewarding. hollywood thrives on this. so do the industries of digital smoke- and-mirrors, always a step from fame, and not much farther from oblivion. addresses on the internet fade as quickly as they are set up. the most promising links of yesterday show up on the monitor as a "sorry" message, as meaningful as their short- lived presence was. arguing with success is a sure recipe for failure. success deserves to be celebrated in its authentic forms that change the nature of human existence in our universe. the future suggested in the labels technocracy, information age, and service society might capture some characteristics of today's world, but it is limited and limiting. this future fails to accommodate the development of human activity at the new scale in terms of population, resources, adaptation, and growth it has reached. within this model, its proponents preserve as the underlying structure the current set of dependencies among the many parts involved in human activity, and a stubborn deterministic view of simplistic inclination. unreflected celebration of technocracy as the sole agent of change must be treated with the same suspicion as its demonization. the current participation of technology in human activity is indeed impressive. so are the extent of information processing and information mining, and the new relation between productive activities and services. to make sense of disparate data and from them form new productive endeavors is a formidable task. science, in turn, made available enormously challenging theories and extremely refined models of the world. but after all is done and said, these are only particular aspects of a much more encompassing process. the result is a pragmatic framework of a new condition. highly mediated work, distributed tasks, parallel modes, and generalized networking of rather loosely coordinated individual experiences define this condition. within this framework, the connection between input (for instance, work) and output (what results) is of a different order of magnitude tfrom that between the force applied on a lever and the outcome; or that between the energy necessary to accomplish useful tasks through engines or electric, or pneumatic devices, no matter how efficient, and the result. in addition, even the distinction between input and output becomes fuzzy. the wearable computer provides interoperability and interconnectedness-an increase in a person's heart rate can be a result of an increase in physical exertion or cause for communicating with a doctor's office or for alerting the police station (if an accident takes place). it might be that the next interaction will involve our genetic code. the capacity for language and the ability to understand its various implications are only relatively interdependent, and thus only relatively open to scrutiny and understanding. this statement, as personal as it sounds, and as much as it expresses probably less resignation than uncertainty, is crucial to the integrity of this entire enterprise. indeed, once within a language, one is bound to look at the world surrounding oneself from the perspective of that language as the medium for partial self-constitution and evaluation. participating in its dynamics affects what i am able to see and describe. this affects also what i am no longer able to perceive, what escapes my perception, or even worse, filters it to the point that i see only my own thoughts. this dual identity-observer and integral part of the observed phenomena-raises ethical, axiological, and epistemological aspects almost impossible to reconcile. since every language is a projection of ourselves-as participants in the human experience, yet as distinct instantiations of that experience-we do not see the world so much as ourselves in relation to it, ourselves in establishing our culture, and again ourselves in taming and appropriating the universe around us. the fox in saint-exupéry's the little prince says it much better: "one only understands the things one tames." "between us the rift" huge industrial complexes where an immense number of workers participate in the production of goods, and densely populated urban centers gravitating around factories, make up the image characteristic of industrial society. this image is strikingly different from the new reality of interconnected, yet decentralized, individual activities going well beyond telecommuting. various mediating elements contribute to increasingly efficient practical experiences of human self-constitution. the computer is one of the varied embodiments of these mediating elements, but by no means the only one. through its functions, such as calculation, word, image, and information processing, and control of manufacturing, it introduces many layers between individuals and the object of their actions. the technology of interconnecting provides means for distributive task strategies. it also facilitates parallel modes of productive work. this is a world of progressive decentralization and interoperative possibilities. all kinds of machines can be an address in this interconnected world. their operations can range from design tasks to computer-aided manufacturing. distributed work and cognitive functions pertinent to it afford practical experiences qualitatively different from the mechanical sequencing of tasks as we know it from industrial modes of production. obviously, large portions of africa, asia, and latin america, as well as part of the european and north american continents, do not necessarily fit this description in detail. industrial activities still constitute the dominant practical experience in the world. although nomadic and jungle tribes are part of this integrated world, the industrial revolution has not yet reached them all. in some cases, the stages leading to agriculture have not yet been attained. in view of the global nature of human life and activity today, i submit that despite the deep disparity in the economic and social evolution of various regions of the world, it is plausible to assume that centralized modes of production peculiar to industrial economies are not a necessary development. efficiency expectations corresponding to the global scale of human activity can be reached only by development strategies different from those embodied in the pragmatic framework of industrial activity. it is therefore probable that countries, and even subcontinents, not affected by the industrial revolution will not go through it. planners with an ecological bent even argue that developing countries should not take the path that led industrial nations to augment their population's living standard to the detriment of the environment or by depleting natural resources (a german manifest, ). industrial production and the related social structures rely on literacy. edmund carpenter formulated this quite expressively: "translated into gears and levers, the book became machine. translated into people, it became army, chain of command, assembly line...." his description, made in broad strokes, is to the point. at the beginning of the industrial revolution, children and women became part of the labor market. for the very limited operation one had to perform, no literacy was necessary; and women and children were not literate. still, the future development of the industrial society could not take place without the dissemination of literacy skills. for instance, industry made possible the invention, in , of the steel pen indispensable to the compulsory elementary education that was later instituted. the production of steel needles seemed to extend domesticity, but actually created the basis for the sweat trades following what louis mumford called carboniferous capitalism. gaslight and electricity expanded the time available for the dissemination of literacy skills. housing improvements made possible the building of the individual library. george steiner sees this as a turning point in the sense that a private context of the experience of the book was created. as far as national structures were concerned, phenomena characteristic of the industrial revolution cannot be understood outside the wider context of the formation and consolidation of nations. affirmation of national identity is a process intimately connected to the values and functions of literacy. the production process of the industrial age of mechanical machinery and electric power required not brute force, but qualified force. administrative and management functions required more literacy than work on the assembly line. but literacy projected its characteristics onto the entire activity, thus making a literate workforce desirable. the market it generated projected the condition of the industry in the structure of its transactions. the requirements for qualified work expanded to requirements for qualified market activities and resulted in the beginnings of marketing and advertising. that market was based on the recognition of national boundaries, i.e., boundaries of efficiency, self-sufficiency, and future growth offering markets of a size and complexity adequate to industrial output. nations replaced the coarse fragmentation of the world. they were no longer, as jean-marie guéhenno notices, a disguise of tribal structures, but a political space within which democracy could be established. progression from competing individual life and temporary congregation in an environment of survival of the fittest to tribal, communal, local, confederate, and national life is paralleled by progression in the forms and methods of human integration. the global scale of human activity characteristic of our age is not an extension of the linear, deterministic relations between those constituting a valid human entity and the life-support system, called environment, that structurally define industrial society. discontinuity in numbers (of people, resources, expectations, etc.), in the nature of the relations among people, in the forms of mediations that define human practical experiences is symptomatic of the depth and breadth of change. the end of nations, of democracy even, might be far off, but this end is definitory of the chasm before us. the united nations, which does not yet comprise the entire world, is a collection of over nations, and increasing. some are only island communities, or newly proclaimed independent countries brought about by social and political movements. of the over distinct territories, countries, and protectorates, very few (if any) are truly autarchic entities. despite never before experienced integration, our world is less the house of nations and discrete alliances among them, and more the civilization of a species in firm control (too firm, as some perceive) of other species. within the world, we know that there are people still coming out of an age of natural economy based on hunting, foraging, fishing, and rudimentary agriculture. while barter and the minimal language of survival is the only market process in such places, in reality, the world is already involved in global transactions. markets are traded in their entirety, more often than not without the knowledge of those comprising these markets. this only goes to show again the precarious nature of national structures. national independence, passionately fought for, is less a charter for the future than the expression of the memory of the past (authentic or fake). selling or buying extends to the entire economy, which while still at a stage difficult to entirely explain, is bound to change in a rhythm difficult to cope with by those supposed to control it, but inescapable in the context of world-wide market. that literacy and national identity share in this condition should not surprise anyone. malthus revisited the malthusian principle ( ) related growth of populations (geometric) to food supply increases (arithmetic): "population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio." the weakness of the principle is probably its failure to acknowledge that the equation of mankind has more than the two variables it considers: population and food supply. the experience of extensive use of natural resources, in particular through farming, is only one among an increasing number of experiences. human beings constitute their own reality not only as one of biological needs, but also of cultural expectations, growing demands, and creativity. these eventually affect changes in what were believed to be primary needs and instincts. in many ways, a great deal of previously acknowledged sources of protein are exhausted. but in an ever more impressive proportion, the acceptable realm of sources of nutrition-proteins included-has been expanded so as to include the artificial. hunting and gathering wild plants (not to mention scavenging, which seems to predate hunting) were appropriate when linear, sequential strategies of survival defined human behavior; so were herding and agriculture, a continuation of foraging under circumstances of changed subsistence strategies. language was formed, and then stabilized, in connection to this linear form of praxis. linearity simply reflects the fact that one person is less effective than two, but also that one's needs are smaller than those of several. the experience of self- constitution in language preserves linearity. this preservation of linearity extends as long as the scale of the community and its needs and wants allowed for proportional interaction among its individuals and the environment of their existence. industrial society is probably the climax of this optimization effort. if the issue were only to feed mankind, the population census (over five billion people on record as of the moment these pages are being written, though less than four billion when i started) and the measure of resources would not yet indicate a new scale. but the issue is to accommodate geometrically growing populations and exponentially (i.e., non-linearly) diversifying expectations. such expectations relate to a human being celebrating higher average ages, and an extended period of active life. we change anatomically, not necessarily for the better: we see and hear less well and have lower physical abilities. our cognitive behavior and our patterns of social interaction change, too. these changes reflect, among other things, the transition from direct interaction and co-presence to indirect, mediated forms of the practical self-constitution of the human being. the sequential nature of language, in particular its embodiment in literacy, no longer suits human praxis as its universal measure. the strategies of linearization introduced through the experience of literacy were acceptable when the resulting efficiency accommodated lower and less differentiated expectations. they are now replaced by more efficient, intrinsically non-linear strategies made possible by literacies structurally different from those rooted in the practice of so-called natural language. accordingly, literacy loses its primacy. new literacies emerge. instead of a stable center and limited choice, a distributed and variable configuration of centers and wide choice connect and disconnect areas of common or disjoint interest. there are still national ambitions, huge factories to be built, cities to be erected and others to be expanded, highways to be widened in order to accommodate more intercity traffic, and airports to be constructed so that more airplanes can be used for national and international travel. the inertia of past pragmatics has not yet been annihilated by the dynamics of a fundamental change of direction. still, an integrated, yet decentralized, universe of work and living has been taking shape and will continue to do so. interconnection made possible by digital technology, first of all, opens a wide range of possibilities for reshaping social life, political institutions, and our ability to design and produce goods. our own ability to mediate, to integrate parts and services resulting from specialized activities is supported by machines that enhance our cognitive characteristics. captives to literacy probably the most shocking discovery we sometimes make is that, in order to be able to undertake new experiences, we need to forget, to break the curse of literate memory, and to immerse ourselves in the structurally amnesiac systems of signs corresponding to and addressing our senses. nathaniel hawthorne's short story "earth's holocaust" was prophetic in this sense. in this parable, the people of a new world (obviously the united states of america) bring all the books they inherited from the old world to a great bonfire. theirs is not an exercise in mindless book-burning. they conscientiously discard all the rules and ideas passed down through millennia that governed the world and the life they left behind. old ideas, as well as new ones, would have to prove their validity in the new context before they would be accepted. indeed, the awareness brought about by theories of the physical world, of the mind, of our own biogenetic condition made possible practical experiences of self-constitution that are not like anything experienced by humans before our time. the realization of relativity, of the speed of light, of micro- and macro-structures, of dynamic forces and non-linearity is already translated in new structures of interactions. our systems of interconnection- through electric energy, telephone (wired and cellular), radio, television, communication, computer networks-function at speeds comparable to that of light. they integrate dynamic mechanisms inspired by genetics, physics, molecular biology, and our knowledge of the micro- and macro-structure. our life cycle seems to accept two different synchronizing mechanisms: one corresponding to our natural condition (days, nights, seasons), the other corresponding to the perceived scale and to our striving towards efficiency. the two are less and less dependent, and efficiency seems to dominate nature. discovery of the world in its expanded comprehensive geographic dimensions required ships and planes. it also required the biological effort to adapt and the intellectual effort to understand various kinds of differences. in outer space, this adaptation proves to be even more difficult. in a world in a continuous flux of newer and newer distinctions, people constitute, instead of one permanent and encompassing literacy, several literacies, none of which bears the status of (quasi)eternal. differentiation of human experience is so far reaching that it is impossible to reduce the variety to one literate language. in the process of building rational, interpretive methods and establishing a body of knowledge that can be tested and practically applied, people often discard what did not fit in the theories they advanced, what did not obey the laws that these theories expressed. this was a necessary methodology that resulted in the progress we enjoy today. but it was also a deceptive method because what could not be explained was omitted. where literacy was instilled, non-linguistic aspects-such as the irreducible world of magic, mystery, the esoteric (to name a few)-were done away with. commenting upon the adventures of huckleberry finn, illich and sanders pointed out that there is a whole world in twain's novel that is inaccessible to the illiterate, but also a world of folklore and superstition that cannot be understood by those hostage to the beautiful kingdom of literacy. folklore in many countries, and superstition, and mystery in all the varieties corresponding to human practical self-constitution are definitely areas from which we might gain better insight into life past, present, and future. they are part of the context and should not be left out, even though they may belong to the epoch before literacy. all in all, since language was and still is the most comprehensive testimony to (and participant in) our experience as human beings, we may want to see whether its crisis says something about our own permanence and our own prejudices concerning the species. after all, why, and based on what arguments, do we see ourselves as the only permanence in the universe and the highest possible achievement of evolution? literacy freed us in many respects. but it also made us prisoners of a number of prejudices, not the least a projection of self-awareness in direct contradiction to our own experience of never-ending change in the world. the epitome of the civilization of illiteracy in the opinion of foe and friend alike, america (the name under which the united states of america, appropriating the identifier of the two continents comprising the new world) epitomizes many of the defining characteristics of today's world: market oriented, technologically driven, living on borrowed means (financial and natural resources), competitive to the extreme of promoting adversarial relations, and submitting, in the name of democracy and tolerance, to mediocrity, demagoguery, and opportunism. americans are seen as boastful, boorish, unrealistic, naive, primitive, hypocritical, and obsessed with money. even to some of its most patriotic citizens, the usa appears to be driven by political opportunism, corruption, and bigotry. as still others perceive the usa, it is captive to militarism and prey to the seductive moral poison of its self-proclaimed supremacy. at times it looks like the more it fails in some of its policies, the more it wants to hear declarations of gratitude and hymns of glory, as in john adams' lines: "the eastern nations sink, their glory ends/ and empires rise where sun descends." to the peoples just awaking from the nightmare of communism, the american political slogans have a familiar, though frightening, self-delusive ring. on the other hand, americans are credited with extraordinary accomplishments in technology, science, medicine, the arts, literature, sports, and entertainment. they are appreciated as friendly, open, and tolerant. their willingness to engage in altruistic projects (programs for the poor and for children all over the world), indeed free from discrimination, makes for a good example to people of other nations. patriotism does not prevent americans from being critical of their own country. to the majority of the world, america represents a vivid model of liberal democracy in action within a federation of states united by a political system based on expectations of balance among local, state, and federal functions. jean jacques servan-schreiber once made headlines writing about the american challenge (le défi américain), more or less about the danger of seeing the world americanized. downtown frankfurt (on the river main) is called mainhattan because its skyscrapers recall those of the island between the hudson and east rivers. the disneyland near paris, more of an import (the french government wanted it badly) than an export product, was called a "cultural chernobyl." tourists from all over the crumbled soviet empire are no longer taken to lenin's mausoleum but to moscow's mcdonald's. the japanese, reluctant to import american-made cars and supercomputers, or to open their markets to agricultural goods (except marbled beef), will bend over backwards for baseball. add to all this the symbolism of blue jeans, madonna or heavy metal (as music or comic books), coca-cola, the television series dallas, the incessant chomping on chewing gum and bubble-gum popping, texan boots, and the world-wide sneaker craze, and you have an image of the visible threat of americanization. but appearance is deceitful. taken out of their context, these and many other americanized aspects of daily life are only exotic phenomena, easy to counteract, and indeed subject to counteraction. italians protested the culture of fast food near the piazza d'espagna in rome (where one fast food establishment rented space) by giving out free spaghetti carbonara and pizza. (they were unaware of the irony in this: the biggest exporter of pizza restaurants is no longer italy, but the usa.) the rightist russian movement protested mcdonald's by touting national dishes, the good old high-calorie menu of times when physical effort was much greater than in our days (even in that part of the world). the germans push native lederhosen and dirndls over blue jeans. the german unions protest attempts to address structural problems in their economy through diminishing social benefits with a slogan that echoes like a hollow threat: american conditions will be met by a french response, by which they mean that strikes will paralyze the country. the japanese resisted the disney temptation by building their own lands of technological marvels. when an athlete born in america, naturalized as japanese, won the traditional sumo wrestling championship, the japanese judges decided that this would be his last chance, since the sport requires, they stated, a spirituality (translated by demeanor) that a foreign-born sportsman cannot have. on closer examination, americanization runs deeper than what any assortment of objects, attitudes, values, and imitated behavior tell us. it addresses the very core of human activity in today's global community. it is easy to understand why america appears to embody efficiency reached at the expense of many abandoned values: respect for authority, for environment, for resources, even human resources, and ultimately human values. the focus of the practical experience through which american identity is constituted is on limitless expectations regarding social existence, standard of living, political action, economic reward, even religious experience. its encompassing obsession is freedom, or at least the appearance of freedom. whatever the pragmatics affords becomes the new expectation and is projected as the next necessity. the right to affluence, as relative as affluence is in american society, is taken for granted, never shadowed by the thought that one's wealth and well-being might come at the expense of someone else's lack of opportunity. competitive, actually adversarial, considerations prevail, such as those manifest in the morally dubious practices accepted by the legal and political systems. "to the victor go the spoils" is probably the most succinct description of what this means in real life. the american way of life has been a hope and promise for people all over the world. the mixed feelings they have towards america does not necessarily reflect this. the entire world is probably driven by the desire for efficiency that makes such a standard of living possible more than by the pressure to copy the american style (of products, living, politics, behavior, etc.). this desire corresponds to a pragmatics shaped by the global scale of humankind, and by the contemporary dynamics of human self-constitution. each country faces the battle between efficiency and culture (some going back thousands of years), in contrast to the usa, whose culture is always in status nascendi. the american anxiety over the current state of literacy is laden with a nostalgia for a tradition never truly established and a fear of a future never thought through. it is, consequently, of more than documentary interest to understand how america epitomizes a civilization that has made literacy obsolete. for the love of trade as a country formed by unending waves of immigration, america can be seen, superficially though, as a civilization of many parallel literacies. ethnic neighborhoods are still a fact of life. here one finds stores where only the native language is spoken, with newspapers printed in greek, hungarian, german, italian, ukrainian, farsi, armenian, hebrew, romanian, russian, arabic, japanese, mandarin, korean. cable tv caters to these groups, and so do many importers of products reminiscent of some country where "food tastes real" and goods "last forever." all of these carried-over literacies are, in final analysis, means of self-constitution, bridges between cultures that will be burned by the third generation. in practicing the literacy of origins, human beings constitute themselves as split personalities between two pragmatic contexts. one embodies expectations characteristic of the context that relied upon literacy- homogeneity, hierarchy, centralism, tradition. the other, of the adopted country, is focused upon needs that effect the transition to the civilization of illiteracy- heterogeneity, horizontality, decentralism, tradition as choice, but not way of life. aspects of immigration (and in general of human migration) need to be addressed, not from the perspective of parallel literacies, but as variations within a unifying pragmatic framework. the de-culturization of people originating from many countries and belonging to many nations is probably a unique feature of america. it impacted all aspects of life, and continues to be a source of vitality, as well as tension. immigrants arrive as literates (some more so than others) only to discover that their literacy is relatively useless. that things were not always like this is relatively well documented. neil postman reported that the th-century settlers were quite literate in terms characteristic of the time. up to percent of the men were able to read the bible; among women the percentage reported is . they also read other publications, some imported from england, and at the beginning of the second half of the eighteenth century supported a printing industry soon to become very powerful. in importing their literacies, the english, as well as the french and dutch, imported all the characteristics that literacy implies and which went into the foundation of the american government. over time, in the successive waves of immigration, unskilled and skilled workers, intellectuals, and peasants arrived. they all had to adapt to a different culture, dominated by the british model but moving farther away from it as the country started to develop its own characteristics. each national or ethnic group, shaped through practical experiences that did not have a common denominator, had to adapt to others. the country grew quite fast, as did its industry, transportation system, farming, banking, and the many services made possible and necessary by the overall economic development. to some extent, literacy was an integral part of these accomplishments. the young country soon established its own body of literature, reflecting its own experience, while remaining true to the literacy of the former mother country. i say to some extent because, as the history of each of these accomplishments shows, the characteristics inherent in literacy were opposed, under the banner of states' rights, democracy, individuality, or progress. with all this in mind, it is no wonder that americans do not like to hear that they are a nation of illiterates, as people from much older cultures are sometimes inclined to call them (for right or wrong reasons). no wonder either that they are still committed to literacy; moreover, that they believe that it represents a panacea to the problems raised by fast technological cycles of change, by new modes of human interaction, and by circumstances of practical experiences to which they have to adapt. educators and business-people are well aware, and worried, that literacy in the classical sense is declining. the sense of history they inherited makes them demand that effort and money be spent to turn the tide and bring america back to past greatness, or at least to some stability. probably the nature of this greatness is misunderstood or misconstrued, since there is not much in the history of the accomplishments of the united states that could rank the country among the cultural giants of past and present civilizations. throughout its history, america always represented, to some degree, a break with the values of the old world. the europeans who came to the dutch, french, and english colonies had at least one thing in common: they wanted to escape from the pragmatics of hierarchy, centralized political and religious domination, and fixed rules of social and cultural life representing a system of order that kept them in their place. freedom of religion-one of the most sought after-is freedom from a dominant, unified church and its vision of the unconditionally submissive individual. cultivating one's own land, another hope that animated the settlers, is freedom from practical serfdom imposed by the landowning nobility on those lower on the hierarchy. john smith's maxim that those who didn't work didn't eat was perhaps the first blow to the european values that ranked language and culture along with social status and privilege. most likely, the immigrants, highborn and low, did not come with the intention of overthrowing the sense and morals prevailing at the time. the phase of imitation of the old, characteristic of any development, extended from religious ceremonies to ways of working, enjoying, educating, dressing, and relating to outsiders (natives, slaves, religious sects). in this phase of imitation, a semi-aristocracy established itself in the south, emulating the english model. in protesting the taxes and punitive laws imposed by king george iii, the upper-class colonials were demanding their rights as englishmen, with all that this qualifier entailed. jefferson's model for the free united states was that the agrarian state best embodied the classic ideals that animated him. jefferson was himself the model of literacy-based practical experiences, a landed aristocrat who owned slaves, a man trained in the logic of greece and rome. his knowledge came from books. he was able to bring his various interests in architecture, politics, planning, and administration in focus through the pragmatic framework for which literacy was adequate. although jefferson, among others, rejected monarchy, which his fellow citizens would have set up, he did not hesitate to exercise the almost kingly powers that the executive branch of government entailed. his activity shows how monarchic centrality and hierarchy were translated in the new political forms of emerging democracies, within which elective office replaced inherited power. in the history of early america, we can see how literacy carries over the non-egalitarian model as it advanced equality in people's natural rights and before the law, the power of rules, and a sense of authority inspired by religion, practiced in political life, and connected to expectations of order. just as new trees sprout from the trunk of an old tree, so new paradigms take root within an old one. people immigrated to america to escape the old models. challenged by the need to provide a framework for their own self-identification, they ended up establishing an alternative context for the unfolding of the industrial revolution. in the process, they changed in more ways than they could foresee. politically, they established conditions conducive to emancipation from the many constraints of the system they left. even their patterns of living, speaking, behaving, and thinking changed. in , charles dickens observed of americans that "the love of trade is assigned as a reason for that comfortless custom...of married persons living in hotels, having no fireside of their own, and seldom meeting, from early morning until late at night, but at the hasty public meals. the love of trade is a reason why the literature of america is to remain forever unprotected: 'for we are a trading people, and don't care for poetry: though we do, by the way, profess to be very proud of our poets.'" dickens came from a culture that considered literacy one of the highest achievements of england, so much so that, according to jane austen, shakespeare could be particularly appreciated by the english alone (cf. mansfield park). she gave cultivation of the mind the highest priority. literature was expected to assist in defining values and pointing out the proper moral and intellectual direction. france was in a very similar position in regard to its culture and literature; so were the german lands and holland. even russia, otherwise opposed to acknowledging the new pragmatic context of industrial production, was affected by the european enlightenment. de toqueville, whose journey to america contributed to his fame, made his historic visit in the 's. by this time, america had time and opportunity to establish its peculiar character, so he was able to observe characteristics that would eventually define a new paradigm. the associated emerging values, based on a life relatively free of historic constraints, caught his attention: "the americans can devote to general education only the early years of life. [...] at fifteen they enter upon their calling, and thus their education generally ends at the age when ours begins. if it is continued beyond that point, it aims only towards a particular specialized and profitable purpose; one studies science as one takes up a business; and one takes up only those applications whose immediate practicality is recognized. [...] there is no class, then, in america, in which the taste for intellectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure and by which the labors of the intellect are held in honor. accordingly, there is an equal want of the desire and power of application to these objects." opinions, even those of scholars of de toqueville's reputation, are inherently limited in scope. sent by the french government to examine prisons and penitentiaries in the new world, he wound up writing a study of how a highly literate european understood america's social and political institutions. many of the characteristics of the civilization of illiteracy were emerging during the years of his visit. he highlighted the shortness of political cycles, the orality of public administration, the transience of commitments (the little there is of writing "is soon wafted away forever, like the leaves of the sibyl, by the smallest breeze"). severance from the past, in particular, made this visitor predict that americans would have to "recourse to the history of other nations in order to learn anything of the people who now inhabit them." what we read in de toqueville is the expression of the surprise caused by discontinuity, by change, and by a dynamics that in other parts of the world was less obvious. the new world certainly provided new themes, addressed and interpreted differently by americans and europeans. the more european cities of the northeast- boston, new york, philadelphia-maintained cultural ties to the old world, as evidenced by universities, scholars, poets, essayists, and artists. nevertheless, washington irving complained that one could not make a living as a writer in the united states as one could in europe. indeed, many writers earned a living as journalists (which is a way of being a writer) or as civil servants. the real america-the one dickens so lamented-was taking form west of the hudson river and beyond the appalachian mountains. this was truly a world where the past did not count. america finally did away with slavery (as a by-product of the civil war). but at the same time, it started undoing some part of the underlying structure reflected in literacy. the depth and breadth of the process escaped the full understanding of those literate founding fathers who set the process in motion, and was only partially realized by others (de toqueville included). it clearly affected the nature of human practical experiences of self-constitution as free citizens of a democracy whose chance to succeed lay in the efficiency, not in the expressive power, of ideas. america's industrial revolution took place against a background different from that of the rest of the world- a huge island indulging in relative autarchy for a short time. forces corresponding to the pragmatics of the post-industrial age determined a course of opening itself and opening as much of the world as possible-regardless of how this was to be accomplished. the process still affects economic development, financial markets, cultural interdependencies, and education. "the best of the useful and the best of the ornamental" some will protest that over years have gone by and the american character has been shaped by more than the love of trade. they will point to the literary heritage of washington irving, mark twain, henry wadsworth longfellow, ralph waldo emerson, nathaniel hawthorne, henry james. indeed, th century american writers have been appreciated and imitated abroad. faulkner and hemingway are the best known examples. today, american writers of lesser stature and talent are translated into the various european languages, for the same reasons that disneyland was brought to france. americans will point to theaters (which presented european plays) and opera houses, forgetting how late these acquisitions are, instituted when economic progress was on a sound track. indeed, the response to these assertions is simple: the result of other influences is not a change of course, but a much faster movement in the direction america pursues. a good example is given by education. the american colleges and universities founded in the th and early th centuries attempted to follow the traditional model of learning for its own sake; that is, moral and intellectual improvement through study of the age-old classics. this lasted until various interest groups, in particular businessmen, questioned the validity of an educational program that had little or no pragmatic value. these schools were in the east-harvard, brown, yale, columbia, william and mary- and the curricula reflected that of the old world. in general, only the elite of america attended them. the newer universities, the so-called land grant colleges, later called state universities (such as ohio state university, texas a & m), established west of the allegheny river during the last quarter of the th century, did indeed pursue more pragmatic programs-agriculture and mechanics-to serve the needs of the respective state, not the nation. in view of this demand for what is useful, it is easy to understand why american universities have become high (and sometimes not so high) level vocational schools, substituting for what high school rarely provided. pragmatic requirements and anti-elitist political considerations collided with the literate model and a strange hybrid resulted. a look at how the course offerings changed over time brings clear evidence that logic, rhetoric, culture, appreciation of the word and of the rules of grammar and syntax-all the values associated with a dominant literacy-are relegated to specializations in philosophy, literature, or written communication, and to a vast, though confusing, repertory of elective classes, which reflect an obsession with free choice and a leveling notion of democracy. literature, after being forced to give up its romantic claim to permanency, associates itself with transitory approaches that meet, with increasing opportunistic speed, whatever the current agenda might be: feminism, multiculturalism, anti-war rhetoric, economic upheaval. human truth, as literary illusion or hope, is replaced by uncertainty. no wonder that in this context programs in linguistics and philology languish or disappear from the curriculum. economics lost its philosophic backbone and became an exercise in statistics and mathematics. when faced with a list of courses that a university requires, most students ask, "why do i need...?" in this category fall literature, mathematics, philosophy, and almost everything else definable within literacy as formative subject matter or discipline. blame for this attitude, if any can be uttered, should not be put on the young people processed by the university system. the students conform, as difficult as it might be for them to understand their conformity, to what is expected of them: to get a driver's license and a college diploma, and to pay taxes. the expectation of a diploma does not result from requirements of qualification but from the american obsession with equality. america, which revolted against hierarchy and inequality, has never tolerated even the appearance of individual superiority. this led to a democracy that opposed superiority, leveling what was not equal-rights or aptitudes, opportunities or abilities-at any price. college education as privilege, which america inherited from the europe it left behind, was considered an injustice. over time, commercial democracy turned college into another shopping mall. today, diplomas, from ba to ph.d., are expected just for having attended college, a mere prerequisite to a career, not necessarily the result of rigorous mental application leading to quality results. young adults go to college because they heard that one can get a better (read higher paying) job with a college education. the result of broadening the scope of university studies to include professions for which only training is required is that the value of a college diploma (but not the price paid for it) has decreased. some say that soon one will need a college diploma just to be a street cleaner (sanitation engineer). actually, a person will not need a diploma, but will just happen to have one. and the wage of a sanitation worker will be so high (inflation always keeps pace with demagogy) that a college graduate will feel more entitled to the job than a high school dropout. when thomas jefferson studied, he realized that none of his studies would help him run his plantation. architecture and geometry were subordinate to a literacy-dominated standard. nevertheless, education inspired him as a citizen, as it inspired all who joined him in signing the declaration of independence. a context was established for further emancipation. the depth and breadth of the process escaped the full understanding of those who set the process in motion, and was at best partially realized by very few others, de tocqueville included. it clearly affected the nature of human practical experiences of self-constitution as free citizens of a democracy whose chance to succeed lay in the efficiency of ideas, not in their expressive power. inventiveness was unleashed; labor-saving devices, machinery that did the work of tens and hundreds of men provided more and more immediate satisfaction than intellectual exercise did. americans do not, if they ever did, live in an age of the idea for its own sake or for the sake of the spirit. maintaining mental faculties or uplifting the spirit are imported services. in the early history of the usa, the transcendentalist movement, of a priori intuitions, was a strong intellectual presence, but its adherents only transplanted the seed from europe. those and others-the schools of thought associated with peirce, dewey, james, and royce-rarely took root, producing a flower more appreciated if it actually was imported. this is not a country that appreciates the pure idea. america has always prided itself in its products and practicality, not thinking and vision. "a plaine souldier that can use a pick-axe and a spade is better than five knights," according to captain john smith. his evaluation summarizes the american preference for useful over ornamental. paradoxically though, business leaders argued for education and proclaimed their support for schools and colleges. at a closer look, their position appears somewhat duplicitous. american business needed its cooper, edison, and bell, around whose inventions and discoveries industries were built. once these were in place, it needed consumers with money to buy what industries produced. business supported education as a right and took all the tax deductions it could in order to have this right serve the interests of industry and business. consequently, in american society, ideas are validated only at the material level, in providing utility, convenience, comfort, and entertainment, as long as these maximize profit. "the sooner the better" is an expectation of efficiency, one that does not take into consideration the secondary effects of production or actions, as long as the first effect was profit. not the educated citizen, but the person who succeeded in getting rich no matter how, was considered the "smart" fellow, as dickens learned during his journey through america. prompted by such a deeply rooted attitude, sidney lanier, of georgia, deplored the "endless tale/ of gain by cunning and plus by sale." to value success regardless of the means applied is part of the american teleology (sometimes in complicity with american theology). bertrand russell observed of machiavelli that no one has been more maligned for simply stating the truth. the observation applies to those who have taken upon themselves the task of writing about the brave citizens of the free land. dickens was warned against publishing his american notes. european writers and artists, and visitors from russia, china, and japan have irritated their american friends through their sincere remarks. not many americans refer to thorston veblen, theodore dreiser, henry james, or to gore vidal, but the evaluations these authors made of the american character have been criticized by the majority of their compatriots whose sentimental vision of america cannot cope with legitimate observations. mark twain felt that he'd rather be "damned to john bunyan's heaven" than be obliged to read james's the bostonians. the rear-view mirror syndrome so why do americans look back to a time when people "knew how to read and write," a time when "each town had five newspapers?" big businesses, consolidated well before the invention of newer means of communication and mediation, have large investments in literacy: newspapers, publishing houses, and especially universities. but the promise of a better material life through literacy today rings tragically hollow in the ears of graduates who cannot find jobs in their fields of study. the advertisement most telling of this state of affairs is for a cooking school: "college gave me a degree in english. peter kump's cooking school gave me a career." granted that literacy has never made anyone rich in the monetary sense, we can ask what the pragmatic framework set up in this part of the new world did accomplish that literacy could not. in the first place, escape from one dominant mode embodied in literate practical experiences facilitated the assertion of other modes of expression and communication. peter cooper, founder of the cooper union for the advancement of science and art in new york city, made his fortune in railroads, glue, and gelatin desserts. he was truly illiterate: he could not read. obviously he was not unintelligent. many pioneers had a better command of their tools than of their pen. they read nature with more understanding than some university students read books. there are other cases of people who succeed, sometimes spectacularly, although they cannot read. the illiterate california businessman who taught high school social sciences and mathematics for eighteen years became known because television, for some reason, saw in him a good case for the literacy cause. people like him rely on a powerful memory or use an intelligence not based on literate conventions. howard gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (formerly known as aptitudes) seems to be ignored by educators who still insist that everyone learn to read and write-better said, conform to the conventions of literacy-as though these were the only ways to comprehend others and to function in life. there are few commentaries that contradict this attitude. william burroughs thought that "language is a virus from outer space." probably it feels better to perceive language like this in view of the many abuses to which language is subjected, but also in view of the way people use it to deceive. a more direct criticism states: "the current high profile of literacy is symptomatic of a speedy, ruthless transition from an industrial to an information-based economy. [...] literacy, to be sure, is a powerful, unique technology. yet literacy remains a human invention contained by social contract, and the maintenance of that contract in education betrays our ideas of humanity as surely as our use of literacy enforces them" (cf. elsbeth stuckey) american experience shows that the imposition of a sole model of higher education, based on literacy, has economic, social, and cultural consequences. it is very costly. it levels instead of addressing and encouraging diversity. it introduces expectations of cultural homogeneity in a context that thrives on heterogeneity. the literate model of education with which the country flirted, and which still seems so attractive, negates one of america's sources of vitality-openness to alternatives, itself made possible by the stubborn refusal of centralism and hierarchy. held in high esteem in the early part of american history, literacy came to students through schoolhouses in which webster's speller and mcguffey's reader disbursed more patriotism (essential to a nation in search of an identity) and more awareness of what "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" should mean than quality writing or the possibility to select good books for reading. literacy with a practical purpose, and the variety of literacies corresponding to the variety of human practical experiences, is a discovery made in america. understanding pragmatic requirements as opposed to pursuing literacy for the sake of literacy, at the price of rejecting its rewards, is where the road forks. but here america follows yogi berra's advice: "when you come to a fork in the road, take it." in their search for new values, or when faced with competing answers to tough questions, people tend to look back to a time when everything seemed all right. and they tend to pick and choose the characteristics that led to this perceived state of affairs. things were all right, some want to believe, when kids, plodding along country roads, winter or summer, went to school and learned to read. therefore, most people assume that the environment propitious to literacy will bring back the golden age. no one wants to see that america was never reducible to this romantic picture. in the south, education never seemed to be a mission. slaves and poor whites remained outside the idealized stream. females were not encouraged to study. a protestant viewpoint dominated subject matter (recall the puritan alphabet primer). americans seem intent on ignoring accomplishments outside the domain of literacy and the dynamics of the non-literate united states. in admiration of real cultures, americans do not want to hear or see that many of them, of proud and ancient ancestry, started questioning their own values and the education transmitting them. the practical sense and pragmatism ascertained in the formation of america were adopted as causes worth fighting for. in europe, students protested an education that did not prepare them for work. thanks to universal education-european governments by and large offer publicly supported higher education, at no cost to the student, through college and graduate school-more young people received an education (in the classical sense of the word) and their ranks flooded the market. they discovered that they were not prepared for the practical experiences characteristic of the new pragmatics, especially the new forms of mediations that characterize work and that are making headway around the world. in europe, there is a clear distinction between university studies and vocational studies. this has prevented universities from becoming the high-class vocational schools that they are in america, and has maintained the meaning of the diploma as a proof of intellectual endeavor. on the other hand, they remain ivory towers, not preparing students for the practical experiences of the new pragmatics. brotlose kunst (breadless art) is what the germans now call such fields of study as literature, philosophy, musicology, religion, and any other purely intellectual endeavor. looking at a totally different culture, americans tend to respond to japan's economic success and criticism of our system by saying that our educational system must become more like that of america's leading competitor. they ignore the fact that japan's high rate of productivity has less to do with the nation's high rate of literacy than does the indoctrination and character formation that japanese schooling entails. fundamental attitudes of conformity, team mentality, and a very strong sense of hierarchy, together with an almost sacred sense of tradition, are instilled through literate means. one does not have to be literate in any language in order to solder one circuit to another on an assembly line or to snap together modular components fabricated by advanced machines. what is necessary, indeed expected, is an ethic that calls for a sense of duty and pride in a job well done, a sense met by the social promise of permanency. all in all, the japanese system allows for little variation from the consensus, and even less for the creation of new models. the only way japan stepped out of the literate mode in the manufacturing world is in quality control. ironically, this idea was developed by the american edward denning, but rejected by his compatriots, who literally stagnated in a hierarchic model originating from circumstances of literacy. this hierarchical model, now in obvious decline, gave to american businessmen the sense of power they could not achieve through education or culture. the japanese, living in a system that preserved its identity while actively pursuing plans for economic expansion, formed strategies of self-containment (severely tested in times of economic downturn), as well as methods of relating to the rest of the world. this condition is manifest in their talent for spotting the most profitable from other countries, making it theirs, and pursuing avenues of competition in which what is specifically japanese (skills, endurance, collusion) and the appropriated foreign component are successfully joined. almost the entire foundation of today's television, in its analog embodiment, is japanese. but if for some reason the programming component would cease to exist, all the marvelous equipment that makes tv possible would abruptly become useless. in some ways, japan has almost no interest in a change of paradigm in television, such as the revolutionary digital tv, because an enormous industry, present in almost every home where television is used, would have to reinvent itself. the expectation of permanency that permeates literate japan thus extends from literacy to a medium of illiteracy. in the american context, of almost no stable commitments, digital television, along with many other innovations in computation and other fields, is a challenge, not a threat to an entire infrastructure. this example was not chosen randomly. it illustrates the dynamics of the change from a literacy-dominated civilization to one of many competing literacies. these emerge in the context of change from self-sufficient, relatively small-scale, homogeneous communities to the global world of today, so powerfully interconnected through television and through digital media of all kinds. as illiterates, americans lead other nations in breakthroughs in medicine, genetics, networking, interactive multimedia, virtual reality, and inventiveness in general. obviously, it is easier to design a course of education assuming some permanency or maintaining it, regardless of pragmatic requirements. diane ravitch stated that it is hard to define what education will be needed for the future when we don't know what skills the jobs of the future will require. an optimal education, reflecting pragmatic needs of highly mediated practical experiences of distributed effort and networking, will have to facilitate the acquisition of new cognitive skills. decentralized, non-sequential, non-deterministic experiences require cognitive skills different from those characteristic of literacy. schools used to be able to prepare students to find their place in the workforce even before graduation. more schools than ever insist on churning out a strange version of the literate student who should go on to a college that is more (though still not enough) vocational school than university. the university, under the alibi of equal opportunity and more in consideration of its own agenda, has done more damage to education and literacy by forcing itself upon americans as the only means to attain a better life. the result is crowded classes in which passive students are processed according to the industrial model of the assembly line, while the creative energy of faculty and students is redirected to a variety of ventures promising what a university cannot deliver. the very word university acknowledges one encompassing paradigm, prevalent in the middle ages, that the usa practically disposed of over a century ago. in an age of global reality and many paradigms, the university is in reality less universal and increasingly specialized. in these times of change, america, founded on innovation and self-reliance, seems to forget its own philosophy of decentralization and non-hierarchy. by no surprise, the newer computer technology-based companies took the lead in decentralizing and networking the workplace, in re-engineering each and every business. most business-people, especially in established companies, are reluctant to address matrix management methods or to use distributed forms of organization and decentralized structures. consequently, after waves of corporate restructuring and resizing, presidents and chairmen (not unlike university presidents and school principals) are kings, and the laborer, when not replaced by a machine, is often a virtual serf. surprisingly, the decentralized spirit of homesteading and the distribution of tasks and responsibilities, through which much of efficiency is reached, makes slow headway. but things are changing! if there is an engine at work pulling the world from its literacy- based pragmatics to the future of higher efficiency required by the new scale of human activity, it has the initials usa written on it. and it is-make no mistake about it-digital. when not faithful to its own experience of pluralism and self-motivation, the usa faces the inherent limitations of literacy-based practical experience in a number of domains, the political included. america once had a number of political parties. now it seems that it cannot effectively get beyond the literate dualistic model of two antagonistic parties, emulating the tories and the whigs of the empire to which it once belonged. european countries and several african and asian states have multi-party systems that reflect sensitivity to differences and take advantage of the variety they allow for. such systems enfranchise more of a country's citizenry than does the two- party system in the usa. every four years, americans demand greater choice in elections, but only one state, alaska, considers it normal to have more than two parties, and, incidentally, a governor who is neither republican nor democrat. the usa has a complex about literacy to the extent that every subject is now qualified as literacy-cultural literacy, computer literacy, visual literacy, etc.-whether literacy is involved or not. literacy has become its own specialty. in addition, new literacies, effectively disconnected from the ideals and expectations of classical literacy, have emerged from practical experiences of human self-constitution in realms where writing and reading are no longer required. this would not be so bad if it were not blinding people to the truth about a major characteristic of humankind. diversity of expression and multiplicity of communication modes define new areas of human accomplishment and open avenues for further unfolding of people's creative and economic potential. the new condition of language, in particular the failure of literacy, is at the same time a symptom of a new stage in human progress. it in no way reflects a failure of national policy or will. as a matter of fact, the new stage we are entering is a reflection of the human spirit unfolding, refusing to be held captive to a dominant mode that has outlived its usefulness. it may well be that the coming of age of america is part of this new stage. after all, many believe that the crisis of language is the crisis of the white man (cf. gottfried benn), or at least of western civilization. so, is the usa the epitome of the civilization of illiteracy? yes, america is illiterate to the extent that it constituted itself as an alternative to the world based on the underlying structures of literacy. the new pragmatic framework that the usa embodies does not automatically free it from the seductive embrace of the civilization it negates, and the current angst over the state of literacy is a manifestation of this. as an embodiment of the civilization of illiteracy, america demonstrates how several literacies can work together by complementing each other. such a pragmatics succeeds or fails on its own terms. whenever the implicit founding principles of adaptation, openness, exploration and validation of new models, and pragmatically based institutions are pursued, the result is the expected efficiency. sometimes, the price people seem to pay for it is very high-unemployment, dislocation, retrenchment, a loss of a sense of permanency that humans long for. the price includes the ability or willingness to consider all aspects involved in a situation-political, environmental, social, legal, religious. these aspects transcend the tangible and necessitate taking the broad view, which literate civilization allowed for, over the specialized, narrowly focused, short- sighted, parochial view. other times, it looks as though there are no alternatives. but in the long run, no one would really want to go back to the way things were years ago. book two from signs to language languages are very different. so are literacies. the differences go well beyond how words sound, how alphabets differ, how letters are put together, or how sentences are structured in the various languages used around the world. in some languages, fine distinctions of color, shape, gender, numbers, and aspects of nature are made while more general statements are difficult to articulate. anthropologists noted that in some of the eskimo languages many words could be identified for what we call (using one word) snow and for activities involving it; in arabic, many names are given to camel; in mexico, different names qualify ceramic pottery according to function, not form: jarro for drinking, jarra for pouring, olla for cooking beans, cazuela for cooking stews. the japanese and chinese distinguish among different kinds of rice: still in the paddy, long- grained, shucked, kernels. george lakoff mentions the dyirbal language of australia where the category balan includes fire, dangerous things, women, birds, and animals such as platypus, bandicoot, and echidna. in other languages, the effort to categorize reveals associations surprising to individuals whose own life experiences are not reflected in the language they observe. the questioning attitude in the talmud (a book of interpretations of the hebrew torah) is based on terms qualifying different kinds of questions. shuzan is calculation based on the use of the abacus. hissan, hiding the japanese word hitsu that stands for the brush used for writing, is calculation based on the use of arabic numerals. to be in command of a language such as chinese (to be literate in chinese) is different from being literate in english, and even more different from being literate in various tribal languages. these examples suggest that the practical experience through which language is constituted belongs to the broad pragmatic context. there is no such thing as an abstract language. among particular languages there are great differences in vocabulary, syntax, and grammar, as well as in the idiosyncratic aspects implicit in them, reflective of the experience of their constitution. despite such differences-some very deep-language is the common denominator of the species homo sapiens, and an important constitutive element of the dynamics of the species. we are our language. those who state that language follows life consider only one side of the coin. life is also formed in practical experiences of language constitution. the influence goes both ways, but human existence is in the end dependent upon the pragmatic framework within which individuals project their own biological structure in the practical act through which they identify themselves changes in the dynamics of language can be traced in what makes language necessary (biologically, socially, culturally), what causes different kinds of language use, and what brought about change. necessity and agents of change are not the same, although sometimes it is quite difficult to distinguish between them. changed working habits and new life styles are, as much as the appropriate language characterizing them, symptomatically connected to the pragmatic framework of our continuous self-constitution. we still have ten fingers-a structural reality of the human body projected into the decimal system-but the dominant number system today is probably binary. this observation regards the simplistic notion that words are coined when new instances make them desirable, and disappear when no longer required. in fact, many times words and other means of expression constitute new instances of life or work, and thus do not follow life, but define possible life paths. there are several sources from which knowledge about language constitution and its subsequent evolution can be derived: historic evidence, anthropological research, cognitive modeling, cultural evaluation, linguistics, and archaeology. here is a quote from one of the better (though not uncontroversial) books on the subject: language "enabled man to achieve a form of social organization whose range and complexity was different in kind from that of animals: whereas the social organization of animals was mainly instinctive and genetically transmitted, that of man was largely learned and transmitted verbally through the cultural heritage," (cf. jack goody and ian watt, the consequence of literacy). the general idea pertaining to the social implications of language is restrictive but acceptable. what is not at all explained here is how language comes into existence, and why instinctive and genetically transmitted organization (of animals) would not suffice, or even be tantamount to the verbally transmitted organization of human beings. as a matter of fact, language, as perceived in the text cited and elsewhere in literature, becomes merely a storing device, not a formative instrument, a working tool of sorts, even a tool for making other tools and for evaluating them. languages have to be understood in a much broader perspective. like humans, languages have an evolution in time. what came before language can be identified. what remains after a certain language disappears (and we know of some that have disappeared) are elements as important as the language itself for our better understanding of what makes language necessary. the disappearance of a language also helps us realize how the life of a language takes place through the life of those who made it initially possible, afterwards necessary, and finally replaced it with means more appropriate to their practical life and to their ever-changing condition. research into pre-linguistic time (i refer to anthropological, archaeological, and genetic research) has focused on items people used in primitive forms of work. it convincingly suggests that before a relatively stable and repetitive structure was in place, people used sounds, gestures, and body expressions (face, hands, legs) pretty much the way infants do. the human lineage, in its constitutive phases, left behind a wealth of testimony to patterns of action and, later, to behavioral codes that result in some sense of cohesion. distant forebears developed patterns in obtaining food and adapting to changes affecting the availability of food and shelter. before words, tools probably embodied both potential action and communication. many scholars believe that tools are not possible without, or before, words. they claim that cognitive processes leading to the manufacture of tools, and to the tool-making human being (homo faber), are based on language. in the opinion of these scholars, tools extend the arm, and thus embody a level of generality not accessible otherwise than through language. it might well be that nature-based "notation" (footprints, bite marks, and the stone chips that some researchers believe were the actual tools) preceded language. such notation was more in extension of the biological reality of the human being, and corresponded to a cognitive state, as well as to a scale of existence, preparing for the emergence of language. research on emerging writing systems (the work of scribner and cole, for instance, and moreover the work of harald haarmann, who considers the origins of writing in the notations found at vinca, in the balkans, near present-day belgrade) has allowed us to understand how patterns of sounds and gestures became graphic representations; and how, once writing was established, new human experiences, at a larger scale of work, became possible. finally, the lesson drawn from dying languages (rosch's studies of dyirbal, reported by lakoff) is a lesson in the foundation of such languages and their demise. what we learn from these is less about grammar and phonetics and more about a type of human experience. we also acquire information regarding the supporting biological structure of those involved in it, the role of the scale of humankind, and how this scale changes due to a multitude of conjectures. the differentiation introduced above among pre-language notations, emerging languages, emerging systems of writing, and dying languages is simultaneously a differentiation of kinds and types of human expression, interaction, and interpretation of everything humans use to acknowledge their reality in the world they live in. drawing attention to oneself or to others does not require language. sounds suffice; gestures can add to the intended signal. in every sound and in every gesture, humans project themselves in some way. individuality is preserved through a sound's pitch, timbre, volume, and duration; a gesture can be slow or rapid, timid or aggressive, or a mixture of these characteristics. once the same sound, or the same gesture, or the same sequence of sounds and gestures is used to point to the same thing, this stabilized expression becomes what can be defined, in retrospect, as a sign. semeion revisited interest in various sign systems used by humans reaches well back to ancient times. but it was only after renewed interest in semiotics-the discipline dealing with signs (semeion is the greek word for sign)-that researchers from various other disciplines started looking at signs and their use by humans. the reason for this is to be found in the fast growth of expression and communication based on means other than natural language. interaction between humans and increasingly complex machines also prompted a great deal of this interest. language-oral and written-is probably the most complex system of signs that researchers are aware of. although the word language comprises experiences in other sign systems, it is by no means their synthesis. before the practical experience of language, humans constituted themselves in experiences of simpler means of expression and communication: sounds, rhythms, gestures, drawings, ritualized movement, and all kinds of marks. the process can be seen as one of progressive projection of the individual onto the environment of existence. the sign i of one's own individuality-as distinct from other i's with whom interaction took place through competition, cooperation, or hostility-is most likely the first one can conjure. it must be simultaneous with the sign of the other, since i can be defined only in relation to something different, i.e., to the other. in the world of the different, some entities were dangerous or threatening, others accommodating, others cooperating. these qualifiers could not be simply translated into identifiers. they were actually projections of the subject as it perceived and understood, or misunderstood, the environment. to support my thesis about the pragmatic nature of language and literacy, a short account of the pre-verbal stage needs to be attempted here. very many scholars have tried to discover the origin of language. it is a subject as fascinating as the origins of the universe and the origin of life itself. my interest is rather in the area of the nature of language, the origin being an implicit theme, and the circumstances of its origination. i have already referred to what are loosely called tools and to behavioral codes (sexual, or relating to shelter, food-gathering, etc.). there is historic evidence that can be considered for such an account, and there are quite a number of facts related to conditions of living (changes in climate, extinction of some animals and plants, etc.) that affect this stage. the remaining information is comprised of inferences based on how beings similar to what we believe human beings once were constituted their signs as an expression of their identity. these signs reflected the outside world, but moreover expressed awareness of the world made possible by the human's own biological condition. the very first sentence of the once famous port-royal grammar unequivocally considers speaking as an explanation of our thoughts by signs invented for this particular purpose. the same text makes thinking independent of words or any kind of signs. i take the position that the transition from nature to culture, i.e., from reactions caused by natural stimuli to reflections and awareness, is marked by both continuity and discontinuity. the continuous aspect refers to the biological structure projected into the universe of interactions with similar or dissimilar entities. the discontinuity results from biological changes in brain size, vertical posture, functions of the hands. the pre- verbal (or pre-discursive) is immediate by its very nature. the discursive, which makes possible the manifest thought (one among many kinds) is mediated by the signs of language. closeness to the natural environment is definitive of this stage. although i am rather suspicious of claims made by contemporary advocates of the psychedelic, in particular mckenna, i can see how everything affecting the biological potential of the being (in this case psilocybin, influencing vision and group behavior) deserves at least consideration when we approach the subject of language. signs, through which pre-verbal human beings projected their reality in the context of their existence, expressed through their energy and plasticity what humans were. signs captured what was perceived as alike in others, objects or beings, and likeness became the shared part of signs. this was a time of direct interaction and immediateness, a time of action and reaction. everything delayed or unexpected constituted the realm of the unknown, of mystery. the scale of life was reduced. all events were of limited steps and limited duration. interacting individuals constituted themselves as signs of presence, that is, of a shared space and time. signs could thus refer to here and now as immediate instantiations of duration, proximity, interval, etc., but long before the notions of space and time were formed. once distinctions were projected in the experience of signs, the absent or the coming could be suggested, and the dynamics of repetitive events could be expressed. it was only after this self- expression took place that a representational function became possible: a high-pitched cry not just for pain, but also for danger that might cause pain; an arm raised not only as an indication of firm presence, but also of requested attention; a color applied on the skin not only as an expression of pleasure in using a fruit or a plant, but also of anticipated similar pleasures-an instruction to be mimetically followed, to be imitated. being part of the expressed, the individuals projecting themselves in the expression also projected a certain experience related to the limited world they lived in. signs standing for associations of events (clouds with rain, noise of hooves with animals, bubbles on a lake's surface with fish) were probably as much representations of those sequences as an expression of constituted experience shared with others living in the same environment. sharing experience beyond the here and now, in other words, transition from direct and unreflected to indirect and reflected interaction, is the next cognitive step. it took place once shared signs were associated with shared common experiences and with rules of generating new signs that could report on new, similar, or dissimilar experiences. each sign is a biological witness to the process in which it was constituted and of the scale of the experience. a whisper addresses one other person, maybe two, very close to each other. a shout corresponds to a different scale. accordingly, each sign is its shorthand history and a bridge from the natural to the cultural. sequences, such as successions of sounds or verbal utterances, or configurations of signs, such as drawings, testify to a higher cognitive level. relations between sequences or configurations of signs and the practical experience in which they are constituted are less intuitive. to derive from the understanding of such sign relations some practical rules of significance to those sharing a sign system was an experience in human interaction. later in time, the immediate experiential component is present only indirectly in language. the constitution of the language is the result of the change of focus from signs to relations among them. grammar, in its most primitive condition, was not about how signs are put together (syntax), nor of how signs represent something (semantics), but of the circumstances determining new signs to be constituted in a manner preserving their experiential quality-the pragmatics. consequently, language was constituted as an intermediary between stabilized experience (repetitive patterns of work and interaction) and future (patterns broken). signs still preserved the concreteness of the event that triggered their constitution. in the use of language, the human being abandoned a great deal of individual projection. language's degree of generality became far higher than that of its components (signs themselves), or of any other signs. but even at the level of language, the characteristic function of this sign system was the constitution of practical experiences, not the representation of means for sharing categories of experiences. in each sign, and more so in each language, the biological and the artificial collide. when the biological element dominates, sign experiences take place as reactions. when the cultural dominates, the sign or language experience becomes an interpretation, i.e., a continuation of the semiotic experience. interpretation of any kind corresponds to the never-ending differentiation from the biological and is representative of the constitution of culture. under the name culture as used above, we understand human nature and its objectification in products, organizations, ideas, attitudes, values, artifacts. the practical experience of sign constitution-from the use of branches, rocks, and fur to the most primitive etchings (on stone, bone, and wood), from the use of sounds and gestures to articulated language-contributed to successive changes in ongoing activity (hunting, seeking shelter, collaborative efforts), as well as to changes in humans themselves. in the universe of rich detail in which humans affirmed their identity through fighting for resources and creatively finding alternatives, information did not change, but the awareness of the practical implications of details increased. each observation made in the appropriation of knowledge through its use in work triggered possible patterns of interaction. once signs were constituted, sharing in the experience became possible. genetic transmission of information was relatively slow. it dominated the initial phases during which the species introduced its own patterns within the patterns of the natural environment. semiotic transmission of information, in particular through language, is much faster than genetic inheritance but cannot replace it. human life is attested at roughly . million years ago, incipient language use roughly , years ago. agriculture as a patterned experience emerged no more than , years ago, and writing less than , years ago (although some researchers estimate , years). the shorter and shorter cycles characteristic of self-constitution correspond to the involvement of means other than genetic in the process of change. what today we call mental skills are the result of a rather compressed process. compare the time it took until motor skills involved in hunting, gathering, and foraging were perfected to the extent they were before they started to degenerate, relatively speaking, as we notice in our days. the first record is a whip signs can be recorded-quite a few were recorded in and on various materials- and so can language, as we all know. but language did not start out as a written system. the african ishango bone predates a writing system by some thousands of years; the quipus of the inca culture are a sui generis record of people, animals, and goods previous to writing. china and japan, as well as india, have similar pre-writing forms of keeping records. the polygenetic emergence of writing is, in itself, significant in several ways. for one, it introduced another mediating element disassociated from a particular speaker. second, it constituted a level of generality higher than that of the verbal expression that was independent of time and space, or of other forms of record keeping. third, everything projected into signs, and from signs into articulated language, participated in the formation of meaning as the result of the understanding of language through its use. only at that moment did language gain a semantic and syntactic dimension (as we call them in today's terminology). formally, if the issue of literacy and the constitution of languages are connected, then this connection started with written languages. nevertheless, events preceding written language give us the perspective of what made writing necessary, and why some cultures never developed a written language. although referring to a different time-frame (thousands of years ago), this could help us comprehend why writing and reading need not dominate life and work today and in the future. or at least it could help clarify the relation among human beings, their language, and their existence. after all, this is what we want to understand from the vantage point of today's world. we take the word for granted, wondering whether there was a stage of the wordless human being (about which we can only infer indirectly). but once the word was established, with the advent of the means for recording it, it affected not only the future, but also the perception of the past. conquering the past, the word gives legitimacy to explanations that presume it. thus it implies some carrying device, i.e., a system of notation as a built-in memory and as a mechanism for associations, permutations, and substitutions. but if such a system is accepted, the origins of writing and reading are pushed back so far in time that the disjunction of literate-illiterate becomes a structural characteristic of the species at one of the periods of its self-definition. obviously expanded far in time and seen in such a broad perspective, this notation (comprising images, the ishango bone, quipus, the vinca figurines, etc.) contradicts the logocratic model of language. mono- and polysyllabic elements of speech, embodying audible sequences of sounds (and appropriate breathing patterns that insert pauses and maintain a mechanism for synchronization), together with natural mnemonic devices (such as pebbles, knots on branches, shapes of stones, etc.) are pre-word components of pre-languages. they all correspond to the stage of direct interaction. they pertain to such a small scale of human activity that time and space can be sequenced in extension of the patterns of nature (day-night, very close-less close, etc.). this juncture in the self-definition of the species occurred when the transition, from selected natural marks to marking, and later to stable patterns of sounds, eventually leading to words, took place. this was an impressive change that introduced a linear relation in a realm that was one of randomness or even chaos. if catastrophes occurred (as many anthropologists indicate), i.e., changes of scale outside the linear to which human beings were not adapted, they resulted in the disappearance of entire populations, or in massive displacements. rooted in experiences belonging to what we would call natural phenomena, this change resulted in rudimentary elements of a language. new patterns of interaction were also developed: naming (by association, as in clans bearing names of animals), ordering and counting (at the beginning by pairing the counted objects, one by one, with other objects), recording regularities (of weather, sky configurations, biological cycles) as these affected the outcome of practical activities. scale and threshold already mentioned in previous pages, the concept of scale is an important parameter in human development. at this point, it is useful to elaborate on the notion since i consider scale to be critical in explaining major transitions in human pragmatics. the progression from pre-word to notation, and in our days from literacy to illiteracy is paralleled by the progression of scale. numbers as such-how many people in a given area, how many people interacting in a particular practical experience, the longevity of people under given circumstances, the mortality rate, family size-are almost meaningless. only when relations among numbers and circumstances can be established is some meaningful inference possible. scale is the expression of relations. a crude scale of life and death is remote from underlying adaptive strategies as these are embodied in practical experiences of self-constitution. knowledge regarding biological mechanisms, such as knowledge of health or disease, supports efforts to derive models for various circumstances of life, as humans project their biological reality into the reality of interactions with the outside world. we know, for instance, that when the scale of human activity progressed to include domesticated animals, some animal diseases affecting human life and work were transmitted to humans. domestication of animals, a very early practical experience, brought humans closer to them for longer times, thus facilitating what is called a change of host for agents of such diseases. the common cold seems to have been acquired from horses, influenza from pigs, smallpox from cattle. we also know that over time, infectious diseases affect populations that are both relatively large and stationary. the examples usually given are yellow fever or malaria and measles (the latter probably also transported from swine, where the disease is caused by the larva of the tapeworm from which the word measles is derived). sometimes the inference is made from information on groups that until recently were, or still are, involved in practical experiences similar to those of remote stages in human history, as are the tribes of the amazon rain forest. isolated hunter- gatherers and populations that still forage (the !kung san, hadza, pygmies) replay adaptive strategies that otherwise would be beyond our understanding. statistical data derived from observations help improve models based only on our knowledge about biological mechanisms. the notion of scale involves these considerations insofar as it tells us that life expectancy in different pragmatic frameworks varies drastically. the less than -year life expectancy (associated with high infant mortality, diseases, and dangers in the natural environment) explains the relatively stationary population of hunter-gatherers. orders of magnitude of years higher were achieved in what are called settled modes of life existing before the rise of cities (occurring at different times in asia minor, north africa, the far east, south america, and europe). the praxis of agriculture resulted in diversified resources and is connected to the dynamics of a lower death rate, a higher birth rate, and changes in anatomy (e.g., increased height). the hypotheses advanced by modern researchers of ancestral language families concerning the relation between their diffusion over large territories and the expanding agricultural populations is of special interest here. the so-called neolithic revolution brought about food production in some communities of people as opposed to reliance on searching, finding, catching or trapping (as with foragers and hunters). as conditions favored an increase in population, the nature of the relations among individuals and groups of individuals changed due to force of number. groups broke away from the main tribe in order to acquire a living environment with less competition for resources. alternatively, pragmatic requirements led to situations in which the number of people in a given area increased. with this increase, the nature of their relations became more complex. what is of interest here is the direction of change and the interplay of the many variables involved in it. definitely, one wants to know how scale and changes in practical experiences are related. does a discovery or invention predate a change in scale, or is the new scale a result of it or of several related phenomena? polygenetic explanations point to the many variables that affect developments as complex as those leading to discoveries of human practical experiences that result in increased populations and diversified pragmatic interactions. the major families of languages are associated, as archaeological and linguistic data prove, with places where the new pragmatic context of agriculture was established. one well documented example is that of two areas in china: the yellow river basin, where foxtail millet is documented, and the yangtzi river basin, where rice was domesticated. the austronesian languages spread from these areas over thousands of miles beyond. we have here an interesting correlation, even if only summarily illustrated, between the nature of human experience, the scale that makes it possible, and the spread of language. similar research bears evidence from the area called new guinea, where cultivation of taro tubers is identified with speakers of the papuan languages, covering large areas of territory as they searched for suitable land and encountered the opposition of foragers. natural abilities (such as yelling, throwing, running, plucking, breaking, bending) dominated a humankind constituted in groups and communities of reduced scale. abilities other than natural, such as planting, cooking, herding, singing, and using tools, emerge consciously, in knowledge of the cause, when the change of scale in population and effort required efficiency levels relative to the community, impossible to achieve at the natural level. such abilities developed very quickly. they led to the diversified means generated in practical experiences involving elements of planning (as rudimentary as it was at its beginning), reductionist strategies of survival and well-being (break a bigger problem into smaller parts, what will become the divide-and-conquer strategy), and coalition building. these involved acts of substitution, insertion, and omission, and continued with combinations of these at progressively higher levels. at a certain scale of human activity, the experience of work and the cognitive experience of storing information pertinent to work differentiated. do structural changes bring about a new scale, or does scale effect structural changes? the process is complex in the sense that the underlying structure of human activity is adapted to exigencies of survival fine tuned to the many factors influencing both individual and communal experiences. that scale and underlying structure are not independent results from the fact that possibilities as well as needs are reflected in scale. more individuals, with complementary skills, have a better chance to succeed in practical endeavors of increased complexity. their needs increase, too, since these individuals bring into the experience not only their person, but also commitments outside the experience. the underlying structure embodies elements characteristic of the human endowment-itself bound to change as the individual is challenged by new circumstances of life-and elements characteristic of the nature of human relations, affecting and being affected by scale. dynamic tensions between scale and the elements defining the underlying structure lead to changes in the pragmatic framework. language development is just one example of such changes. articulated speech emerged in the context of initial agricultural praxis as an extension of communication means used in hunting and food gathering. notation and more advanced tools emerged at a later juncture. crafts resulted from practical experiences made possible by such tools as work started to become specialized. writing was made possible by the cognitive experiences of notation and reading (no matter how primitive the reading was). writing emerged as practical human constitution extended to trade, to beyond the here-and-now and beyond co-presence. the underlying structure of literacy was well suited to the sequentiality characteristic of practical experiences, expression of dependencies, and deterministic processes. as already stated, successive forms of communication came about when the scale of interaction among humans expanded from one to several to many. literacy corresponded to a qualitatively different moment. if language can be associated with the human scale characteristic of the transition from hunting and foraging for food to producing it by means of agriculture, literacy can be associated with the next level of human interconditioning-production of means of production. one can use here the metaphor of critical mass or threshold, not to overwrite scale, but to define a value, a level of complexity, or a new attractor (as this is called in chaos theory). critical mass defines a lower threshold-until this value, interaction was still optimally carried out by means such as referential signs, representations based on likeness, or by speech. at the lower threshold, individuals and the groups they belong to can still identify themselves coherently. but a certain instability is noticeable: the same signs do not express similar or equivalent experiences. in this respect, critical mass refers to number or amount (of people, resources they share, interactions they are involved in, etc.) and to quality (differences in the result of the effort of self-constitution). former means are rendered inadequate by practical experiences of a different nature. new strategies for dealing with inadequacies result from the experience itself, as the optimization of the sign systems involved (signals, speech, notation, writing) result from the same. notation became necessary when the information to be stored (inventories, myths, genealogies) became more than what oral transmission could efficiently handle. critical mass explains why some cultures never developed literacy, as well as why a dominant literacy proves inadequate in our days. signs and tools practical experiences involving nature led to the realization of differences: colors that change with seasons, flora and fauna in their variety, variations in sky and weather. human need is externalized through hunting (maybe scavenging), fishing, finding shelter, and seeking one's own kind, either under sexual drive or for some collaborative effort. thus, multiplicity of nature is met by multiplicity of elementary operations. what resulted was a language of actions, with elements relevant to the task at hand. there was no real dialogue. in nature, screeches and hoots, in finite sequences, signal danger. otherwise, nature does not understand human signs, images, or sounds. for attracting and catching prey, or for avoiding danger, sounds, colors, and shapes can be involved. what qualifies them as signs is the infinity of variations and combinations required by the practical context. against the background of differences, human practical experiences resulted also in the realization of similarities in appearance and actions. awareness of similarities was embodied in means of interaction. they became signs once the experience stabilized in the constitution of a group coherently integrating the sign in its activity. elementary forms of praxis maintained individuals near the object upon which they acted, or upon which needs and plans for their fulfillment were projected. extraction of what was common to many tasks at hand translated into accumulation of experience. with experience, a certain distance between the individual, or group, and the task was introduced. the language of actions changed continuously. evaluation started as a comparison. it evolved into inclinations, repetitive patterns, and selections until it translated into a rule to be followed. interpretation of natural patterns connected to weather (what we call change of season, storm, drought, etc.), to observations concerning hunted animals, or digging for tubers, or to agriculture (as we define it in retrospect) resulted in the constitution of a repertory of observed characteristics and, over time, in a method of observation. once observed, phenomena were tested for relevancy and thus became signs. they integrated the observer, who memorized and associated them with successful patterns of action. in a way, this meant that reading- i.e., observation of all kinds of patterns and associations to tasks at hand-was in anticipation of notation and writing, and probably one of the major reasons for their progressive appearance. this reading filtered the relevant, that characteristic-of an animal, plant, weather pattern-which affected the attainment of desired goals. consequently, the language of actions gained in coherence, progressively involving more signs. rituals are a form of sharing and collective memory, a sui generis calendar, characteristic of an implicit sense of time. they are a training device in both understanding the signs pertaining to work and the strategy of action to follow when circumstances changed. in rituals, the unity between what is natural and what is human is continuously reaffirmed. tools are extensions of the physical reality of the human being. they are relevant as means for reaching a goal. signs, however, are means of self-reflection, and thus by their nature means of communication. tools, which can be interpreted as signs, too, are also an expression of the self-reflective nature of humans, but in a different way. what defines them is the function, not the meaning they might conjure in a communicational context. by their nature, tools require integration. in retrospect, tools appear to us as instances of self-constitution at a scale different from the natural scale of the physical world in which individuals created them. the difference is reflected in their efficiency in the first place, but also in the implicit correlations they embody. some are tools for individual use; others require cooperation with other persons. sign activity at such primitive stages of humankind marked the transcendence from accidental to systematic. the use of tools and the relative uniform structure of the tasks performed contributed to a sense of method. tools testify to the close and homogenous character of the pragmatic framework of primitive humans. the syncretic nature of the signs of practical experiences were reflected in the syncretism of tools and signs. what we today call religion, art, science, philosophy, and ethics were represented, in nuce, in the sign in an undifferentiated, syncretic manner. observations of repetitive patterns and awareness of possible deviations blended. externalized in these complex signs, individuals strove towards making them understandable, unequivocal, and easy to preserve over time. think about such categories as syncretism, understanding, repetitive patterns in practical terms. a sign can be a beat. it should be easily perceived even under adverse conditions (noise from thunder, the howl of animals). humans should be able to associate it with the same consequences (run! should not be confused with halt!; throw! should not be confused with don't throw! or some other unrelated action). this univocal association must be maintained over time. as practical experiences diversified, so did the generation of signs. rhythm, color, shape, body expression and movement, as experienced in daily life, were integrated in rituals. things were shown as they are- animal heads, antlers and claws, tree branches and trunks, huge rocks split apart. their transformation was performed through the use of fire, water, and stones shaped to cut, or to help in shaping other stones. it is quite difficult for us today to understand that for the primitive mind, likeness produced and explained likeness, that there was no connotation, that everything had immediate practical implications. what was shared, here and now, or between one short-lived generation and the next, was an experience so undifferentiated that sometimes even the distinction between action and object of action (such as hunting and prey, plowing and soil, collecting and the collected fruit, etc.) was difficult to make. the process of becoming a human being is one of constituting its own nature. externalizing characteristics (predominantly biological, but progressively also spiritual) to be shared within the emergent human culture is part of the process we have come to understand that there is no such thing as the world on one side and a subject reflecting it on another. the appearance, which descartes turned into the premise of the rational discourse adopted by western civilization, makes us fall captive to representational explanations rather than to ontogenetic descriptions. human beings identify themselves, and thus the species they belong to, by accounting for similarities and distinctions. these pertain to their existence, and sharing in the awareness of these similarities and distinctions is part of human interaction. as such, the world is constituted almost at the same time as it is discovered. this contradictory dynamics of identity and distinction makes it possible to see how language is something other than the "image of our thoughts," as lamy once put it, obviously in the tradition of descartes. language is also something other than the act of using it. we make our language the way we continuously make ourselves. this making does not come about in a vacuum, but in the pragmatic framework of our interdependencies. the transition from directness and immediateness to indirectness and mediation, along with the notions of space and time appropriated in the process, is in many ways reflected in the process of language constitution. the emergence of signs, their functioning, the constitution of language, and the emergence of writing seem to point to both the self- definition and preservation of human nature, as these unfold in the practical act of the species' self-constitution. from orality to writing tracing the origin of language to early nuclei of agriculture, as many authors do (peter bellwood, paul k. benedict, colin renfrew, robert blust, among them), is tantamount to acknowledging the pragmatic foundation of the practical experience of language of human beings. language is not a passive witness to human dynamics. diversity of practical experience is reflected in language and made possible through the practical experience of language. the origins of language, as much as the origins of writing, lie in the realm of the natural. this is why considerations regarding the biological condition of the individual interacting with the outside world are extremely important. practical experiences of self-constitution in language are constitutive of culture. the act of writing, together with that of tool-making, is constitutive of a species increasingly defining its own nature. considerations regarding culture are accordingly no less important than those concerning the biological identity of the human being. let us point to some implications of the biological factor. we know that the number of sounds, for instance, that humans can produce when they push air through their mouths is very high. however, out of this practically infinite number of sounds, only slightly more than forty are identifiable in the indo-european languages, as opposed to the number of sounds produced in the chinese and japanese languages. while it is impossible to show how the biological make-up of individuals and the structure of their experience are projected onto the system of language, it would be unwise not to account for this projection as it occurs at every moment of our existence. when humans speak, muscles, vocal chords, and other anatomical components are activated and used according to the characteristics of each. people's voices differ in many ways and so subtly that to identify people through voice alone is difficult. when we speak, our hearing is also involved. in writing, as well as in reading, this participation extends to sight. other dynamic features such as eye movement, breathing, heartbeat, and perspiration come into play as well. what we are, do, say, write, or read are related. the experience behind language use and the biological characteristics of people living in a language differ to such an extent that almost never will similar events, even the simplest, be similarly accounted for in language (or in any other sign system, for that matter) by different persons. the first history, or the personal inquiry into the probable course of past events, rests upon orality, integrates myths, and ends up with the attempt to refer events to places, as well as to time. logographers try to reconstruct genealogies of persons involved in real events (wars, founding of clans, tribes, or dynasties, for example) or in the dominant fiction of a period (e.g., the epics attributed to homer, or the book of genesis in the bible). in the transition from remembrance (mnemai) to documented accounts (logoi), human beings acquired what we call today consciousness of time or of history. they became aware of differences in relating to the same events. the entire encoding of social experience, from very naive forms (concerning family, religion, illness) to very complex rules (of ceremony, power, military conduct) is the result of human practice diversified with the participation of language. the tension between orality and writing is, respectively, an expression of the tension between a more homogeneous way of life and the ever diversifying new forms that broke through boundaries accepted for a very long time. in the universe of the many chinese languages, this is more evident than in western languages. chinese ideographic writing, which unifies the many dialects used in spoken chinese, preserves concreteness, and as such preserves tradition as an established way of relating to the world. within the broader chinese culture, every effort was made to preserve characteristics of orality. the philosophy derived from such a language defends, through the fundamental principle of tao in confucianism, an established and shared mechanism of transmitting knowledge. unlike spoken language, writing is fairly recent. some scholars (especially haarmann) consider that writing did not appear until , to , bce; others extend the time span to , bce and beyond. to repeat: it is not my intention to reconstitute the history of writing or literacy. it makes little sense to rekindle disputes over chronology, especially when new findings, or better interpretations of old findings, are not at hand or are not yet sufficiently convincing. the so-called boundaries between oral and post-oral cultures, as well as between non-literate, literate, and what are called post-literate, or illiterate, cultures are difficult to determine. it is highly unlikely that we shall ever be able to discover whether images (cave drawings or petroglyphs) antecede or come after spoken language. probably languages involving notation, drawings, etchings, and rituals-with their vast repertory of articulated gestures-were relatively simultaneous. some historians of writing ascertain that without the word, there could be no image. others reject the logocratic model and suggest that images preceded the written and probably even the spoken. many speculate on the emergence of rituals, placing them before or after drawing, before or after writing. i suggest that primitive human expression is syncretic and polymorphous, a direct consequence of a pragmatic framework of self-constitution that ascertains multiplicity. individual and collective memory anthropologists have tried to categorize the experience transmitted in order to understand how orality and, later, writing (primitive notation, in fact) refer to the particular categories. researchers point to the material surroundings-resources, in the most general way-to successful action, and to words as pertaining to the more general framework (time, space, goals, etc.). speculation goes as far as to suggest that these human beings became increasingly dependent on artifactual means of notation. as a consequence, they relied less on the functions of the brain's right hemisphere. in turn, this resulted in decreased acuteness of these functions. some even go so far as to read here an incipient weltanschauung, a perspective and horizon of the world. they are probably wrong because they apply an explanatory model already influenced by language (product of a civilization of literacy) on a very unsettled human condition. in order to achieve some stability and permanence, as dictated by the instinctive survival of the species, this human condition was projected in various sequences of signs still unsettled in a language. the very objects of direct experience were the signs. this experience eventually settled and became more uniform through the means and constraints of orality. language is not a direct expression of experience, as the same anthropologists think. in fact, language is also less comprehensive than the signs leading to it. before any conversation can take place, something else-experience within the species-is shared and constitutes the background for future sharing. face to face encounter, scavenging, hunting, fishing, finding natural forms of shelter, etc., became themselves signs when they no longer were related only to survival, but embodied practical rules and the need to share. sharing is the ultimate qualifier for a sign, especially for a language. tools, cave paintings, primitive forms of notation, and rituals addressed collective memory, no matter how limited this collective was. words addressed individual memory and became means of individual differentiation. individual needs and motivations need to be understood in their relation to those of groups. signs and tools are elements that were integrated in differentiation. to understand the interplay between them, we could probably benefit from modern cognitive research of distributed and centralized authority. tools are of a distributed nature. they are endlessly changed and tested in individual or cooperative efforts. signs, as they result from human interaction, seem to emanate from anything but the individual. as such, they are associated with incipient centralized authority. these remarks define a conceptual viewpoint rather than describe a reality to which none of us has or can have access. but in the absence of such a conceptual premise, inferences, mine or anybody else's, are meaningless. the distinctions introduced above point to the need to consider at least three stages before we can refer to language: . integration in the group of one's kind in direct forms of interaction: touching, passing objects from one to another, recognition through sounds, gestures, satisfying instinctual drives; . awareness of differences and similarities expressed in direct ways: comparison by juxtaposition, equalization by physical adjustment; . stabilization of expressions of sameness or difference, making them part of the practical act. from the time same and different were perceived in their degree of generality, directness and immediateness was progressively lost. layers of understanding, together with rules for generating coherent expressions, were accumulated, checked against an infinity of concrete situations, related to signs still used (objects, sounds, gestures, colors, etc.), and freed from the demand of unequivocal or univocal meaning. all these means of expression were socialized in the process of production (the making of artifacts, hunting, fishing, plowing, etc.) and self-reproduction until they became language. once they became language-talked about things and actions-this language removed itself from the objects and the making or doing. this removal made it appear more and more as a given, an entity in itself, a reality to fear or enjoy, to use or compare one's actions to the actions of others. the time it took for this process to unfold was very long-hundreds of thousands of years (if we can imagine this in our age of the instant). the process is probably simultaneous to the formation of larger brains and upright posture. it included biological changes connected to the self- constitution of the species and its survival within a framework different from the natural. it nevertheless acknowledged the natural as the object of action and even change. the functional need for distinctions explains morphological aspects; the pragmatic context suggests how the shift from the scale of one-to-one direct interaction to one-to-many by the intermediary of language takes place. concreteness, i.e., closeness to the object, is also symptomatic of the limited shared universe. these languages are very localized because they result from localized experiences. they externalize a limited awareness, and make possible a very restricted development of both the experience and the language associated with it. as we shall see later on, a structurally similar situation can be identified in the world today, not on some island, as the reader might suspect, but on the islands of specialized work as we constitute them in our economies. obsessed with (or driven by) efficiency, and oriented towards maximizing it, we use strategies of integration and coordination which were not possible in the ages of language constitution. but let us get back to the place of the spoken (before the emergence of notation and the written) and its cultural function in the lives of human communities. the memory before the word was the memory of repeated actions, the memory of gestures, sounds, odors, and artifacts. structuring was imposed from outside-natural cycle (of day and night, of seasons, of aging), and natural environment (riverside, mountainside, valley, wooded region, grassy plains). the outside world gave the cues. participants acted according to them and to the cues of previous experience as this was directly passed from one person to another. long before astrology, it was geomancy (association of topographical features to people or outcomes of activity) that inhabited people's reading of the environment and resulted in various glyphs (petroglyphs, geoglyphs). initially remembering referred to a place, later on to a sequence of events. only with language did time come into the picture. remembrance was dictated minimally by instinct and was only slightly genetic in nature. with the word, whose appearance implied means for recognizing and eventually recording words, a fundamental shift occurred. the word entered human experience as a relational sign. it associated object and action. together with tools, it constituted culture as the unity between who we are (identity), what our world is (object of work, contemplation, and questioning), and what we do (to survive, reproduce, change). at this moment, culture and awareness of it affected practical experiences of human self-constitution. simultaneously, an important split occurred: genetic memory remained in charge of the human being's biological reality, while social memory took over cultural reality. nevertheless, they were not independent of each other. the nature of their interdependence is characteristic of each of the changes in the scale of humankind that interests us here. if we could describe what it takes for individuals to congregate, what they need to know or understand in order to hunt, to forage, to begin herding and agriculture, we would still not know how well they would have to perform. in retrospect, it seems that there was a predetermined path from the stage of primitive development to what we are today. assuming the existence of such a path, we still do not know at what moment one type of activity no longer satisfied expectations of survival and other paths needed to be pursued. once we involve the notion of scale in our cognitive modeling, we get some answers important for understanding not only orality and writing, but also the process leading to literacy and the post-literate. cultural memory memory, in its incipient stages (comparable to childhood, at the beginning of human culture), as well as in its new functions today, deserves our entire attention. for the time being, we can confidently assume that before cultural memory was established, genetic memory, from genetic code to the inner clock and homeostatic mechanisms, dominated the inheritance mechanisms related to survival, reproduction, and social interaction. the emphasis brought by words is from inheritance to transmission of experience. rituals changed; they integrated verbal language and gained a new status-syncretic projections of the community. language opened the possibility to describe efficient courses of action. it also described generic programs for such diverse activities as navigating, hunting, fire-making, producing tools, etc. expressions in language were of a level of generality that direct action and the ritual could not reach. in images preceding words, thought and action followed a circular sequence: one was embedded in the other. a circular relation corresponded to the reduced scale of the incipient species: no growth, input and output in balance. only when the circle was opened was a sense of progression ascertained. the circular framework can be easily defined as corresponding to the identity between the result of the effort and the effort. obviously, chasing and catching prey required a major physical effort. the reward at this stage was nothing more nor less than satisfied hunger. let us divide the result by the effort. the outcome of this division is a very intuitive representation of efficiency or usefulness. the circular stage maintained the two variables close to each other, and the ratio around the value of : . the framework of linear relations started with awareness of how efforts could be reduced and usefulness increased. the linear sequence of activities was deterministically connected-the stronger the person, the more powerful in throwing, thrusting and hauling; the longer the legs, the faster the run, etc. language was a product of the change from the circular framework, embodied in foraging, but also a factor affecting the dynamics and the direction followed, i.e., agriculture. in language the circle was opened in the sense that sequences were made possible and generality, once achieved, generated further levels of generality. from direct interaction coordinated by instinct, biological rhythm, etc., to interaction coordinated by melodic sound, movement, fire signals, to communication based on words, the human species ascertained its existence among other species. it also ascertained a sense of purpose and progression. the pragmatics of myths is one of progression. it extends well into our age, in forms that suit the scale of humankind-progression from tribal life to the polis, ancient cities-and its activities. in today's terminology, we can look at myths as algorithms of practical life. in the ritual, giving birth, selecting a mate, fruitful sexual relations-all related to reproduction and death-could be approached within the implicit circularity of action-reaction. in myths, the word of the language conveys a relatively depersonalized experience available to each and all. since it was objectified in language, it took on the semblance of rules. in language, things are remembered; but also forgotten, or made forgotten, for reasons having to do with new circumstances of work and social life. change in experience was reflected in the change of everything pertinent to the experience as it was preserved in language. quite often, in the act of transmitting experience, details were changed, myths were transmuted. they became new programs for new goals and new circumstances of work. generally speaking, the emergence and cultural acquisition of language and the change of status of the human being from homo faber (tool-using human) to homo sapiens (thinking human) were parallel processes within the pragmatic framework of linear relations between actions and results. the pre-language stage of relatively homogeneous activities, of directness and immediateness, of relative equality between the effort and the result progressively came to an end. the need to describe, categorize, store, and retrieve the content of diversified, indirect, mediated experience was projected into the reality of language, within the experience of human self- constitution. the relevance of experience to the task at hand was replaced by the anticipated relevancy of structuring future tasks in order to minimize effort and maximize outcome. frames of existence the oral phase of language made it difficult, if not impossible, to account for past events. testimony in communities researched while still in the oral phase (see lévi- strauss, among others) shows that they could not maintain the semantic integrity of the discourse. words uttered in a never-ending now-the implicit notion of present-seem to automatically reinvent the past according to the exigencies of the immediate. the past, during the oral phase of language, was a form of present, and so was the future, since there are no instruments to project the word along the axis of time. orality is associated with fixed frames of existence and practical life. the culture of the written word resulted from the introduction of a variable frame of existence, within which a new pragmatic framework, corresponding to a growing scale of human activity, required a stable outline of language. this outline of language-over short time intervals it appears as a fixed frame of reference-can be associated with more mobile, more dynamic frames of existence and practical experiences, whose output follows the dynamic of the linear relations it embodies. work and social interaction-in short, the pragmatic dimension of human existence-made the recording of language necessary and impressed linearity upon it. a cuneiform notation, over , years old, testifies to a sumerian who looked at the nightly skies and saw a lion, a bull, and a scorpion. more importantly, it demonstrates how a practical experience constitutes a cognitive filter: what people saw when they looked at something unknown and for which no name was constituted, and how disjoint worlds-the earthly environment and the sky-were put in relation at this phase of language constitution. this is even more important in view of the fact that as an isolated language, sumerian survives only in writing, a product of that "budding flower" as a. and s. sherrat described it, referring to the agricultural heartland of southwest asia where many language families originated. writing, which takes place in many respects at a higher cognitive level than the production and utterance of the word, or than in pictographic notation, is a multi- relational device. it makes possible relations between different words, between different sentences, between images and language. from its incipient phase, it also related disjoint worlds, but at a level other than that achieved in sumerian cuneiform notation. writing facilitates and further necessitates the next level of a language, which is the text, an entity in which its parts lose their individual meaning while the whole constitutes the message or is conjured into meaning. the experience already gained in visual records, such as drawing, rock engravings, and wood carvings, was taken over in the experience of the written word. the pictorial was a highly complex notation with a vast number of components, some visible (the written), some invisible (the phonetics), and few rules of association. within the pictorial, sequences are formed which narrate events or actions in their natural succession. what comes first in the sequence is also prior (in time) to everything else, or it has a more important place in a hierarchy. the male-female relation, or that between free individuals and slaves, between native and foreign was embedded here. even the direction of writing (from left to right, right to left, top to bottom) encodes important information about the people constituting their identity in the practical experience of engraving letters on tablets or painting them on parchment. the very concrete nature of the pictograms prevents generalization. expression was enormously rich, precision practically impossible to achieve. the detailed history of writing makes up many chapters in the history of languages. it is also a useful introduction to the history of knowledge, aesthetics, and most likely cognitive science. this history also details processes characteristic of the beginning of literacy. probably more than , years passed between the time of cave paintings and rock engravings and the first acknowledged attempt at writing. from the perspective of literacy, this time span comprised the liberation of the human being from the pictorially concrete and the establishment of the realm of conventions, of purposeful encoding. abstract thinking is not possible without the cognitive support of abstract representations and the sharing of conventions (some implicit) they embody. the wedge-shaped letters of sumerian cuneiform, the sacred engraved notations of egyptian hieroglyphics, the chinese ideograms, the hebrew, greek, and roman alphabets-all have in common the need to overcome concreteness. they offer a system of abstract notation for increasingly more complex languages. until writing, language was still close to its users and bore their mark. it was their voice, and their seeing, hearing, and touching. with writing, language was objectified, freed from the subject and the senses. the development towards written language, and from written language to initially limited and then generalized literacy, paralleled the evolution from satisfying immediate needs (the circular relation) to extending and increasing demand (the linear function) of a mediated nature. the difference between needs related to survival and needs that are no longer a matter of survival but of social status (power, ego, fear, pleasure, incipient forms of conviction, etc.) is represented through language, itself seen as part of the continuous self-constitution of the human being in a particular pragmatic framework. the alienation of immediacy the term alienation requires a short explanation. generally, it is used to describe the estrangement, through work, of human beings from the object of their effort. awareness of having one's life turned into products, which then appear to those who made them as entities in themselves, open to anybody to appropriate them in the market, is an expression of alienation. there are quite a number of other descriptions, but basically, alienation is a process of having something that is part of us (our bodies, thoughts, work, feelings, beliefs, etc.) revealed as foreign. rooting the explanation of this very significant process of alienation (and of the concept representing it in language) in the establishment and use of signs, makes possible the understanding of its pragmatic implications. awareness of signs is awareness of the difference between who we are and how we express our identity. in the case of signs representing some object (the drawing of the object or of the person, the name, social security number, passport, etc.), the difference between what is represented and the representation is as much an issue of appropriateness (why we call a table table or a certain woman mary) as it is one of alienation. the conscious use of signs most probably results from the observation people make that their thoughts, feelings, or questions are almost always imperfectly expressed. two things happen, probably at the same time: . no longer dealing directly with the object, or intended action, but with its representation, makes it more difficult to share with others experiences pertinent to the object. . the interpretation being no longer one of the direct object, or the intended action, but of its representation, it leads to new experiences, and thus associations-some confusing, and others quite stimulating. the image was still close to the object; the confusion regarded actions. writing is remote from objects, though actions can be better described since differentiation of time is much easier. we know by now that moving images, or sequences of photographs of the action, are even better for this purpose. with the written word, even in the most primitive use of it, events become the object of record. relations, as well as reciprocal commitments among community members, can also be put in the records. norms can be established and imposed. a fundamental change, resulting from the increased productivity of the newly settled communities, is accounted for in writing. people no longer deal with work in order to live (in order to survive, actually), but with life dedicated to work. writing, more than previously used signs (sounds, images, movements, colors), estranges human beings from the environment and from themselves. some feelings (joy, sadness), some attitudes (anger, mistrust) become signs and, once expressed, can be written down (e.g., in letters, wills). in order to be shared, thoughts go through the same process, and so does everything else pertaining to life, activity, change, illness, love, and death. it was stated many times that writing and the settlement of human beings are related. so are writing and the exchange of goods, as well as what will become known as labor division. while the use of verbal language makes possible the differentiation of human praxis, the use of written language requires the division between physical and non-physical work. writing requires skills, such as those needed for using a stylus to engrave in wax or clay, quill on parchment, later the art of calligraphy. it implies knowledge of language and of its rules of grammar and spelling. there is a great difference between writing skills and the skills needed for processing animal skins, meat, various agricultural products, and raw materials. the social status of scribes proves only that this difference was duly acknowledged. it should be added here that the few who mastered writing were also the few who mastered reading. nevertheless, some historic reference points to the contrary: in the th century, non-reading subjects were used as scribes because the accuracy of their undisturbed copying was better than that of those who read. this reference is echoed today in the use of non-english speaking operators to key-in texts, i.e., to transfer accumulated records into digital databases. and while the number of readers increased continuously, the number of writers, lending their hands as scribes to real writers, remained small for many centuries. literacy started as an elitist overhead expenditure in primitive economies, became an elitist occupation surrounded by prejudices and superstition, expanded after technological progress (however rudimentary) facilitated its dissemination, and was finally validated in the marketplace as a prerequisite for the higher efficiency of the industrial age. primitive barter did not rely on and did not require the written word, although barter continued even after the place of written language became secure. in barter, people interact by exchanging whatever they produce in order to fulfill their immediate needs within a diversified production. the alienation peculiar to barter and the alienation characteristic of a market relying on the mediating function of written language are far from being one and the same. in short, exchanging is fundamentally different from selling and buying. products to be exchanged still bear the mark of those who sweat to produce them. products to be sold become impersonal; their only identity is the need they might satisfy or sometimes generate. myth, as a set of practical programs for a limited number of local human experiences, no longer satisfied exigencies of a community diversifying its experience and interacting with communities living in different environments. this contrast of market forms characteristic of orality and of incipient writing is related to the contrast between myth transmitted orally and mythology, associated with the experience of writing. language in its written form appeared as a sui generis social memory, as potential history. the obsession with genealogies (in china, india, egypt, among the hebrews, and in oral culture in general) was an obsession with human sequences stored in a memory with social dimensions. it was also an obsession with time, since each genealogical line is simultaneously a historic record-who did what, when and where; who followed; and how things changed. most of these aspects are only implicit in genealogy. in oral culture, genealogies were turned into mnemonic devices, easily adjustable to new conditions of life, but still circular, and just as easily transformable from a record of the past into a command for the future. in its incipient phases as notation and record, genealogy still relied on images to a great extent (the family tree), but also on the spoken, maintaining a variability similar to that of the oral. nevertheless, the possibility for more stabilized expression, for storing, for uniformity, and consistency was given in the very structure of writing. these were progressively reached in the first attempts to articulate ideas, concepts, and what would become the corpus of theoria- contemplation of things translated into language-on which the sciences and humanities of yesterday, and even some of today, are based. theories are in some ways genealogies, with a root and branches representing hypotheses and various inferences. written language extended the permanence of records (genealogies, ownership, theories, etc.) and facilitated access through relatively uniform codes. in the city-states of ancient greece, writing alerted people working within the pragmatic constraints of orality to the dangers involved in a new mechanism of expression and communication. writing seemed to introduce its own inaccuracies, either because of a deliberate attitude towards certain experiences, or as a result of systematic avoidance of inconsistency, which ended up affecting the records of facts. as we know, facts are not intrinsically consistent in their succession. therefore, we still use all kinds of strategies to align them, even if they are obliquely random. in the oral mode, as opposed to procedures later introduced through writing, consistency was maintained by a succession of adaptations in the sequence of conversations through which records were transmitted. within oral communication, there is a direct form of criticism, i.e., the self-adjusting function of dialogue. completeness and consistency are different in conversation (open-ended) than in written text, and even more different in formal languages. memory itself was also at issue. reliance on the written might affect memory- which was the repository of a people's tradition and identity in the age of orality- because it provided an alternative medium for storage. the written has a different degree of expression and leaves a different impression than the oral. writing, confined to those who read, could also affect constitution and sharing of knowledge. writing was characterized as superficial, not reaching the soul (again, lacking expressiveness), interfering between the source of knowledge and the receiver of any lesson about knowledge. spoken words are the words of the person speaking them. a written text seems to take on a life of its own and appears as external, alien. the written is given and does not account for differences among human beings; the spoken can be adapted or changed, its coherence dependent upon the circumstances of the dialogue. there are societies today (the netsidik, the nuer, the bassari, to name a few) that still prefer the oral to the written. within their pragmatic framework, the live expression of the human uttering the words in the presence of others conveys more information than the same words can in writing. the memory of a literate society becomes more and more a repository of the various mediations in social life and loses its relation to direct experience. things said (what the greeks called legomena) are different from things done (dromena). the written word connects to other words, not to things done. and so does the sentence, when it acquires its status as a relatively complete unit of language. but the real change is brought about by the written, whether on papyrus, clay, scroll or tablet, or in stone or lead. such a page connects to other written pages and to writing in general. thus, things done disappear in the body of history, which becomes the collection of writings, eventually stored on bookshelves. the meaning of history is expressed in the variability of the connections ascertained from one text to another. when the here and now of dromena are expurgated, we remain only with the consciousness of sequences. this is a gain, but also a loss: the holistic meaning of experience vanishes. how much of this kind of criticism, opposing the oral to the written, is relevant to the phenomena of our time cannot be evaluated in a simple statement. language has changed so much that in order to understand texts originating at the time of this criticism, we have to translate and annotate them. some are already reconstituted from writings of a later time (i.e., of a different pragmatic framework), or even from translations. there is no direct correspondence between the literacy of emergent writing and that of automated writing and reading. in some cases we have to define a contextual reference in the absence of which large parts of these recuperated texts make little sense, if any, to people constituted in literacy and in a pragmatic reality so different from that of thousands of years ago. even written words are dependent on the context in which they are used. in other words, although it seems that written language is less alive than conversation, and less bound to change, it actually changes. we write today, using technologies for word processing, in ways different from any other practical experience of writing. the criticism voiced in plato's time cannot be entirely dismissed. writing became the medium through which some human experiences were reified. it allowed for extreme subjectivity: in the absence of dialogue and of the influence of criticism through dialogue, the past was continuously reinvented according to goals and values of the writer's present. in orality-dominated social life, opinion (which greeks called doxa) was the product of language activity, and it had to be immediate. in writing, truth is sought and preserved. what made socrates sound so fierce (at least in plato's dialogues) in his attacks against writing was his intuition of progressive removal from the source of thinking, hence the danger of unfaithful interpretation. socrates, as well as plato, feared indirectness and wrote conclusively about memory and wisdom. situated between socrates and aristotle, plato could observe and express the consequences of writing: "i cannot help feeling, phaedrus, that writing is unfortunately like painting; for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life, and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence." as one of the first philosophers of writing, plato could not yet observe that writing is not simply the transcription of thoughts (of the words through which and in which humans think), that ideas are formed differently in writing than in speech, that writing represents a qualitatively new sign system in which meanings are formed and communicated through a mechanism once more mediated in respect to practical reality. the subject of confidence in language became the central theme of the sophists' exercise, of medieval philosophy, of romanticism, and of the literature of the absurd (symptomatically popular in the years following world war ). moving from the past to the present, we notice that memory is an issue of extreme importance today, too. literacy challenges the reliability of memory across the board, even when memory is the repository of facts through which people establish themselves in the world of work. professionals ranging from doctors, lawyers, and military commanders to teachers, nurses, and office personnel rely more on memory than do factory workers on an assembly line. the paradox is that the more educated a professional is, the less he or she needs to rely on literacy in the exercise of his or her profession, except in the initial learning process, which is made through books. with the advent of video and cassette tapes or disks, with digital storage and networks, literacy loses its supremacy as transmitter of knowledge. what makes language necessary is also what explains its history and its characteristics. language came to life in a process through which humans projected themselves into the reality of their existence, identified themselves in respect to natural and social environments, and followed a path of linear growth. orality testifies to limited, circular experiences but corresponds to an unsettled human being in search of well being and security. it relied on memory for the most part and was assimilated in ritual. the written appeared in the context of several fundamental changes: diversified human praxis, settlement, and a market that outgrew barter, each related and influencing the other. its main result was the division between mental and physical labor. it made speaking, writing, and reading-characteristics of literacy, as we know it from the perspective of literate societies-logically possible. in fact, it represented only the possibility of literacy, not its beginning. once we understand how language works and what were some of the functions of language that corresponded to the new stage made possible by writing, we shall also understand how writing contributed to the future ideal of literacy. orality and writing today: what do people understand when they understand language? sitting before your computer, you connect to the world wide web. what is of interest today? how about something in neurosurgery? somewhere on this planet, a neurosurgeon is operating. you can see individual neurons triggering right on your monitor. or you can view how the surgeon tests the patient's pattern recognition abilities, allowing the surgeon to draw a map of the brain's cognitive functioning, a map essential for the outcome of the operation. every now and then the dialogue between surgeon and assistants is complemented by the display of data coming from different monitoring devices. can you understand the language they are using? could a written report of the operation substitute for the real-time event? for a student in neurosurgery, or for a researcher, the issue of understanding is very different from what it would be for a lay-person. tired of science? a concert is taking place at another internet address. musical groups from all over the world are sending their live music to this address. as a multi- threaded performance, this concert enables its listeners to select from among the many simultaneously performing groups. they sing about love, hope, understanding...all the themes that each listener is familiar with. still, understanding every word the musicians use, do you understand what is taking place? moving away from the internet, one could visit a factory, a stock exchange, a store. one could find oneself in subway in any city, witness a first-grade class in session, or pursue business in a government office. all these scenarios embody the various forms of self-constitution through practical activity. it seems that everyone involved is talking the same language, but who understands what? in seemingly simpler contexts, what do individuals understand today when they understand a written instruction or conversations, casual or official? the context is our day, which is different from that of any previous time, and, in particular, different from that of a literacy- dominated pragmatics. the answers to the questions posed above do not come easily. a foundation has to be provided for addressing such questions from a perspective broader than that afforded by the examples given. a feedback called confirmation understanding language is a process that extends far beyond knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. where there is no sharing of experience beyond what a particular language sequence expresses, there is no understanding. this sounds like a difficult expectation. to be met, the non-expressed must be present in the listener, reader, or writer. language must recreate the non-expressed, through the sequence heard, read, or written, and related to it, beyond the words recognized and the grammar used. behind each word that people comprehend, there is either a common practical experience, or a shared pragmatic framework, or minimally some form of shared understanding, which constitute what is known as background knowledge. "the limits of my language mean the limits of my world," wittgenstein promulgated. i would rephrase, in an attempt to connect knowledge and experience, "the limits of my experience are the limits of my world." self-constitution in language is such an experience. the first level of the indirect relation established between someone expressing something in language and someone else trying to understand it is concentrated in a semantic assumption: "i know that you know." but is it a sufficient condition to continue a conversation, let's say about a hunted animal, fire, or a tool, as long as the listener knows what the hunted animal or fire is? many who study semantics think that it is, and accordingly devise strategies for establishing a shared semantic background. these strategies range from making sure that students in a class understand the same things when they use the same words, to publishing comprehensive dictionaries of what they perceive as the necessary shared knowledge in order to maintain cultural coherence at the appropriate scale of the group or community in question. in the final analysis, these strategies correspond to a semantically based model of cultural education driven by the chomskyan distinction between competence and performance. they identify the problem in the incongruence of our individual dictionaries (vocabulary), not in the diversity of human practical experiences. the assumption is that once people understand what is in language, they apply it (pragmatics as "uses and effects of signs within the behavior in which they occur," according to j. lyons). we know by now that after a certain stage of unifying influences corresponding to industrial society, this congruence becomes impossible when the scale of human experience changes. the examples given at the beginning of this chapter are evidence of this fact. what i maintain throughout this book is that language is constituted in human experiences, not merely applied to them. performance predates competence. recognition, of an utterance, a written word, a sentence, is itself an experience through which individuals define each one of themselves. within a limited scale of existence and experience, the homogeneity of the circumstance guaranteed the coherence of language use. as the number of people increases, and as they are involved in increasingly varied experiences, they no longer share a homogeneous pragmatic framework. consequently, they can no longer assume the coherence of language. progressively, ever diversifying practical experiences cause words, phrases, and sentences to mean more and different things at the same time. instantiation of meaning is always in the experience through which individuals constitute their identity. examination of the various elements affecting the status of literacy in the contemporary world of fragmented practical experiences opens a new perspective on language. within this perspective, we acknowledge how and when similar experiences make the unifying framework of literacy possible and necessary. we also acknowledge from which point literacy is complemented by literacies and what, if anything, bridges among such literacies. direct experience and mediated experience are the two stages to be considered. in particular, we are interested in language at the level where direct experience is affected by the insertion of gestures, sounds, and initial words. indirectness implies awareness of a shared reference-the gesture, the sound, the word-that is simultaneously shared experience. at this level, there is no generality. patterns of activity are patterns of self-constitution: in the act of hunting, the hunter projects physical abilities (running, seeing, ability to use the terrain, to grab stones, to target). in relation to other hunters, he projects abilities pertinent to coordination, planning, and reciprocal understanding. within this pragmatic framework, a level of indirectness is constituted: confirmation, or what cybernetics identifies as feedback, in all biological processes. along this line, the initial (unuttered and obviously unwritten) "i know that you know" becomes subsequently "i know that you know that i know." coordination and hierarchy within the given task come into the picture. indeed, if we consider the experience as the origin of meaning in language, the sequence of assumptions is even larger: "i know that you know that i know that you know." it corresponds to a cognitive level totally different from that of direct practical experiences. in a way, this threefold sequence shows how syntax is enveloped in semantics, and both in the pragmatics that determines them. applied to the hunting scene, it says, "i know that you know that i am over here, opposite you, we are both closing in on a hunted animal, and i know that you are aware that you might throw your spear in my direction; but the fact that we share in the knowledge of who is placed where will help us get the animal and not kill each other by accident." at a very small scale of human experiences, the sequence was realized without language. patterns of activity captured its essence. at a larger scale, words replaced signs used for coordination. writing established frames of reference and a medium for planning more complex activities. the language of drawings, for what eventually became artifacts, confirmed the sequence in the built-in knowledge. the internet browser, a graphic interface to an infinity of simultaneous experiences of sharing information, frees participants from saying to each other, "hello. i am here." it facilitates a virtual community of individuals who constitute the experience of real-time neurosurgery, or the virtual concert mentioned at the beginning of this section. in similar ways, new patterns of work in the civilization of illiteracy constitute our work-place, school, or government, based on the same pragmatic assumptions. between the primitive hunters and those who in our days identify their presence by all kinds of devices-a badge, a pager, a mobile phone, an access card, a password-there is a difference in the means and forms used to acknowledge the shared awareness that affects the outcome of the experience. even the simple act of greeting someone we think we know implies the whole sequence of feedback (double confirmation, each participant's awareness, and shared awareness). this says, probably in too many words: . to understand language means to understand all the others with whom we share practical experiences of self-constitution. . all the others must realize this implicit expectation of communication. . each new pragmatic context brings about new experiences and new forms of awareness. this understanding can go something along the line of, "i know that you know that i know that you know" what the hunted animal is, what fire is, which tool can be used and how; or in today's context, what surgery is, what a brain is, what a virtual concert is, what a certain activity in a production cycle affects, what the function of a particular government office is. otherwise, the conversation would stop, or another means of expression (such as recreating fire, or demonstrating a tool) would have to be used, as happened in the past and as frequently happens today: "i know that you know how to drive a car (or use a computer), but let me show you how." confirmation in language, gestures, and facial expression signals the understanding. whenever this understanding fails, it fails on account of the missing confirmation. when this confirmation is no longer uniquely provided by means characteristic of literacy-let us recall modern warfare, technology controlling nuclear reactors, electronic transactions-the need for literacy is subject to doubt. since the majority of instruction conveyed today is through images (drawings), or image and sound (videotapes), or some combination of media, it is not surprising that literacy is met with skepticism, if not by those who teach, at least by those who are taught. in the pragmatics of their existence they already live beyond the literate understanding. this applies not only to the internet, but just as well to places of work, schools, government, and other instances of pragmatic activity. primitive orality and incipient writing in addition to the general background of understanding, there are many levels, represented by the clues present in speech or writing, or in other forms of expression and communication. for example, a question is identified by some vocal expression accepted as interrogation. in writing, the question is denoted by a particular sign, depending on the particular language. but other clues, no less important, are more deeply seated. they refer to such things as intention, who is talking-man, woman, child, policeman, priest-the context of the talk, hierarchies-social, sexual, moral-and many other clues. much extra-language background knowledge goes into human language and directs understanding from experience to language use. dialogue is more than two persons throwing sentences at each other. it is a pragmatic situation requiring as much language as understanding of the context of the conversation because each partner in the dialogue constitutes himself or herself for the other. dialogue is the elementary cell of communication experience. within dialogue, language is transcended by the many other sign systems through which human self-constitution takes place. dialogues make it clear that understanding language becomes a supra- (or para-) linguistic endeavor. it requires the discovery of the clues, in and outside language, and of their relationship. but more importantly, it requires the reconstruction of experience as it is embodied in background knowledge. by contrasting primitive orality to incipient writing, we can understand that the process of establishing conventions is motivated by the need to overrule concreteness and to access a new cognitive realm that a different pragmatic context necessitates. by understanding how experience affects their relation, we can consider orality and writing in successive moments of human pragmatics, i.e., within a concrete scale of humankind. indeed, when writing emerged, elements of orality corresponding to a reduced scale of experience were reproduced in its structure because they were continued at the cognitive level. in our days, there is a far less pressing need to mimic orality in written signs. some will argue that sale, -runner, while-u-wait, and toys 'r' us, among other such expressions, are examples to the contrary. these attempts to compress language represent ways of establishing visual icons, of achieving a synthetic level better adapted to fast exchange of information. we see many more examples in interactive multimedia, or in the heavy traffic of internet-based communication. there is no literacy involved here, and no literacy is expected in decoding the message. there is a strong new orality, with characteristics reminiscent of previous orality. but the dominant element is the visual as it becomes a new icon. the international depiction of a valentine-shaped heart to represent the word love is one example in this sense; the icons used in europe on clothing care labels are others. time reference in texts today is made difficult by the nature of processes characteristic of our age: numerous simultaneous transactions, distributed activity, interconnection, rapid change of rules. these cannot be appropriately expressed in a written text. in the global world, now means quite a different thing for individuals connected over many time zones. sunrise experienced on the web page of the city of santa monica can be immediately associated to poetic text through a link. but the implicit experience of time (and space) carried by language and made instrumental in literacy does not automatically refresh itself. it took thousands of years before humans became acquainted with the conventions of writing. it is possible that some of these conventions were assimilated in the hardware (brain) supporting cognitive activity and progressively projected in new forms of self-constitution. the practice of writing and the awareness of the avenues it opened led to new conventions. practical endeavors, originating in the conventions of space and time, implicit in the written (and the subsequent reading), resulted in changed conventions. for instance, the discovery that time and space could be fragmented, a major realization probably not possible in the culture of orality, resulted in new practical experiences and new theories of space and time. once writing became a practical experience and constituted a legitimate reality, at a level of generality characteristic of its difference from gestures, sounds, uttered words or sentences, associations became possible at several levels of the text. some were so unexpected or unusual that understanding such associations turned into a real challenge for the reader. this challenge regarding understanding is obviously characteristic of new levels, such as the self-referential, omnipresent in the wired world of home pages. in some ways, language is becoming a medium for witnessing the relation between the conscious, unconscious, or subconscious, and language itself. the brain surgery mentioned some pages ago suppressed the patient's conscious recognition of objects or actions by inhibiting certain neurons. the unnatural, nonlinguistic use of language is studied by psychologists, cognitive scientists, and artificial intelligence researchers in order to understand the relation between language and intelligence. this need to touch upon the biological aspects of the practical experiences of speaking, writing, or reading results from the premise pursued. self-constitution of the human being takes place while the biological endowment is projected into the experience. important work on what are called split- brain patients-persons who, in order to suppress epileptic attack, have had the connection between the two brain hemispheres severed-shows that even the neat distinction left-right (the left part of the brain is in charge of language) is problematic. researchers learned that in each practical experience, our biological endowment is at work and at the same time subject to self-reflection. projecting a word like laugh in the right field of vision results in the patients' laughing, although in principle they could not have processed the word. when asked, such patients explain their laughter through unrelated causes. if a text says "scratch yourself," they actually scratch themselves, stating that it is because something itches. virtual reality practical experiences take full advantage of these and other clinical observations. the absent in a virtual reality environment is very often as important as the present. on the back channels of virtual reality interactions, not only words but also data describing human reactions (turning one's head, closing the eyes, gesturing with the hand) can be transmitted. once fed back, such data becomes part of the virtual world, adapted to the condition of the person experiencing it. this is why interest in cognitive characteristics of oral communication-of the primitive stages or of the present-remains important. background information is more readily available in oral communication. in orality, things people refer to are closer to the words they use. human co-presence in conversation results in the possibility to read and translate the word under the guise of a willingness by others to show what a particular word stands for. in orality, the experience pertinent to the word is shared in its entirety. this is possible because the appropriate world of experience (corresponding to the circular scale of human praxis) is so limited that the language is in a one-to-one relation with what it describes. in some ways, the parent-child relation is representative of this stage in the childhood of humankind. in the new orality of the civilization of illiteracy the same one-to-one relation is established through strategies of segmentation. the speaker and listener(s) share space and time-and hence past, present, and, to a certain degree, future. and even if the subject is not related to that particular space and moment, it already sets a reference mechanism in place by virtue of the fact that people in dialogue are people sharing a similar experience of self-constitution. far is far from where they speak; a long time ago is a long time ago from the moment of the verbal exchange. the acquisition of far, long (or short) time ago is in itself the result of practical circumstances leading to a more evolved being. we now take these distinctions for granted, surprised when children ask for tighter qualifiers, or when computer programs fail because we input information with insufficient levels of distinction. the realization of the frame of time and space occurred quite late in the development of the species, within the scale of linear relationships, and only as a result of repeated practical experiences, of sequences constituting patterns. once the reference mechanism for both time and space was acknowledged and integrated in new experiences, it became so powerful that it allowed people to simplify their language and to assume much more than what was actually said. in today's world, space and time are constituted in experiences affected by the experience of relativity. accordingly, the orality of the civilization of illiteracy is not a return to primitive orality, but to a referential structure that helps us better cope with dynamism. the space and time of virtual experiences are an example of effective freedom from language, but not from the experiences through which we acquired our understanding of time and space. computers able to perform in the space of human assumptions are not yet on the horizon of current technological possibilities. assumptions assumptions are a component of the functioning of sign systems. a mark left can make sense if it is noticed. the assumption of perception is the minimum at which expression is acknowledged. assumptions of writing are different from those of orality. they entail the structural characteristics of the practical experiences in which the people writing constitute their identity. literate assumptions, unlike any other assumptions in language, are extensions of linear, sequential experience in all its constitutive parts. they are evinced in vocabulary, but even more strongly in grammar. in many ways, the final test of any sign system is that of its built-in assumptions. illiteracy is an experience outside the realm defined by the means and methods of literacy. the civilization of illiteracy challenges the need and justification of literate assumptions, especially in view of the way these affect human effectiveness. the very fine qualifiers of time and space that we take for granted today were acknowledged only slowly, and initially at a rather coarse level of distinction. despite the tremendous progress made, even today our experience with time and space requires some of the repertory of the primitive human. movements of hands, head, other body parts (body language), changes in facial expression and skin color (e.g., blushing), breathing rhythm, and voice variations (e.g., intonation, pause, lilt)-all account for the resurrection in dialogue of an experience much richer than language alone can convey. such para-linguistic elements are no less meaningful in new practical experiences, such as interaction with and inside virtual environments. para-linguistic elements consciously used in primitive communities, or unconsciously present, still escape our scrutiny. their presence in communication among members of communities sharing a certain genetic endowment takes different forms. they are not reducible to language, although they are connected to its experience. examples of this are the strong sense of rhythm among blacks in america and africa, the sense of holistic perception among chinese and japanese. we can only conjecture, from words reconstituted in the main language strand (proto-languages), or in the mother tongue of humankind (proto-world), that words were used in conjunction with non-linguistic entities. whether a mother-tongue or a pre-babel language existed is a different issue. the hypothesis mimics the notion of a common ancestor of the species and obviously looks for the language of this possible ancestor. more important, however, is the observation that the practical experience of language constitution does not eliminate everything that is not linguistic in nature. moreover, the para-linguistic, even when language becomes as dominant as it does under the reign of literacy, remains significant for the effectiveness of human activity. the civilization of illiteracy does not necessarily dig for para-linguistic remnants of previous practical endeavors. it rather constitutes a framework for their participation in a more effective pragmatics, in the process involving technological means capable of processing all kinds of cues. in a given frame of time and space, para-linguistic signs acquire a strong conventional nature. the way the word for i evolved (quite differently than equivalents in different languages of the world: ich, je, yo, eu, én, ani, etc.), and the way words relating to two evolved (hands, legs, eyes, ears, parents), and so forth, gives useful leads. it seems, for instance, that the pair entered language as a modifier (i.e., a grammatical category), marked by non-linguistic signs (clasp, repetition, pointing). some of the signs are still in use. the grammatical category and the distinction between one and two are related. the aranda population (in australia) combine the words for one and two in order to handle their arithmetic. also, the distinction singular- plural begins with two. we take this for granted, but in some languages (e.g., japanese), there is no distinction between singular and plural. in addition, it should be pointed out here that the same signs (e.g., use of a finger to point, hand signals) can be understood in different ways in different cultures. bulgarians shake their head up and down to signal no, and side to side to signal yes. within a given culture, each sign eventually becomes a very strong background component because it embodies the shared experience through which it was constituted. in direct speech, we either know each other, or shall know each other to a certain extent, represented by the cumulative degrees of "i know that you know that i know that you know," defining a vague notion of knowledge within a multivalued logic. this makes speaking and listening an experience in reciprocal understanding, if indeed the conversation takes place in a non-linear, vague context impossible to emulate in writing. dialogues in the wired world, as well as in transactional situations of extreme speed (stock market transactions, space research, military actions), belong to such experiences, impossible to pursue within the limitations of literacy. orality can be assertive (declarative), interrogative, and imperative (a great deal more so than writing). in the course of time, and due to very extended experience with language and its assumptions in oral form, humans acquired an intrinsic interactive quality. this resulted from a change in their condition: on the natural level there was the limited interactivity of action-reaction. in the human realm, the nucleus action-reaction led to subsequent sequences through which areas of common interest were defined. the progressive cognitive realization that speaking to someone involves their understanding of what we say, as well as the acknowledged responsibility to explain, whenever this understanding is incomplete or partial, is also a source of our interactive bent. questions take over part of the role played by the more direct para-linguistic signs and add to the interactive quality of dialogue, so long as there is a common ground. this common ground is assumed by everyone who maintains the idea of literacy-how else to establish it?-as a necessity, but understood in many different ways: the common ground as embodied in vocabulary and grammar, in logic, spelling, phonetics, cultural heritage. granted that a common language is a necessary condition for communication, such a common language is not simultaneously a sufficient condition, or at least not one of most efficient, for communication. interactivity, as it evolved beyond the literate model, is based on the probability, and indeed necessity, to transcend the common language expectation and replace it with variable common codes, such as those we establish in the experience of multimedia or in networked interactions. even the ability to interact with our own representation as an avatar in the internet world becomes plausible beyond the constraining borders of literate identity. taking literacy for granted in preceding paragraphs, we examined what is required, in addition to a common language, for a conversation to make sense. scale is another factor. the scale that defines a dialogue is very different from the scale at which human self-constitution, language acquisition and use included, take place. scale by itself is not enough to define either dialogue or the more encompassing language-oriented, or language- based, practical activity through which people ascertain their biological endowment and their human characteristics. there is sufficient proof that at the early stage of humankind, individuals could be involved only in homogeneous tasks. within such a framework of quasi-homogeneous activity, dialogues were instances of cooperation and confirmation, or of conflict. diversification made them progressively gain a heuristic dimension-choosing the useful from among many possibilities, sometimes against the logical odds of maintaining consistency or achieving completeness. a generalized language-supported practical activity involved not only heuristics ("if it seems useful, do it"), but also logic ("if it is right/if it makes sense"), through the intermediary of which truth and falsehood take occupancy of language experiences. thus an integrative influence is exercised. this influence increases when orality is progressively superseded by the limited literacy of writing and reading. the quasi-generalized literacy of industrial society reflected the need for unified and centralized frameworks of practical experience, within a scale optimally served by the linearity of language. in our days, people constitute themselves and their language through experiences more diverse than ever. these experiences are shorter and relatively partial. they are only an instant in the more encompassing process they make possible. the result is social fragmentation, even within the assumed boundaries of a common language, which nations are supposed to be, and paradoxically survive their own predicted end. in reality, this common language ceases to exist, or at least to function as it used to. what exists are provisional commitments making up a framework for activities impossible to carry out as a practical experience defined by literacy. within each of these fast-changing commitments, partial languages, of limited duration and scope, come into existence. sub-literacies accompany their lives. experience as such opens avenues to more orality, under post-literate conditions-in particular, conditions of increased efficiency made possible by technology that negates the pragmatics of literacy. the most favorable case for the functioning of language-direct verbal communication-becomes a test case for what it really means to speak the same language, and not what we assume a common language accomplishes when written or read by everyone. instances of direct verbal communication today (in the family and community, when visiting foreign countries, at work, shopping, at church, at a football stadium, answering opinion polls or marketing inquiries, in social life) are also instances of taking for granted that others speak our own language. many researchers have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of communication in these contexts. their observations are nevertheless not independent of the assumed premise of literacy as a necessity and as a shared pragmatic framework. some recent research on the cognitive dimension of understanding language does not realize how deep the understanding goes. one example given is the terse instruction on a bottle of shampoo: "lather. rinse. repeat." it is not a matter of an individual's ability to read the instructions in order to know how to proceed. one does not need to be literate, moreover, one does not even need to create language in order to use shampoo, if one is familiar with the purpose and use of shampoo (i.e., with the act). indeed, for most individuals, the word shampoo on a bottle suffices for them to use it correctly with no written instructions at all. icons or hieroglyphics can convey the instructions just as well, even better, than literacy can. these, by the way, are coming more into use in our global economy. it is even doubtful that most individuals read the instructions because they are familiar not just with the conventions that go into using shampoo, but, deeper still, the conventions behind the words of the instructions. should an adult, even a literate adult, who was totally unfamiliar with the concept of washing his or her hair be presented with a bottle of shampoo, the entire experience of washing the hair with shampoo would have to be demonstrated and inculcated until it became part of that adult's self-constitutive repertory. such analyses of language only scrape the surface of how humans constitute themselves in language. literacy forces certain assumptions upon us: literate parents educate literate children. a sense of community requires that its members share in the functionality of literacy. literate people communicate better beyond the borders of their respective languages. literacy maintains religious faith. people can participate in social life only if they are literate. considering such assumptions, we should realize that the abstract concept of literacy, resulting from the assumption that a common language automatically means a common experience, only maintains false hope. children of literate parents are not necessarily literate. chances are that they are already integrated in the illiterate structures of work and life to the same degree children of illiterate parents are. this is not a matter of individual choice, or of parental authority. on the digital highway, on which a growing number of people define their coordinates, with the prevalent sign @ taking over any other identification, communities emerge independent of location. participation in such communities is different in nature from literate congregations maintained by a set of reciprocal dependencies that involved spelling as much as it involved accepting authority or working according to industrial production cycles. in all of today's communication, not only is the literate component no longer dominant, it is undergoing the steepest percentile fall in comparison to any other form of communication. in this framework, states and bureaucracies are putting up a good fight for their own survival. but the methods and means of literacy on which their entire activity-regulation, control, self-preservation-is based have many times over proven inefficient. these statements do not remove the need to deal with how people understand writing, to which literacy is more closely connected than it is to speech. to discover what makes the task of understanding language more difficult as language frees itself from the constraints of literacy within the new pragmatic framework is yet another goal we pursue. to understand understanding incipient writing was pictorial. this was an advantage in that it regarded the world directly, immediately perceived and shared, and a disadvantage in that it did not support more than a potential generality of expression. it maintained notation very close to things, not to speech. image-dominated language came along with a simplified frame of space and time reference. things were presented as close or far apart, as successive events or as distant, interrupted events. anyone with a minimal visual culture can read chinese or japanese ideograms, i.e., see mountain, sky, or bird in the writing. but this is not reading the language; it is reading the natural world from which the notation was extracted, reconstituting the reference based on the iconic convention. alphabetic writing annihilates this frame of experience based on resemblance. unless time is specifically given, or coordinates in space intentionally expressed, time and space tend to be assimilated in the text, and more deeply in the grammar. it is a different communication, mediated by abstract entities whose relation to experience is, in turn, the result of numerous substitutions, the record of which is not at the disposal of the reader. between tell in english and the root tal (or dal) in proto-language (with the literal meaning of tongue), there is a whole experiential sequence available only implicitly in the language. in the nostratic phylum (root of many languages, the indo- european among them), luba stands for thirst; the english love and the german liebe seem to derive from it, although when we think of love we do not associate it with the physical experience of thirst. clues in written language are clues to language first of all, and only afterwards clues to human experience. accordingly, reading a text requires an elaborate cognitive reconstruction of the experience expressed, and probably a never-ending questioning of the appropriateness of its understanding. when a text is read, there is nobody to be questioned, nobody to actively understand the understanding, to challenge it. the author exists in the text, as a projection, to the extent that the author exists in the manufactured objects we buy in order to use (glasses to drink water, chairs to sit on), or in whose production we participate in some way. after all, each text is a reality on paper, or on other means of storage and display. clues can be derived from names of writers and from historic knowledge. what cannot be derived is the reciprocal exchange which goes on during conversation, the cooperative effort under circumstances of co- presence. regardless of the degree of complexity, the interactive component of orality cannot be maintained in writing. this points to an intrinsic limitation relevant to our attempt to find out why literacy does not satisfy expectations characteristic of practical experiences requiring interactivity. the metaphoric use of interactivity, as it is practiced to express an animistic attitude according to which, for instance, the text is alive, and we interact with it in reading, interpreting, and understanding it, addresses a different issue. difficulties in language understanding can be overcome, but not in the mechanical effort of improving language skills by learning more words or studying a chapter in grammar. rather, one has to build background knowledge through extending the experience (practical, emotional, theoretical, etc.) on which the knowledge to be shared relies. but once we proceed in this direction, we step out from the unifying framework of literacy, within which the diversity of experiences is reduced to the experience of writing, reading, and speaking. when this reduction is no longer possible-as we experience more and more under the new conditions of existence-understanding language becomes more and more difficult. at the same time, the result of understanding becomes less and less significant for our self-constitution in human experiences. if no other example comes to mind, the reader should reflect upon the many volumes that accompany the software you've bought in recent years. their language is kept simple, but they are still difficult to comprehend. once comprehended, the pay-off is slim. this is why the illiterate strategy of integrating on-line the instructions one needs to work with software is replacing literate documentation. these instructions can be reduced to graphic representations or simple animations. the framework is specialization, for instance, in providing instructions in a form adequate to the task. within specialized experience, even writing and reading are subject to specialization. literacy turns into yet another distinct form of human praxis instead of remaining its common denominator. writing, in this context, makes it clear that language is not enough for understanding a text. under our own scrutiny, writing becomes a form of praxis in itself, contributing to the general fragmentation of society, not to its unification. this happens insofar as specialized writing becomes part of the general trend towards specialization and generates specialized reading. some explanation is necessary. even when writers strive to adapt their language to a specific readership, the result is only partially successful, precisely because the experiences constituted in writing are disjoint. indeed, the practical experience to be shared, and the subsequent practical experience of writing are different, pertinent to domains not reducible to each other. sometimes the writer falls captive to the language (that very specialized subset of language adapted to a specific field of knowledge) and mimics natural discourse by observing grammar and rhetoric devices. other times, the writer translates, or explains, as in popular magazines on physics, genetics, arts, psychology. within this type of interpretive discourse either details are left out, or more details are added, with the intention of broadening the common base. expressive devices, from simple comparisons (which should bridge different backgrounds) to metaphors, expose readers to a new level of experiences. even if readers know what comparisons are and how metaphors work, they still cannot compensate for the unshared part of experience, with whose help a text makes sense. a legal brief, a military text, an investment analysis, the evaluation of a computer program are examples in this sense. the language they are written in looks like english. but they refer to experiences that a lawyer, or military officer, or broker, or computer programmer is likely to be familiar with. writers, speakers, readers, and listeners are aware of the adjustments required to comprehend these and many other types of documents. while a direct conversation, for which time spent with others is required, can be a frame for adjustment, a printed page is definitely less so. the reader can, at best, transmit a reaction in writing, or write to request supplementary explanation, that is, to maintain the spirit of conversation. the experience of writing and reading is becoming less a general experience or cultural identifier, and more a specialized activity. writing can be read by machines. in order to serve the blind, such machines read instructions, newspaper articles, and captions accompanying video images. the synthetic voice, as much as a synthetic eye or nose, a syntactic touch-sensitive device, or taste translator, operates in a realm devoid of the life that went into the text (image, odor, texture, taste) and which was supposed to be contributed by the reader (viewer, smeller, toucher, taster). literacy, projected as a universal and permanent medium for expression, communication, and signification, nourished a certain romanticism or democracy of art, politics, and science. it embodied an axiomatic system: since everybody should speak, write, and read, everybody can and should speak, write, and read; everybody can and should appreciate poetry, participate in political life, understand science. this was indeed relatively true when poetry, politics, and science were, to a certain degree, direct forms of human praxis with levels of efficiency appropriate to the scale of human activity constituted in linear, homogeneous practical experiences. now that the scale changed, dynamics accelerated, mediation increased, and non-linearity is accepted, we face a new situation. paradoxically, the poet, the speech-writer, and the science-writer not only fail to address everybody, but they, as part and result of the mechanism of labor division, also contribute to the generation of partially literate human beings. in other words, they contribute to the fragmentation of society, although they are all devoted (some passionately) to the cause of its unity. in reaction to claims that literacy carried through time, a general deconstructionist attitude challenges the permanency of philosophical tractate, of scientific systems, of mathematics, political discourse and, probably more than anything else, of literature. the method applied is coherent: make evident the mechanisms used to create the illusion of permanence and truth. texts thus appear as means to an end that does not directly count. what results is an account of the technology of expression, embraced by all who grew skeptical of the universality of science, politics and literature. when each sign (independent of the subject) becomes its own reference, and the experience it embodies is, strictly speaking, that of its making, the deconstructionist project reaches the climax. nike's advertisement is not about sneakers, even less about the celebrities who wear them. it is a rather hermetic self-referential experience. its understanding, however, is based on the fast-changing experience of revealing one's illiterate identity. words about images the written, as we know, almost constantly appeared together with other referential systems, especially images. in this respect, a question regarding what we understand when we understand language is whether images can be used as an aid to understanding texts. doubtless, pictures (at least some of them) are, by their cognitive attributes, better bearers of interpretation clues than are some words or writing devices. images, more so than texts, can stand in for the absent writer. to the extent that they follow conventions of reality, pictures can help the individual reconstitute, at least partially, the frame of time and space, or one of the two. however, this represents only one side of the issue. the other side reveals that images are not always the best conveyors of information, and that what we gain by using them comes at a cost in understanding, clarity, or context dependence. first of all, what is gained through the abstraction of the words is almost entirely lost through the concreteness of the image. the very dense medium of writing stands in sharp contrast to the diluted medium of images. to download text on the network is quite different from displaying images. if this were the only reason, we would be alert to the differences between images and texts. when the complexity of the image reaches high levels, decoding the image becomes as tedious as decoding texts, and the result less precise. all this explains why people try to use a combination of images and words. it also helps in understanding strategies for their combination. as a strategy of relating text and image, redundancy helps in focusing interpretation. the strategy of complementing helps in broadening the interpretation. other strategies, ranging from contrasting texts and images to paraphrasing texts through images, or substituting texts for images, or images for text, result in forceful ways of influencing interpretation by introducing explanatory contexts. a very large portion of today's culture-from the comic strip to picture novels and advertisements, to soap operas on the internet-is embodied in works using such and similar strategies. what interests us here is whether images can replace the experience required to understand a text. if the answer is affirmative, such images would be almost like the partner in conversation. as products of human experience, images, just like language, embody that particular experience. this automatically makes the problem of understanding images more involved than just seeing them. but we knew this from written language. seeing words or sentences or texts on paper (in script or in print) is only preliminary to understanding. the naturalness of images (especially those resembling the physical universe of our existence) makes access to them sometimes easier than access to written language. but this access is never automatic, and should never be taken for granted. in addition, while the written word does not invite to imitation, images play a more active role, triggering reactions different from those triggered by words. the code of language and visual codes are not reducible to each other; neither is their pragmatic function the same. research reports are quasi-unanimous in emphasizing that the usefulness of pictures in increasing text comprehension seems not to depend on the mere presence of the image, but on the specific characteristics of the reader. these make clear the role played by what was defined as background knowledge, without which texts, images, and other forms of expression stabilized as languages make little sense, if any, to their readers, viewers, or listeners. in order to arrive at such conclusions, researchers went through real-time measurements of the so-called processing of texts, in comparison to picture-text processing. the paradigm employed uses eye movement recordings and comprehension measures to study picture-text interactions. pictures helped what the researchers defined as poor readers. for skilled readers, pictures were neutral when the information was important. the presence of pictures interfered with reading when the information in the text was less important. researchers also established that the type of text-expository or narrative-is not a factor and that pictures can help in recall of text details. this has been known for at least years, if not longer. actors in shakespeare's time were prompted to recall their lines through visual cues embodied in the architecture of the theater. after all was measured and analyzed, the only dependable conclusion was that the effects of images on comprehension of written language are not easy to explain. again, this should not come as a surprise as long as we use literacy-based quantifiers to understand the limits of literacy. whether images are accidental or forced upon the reader, whether the text is quasi-linear or very sophisticated (i.e., results from practical experiences of high complexity), the relation does not seem to follow any pattern. such experiments, along with many others based on a literacy premise, proved unsuitable for discovering the sources and nature of reading difficulties. eye movement and comprehension measures used to study picture-text interactions only confirmed that today there are fewer commonalties, even among young students (not to mention among adults already absorbed in life and work) than at the time of the emergence of writing and reading. the diversification of forms of human experience, seen against the background of a relatively stable language adopted as a standard of culture, hints at the need to look at this relation as one of the possible explanations for the data, even for the questions that prompted the experiments in the first place. these questions have bearing on the general issue of literacy. why reading, comprehension, and recall of written language have become more uncertain in recent years, despite efforts made by schools, parents, employers, and governments to improve instruction, remains unanswered. regardless of how much we are willing to help the understanding of a text through the use of images, the necessity of the text, as an expression of a literate practical experience, is not enhanced. conclusions like these are not easy to draw because we are still conditioned by literacy. experiences outside the frame of literacy come much more naturally together because their necessity is beyond the conditioning of our rational discourse. this is how i can explain why on the internet, the tenor of social and political dialogue is infinitely more free of prejudice than the information provided through books, newspapers, or tv. these observations should not be misconstrued as yet another form of technological determinism. the emphasis here, as elsewhere in the book, is on new pragmatic circumstances themselves, not on the means involved. the research reported above, as any research we hear about in our days, was carried out on a sample. a sample, as representative as it can be, is after all a scaled- down model of society. the issue critical to literacy being the scale of human practical existence, scaled-down models are simply not suited for our attempt to understand language changes when the complexity of our pragmatic self-constitution increases. we need to consider language, images, sounds, textures, odors, taste, motion, not to mention sub-verbal levels, where survival strategies are encoded, and beliefs and emotions are internalized, as they pertain to the pragmatic context of our existence. literacy is not adequate for satisfactorily encoding the complexity and dynamics of practical experiences corresponding to the new scale that humankind has reached. the corresponding expectations of efficiency are also beyond the potential of literacy-based productivity. ill-suited to address the mediated nature of human experience at this scale, literacy has to be integrated with other literacies. its privileged status in our civilization can no longer be maintained. korzybski was probably right in stating that language is a "map for charting what is happening both inside and outside of our skins." at the new stage that civilization has reached, it turns out that none of the maps previously drawn is accurate. if we really want details essential to the current and future development of our species, we have to recognize the change in metrics, i.e., in the scale of the charted entity, as well as in dynamics. the world is changing because we change, and as a result we introduce new dimensions in this world. even when we notice similarities to some past moment-let us take orality as an example-they are only apparent and meaningless if not put in proper context. technology made talking to each other at long distances (tele-communication) quite easy, because we found ways to overcome the constraints resulting from the limited speed of sound. the most people could do when living on two close hills was to visit, or to yell, or to signal with fire or lights. now we can talk to somebody flying on an airplane, to people driving or walking, or climbing mount everest. cellular telephony places us on the map of the world as precisely as the global positioning system (gps) deployed on satellites. the telephone, in its generalized reality as a medium for orality, defies co- presence and can be accessed virtually from anywhere. telephony as a practical experience in modern communication revived orality under circumstances of highly integrated, parallel, and distributed forms of human activity on a global scale. on the digital networks that increasingly represent the medium of self-constitution, we are goal and destination at the same time. in one click we are wherever we want to be, and to a great extent what we want to be or are able to do. with another click, we are only the instantiation of someone else's interest, acts, knowledge, or questioning. the use of images belongs to the same broad framework. so does television, omnipresent and, at times, seemingly omnipotent. we became connected to the world, but disconnected from ourselves. as bandwidth available for interacting through a variety of backchannels expands from copper wire to new fiberglass data highways, a structure is put in place that effectively resets our coordinates in the world of global activity. defying the laws of physics, we can be in more than one place at the same time. and we can be more than one person at the same time. understanding language under such circumstances becomes a totally new experience of self-constitution. still, understanding language is understanding those who express themselves through language, regardless of the medium or the carrier. literacy brought to culture the means for effectively understanding language in a civilization whose scale was well adapted to the linear nature of writing and reading, and to the logic of truth embodied in language. however, literacy lacks heuristic dimensions, is slow, and of limited interactivity. it rationalizes even the irrational, taking into bureaucratic custody all there is to our life. common experience, in a limited framework characteristic of the beginning of language notation, is bound to facilitate interpretation and support conflicting choices. divergent experiences, many driven by the search for the useful, the efficient, the mediating, experiences having less in common among themselves, make language less adapted to our self-constitution, and thus less easy to understand. in such a context, literacy can be perceived only as a phenomenon that makes all things it encomapsses uniform; therefore literacy is resisted. far from being only a matter of skill, literacy is an issue of shared knowledge formed in work and social life. changes in the pragmatic framework brought about the realization that literacy today might be better suited to bridging various fragmented bodies of knowledge or experiences, than to actually embodying them. literacy might still affect the manner in which we use specialized languages as tools adapted to the various ways we see the world, the manner in which we try to change it and report on what happens as a result. but even under these charitable assumptions, it does not follow that literacy will, or should, continue to remain the panacea for all human expression, communication, and signification. the functioning of language to function is a verb derived from experiences involving machines. we expect from machines uniform performance within a defined domain. in adopting the metaphor of functioning to refer to language, we should be aware that it entails understandings originating from human interaction involving sign systems, in particular those eventually embodied in literacy. the argument we want to pursue is straightforward: identify language functions as they are defined through various pragmatic contexts; compare processes through which these functions are accomplished; and describe pragmatic circumstances in which a certain functioning mechanism no longer supports practical experiences at the efficiency level required by the scale of the pragmatic framework. expression, communication, signification traditionally, language functions either are associated with the workings of the brain or defined in the realm of human interaction. in the first case, comprehension, speech production, the ability to read, spell, write, and similar are investigated. through non-invasive methods, neuropsychologists attempt to establish how memory and language functions relate to the brain. in the second case, the focus is on social and communicative functions, with an increasing interest in underlying aspects (often computationally modeled). my approach is different in that it bases language functions in the practical experience, i.e., pragmatics, of the species. language functions are, in the final analysis, sign processes. preceding language, signs functioned based on their ontogenetic condition. as marks left behind-footprints, blood from an open wound, teethmarks-signs facilitated associations only to the extent that individuals directly experienced their coming into being. cognitive awareness of such marks led to associations of patterns, such as action and reaction, cause and effect. biting that leaves behind teethmarks is an example. pointers to objects-broken branches along a path, obsidian flakes where stones had been processed, ashes where a fire had burned-and, even more so, symptoms-strength or weakness-are less immediate, but still free of intentionality. imitation brought the unintentional phase of sign experience to an end. in imitative signs, which are supposed to resemble whatever they stand for, the mark is not left, but produced with the express desire to share. the function best describing signs that are marks of the originator is expression. communication is the function of bringing individuals together through shared experiences. signification corresponds to an experience that has signs as its object and relies on the symbolic level. it is the function of endowing signs with the memory of their constitution in practical experiences. signification expresses the self-reflective dimension of signs. expression and communication, moreover signification, vary dramatically from one pragmatic framework to another. expressions, as simili of individual characteristics and personal experience, can be seen as translations of these characteristics and of the experience through which they come into being. a very large footprint is a mark associated with a large foot, human or animal. it is important insofar as it defines, within a limited scale of experience, a possible outcome essential to the survival of those involved. expressions in speech are marked by co-presence. the functioning of language within orality rested upon a shared experience of time and space, expressed through here and now. in writing, expression hides itself in the physical characteristics of the skill. this is how we come, for example, to graphology-an exercise in associating patterns of the marks somebody wrote on paper to psychological characteristics. literacy is not concerned with this kind of expression, although literacy is conducive to it and eventually serves as a medium for graphology. rather, literacy stipulates norms and expectations of correct writing. people adopting them know well that within the pragmatics based on literacy, the efficiency of practical experiences of self-constitution is enhanced by uniform performance. as we search in our days for the fingerprints of terrorists, we experience the function of expression in almost the reverse of previous pragmatic contexts. their marks-identifiers of parts used to trigger explosions, or of manufacturers of explosives-are accidental. terrorists would prefer to leave none. the analysis can be repeated for communication and signification. what they have in common is the progressive scale: expression for kin, expression for larger groups, collective expression, forceful expression as the scale of activity increases and individuals are gradually being negated in their characteristics. communication makes the process even more evident. to bring together members of a family is different from achieving the togetherness of a tribe, community, city, province, nation, continent, or globe. but as available resources do not necessarily keep up with increased populations, and even less with the growth in need and expectations, it is critical to integrate cognitive resources in experiences of self-constitution. communication, as a function performed through sign systems, reached through the means of literacy higher levels than during any previous pragmatic phase. another increase in scale will bring even higher expectations of efficiency and, implicitly, the need for means to meet such expectations. only as practical experiences become more complex and integrate additional cognitive resources do changes-such as from pre-verbal to verbal sign systems, from orality to writing, and from writing to literacy, or from literacy to post- literacy-take place. in other words, once the functioning of language no longer adequately supports human pragmatics in terms of achieving the efficiency that corresponds to the actual scale of that pragmatics, new forms of expression, communication, and signification become necessary. these remarks concern our subject, i.e., the transitional nature of any sign system, and in particular that of orality or that of literacy, in two ways: . they make us aware of fundamental functions (expression, communication, signification) and their dependence on pragmatic contexts. . they point to conditions under which new means and methods pertinent to effective functioning complement or override those of transcended pragmatic contexts. as we have seen, prior to language experiences, people constituted their identity in a phase of circular and self-referential reflection. this was followed by a pragmatics leading to sequential, linear practice of language and language notation. with writing, and especially with literacy, sequentiality, linearity, hierarchy, and centralism became characteristics of the entire practical experience. writing was stamped by these characteristics at its inception, as were other practical activities. with its unfolding in literacy, it actively shaped further practical experiences. the potential of experiences sharing in these characteristics was reached in productive activities, in social life, in politics, in the arts, in commerce, in education and in leisure. the advent of higher-level languages and of means for visualization, expanding into animation, modeling, and simulation in our day, entails new changes. their meaning, however, will forever escape us if we are not prepared to see what makes them necessary. ultimately, this means to return to human beings and their dynamic unfolding within a broader genetic script. to make sense of any explanatory models advanced, here or elsewhere, we need to understand the relation between cultural structure-in which sign systems, literacy, and post-literate means are identified-and social structure, which comprises the interaction of the individuals constituting society. the premise of this enterprise is as follows: since not even the originators of the behaviorist model believed that we are the source of our behavior (skinner went on record with this in an interview shortly before his death), we can look at the individuals constituting a human community as the locus of human interactions. language is only one agent of integration among many. the shift from the natural to the cultural-with its climax in literacy-was actually from immediacy, circularity, discreteness, and the physical realm to indirectness, sequentiality, linearity, and metaphysics. what we experience in our time is a change of course, to the civilization of illiteracy, characterized by msny mediating layers, configuration, non-linearity, distribution of tasks, and meta-language. in the process, the functioning of language is as much subject to change as the human beings constituted in succeeding practical experiences of a fundamentally new nature. the idea machine functioning of language cannot be expressed in rotations per second (of a motor) or units of processed raw materials (of a processing machine). it cannot even be expressed in our new measurement of bits and bytes and all kinds of flops. expressions, opportunities for exchange of information, and evaluations are the output of language (to keep to the machine model and terminology). but more important is another output, definitive of the cognitive aspect of human self-constitution: thoughts and ideas. we encounter language as we continuously externalize our biological and cultural identities in the act of living as human beings. attempts within primitive practical experiences to capture language in some notation eventually freed language from the individual experience through sharing with the entire group practicing such notation. even in the absence of the originator of whatever the notation conveyed, as long as the experience was shared, the notation remained viable. constituted in human praxis, notation became a reality with an apparent life of its own. it affected interactions as well as a course of action, to the degree that notation could describe it. notation predates writing, addressing small-scale groups involved in relatively homogenous practical experiences. as the scale grew and endeavors required different forms of interaction, the written evolved from various co-existing notations based on constitutive experiences with their own characteristics. together with the experience of writing, an entire body of linear conventions was established. circumstances that made possible the constitution of ideas and their understanding deserve attention because they relate to a form of activity that singles out the human being from the entire realm of known creatures. ideas, no matter how complex, pertain to states of affairs in the world: physical, biological, or spatial reality embodied in an individual's self-constitution. they also pertain to the states of mind of those expressing them. ideas are symptomatic of human self-constitution, and thus of the languages people have developed in their praxis. what we want to find out is whether there is an intrinsic relation between literacy and the formation and understanding of ideas. we want to know if ideas can be constituted and/or understood in forms of expression other than verbal language, such as in drawings, or in the more current multimedia. humans not only express themselves to (enter into contact with) one another through their sign systems, but also listen to themselves, and look at themselves. they are at once originators (emitters, as the information theory model considers them) and receivers. in speech, signs succeed themselves in a series of self-controlled sequences. synthesis, as the generation of new expression by assembling what is known in new ways appropriate to new practical experiences, is continuously controlled by self-analysis. pre-verbal and sub-verbal unarticulated languages (at the signal level of smell, touch, taste, or language of kinesic or proxemic type) participate in defining sensations directly, as well as through rudimentary specification of context. the relationship of articulated language and unarticulated sub-verbal languages is demonstrated at the level of predominantly natural activities as well as at the level of predominantly socio- cultural activities. one example: under the pragmatic conditions leading to language, olfaction played a role comparable to sight and hearing, effectively controlling taste. this changed as experience mediated through language replaced direct experience. within the pragmatics of higher efficiency associated with literacy, the sense of smell, for example, ended up being done away with. the decrease of the weight of biological communication, in this case of chemo-physical nature, is paralleled by the increase of importance of the immaterial, not substance-bound, communication. granted, there are no ideas, in the true definition of the word, that can be expressed in smell. but practical experiences involving the olfactory and the gustatory, as well as other senses, affect areas of human practical experiences beyond literacy. identification of kin, awareness of reproduction cycles, and alarm can all be simulated in language, which slowly assumed or substituted some of the functions of natural languages. writing and the expression of ideas when the sign of speech became a sign of language (alphabets, words, sentences), the process described above deepened. the concrete (written, stabilized) sign participated in capturing generality via the abstraction of lines, shapes, intersections, in wax, in clay, on parchment, or on another medium. the succession of individual signs (letters, words) was metamorphosed into the sign of the general. for centuries, writing was only a container for speech, not operational language. this observation does not contradict the still controversial saphir-whorf hypothesis that language influences thinking. rather, the observation makes clearer the fact that active influence did not originate from language itself, but is a result of succeeding practical experiences. had a recorder of spoken language, let us imagine, been invented before writing, a need or use for literacy would have taken very different forms. humans did not dispose of a system of signs as a person disposes of a machine or of elements to be assembled. they were their own scripts, always re-constituting in notation an experience they had or might have had. in other words, the functioning of languages is essentially a record of the functioning of human beings. the hebrew alphabet started as shorthand notation reduced to consonants by scribes who retained only the root of the word before recording its marks on parchment. due to the small scale and shared pragmatics of readers, this shorthand sufficed. in mayan hieroglyphics, and in mesopotamian ideographs, as well as in other known forms of notation, the intention was the same: to give clues so that another person could give life to the language, could resuscitate it. increased scale and consequently less homogenous practical experiences forced the hebrew scribes to add diacritical marks indicating vowels. the written language of the sumerians and mesopotamians also changed as the pragmatic framework changed. that writing is an experience of self-constitution, reflected in the structure of ideas, might not sound convincing enough unless the biological component is at least brought up. derrick de kerkhove noticed that all languages written from right to left use only consonants. the cognitive reading mechanism involved in deciphering them differs from that of languages using vowels, too, and written from left to right. once the greeks took over the initially consonantal alphabet of the phoenicians and hebrews, they added vowels and changed the direction of writing-at the beginning using the bustrophedon (how the oxen plow), i.e., both directions. afterwards, the direction corresponding to a cognitive structure associated with sequentiality was adopted. consequently, the functioning of the greek language changed as well. ideas resulting in the context of pre-socratic and socratic dialogue have a more pronounced deductive, speculative nuance than those expressed in the analytic discourse of written greek philosophy. one can further this thought by noticing the so-called bias against the left-hand that is deeply rooted in many languages and the beliefs they express. it seems that the right (hand and direction) is favored in ways ranging from calling things right, or calling servants of justice herr richter (master right, the german form of address for a judge), or favoring things done with the right hand, on the right side, etc. the very idea of what is right, what is just, human rights, originates from this preference. the left hand is associated, in a pragmatic and cognitive mode dominated by the right, with weakness, incompetence, even sin. (in the new testament, sinners are told to go to the left side of god after judgment.) while the implicit symbolism is worth more than this passing remark, it is worthwhile noticing that in our days, the domination of the right in writing and in literacy expectations is coming to an end. the efficiency of a right-biased praxis is not high enough to satisfy expectations peculiar to globality. the process is part of the broader experience through which literacy itself is replaced by the many partial literacies defining the civilization of illiteracy. since ideas come into being in the experience of language, their dissemination and validation, critical to the efficiency of human effort at any given scale, depends on the portability of the medium in which they are expressed. through writing, the portability of language was no longer reducible to the mobility of those speaking it. ideas expressed in writing could be tested outside the context in which they originated. this associated the function of dissemination through language to the function of validation in the pragmatic context. a tablet, a papyrus scroll, a codex, a book, or a digital simile have in common their condition as a record resulting from practical experiences; but it is not what they have in common that explains their efficiency. portability is telling of pragmatic requirements so different that nothing before the digital record could be as pervasive and globally present. except for a password, we need nothing with us in order to access knowledge distributed today through networks. we are freeing ourselves from space and time coordinates. literacy cannot function within such broad parameters. the domain of alternatives constitutes the civilization of illiteracy. future and past do we need to be literate in order to deal with the future? reciprocally: is history, as many believe, the offspring of writing? moreover, is it a prerequisite for understanding the present? these are questions that resonate loudly in today's political discourse and in the beliefs of very many people. let us start with the future, as the question raises the issue of what it takes to deal with it. pre-sensing (premonition) is the natural form of diffuse perception of time. this perception can be immediate or less immediate. it is extended not from now to what was (stored in one's memory or not), but to what might be (a sign of danger in the natural environment, for instance). the indexical signs participating in these representations are footprints, feathers, bloodstains. speech makes premonition and feeling explicit, but not wholly so. it transforms accumulated signs (past) into the language of the possible (future). in fact, in the practical experience of re-constituting the past we realize that each past was once a future. still, as we want to establish some understanding of the unfolding of the present into the future, we come to realize that while possibilities expand, the future becomes less and less determined in its details. try to tell this to the champions of technology who predicted the paperless office and who now predict the networked world. alternatively, tell this to those who still constitute their identity in literacy-dependent practical experiences: politicians, bureaucrats and educators. neither of the two categories mentioned seems to understand the relation between language and the future expressed in it, or in any sign system, as plans, prophecies, or anticipations. an idea is always representative of the practical experience and of the cognitive effort to transcend immediate affection. monoarticulated speech (signaling), as well as ideographic writing, result from experiences involving the pragmatic-affective level of existence. one cries or shouts, one captures resemblance in an image when choices are made and feelings evoked. there are no ideas here, as there is very little that reaches beyond the immediate. ideas extend from experiences involving the pragmatic- rational level. speech can serve as the medium for making plans explicit. drawings, diagrams, models, and simulations can be described through what we say. indeed, before writing the future, human beings expressed it as speech, undoubtedly in conjunction with other signs: body movement, objects known to relate to danger and thus to fear, or successful actions associated with satisfaction. when finally set in clay tablets or papyrus, the language regarding the future acquired a different status-it no longer vanished, as the sounds or gestures used before. writing accompanies action, and even lasts past the experience. this permanency gave the written word an aura that sounds, gestures, even artifacts, could not achieve. even repetition, a major structural characteristic of rituals, could not project the same expectation of permanency as writing. probably this is what prompted gordon childe to remark that "the immortalization of a word in writing must have seemed a supernatural process; it was surely magical that a man long vanished from the land of the living could still speak from a clay tablet or a papyrus roll." within the context of religion, the aura shifts from the mytho-magical- transmitted clues for successful action-to the mystical-the source of the successful clues is a higher authority. even social organization, which became necessary when the scale of humankind changed, was not very effective in the absence of documents with a prescriptive function. recognized in ancient chinese society, this practical need was expressed in its first documents, as it was in hindu civilization, in the hebrew and the greek, and by the civilizations to follow, many taking an obvious cue from the roman empire. language use for prescriptive purposes does not necessitate or even imply literacy. this holds true as much for the past as for the present. there was a time, corresponding to increased mobility of people, when only those foreign to a land were supposed to learn how to write and read. the requirement was pragmatic: in order to get used to the customs by which the native population lived, they had to gain access to their expression in language. nevertheless, once promises are made-a promise relates structurally to the future-the record becomes more and more written, although quite often sealed by the oral, as we know from oath formulae and from oath gestures that survived even in our days. in all these, linear relations of cause-and-effect were preserved and projected as the measure, i.e. rationality, for the future. in contemporary society, the language characteristic of the past is used as a decorum. global scale and social complexity are no longer efficiently served by linear relations. subsequently, means for formulating ideas regarding the future make literacy not only one of the many languages of the time to come, but probably an obstacle in the attempt to more efficiently articulate ideas for the future. keep in mind that almost all people dedicated to the study of the future work on computational models. the outcome of their effort is shorter and shorter on text, which is replaced with dynamic models, always global in nature. linearity is effectively supplanted by non-linear descriptions of the many interlocking factors at work. moreover, self-configuration, parallelism, and distributive strategies are brought to expression in simulations of the future. as far as history is concerned, it is, whether we like it or not, the offspring of writing. ivan illich and barry sanders state bluntly: "the historian's house is on the island of writing.... where no words are left behind, the historian finds no foundations for his reconstructions." indeed, history results from concern with records that are universally accessible, hence within the universe of those sharing in literacy. we never know whether a grammar is a summary of the history of a language, or its program for the future. grammars appear in various contexts because people recognize the need to verify the voices within a language. histories appear also, motivated by the same stimulus, not so much to do justice to some army, general, king or party, but to maintain coherent records, make them speak in one and only one voice, and probably link the records to recreate the continuum from which they emerge. while the future and the self-constitution of the human being in new pragmatic contexts are directly related, the past is connected to human practical experiences in indirect ways. the unifying element of the various perspectives of the future is in the new experience. in the absence of such a unifying perspective, writing history becomes an end in itself, notwithstanding the power exercised by examples. from the beginning of the middle ages, the written record and the analytic power of language sufficed for constituting history and shaping historic experience. but once the methods of historic research diversified, probably as much as the pragmatics of human existence did, new perspectives were introduced. some of these have practical implications: what were the plants used in primitive societies? how was water supply handled? how were the dead disposed of? other perspectives had ideological, political, or cultural ramifications. in each of these pragmatically determined instances, history started escaping the prison of literacy. linguistic archaeology, anthropological and especially paleoanthropological history, computational history, are only some of the post-literate forms of practical experiences constituting a new domain of history. this domain is characterized by the use of non-traditional tools, such as genetics, electronic microscopy, computational simulation, artificial life modeling, and inferences supported by artificial intelligence. memetics, or the life of ideas and awareness of them, pertains no less to the past than to the present and future. it sprang from genetics and bears the mark of an implicit darwinian mechanism. its focus on ideas made it the catch phrase of a generation feeling dangerously severed from its relation to history, and no less endangered by a future falling too fast upon this generation. technological extensions of memetics (the so-called memetic engineering) testify to expectations of efficiency which history of the literate age never seemed to care about or even to acknowledge. based on the awareness thus gained, we would have to agree that the relative dissolution of literacy and the associated ideals of universality, permanency, hierarchy, and determinism, as well as the emergence of literacies, with the resulting attitudes of parochialness, transitoriness, decentralization, and indeterminacy are paralleled by the dissolution of history and the emergence of specialized histories. hypertext replaces sequential text, and thus a universe of connections is established. the new links among carefully defined fields in the historic record point to a reality that escapes the story (in history), but are relevant to the present. the specialized historian reports not so much about the past, but about particular aspects of human self-constitution from the past that are significant in the new frame of current experience. it sometimes seems that we reinvent the past in patches, only to accommodate the present pragmatics and to enforce awareness of the present. the immanent sequentiality and linearity of the pragmatic framework within which languages emerged and which made, at a later juncture, literacy and history necessary, is replaced by non-sequentiality and non-linear relations better adapted to the scale of humankind's existence today. they are also better adapted to the complexity of the practical process of humankind's continuous self-constitution. in addition, primitive, deterministic inferences are debunked, and a better image of complexity, as it pertains to the living subject, becomes available. as an entry in a database (huge by all means), the past sheds its romantic aura, only to align itself with the present and the future. the illiterate attitude, reflected, for instance, in the ignorance of the story of the past, results not from lack of writing and reading skills. it is not caused by bad history teachers or books, as some claim. decisive is the fact that our pragmatic framework, i.e. our new practical experiences of self-constitution, is disconnected from the experiences of the past. knowing and understanding probably one of the most important aspects of current pragmatics is the connection between knowing and understanding. we are involved in many activities without really understanding how they take place. our e-mail reaches us as it reaches those to whom we send messages, even though most people have no idea how. the postal system is easier to understand. we know what happens: letters are delivered to the post office, sorted, and sent to their destinations by bus, train, plane, or boat. determining the paths of an e-mail message is trivial for a machine, but almost impossible for a human being. as the complexity of an endeavor increases, chances that individuals constituting themselves in the activity know how everything works and understand the various mechanisms involved decrease. still, the efficiency of the experience is not diminished. moreover, it seems that knowledge and understanding do not necessarily affect efficiency. this statement is valid for an increasing number of practical experiences in the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy-not for all of them. we can conceive of complex diagnostic machines; but there is something in the practical experience of medicine, for example, that makes one physician better than another. we can automate a great deal of other activities-accounting, tax preparation, design, architecture-but there is something implicit in the activity that will qualify a certain individual's performance as above and beyond our most advanced science and technology. there are managers who know close to nothing about what their company produces but who understand market mechanisms to such an extent that they end up winners regardless of whether they head a bank, a cracker-producing factory, or a giant computer company. these managers constitute themselves within the experience of language- the language of the market more than the language of the product. therefore, it is useful to examine the evolution of knowledge and understanding within succeeding pragmatic frameworks, and the role language as a mediating element in each of these frameworks. the sign of language represents the contradictory unity of the phonetic and semantic units. within a limited scale of experience, literacy meant to know what is behind the written word, to be able to resuscitate it, and to even give the word new life. as the scale increases, literacy means to take for granted what is behind the written word. this implies that dictionaries, including personal dictionaries, as they are formed in constituting our language, are congruent. learning language is not reducible to the memorization of expressions. the only way to learn is to live the language. with knowledge acquired and expressed in language comes understanding. humans are not born free of experience. important parts of it are passed along in the biological endowment. others are transmitted through ever new human interactions, including those of reciprocal understanding. neither are humans born free of the evolutionary cycle of the species. the relative decline of the olfactory in humans was mentioned some pages ago. with the relative loss of sensory experience, knowledge corresponding to the respective sensorial perception diminishes. linguistic performance is the result of living and practicing language, of existence as language. relating oneself to the world in language experience is a condition for knowing and understanding it. the language of the natural surrounding world is not verbal, but it is articulated at the level of the elementary sensations (merleau-ponty's participative perception) that the world occasions, when human beings are engaged in the practical attempt to constitute themselves, or instance, by trying to change or to master their world. they perceive this world, after the experience, as stabilized meanings: clouds offer the hope of rain; thunder can produce fire; running deer are probably pursued by predators; eggs in a nest testify to birds. the complexity of the effort to master the world surrounding us increases over time. tasks originating in the context leading to literacy are of a different degree of complexity than those faced in industrial society and than those we assume today. between the senses and speech-hence between nonverbal and verbal languages-numerous influences play a role. words obviously have a cognitive condition different from perceptions and are processed differently. speech adds intellectual information to the sensorial information, mainly in the form of associations, capable of reflecting the present and the absent. interestingly enough, we do not know everything that we understand; and we do not understand everything that we know. for instance, we might know that in non-euclidean geometries, parallels meet. or that water, a liquid, is made up of oxygen and hydrogen, two gases. or that the use of drugs can lead to addiction. nevertheless, we do not necessarily understand how and why and when. within the civilization of literacy the expectation is that once we know how to write something, we automatically know and understand it. and if by some chance the knowledge is incomplete, inconsistent, or not maintained, if it loses its integrity through some corruption, it can be resuscitated through reading or can be made consistent by comparing it to knowledge accumulated by others, and eventually redeemed. as writing has failed us repeatedly within practical experiences that transcend its characteristics and necessity, we have learned that the relative stability of the written is a blessing in disguise. compared to the variability of the speech, it is more stable. but this stability turns out to be a shortcoming, exactly because knowledge and understanding are context dependent. within relatively stable contexts this shortcoming is noticed only at rare intervals. but with the expectation of higher efficiency, cycles of human activity get shorter. increased intensity, the variability of structures of interaction, the distributed nature of practical involvement, all require variable frames of reference for knowledge and understanding. as a result of these pragmatic characteristics, we witnessed progressive use of language in equivocal and ambiguous ways. acceptable, and even adequate, in the practical experience of poetry, drama and fiction, of disputable relevance in political and diplomatic usage, ambiguity affects the literate formulation of ideas and plans pertinent to moral values, political programs, or scientific and technological purposes. the same pragmatic characteristics mentioned above make necessary the integration of means other than language and its literate functioning in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge. this addresses concerns raised in the opening lines of this section. fast-changing knowledge can be acquired through means adapted to its dynamics. as these means, such as interactive multimedia, virtual reality programs, and genetic computation, change, the experience of accessing knowledge becomes, in addition, one of understanding the transitory means involved in storing and presenting it. many practical experiences are based on knowledge that no other means, literacy- based means included, could effectively make available. from advanced brain surgery at neuronal levels to the deployment of vast networks, which support not only e-mail but also many other meaningful human interactions-from space exploration to memetic engineering-focused understanding and a whole new gamut of highly efficient practical experiences, involving knowledge never before available, make up the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy. univocal, equivocal, ambiguous at least artificial languages are on record. behind each of these there is a practical experience in respect to which natural language functions in a less than desirable manner. there is a language on record that addresses left-hand/right-hand biases. there is one, authored by s. h. elgin, in which gender biases are reversed (láadan). and there is inda, a language constructed like a work of art. there are exotic languages written for certain fictional worlds: j.r.r. tolkien's elvish, or the language of the klingons of star trek fame, or anthony burgess's nadsat, the language of the yobbs in a clockwork orange. and there are scientifically oriented attempts to structure a language: james cooke brown invented loglan to be a logic language. sotos ochado (almost years before brown) invented a language based on the classifications of science. some artificial languages of the past correspond to obvious pragmatic functions. ars magna, designed by ramon llul (celebrated in history books dedicated to precursors of the digital age), was to be a language of missionaries. lingua ignota, attributed to the legendary abbess hildegard, is a language of practical monastic experiences extended well beyond the performance of the liturgy. when we acknowledge these languages we implicitly acknowledge attempts to improve the performance of language functions. in some cases, the effort is driven by the goal of transcending barriers among languages; in others, of getting a better description of the world, with the implicit hope that this would facilitate mastery of it. awareness of the fact that language is not a neutral means of expression, communication, and signification, but comes loaded with all the characteristics of our practical endeavors, prejudices included, motivated attempts to generate languages reflecting an improved view of the world. regardless of the intention, and especially of the success they had, such languages allow us a closer look at their cognitive condition, and hence at their contribution to increases in the efficiency of human practical activities. increased expressive power, as in the artificial languages invented by tolkien and burgess, or in the language of the klingons, is an objective relatively easy to comprehend. propagated by means of literacy and within the literate experience, such languages are accepted primarily as artistic conventions. precision is the last quality they aim for; expressive richness is their goal. these are languages of sublime ambiguity. those seeking precision will find it in loglan, or better yet in the languages of computer programming. disseminated by means contradicting and transcending the assumptions of literacy, and within a pragmatics requiring means of higher efficiency, programming languages, from cobol and fortran to c, c++, lisp, or java, are accepted for their functionality. they are not for poetry writing, as the family of expressive artificial languages are not for driving a computer or its peripherals. these are languages of never-failing univocality. with such languages, we can control the function, and even the logic of the language. these languages are conceived in a modular fashion and can be designed to optimally serve the task at hand. among the functions pursued are provability, optimization, and precision. among the logics that can be used are classical propositonal logic, intuitionistic propositional logic, modal logic, temporal logic, and others. reflecting human obsession with a universal language, some artificial constructs advance hypotheses regarding the nature of universality. dedicated, like many before him, to the idea of a universal language, françois sondre ( ) invented a language based on the assumption that music comes the closest to transcending boundaries among various groups of people. imagine a theory expressed as a melody, communication accomplished by music, or the music of the law and law enforcement. there is in such a language enough room for expression and precision, but almost no connection to the pragmatic dimension of human self-constitution. if time is, as we know, encoded in music, the experience of space is only indirectly present. accordingly, its functioning might address the universality of harmony and rhythm, but not aspects of pragmatics which are of a different nature. a category of so-called controlled languages is also establishing itself. a controlled language is a subset (constrained in its vocabulary, grammar, and style) of a natural language adapted to a certain activity. artificial languages are products inspired and motivated by the functioning of our so-called natural language. their authors wanted to fix something, or at least improve performance of the language machine in some respect. in order to understand the meaning of their effort, we should look into how language relates the people constituted in the language to the world in which they live. let's start with the evolution of the word and its relation to the expression of thoughts and ideas, that is, from the univocal (one-to-one relation to what is expressed) to the ambiguous (one-to-many relation). systems of univocal signs participate in the production of ideas only to a small degree. as an outgrowth of signals, initial signs are univocal. feathers are definitely not from fish or mammals; blood stains are from wounds; four-legged animals leave different marks than biped humans. polysemy (more than one meaning assignable to the sign) is a gradual acquisition and reflects the principle of retroaction of meaning on the carrier: words, drawings, sounds, etc. a drawing of an animal points to what is depicted, or to things associated with the animal: the softness of fur, savage behavior, meat, etc. philosophy and literature (and the arts, in general) became possible only at a certain level of language development brought about by the practical experience of society confronted with new tasks related to its survival and further evolution. the philosopher, for example, resorts to common speech (verbal language) but uses it in an uncommon way: metasemically, metaphorically, metaphysically. ancient philosophy, important here for its testimony regarding language and literacy, is still so metaphoric that it can be read as literature, and actually was enjoyed as such. modern philosophy (post-heidegger) shows how relations (which it points out and dwells upon) have absorbed the related. as a formalized argumentation, freed of restrictions characteristic of literacy, but also so much less expressive than the philosophy of the written word and the endless interpretations it makes possible, philosophy generates its own motivations and justifications. its practical consequences, within a pragmatics based on different forms of semiotic functioning than those of literacy, diminish constantly. the distance between the verbal and the significance of the idea is itself a parameter of the evolution from nature to culture. words such as space, time, matter, motion, become possible only after experience in writing. but once written, there is nothing left of the direct, probably intuitive, human experience of space and time, of experience with matter in its various concrete forms, or of the experience of motion (of the human body or other bodies, some flying, some swimming, running, falling). visual representations-other forms of writing-are closer to what they report about: the cartesian coordinates for space, the clock for a cyclical perception of time, etc. they express particular instances of relations in space or time, or particular aspects of matter or motion. the word is arbitrary in relation to the idea it embodies. the idea itself, getting its life in instances of activity, is knowledge practically revealed in the order of nature or thought. in expressing the idea, rational rigor and expressiveness collide. synthesizing ideas is an instance of the self-constitution of the human being. ideas express the implicit will of the human being to externalize them (what marcuse called "the imperative quality" of thought). once written, words not only defy the ephemerality of the sounds of speech, but also enter the realm of potentially conflicting interpretations. these interpretations result from the conversion of the way we use words in different pragmatic contexts. to be literate means to be in control of language, but it also means acceptance and awareness of being hostage to the experiences of the past in which its rules were shaped. when spelling, for instance, is disassociated from the origin of the word, a totally arbitrary new realm of language is established, one in which transitory conventions replace permanency (or the illusion of permanency), and the appearance of super-temporality of ideas is questioned. each idea is the result of choices in a certain paradigm of existence. its concrete determination, i.e., realization as meaning, comes through its insertion in a pragmatic context. when the context changes, the idea might be confirmed, contradicted (it becomes equivocal), or open to many interpretations (it becomes ambiguous). to give an example, the idea of democracy went through all these stages from its early embodiment in greek society to its liberal application, and even self-negation, in the civilization of illiteracy. it means one thing- the power of people-but in different contexts, depending on how people was defined and how power was exercised. it means so many things in its new contexts that some people really wonder if it actually means anything at all anymore. literacy made communication of ideas possible within a scale of humankind well served by linear relations and in search of proportional growth. but when ideas come to expression in a faster rhythm, and turn in shorter cycles from the univocal to the ambiguous stage, the medium of literacy no longer does justice either to their practical function or to the dynamics of an individual's continuous self-constitution. moreover, it seems that ideas themselves, as forms of human projection, are less necessary under the new projection of pragmatic circumstances we examine. what once seemed almost as the human's highest contribution impacts today's society less and less. we live in a world dominated by methods and products, within which previous ideas have, so it seems, cultural significance, at most. knowledge is reduced to information; understanding is only operational. artificial languages, which keep multiplying, are more and more geared towards methods and products. in the interconnected world of digitally disseminated information, we do not need esperanto, but rather languages that unify the increasing variety of machines and programs we use in our new experiences on the world wide web. efficiency in this world refers to transactions which do not necessarily involve human beings. independent agents, active in business transactions of what emerges as the netconomy, act towards maximizing outcome. such agents are endowed with rules of reproduction, movement, fair trade, and can even be culturally identified. even so, the netconomy is more a promise than a reality. the functioning of such agents allows us to see how the metaphor of language functioning reverts to its literal meaning in the civilization of illiteracy. making thoughts visible at a minimum, the object for which the written sign-the word, sentence, or text-stands is the sign of speech. but writing came a relatively long way before reaching this condition. in prelinguistic forms, graphic representation had its object in reality-the re-presentation of the absent. what is present need not be represented. the direction impressed on visual representation is from past to present. what must be retained is the originating tendency of distancing in respect to the present and the direct, what i called the alienation of immediacy. initial representations, part of a rather primitive repertory, have only an expressive function. they retain information about the absent that is not seen (or heard, felt, smelled) for future relationships between human beings and their environment. the image belongs to nature. that which is communicated is the way of seeing or perceiving it, not what is actually seen. the execution of the written sign is not its realization as information, as is the case with pictographic representations, some leading to the making of things (tools, artifacts). what matters is not how something is written, but what it means. a relatively small number of signs-the alphabet, punctuation and diacritical marks-participate in the infinite competence of writing. no matter how we conceive of human thought, its stabilization comes about with that of writing. the present captured in writing loses its impact of immediate action. no written word has ever reached the surface without being uttered and heard, that is, without being sensed. the possibility of meaning (intended, assigned) stems from the establishment of language within human praxis. it is not accidental (cf. leroi-gourhan) that spatial establishment (in village-type settlements) and the establishment of language in writing (also spatial in nature) are synchronous. but here a third component, the language of drawings, no matter how primitive, helping in the making of things related to shelter and to work, needs to be acknowledged, too. this is the broader context leading to the great moment of greek philosophy in the temporal context of alphabetization, and the cultural context of all kinds of forms of craftsmanship, architecture probably in the lead. socrates, as the philosopher of thinking and discovering truth through dialogue, defended oral culture. or at least that is what plato wanted us to believe when he mentioned socrates' opposition to writing. the great artisans of socrates' time shared this attitude. for building temples, conceiving tools, creating all kinds of useful objects, writing is not a prerequisite. heuristics and maieutics, as methods of questioning human choices, those of craftsmen included, and generating new options, are essentially oral. they presuppose the philosopher's, or the architect's, physical presence. not too much has changed since, if we consider how the disciplines of design and engineering are taught and exercised. but a lot is changing, as design and engineering practical activities rely more and more on digital processing. computational practical experiences, as well as genetic engineering or memetics, are no longer in continuation of those founded on literacy. alphabet cultures and a lesson from aphasia the history of culture has recorded numerous attacks against writing, culminating, probably, in marshall mcluhan's philosophy ( ): alphabetic cultures have uniformized, fragmented, and sequentialized the world, generating an excessive rationalism, nationalism, and individualism. here we have, in a succinct list, the indictment made of gutenberg's galaxy. commenting on e. m. forster's a passage to india, mcluhan remarked: "rational, of course, has for the west long meant uniform and continuous and sequential. in other words, we have confused reason with literacy, and rationalism with a single technology." that mcluhan failed to acknowledge the complementary language of design and engineering, with its own rationality, is a shortcoming, but does not change the validity of the argument. the consequences of these attacks-as much as they can be judged from the historical perspective we have since gained-have nevertheless not been the abatement of writing or of its influence. in the same vein, the need to proceed to an oral-visual culture has been idealistically suggested (barthes' well known plea of can be cited). there is no doubt that all the plans devised by architects, artisans, and designers of artifacts belong to a praxis uniting oral (instructions to those transposing the plan into a product) and visual cultures. many such plans, embodying ideas and concepts probably as daring as those we read in manuscripts and later in books, vanished. some of the artifacts they created did withstand the test of time. even if the domination of the written word somehow resulted in a relatively low awareness of the role drawings played over time, experiences were shaped by them and knowledge transmitted through them. drawings are holistic units of a complexity difficult to compare to that of a text. the meaning conferred by the intermediary of writing is brought about through a process of generalization, or re-individualization: what is it for the individual reading and understanding it? it inversely travels the route that led from speech to writing, from the concrete to the abstract, from the analytic to the synthetic function of language. at any given time, it looks as though we have, on the one hand, the finite reality of signs (alphabet, words, idiomatic expressions) and, on the other, the practically infinite reality embodied in the language sequences or ideas expressed. in view of this, the question arises regarding the source of ideas and the relation between signs (words, in particular) and their assigned meanings, or the content that can be communicated using the language. meaning is conjured in western culture through additive mechanisms, similar to those of mixing pigments. in eastern culture, meaning is based on subtractive mechanisms, similar to those of mixing light. alphabetic writing, although more simple and stabilized, is really more difficult than ideographic writing. the experience from which it results is one of abstraction. henceforth, it subjects the readers of the alphabetic text to the task of filling the enormous gap separating the graphic sign from its referent with their own experience. the assumption of the literate practical experience is that literacy can substitute for the reference through history or culture. readers of ideographic texts have the advantage of the concreteness of the representation. even if chinese characters stand for specific chinese words, as john defrancis convincingly showed, the experience of that writing system remains different from that of western alphabets. since every language integrates its own history as the summary of the practical activity in which it was constituted, reading in a language of a foreign experience means that one must step- by-step invent this writing. research undertaken in the last years shows that at a certain stage, aphasia brings on a regression from alphabet to image reading as design, as pictographic, iconic reading. letters lose their linguistic identity. the aphasic reader sees only lines, intersections, and shapes. ideas expressed in writing crumble like buildings shaken by an earthquake. what is still perceived is the similarity to concrete things. the decline from the abstract to the concrete can be seen as a socio-cultural accident taking place against the background of a natural (biological) accident. in our days we encounter symptoms similar to those described above, testifying to a sort of collective aphasia in reverse. indeed, writing is deconstructed and becomes graffiti notation, shorthand statements freed of language, and defying literacy. for a while, graffiti was criminalized. later on it was framed as art, and the market absorbed the new product among the many others it negotiates. what we probably refused to see is how deep the literacy of graffiti goes, where its roots are, how wide the extensions, and how much aphasia in its writing and reading. after all, it was not only in the new york subway that trains were literally turned into moving papers or moving books, issued as often as authority was circumvented. much of the public hated graffiti because it obliterated legitimate communication and a sense of neatness and order that literacy continuously reinforced. but many also enjoyed it. rap music is the musical equivalent of graffiti. gang rituals and fights are a continuation of these. messages exchanged on the data highways-from e-mail to web communication-often display the same characteristics of aphasia. concreteness is obsessively pursued. :) (the smiley) renders expressions of pleasure useless, while (: (the grince) warns of being flamed. on the digital networks of today's furious exchange of information, collective aphasia is symptomatic of many changes in the cognitive condition of the people involved in its practical experiences. neither opportunistic excitement nor dogmatic rejection of this far-reaching experience can replace the need to understand what makes it necessary and how to best benefit from it. more private languages and more codes than ever circulate as kilo- and megabytes among individuals escaping any form of regulation. on the increasingly rewarding practical experiences of networking, literacy is challenged by transitory, partial literacies. literacy is exposed in its infatuation and emptiness, although not discarded from among the means of expression and communication defining the human being. it is often ridiculed for not being appropriate to the new circumstances of the practical and spiritual experience of a humankind that has outgrown all its clothes, toys, books, stories, tools, and even conflicts. a legitimate follow-up question is whether the literate experience of the word contributes to its progressive lack of determination, or the change of context affects the interpretation, i.e., the semantic shift from determinate to vague. probably both factors play a role in the process. on the one hand, literacy progressively exhausts its potential. on the other, new contexts make it simultaneously less suited as the dominant medium for expression, communication, and signification of ideas. for instance, the establishment of a vague meaning of democracy in political discourse leads to the need for strong contexts, such as armed conflicts, for ascertaining it. in the last years we have experienced many such conflicts, but we were not prepared to see them in conjunction with the forces at work in facilitating higher levels of efficiency according to the new scale that humankind has reached. there is also the attempt to use language as context free as possible-the generalities of all demagogy (liberal, conservative, left or right, religious or emancipated) can serve as examples. but so can all the crystal ball readings, palm readings, horoscopes, and tarot cards, revived in recent years against the background of illiteracy. none of these is new, but the relative flourishing of the market of vagueness and ambiguity, reflective of a deviant functioning of language, is. together with illiteracy, they are other symptoms of the change in pragmatics discussed in this book. these and other examples require a few more words of explanation regarding changes in the functions of language. it is known that the oldest preserved cave drawings are marks (indexical signs) of an oral context rather than representations of hunting scenes (even though they are often interpreted as such). they testify more to those who drew them than to what the drawing is about. the decadent literacy of mystified messages does the same. it speaks about their writers more than about their subject, be this history, sociology, or anthropology. and the increased oral and visual communication, supported by technology, defines the post-literate condition of the human cognitive dimension. the transition from speech to writing corresponds to the shift from the pragmatic-affective level of human praxis to the pragmatic-rational level of linear relations among people and their environment. it takes place in the context of the evolution from the syncretic to the analytic. the transition from literacy to literacies corresponds to the pragmatics of non-linear relations, and results from the evolution from analytic to synthetic. these affirmations, at least as far as the civilization of literacy is concerned, apply to the universe of european cultures and their later extensions. the cultures of the far east are characterized by language's tendency to present, not to explain. the analytical structure of logical thought (which will be discussed in another chapter) is actually formed in the sentence structure of speech, which is fundamentally different in the two cultures mentioned. the imperative energy of the act of expressing confers on the chinese language, for example, a continuous state of birth (speech in the act). the preeminence of the act in oriental culture is reflected by the central position the verb occupies. concentration around the verb guides thought towards the relationship between condition and conditioned. the experience of logic characteristic of european cultures (under the distinctive mark of classical greek philosophy) shows that the main instrument of thinking is the noun. it is freer than the verb (tied to the forms it specifies), more stable, capable of reflecting identity, invariance, and the universal. the logic founded on this premise is oriented toward the search for unity between species and genus. european writing and oriental ideographic writing have each participated in this process of defining logic, rhetoric, heuristics, and dialectics. from a historic perspective, they are complementary. recalling the history of knowledge and history per se, we can say that the european occident achieved the meaning of knowledge and world control, while the orient achieved self-knowledge and self-control. it would seem utopian (and with vast historical, social, ideological, and political implications) to imagine a world harmoniously uniting these meanings. however, this would imply, as the reader can easily surmise, changes in the status of literacy in both cultures. this is exactly the direction of the changes we witness, as languages function towards convergence in the two cultures mentioned. literacy is not only a medium of exchange between cultures; it also sets boundaries among them. this holds true for both western and far eastern (and any other) civilization. japan, for instance, despite the spectacular effort of assimilation and development of new technologies, maintains inside its national boundaries a framework quite well suited to its traditional literacy. outside, it assimilates other literacies. in different ways, this holds true for china. it is willing to build its internal network (intranet) without connecting it to the all-encompassing net (internet) through which we experience some aspects of globality. the organization of hierarchy, which made the object of many studies telling the west why japan succeeds better in economic terms, is centered around the unity semmai-kohai, i.e., senior-junior. within the pragmatic framework of a literacy different from that of the western world, a logic and ethics pertinent to the distinction mentioned evolved. the moral basis of the precedence of the senior over the junior is pragmatic in nature. the chinese formula (cho-jo-no-jo) results from a practical experience encoded not only in language but also in the system of ranking. in fact, what is acknowledged is both experience and performance, expressed by the japanese in the categories of kyu, referring to proficiency, and dau, referring to cumulative results. the system applies to economic life, calligraphy, wrestling (sumo), and flower arrangement (ikebana), as well as to social rank. in the dynamics of current changes, such systems are also affected. from the viewpoint of language functions, we notice that national language can serve for insulation, while adopted language-english, in particular-can serve as a bridge to the rest of the world. nevertheless, japanese society, like all contemporary societies, is more and more confronted with the world in its globality, and with the need to constitute appropriate means for expression, communication and signification pertinent to the global world. while japan is an example of many literate prejudices at work, rigidly hierarchic, discriminating against women and foreigners, dogmatic, it also exemplifies the understanding of changing circumstances for human practical experiences of self-constitution as japanese, and as members of the integrated world community as well. consequently, new literacies emerge within its homogeneous cultural environment, as they emerge in countries such as china, korea, and indonesia, and in the arab nations. as a result, we experience changes in the nature of the relations between the cultures of the far east, middle east, the indian subcontinent and the west. the process expands, probably more slowly than one might expect, to the african and south american continents. global economy requires new types of relations among nations and cultures, and these relations need to correspond to the dynamics of the new pragmatic framework that has emerged against the background of the new scale of human activity. the identity urge expressed in the multiculturalism trend of our days will find in the past its most unreliable arguments. the point is proven by the naive misrepresentation of past events, facts, and figures through the activists of the movement. multiculturalism corresponds to the dynamics of the civilization of illiteracy: from the uniqueness and universality of one dominating mode to plurality, not limited to race, lifestyle, or cultures. whoever sees multiculturalism as an issue of race, or feminism as one of gender (against the background of history), will not be able to design a course of action to best serve those whose different condition is now acknowledged. a different condition results in different abilities, and thus different ways of projecting one's identity in the practical experience of self-constitution. the past is irrelevant; emphasis is always on the future. language and logic around the time computers entered public life, a relatively unknown writer of science fiction described the world of non a (a). it is our planet earth in the year , and what non a denotes is the non-aristotelian logic embodied in a super-computer game machine that rules the planet. gilbert gosseyn (pronounced go sane, with an obvious pun intended) finds out that he is more than just one person. anyone even marginally educated in the history of logic will spontaneously associate the experience described here with levy-bruhl's controversial law of participation. according to this law, "in the collective representations of primitive mentality, objects, beings, phenomena can be, in a way we cannot understand, themselves and something different at the same time." the relatively undifferentiated, syncretic human experience at the time of the inception of notation and writing testifies to awareness of very unusual connections. research of artifacts originating with primitive tribes makes clear the relative dominance of visual thinking and functioning of human beings along the line of what we would today call multi-valued logics. the world of non a, although placed by its author in some fictional future, seems to describe a logic prevalent in a remote time. even today, as anthropologists report, there are tribes in the amazon jungles and in remote eskimo territories whose members claim to be not only the beings they are, but also something else, such as a bird, plant, or even a past event. this is not a way of speaking, but a different way of ascertaining identity. inferences in this pragmatic context go beyond those possible in the logical world of truth and falsehood that aristotle described. multi-valued logic is probably a good name for describing the production of such inferences, but not necessarily the explanation we seek for why it is that self-constitution involves such mechanisms, and how they work. moreover, even if we could get both questions answered, we would still wonder-because our own self-constitution involves a different logic-what the relation is between the language experience and the logical framework of those living in the non a world of ancient times. practical experiences with images, dominant in such tribes, explains why there is a logical continuum, instead of a clear-cut association with truth and falsehood, or with present and absent. multi-valued logics of different types, corresponding to different pragmatic contexts, were actually tamed when language was experienced in its written form and thinking was stabilized in written expressions. awareness of connections distinctly integrated in human experience and quantified in a body of intelligible knowledge progressively clears the logical horizon. as many-valued logics were subdued, entities were constituted only as what the experience made them to be, and no longer simultaneously many different things. the change from orality to the practical experience of written language affected many aspects of human interaction. writing introduced a frame of reference, ways to compare and evaluate, and thus a sense of value associated with limited choices. orality was controlled by those exercising it. the written, stabilized in marks on a surface, gave rise to a new type of questioning, based on its implicit analyticity. over time written language led to associations. some were in relation to its visual aspect. other associations were made to writing patterns, a kind of repetition. integrative by its nature, writing stimulates the quest for comparing experiences of self-constitution by comparing what was recorded. the expectation of accurate recording is implicit in the experience of writing. the rather skeletal incipient written language makes visible connections which within orality faded away. a very raw definition of logic can be the discipline of connections-"if something, then something else"-that can be expressed in many ways, including formal expressions. connections established in orality are spontaneous. with writing, the experience is stabilized and a promise for method is established. this method leads to inferences from connections. what i am trying to suggest is that although there is logic in orality, it is a natural logic, reflecting natural connections, as opposed to connections established in writing. writing provides the x-ray of the elusive body of experience in whose depths awareness of connections and their practical implications was starting to take shape. time and space awareness are gained relatively slowly. in parallel, connections to experiences in time and space are expressed in an incipient awareness of how they affect the outcome of any practical experience. no less than signs, logic is rooted also in the pragmatics of human self-constitution, and probably comes into existence together with them. co-presence, of what is different or what is alike, incompatibilities, exclusions, and similar time or space situations bcome disassociated from actions, objects, and persons and form a well-defined layer of experience. mechanisms of inference, from objects, actions, persons, situations, etc., evolve from simpler configurations or sequences of connections. writing is more effective than rituals or oral expression in capturing inferences, although not necessarily in providing a mechanism for sharing. what is gained in breadth is lost in depth. as human practical experiences get more effective they also become more complex. the cognitive effort substitutes more and more for the physical. stabilized in inferences based on increasingly more encompassing cycles of activity-agriculture is definitely more extensive than hunting or food gathering-experience is transmitted more and more in its skeletal form, deprived of the richness of the individual characteristics of those identified through it. less information and more sequences of successful action-this is how from the richness of connections logic of actions takes shape. the accent is on time and space, or better yet on what we call, in retrospect, references. as writing supplants time-based means of expression and communication (rituals, first of all), temporal logic begins to lose in importance. once the pragmatic horizon of human life changes, literacy, in conjunction with the logic it houses, constitutes its invisible grid, its implicit metrics. the understanding of anything that is not related to our literate self-constitution remains outside this understanding. literate language is a reductionist machine, which we use to look at the world from the perspective of our own experience. aware of experiences different from ours, at least of their possibility, we would like to understand them, knowing perfectly well that once captured in our experience of language, their own condition is negated. oral education maintained the parent-child continuum, and memory, i.e., experience, was directly transmitted. literacy introduced means for handling discontinuity and, above all, differences. it stored, in some form of record, everything pertaining to the experience. but as record, it constituted a new experience, with its own inherent values. as a reductionist device, writing reduces language to a body of accepted ways of speaking, recording, and reading governed by two kinds of rules: pertinent to connections (logic), and pertinent to grammar. the process was obviously more elaborate and less focused. in retrospect, we can understand how writing affected the experience of human self-constitution through language. it is therefore understandable why those who, following the young wittgenstein, take the logic of language for granted, seeing only the need to bring to light what is concealed in the signs of language, are wrong. language does not have an intrinsic logic; each practical experience extracts logic from the experience and contaminates all means of human expression by the inference from what is possible to what is necessary. logics behind the logic the function of coordination resulting from the use of language evolved over time. what did not change is the structure of the coordinating mechanism. logic as we know it, i.e., a discipline legitimized by literate use of language, is concerned with structural aspects of various languages. the attempt to explain how and why conditions leading to literacy were created, after the writing entered the realm of human experience, can only benefit from an understanding of the coordinating mechanism of writing and literacy, which includes logic but is not reducible to it. this mechanism consisted of rules for correct language use (grammar), awareness of connections specific to the pragmatic framework (logic), means of persuasion (rhetoric), selection of choices (heuristics), and argumentation (dialectics). together, they give us an image of how complex the process of self-constitution is. separately, they give us insight into the fragmented experiences of language use, rationality, conviction, selection, actions, and beliefs. there is a logic behind the (relative) normal course of events, and also behind any crisis, if we want to extend the concept of logic so as to include the rational description or explanation of whatever might have led to the crisis. and there are logics behind the logic, as descartes, the authors of the port royale logic (actually the art of thinking), locke, and many others saw it. the logic of religion, the logic of art, of morality, of science, of logic itself, the logic of literacy, are examples of the variety people consider and establish as their object of interest, subjecting such logic to the test of completeness (does it apply to everything?), consistency (is it contradictory?), and sometimes transitivity. independent of the subject (religion, art, ethics, a precise science, literacy, etc.), human beings establish the particular logic as a network of reciprocal relations and functional dependencies according to which truth (religious, artistic, ethical, etc.), relevant to the practical experience in more than one way, can and should be pursued. this logic, an extension of the incipient awareness of connections, became a formal system, which some researchers in philosophy and psychology still believe is somehow attached to the brain (or to the mind), ensuring its correct functioning. indeed, successful action was seen as a result of logic, hard-wired as part of the biological endowment. other researchers perceived logic as a product of our experience, in particular thinking, as this applies to our self-constitution in the natural world and the world we ourselves created. as a corpus of rules and criteria, logic applies to language, but there is a logic of human actions, a logic of art, a logic of morals, etc., described by rules for preserving consistency, maintaining integrity, facilitating causal inference and other relevant cognitive operations, such as articulating a hypothesis or drawing conclusions. an old question sneaks in: is there a universal logic, something that in its purity transcends differences in language, in biological characteristics, in differences, period? the answer depends on whom one asks. from the perspective assumed so far, the answer is definitely no. differences are emphasized, even celebrated here, precisely because they extend to the different logics that pertain to various practical experiences. formulated as such, the answer is elusive because, after all, logic is expressed through language, and once expressed, it constitutes a body of knowledge which in turn participates in practical human experiences. no stronger proof of this can be given than the boolean logic embedded in computer hardware and programming languages. a more appropriate answer can be given once we notice that major language systems embody different logical mechanisms that pertain to language's coordinating function. the main logical systems require our attention because they are related to what makes literacy necessary and, under new pragmatic conditions, less necessary, if not superfluous. since the civilization of illiteracy is viewed also from the perspective of the changes resulting in a new scale of human praxis, it becomes necessary to see whether in the global world forces of uniformity or forces of heterogeneity and diversity, embodied in various literacies and the logic attached to them, or associated with their use, are at work. as almost all scholars agree, aristotle is the father of the logic that applies to the western language system. writing helped to encode his logic of proper inference from premises expressed in sentences. literacy gave this logic a house, and a sense of validity and permanency that scholars accept almost as religion. for eastern systems, contributions of equal value and relevance can be found in the major writings of ancient china and japan, as well as in hindu documents. instead of a superficial overview of the subject, i prefer to quote fung-yu-lan's precise observation regarding the particular focus of chinese philosophy (which is also representative of the far east): "philosophy must not be simply the object of cognition, it must also be the object of an experience." the resulting expression of this endeavor differs from the indian, in search of a certain state of mind, not formulations of truth, and from western philosophical statements. it takes the form of concise, often enigmatic, and usually paradoxical statements or aphorisms. a very good presentation of this experience is given in a famous text by chuang-tzu: "the words serve to fix the ideas, but once the idea is grasped, there is no need to think about words. i wish i could find somebody who has ceased to think of words and have him with me to talk to." the logic of the indo-european languages is based on the recognition of the object-action distinction, expressed in language through the noun and the verb. for over , years, this logic has dominated and maintained the structure of society, of the polis, to use aristotle's term. indeed, he defined the human as zoon politikon- community (polis), animal (zoon)-and his logic is an attempt to discover what was the cognitive structure that ensured proper inference from premises expressed in sentences. probably as much as some who today hope for a similar achievement through formal languages, he wanted logic to be as independent as possible of the language used, as well as independent of the particular language spoken by people belonging to different communities. parallel to the language housing aristotle's logic was a different system in which the verb (referring to action) was assimilated in the object, as in the chinese and japanese languages. every action became a noun (hunting, running, talking), and a non-predicative language mode was achieved. aristotle's construction goes like this: if a is b (the sky is covered), and if b is c (the cover are clouds), then a is c (cloudy sky). non-predicative constructions do not come to a conclusion but continue from one condition to another, as in approximately: being covered, covers being clouds, clouding being associated with rain, rain...and so on. that is, they are open-ended connections in status nascendi. we notice that aristotelian logic derives the truth of the inference from the truth of the premise, based on a formal relation independent of both. in non- predicative logic, language only points to possible chains of relations, implicitly acknowledging that others are simultaneously possible without deriving knowledge, or without subjecting conclusions to a formal test of their truth or falsehood. to the abstract and formal representation of knowledge inference, it opposes a model of concrete and natural representation in which distinctions regarding quality are more important than quantity distinctions. based on observations already accumulated, first of all that ideographic writing keeps the means of expression very close to the object represented in language, we can understand why languages expressed in ideographic writing are not adapted to the kind of thinking aristotle and his followers developed and which culminated in the western notion of science, as well as in the western system of values. the successive rediscovery of far eastern modes of representation and of the philosophy growing out of this very different way of thinking, as well as of the interest in subtleties rather uncommon to our culture, resulted in the many attempts we witness to transcend the boundaries between these fundamentally different language structures. the purpose is to endow our language, and thus our thinking and emotional life, with dimensions structurally impossible within the western framework of existence. the logic of dependency-the japanese amé-is one of embedded relations and many conjectures resulting in a logic of actions, a different way of thinking, and a different system of values. these are partially reflected in the periodic misunderstandings between the western world and japan. of course, it can be simplified as to mean that if a company and an employee accept it, and they do so since amé is structurally embedded in the life of people, both parties will be faithful to each other no matter what. amé can also be simplified to mean a mutual relationship within families (all prejudices included), or among friends. but as we get closer to the practical experience of amé (takeo doi's writing on the "anatomy of dependence" helps us a great deal in this attempt), we realize that it constitutes a framework, marking not only distinct decisions (logically justified), but an entire context of thinking, feeling, acting, evaluating. it is reflected in the attitude towards language and in the education system, inculcating dependency as a logic that takes priority over the individual. evidently, the only way to integrate the logic of amé into our logic-if indeed we think that this is right, moreover that it is possible-is through practical experience. although amé seems to point to some limits inherent in our language, it actually reveals limits in our self-constitution, as part of establishing a network of generalized mutual relationships as part of our experience. it should be added that practically a mirrored phenomenon occurs in the far east, where what can be perceived as the limitations of the language system and the logic it supports (or embodies), triggered an ever-growing interest in western culture and many attempts to copy or to quickly assimilate it in vocabulary and behavior. from the indian universe comes not only the mysticism of the vedic texts, but also the stubborn preoccupation with the human condition (both the aspect of conditioning and of what mircea eliade called de-conditioning). this resulted in the attraction it exercises on many people looking for an alternative to what they perceive as an over-conditioned existence, usually translated as pressure of performance and competitive attitudes. some opted out of literacy, and generally out of their culture, in search of liberation (mukti), a practical experience of lower preoccupation with the useful and higher spiritual goals, and of obstinate refusal of logic. (some really never fully appropriated or internalized the philosophy, but adopted a lifestyle emulating commercialized models, the exotic syntax of escapism.) in short, and trying not to preclude future discussion of these phenomena, the historic development of language and logic within the many cultures we know of-more than the western and far eastern mentioned-bears witness to the very complex relation between who and what people are: their language and the logic that the language makes possible and later embodies. the hunter in the west, and the hunter in the far east, in africa, india, papua, the fishermen, the forager, etc. relate in different ways to their environment and to their peers in the community. the way their relatively similar experiences are embodied in language and other means of expression plays an important role in forms of sharing, religion, art, in the establishment of a value system, and later on education and identity preservation. there are common points, however, and the most relevant refer to relations established in the work process, as these affect efficiency. these commonalties prove relevant to understanding the role language, in conjunction with logic, exercises on various stages of social and economic development. a plurality of intellectual structures since scale (of humankind, of groups performing coherent activities, of activities themselves) plays such an important role in the dynamics of human self-constitution through practical activities involving language, it is only fair to question whether logic is affected by scale. again, the answer will depend upon who is asked. logic as we study it has nothing to do with scale. an inference remains preserved no matter how many people make it, or study it, for that matter. but this reflects the universalistic viewpoint. once we question the constitution of logic itself, and trace it to practical experiences resulting in the awareness of connections, it becomes less obvious that logic is independent of scale. actually, some experiences are not even possible without having reached a critical mass, and the relation between simple and complex is not one of progression. but it is certainly a multi-valued relation, granted with elements of progression. the practical experience of a tribe (in africa, north america, or south america) is defined at the scale of relations inside the tribe, and between the tribe and the relatively limited environment of existence. the logic (or pre-logic, to adapt the jargon of some anthropologists) specific to this scale corresponds to the dominance of instincts and intuitions, and is expressed within the visually dominant means of expression and communication characteristic of what is called the primitive mentality. from all we know, memory plays a major role in shaping patterns of activity. the power of discrimination (through vision, hearing, smell, etc.) is extraordinary; adaptability is much higher than that of humans in modern societies. these tribe members live in a phase of disjoint groups, unaware even of biological commonalties among such groups, focused on themselves in pursuing survival strategies not much different from those of other living creatures who share the same environment. once these groups start relating to each other, the practical experiences of self-constitution diversify. cooperation and exchange increase, and language, in many varieties, becomes part of the self-constitution of various human types. languages originate in areas associated with the early nuclei of agriculture. these are places where the population could increase, since in some ways the pragmatics was effective enough to provide for a greater number of people. probably primitive agriculture is the first activity in which a scale threshold was reached and a new quality, constituted in the practical experience of language, emerged. it is also an activity with a precise logic embodied in the awareness of a multitude of levels where connections are critical for the outcome of the activity, i.e., for the well being of those practicing it. the sacredness of place, to which the latin root of the word culture (cultus) refers, is embodied in the practical activity with everything pertinent to human experience. logic captures the connection between the place and the activity. in a variety of embodiments-from ways to sequence an action to the use of available resources, how to pursue a plan, craft tools, etc.-logic is integrated in culture and, in turn, participates in shaping it. it is a two-way dependency which increases over time and results in today's logical machines that define a culture radically different from the culture of the mechanical contraption. there are differences in the type of intelligence, which need to be acknowledged. and there are differences resulting from the variety of natural contexts of practical life, which we need to consider. commonalties of the survival experience and further development should also be placed in the equation of human self-constitution. within the pragmatics of the post-industrial, the logic extracted from practical experiences of self-constitution in the world and the logic constituted in experiences defining the world of the human are increasingly different. we no longer read the logic of language and infer from it to the experience, but project our own logic (itself a practical result of self-constitution) upon the experience in the world. the algebra of thought, a cross section of rational thinking that boole submitted with his calculus of logics, is a good example, but by no means the only one. languages are created in order to support a variety of logical systems, e.g., autoepistemic, temporal and tense propositional, modal, intuitionist. one would almost expect the emergence of a universal logic and a universal language (attempts were and are made to facilitate such a universalism). leibniz had visions of an ideal language, a characteristica universalis and a calculus ratiocinator. so did many others, from the th century on, not realizing that in the process of diversification of human experiences, their dream became progressively less attainable. in parallel, we gave up the logical inheritance of the past: logic embedded in a variety of autarchic primitive practical experiences that various groups (in africa, asia, europe, etc.) had up to our time is rapidly becoming a cultural reference. the scale that such experiences embody and the logic appropriate to that scale are simply absorbed in the larger scale of the global economy. we are simply no longer in the position to effectively unveil the logic of magical experiences, not even of those rational or rationalizable aspects that refer to the plants, animals, and various minerals used by the peoples preceding us for avoiding disease or treating illness. in our days, the cultures swinging from the sacred to the profane, from the primitive to the over-developed, come closer together. this happens not because everyone wants this to happen, not even because all benefit (in fact, many give up an identity-their own way of life-for a condition of non-identity that characterizes a certain style of living). the process is driven by the need to achieve levels of efficiency appropriate to the scale humankind reached. the various groups of people are integrated as humans in the first place (not as tribes, nations, or religions), and consequently a pragmatic framework of increasing integration is progressively put in place. the euro-centrist (or western) notion that all types of intelligence develop towards the western type (and thus the western practice of language culminating in literacy) has been discredited many times. the plurality of intellectual structures has been acknowledged, unfortunately either demagogically or in lip-service to the past, but never as an opening to the future. literacy eradicated, for valid practical reasons- those of the industrial revolution-heterogeneity, and thus variety from among the experiences through which people constitute themselves in the universe of their experience. when those reasons are exhausted, because new circumstances of existence and work require a new logic, literacy becomes a hindrance, without necessarily affecting the role of the logic inhabiting it. the scale of human life and activity, and the associated projection of expectations beyond human survival and preservation, lead less to the need for universal literacy than to the need for several literacies and for a rich variety of logical horizons. since the coordinating mechanism consists of logic, rhetoric, heuristics, and dialectics, the new scale prompts the emergence of new rhetorical devices, among other things. it suffices to think about persuasion at the level of the global village, or about persuasion at the level of the individual, as the individual can be filtered in this global village through mechanisms of networking and multimedia interactivity. logical mechanisms of mass communication are replaced by logical considerations of increased individual communication. think about new heuristic procedures at work on the world wide web, as well as in market research and in netconomy transactions. consider a new dialectic, definitely that of the infertile opposition between what is proclaimed as very good and excellent, as we try to convince ourselves that mediocrity is eradicated by consensus. fascinating work in multi-valued logic, fuzzy logic, temporal logic, and many areas of logical focus pertinent to computation, artificial intelligence, memetics, and networking allow progress well beyond what the science fiction of the world of non a presented us with. the logics of actions between the relatively monolithic and uniform ideal of a literate society convinced of the virtues of logic, and the pluralistic and heterogeneous reality of partial literacies that transfer logic to machines, one can easily distinguish a change in direction. persons with a rather adequate literate culture, educated in the spirit of rationality guarded by classic or formal logic, are at a loss when facing the sub-literacies of specialized practical endeavors, or the illogical inferences made within new fields of human self-constitution. let us put their attitude in some perspective. at various stages in human evolution-for instance, transition from scavenging to hunting, or from hunting and foraging to herding and agriculture-people experienced the effects of the erosion of some behavioral codes and projected their new condition in new practical patterns. one type of cohesion represented in the declining behavioral code was replaced by another; one logic, deferring the code, was followed by others. when interaction among groups of different types of cohesion occurred, logic was severely challenged. sometimes, as a result, one logic dominated; other times, compromise was established. primitive stages are remarkably adaptive to the environment. our stage, remote in many ways from the wellspring (ursprung), consists of an appropriated environment within which the effort is to provide a pragmatic framework for high efficiency. logic, rhetoric, heuristics, and dialectics interact inside this framework. in other words, human evolution goes from sensorial anchoring in the natural world to an artificial (human crafted) world superimposed on the concrete reality-and eventually extended into artificial life, one from among the most recently established fields of scientific inquiry. within this world, humans no longer restrict the projection of their natural and intellectual condition through one (or very few) comprehensive sign systems. quite to the contrary, the effort is towards segmentation, with the aim of reaching not global cohesion, but local cohesiveness, corresponding to local optima. the complexity and the nature of the changes within this system result in the need for a strategy of segmentation, and a logic, or several, supporting it. in the interaction between a language and the humans constituted in it, as the embodiment of their biological characteristics and of their experience, logical conflicts are not excluded. after all, the logic of actions, influenced by heuristics as well, and the logic inherent to literacy are not identical. actions bring to mind agents of action and thus the logic integrated in tools and artifacts. the assumption that the same logic housed in language is involved in the expression leading to the making of tools and other objects related to people's activity went unchallenged for a long time. even today, designers and engineers are educated according to an ideal of literacy that is expected to reflect in their work the rationality exemplified in the literate use of language. complementing most of the development of humankind's language, drawings have expressed ideas about how to make things and how to perform some operations that are part of our continuous experience of self- constitution in practical activity. each drawing embodies the logic of the future artifact, no matter how useful or even how ephemeral. there is a large record of literate work from which logical aspects of thinking can be derived. there is a rather small record of drawing, and not too many surviving artifacts. they were conceived for precise practical experiences and usually did not outlast the experience, or the person who embodied it. roads, houses, tools, and other objects indeed survived, but it is not until better tools for drawing itself and better paper became available that a library of engineering was established. as a hybrid between art and science, engineering accepts the logic of scientific discovery only in order to balance it against the logic of aesthetic expectations. in the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy, engineering definitely has a dominant position in respect to the self-constitution of the human being in language- based practical experiences. this is due to the impact it has on the efficiency of human practical experiences and on their almost endless diversification. there is a phase of conflict, a phase of accommodation, and a phase of complementarity when some means (such as language and the means for visualization used by designers and engineers) replace others, if they do not render them useless. in our time of experiences involving many more people than ever, of distributive transactions, of heterogeneity, and of interactions that go beyond the linearity of the sequence, the structural characteristics of literacy interfere with the new dynamics of human development as this is supported by very powerful technologies embodying a variety of logical possibilities. at this time, the implicit logic of literacy and the new logics (in the plural) collide in the pragmatic framework. within the logic of the literate discourse, followed volens nolens in this book, it should be clear that the attempt to salvage literacy is the attempt to maintain linear relations, determinism, hierarchy (of values), centralization-which fostered literacy-in a framework requiring non-linearity, decentralization, distributed modes of practical experiences, and unstable value (among others). the two frameworks are logically incompatible. this does not mean that literacy has to be discarded altogether, or that it will disappear, as cuneiform notation and pictographic writing did, or that it will be replaced by drawing or by computer-based language processing. the linear will definitely satisfy a vast number of practical activities; so will deterministic explanations and centralism (political, religious, technological, etc.), and even an elitist sense of value. but instead of being a universal standard, or even a goal (to linearize everything that is not linear, to ascertain sequences of cause and effect, to find a center and practice centrality), it will become part of a complex system of relations, free of hierarchy-or at least with fast changing hierarchies-valueless, adaptive, extremely distributed. of no less significance is the type of logic (and for that matter, rhetoric, heuristics, and dialectics) housed in language, i.e., projected from the universe of human self-constitution in the system of inferences, knowledge, and awareness of the being characteristic of literate frameworks of practical experiences. language successfully captured a dualistic logic indebted to the values of truth and falsehood, and supported experiences embodied in the abstract character of logical rationality. it was complemented by logical symbolism and logical calculus, very successful in formalizing dualism, and in eliminating logical models not fitting the dualistic structure. literacy instilled bivalent logic as another of its invisible layers-something is written or not, the written is right or wrong-allowing only quite late, and actually in the realm of logical formalism, the appearance of multi-valued schemes. the non-linearity, vagueness, and fuzziness characteristic of the post-industrial pragmatic framework opened avenues of high human efficiency, better adapted to the scale of humankind that required efficiency and eventually made efficiency its major goal. literacy is ill endowed for supporting multi-valued logic, although it was always tempted to step in its vast territories. even some of the disciplines built around and in extension of literacy (such as history, philosophy, sociology) are not able to integrate a logic different from the one seated in the practical experience of reading and writing. this explains, for instance, computationalism as a new horizon for science, within which multi-valued logic can be simulated even if the computer's underlying structure is that of boolean logic. the literate argument of science and multimedia's non-linear heuristic path to science are fundamentally different. each requires a different logic and results in a different interaction between those who constitute their identity in the practical experience of scientific experiments and those who constitute their identity in co- participation. it took longer in the world of predicative logic and in the science based on analytic power to accept fuzzy logic and to integrate it in new artifacts, than it took in the world of non-predicative logic and in the science based on the power of synthesis. within the universe of non-predicative language, fuzzy logic made it into the design of control mechanisms for high-speed trains, as well as into new efficient toasters. it was accepted in japan while it was still debated among experts in the western world, until , when a washing machine integrating fuzzy logic was introduced in the market. this fact can go on record as more than a mere example in a discussion regarding the implications of the global economy for the various language systems and the logical coordinating mechanisms specific to each. progress in understanding and emulating human thinking shows a progression from a literacy-based model to a model rooted in the new pragmatic framework. rule- based, pattern-matching systems generalize predicate calculus; neural networking is devoted to mimicking the way minds work, in a synthetic neuron-plex array; fuzzy logic addresses the limitations of boolean calculus and the nondeterminism of neural networks, and concentrates on modeling imprecision, ambiguity, and undecidability as these are embodied in new human practical experiences. sampling within the civilization of literacy, recollection and the logic attached to it are predominantly made through quoting. in the literate framework, to know something means to be able to write about it, thus reconfirming the logic of writing. lives are subject to memories, and diaries are our interpreted life, written with some reader in mind: the beloved, one's children, a posterity willing to acknowledge or understand. the literate means of sharing in successive practical experiences contain the expected logic and affect both the experience and its communication. everything seems to originate in the same context: to know means to re-live the experience. the literate gnoseology, with its implicit logic, is based on continuously remaking, reconstituting the experience as a language experience. this is why every form of writing based on the structure embodied in literacy-literary or philosophic, religious, scientific, journalistic, or political-is actually rewriting. the civilization of illiteracy is one of sampling, a concept originating in genetics. to understand what this means, it is useful to contrast quotation and sampling. literate appropriation in the form of quotation takes place in the structure of literacy. sequences are designed to accept someone else's words. a quote introduces the hierarchy desired or acknowledged by invoking authority or questioning it. authorship is exercised by producing a context for interpretation and maintaining literate rules for their expression. interpretations are determined by the implicit expectation of reproducing the deterministic structure of literacy, i.e., its inner logic. the quote embodies centralism by establishing centers of interest and understanding around the quoted. illiterate appropriation corresponds to a dissolution of hierarchy, to an experience of dissolving it and doing away with sequence, authorship, and the rules of logical inference. it questions the notion of elementary meaningful units, extending choices beyond well formed sentences, beyond words, beyond morphemes or phonemes (which always mean a lot to linguists, but almost nothing to the people constituting themselves in literate language experiences), and beyond formal logic. these techniques of sampling lead to actual undoing. rhythms of words can be appropriated, as writers did long before the technology of musical sampling became available. so can the structure of a sentence be appropriated, the feel of a text, or of many other forms of expression that are not literacy-based (the visual arts, for instance). anything pertaining to a written sentence-and for that matter to music, painting, odor, texture, movement (of a person, of images, leaves on a tree, stars, rivers, etc.)-can be selected, decomposed into units as small as one desires, and appropriated as an echo of the experience it embodies. genetic configurations, as they apply to plants and other living entities, can be sampled as well. genetic splicing maintains the relations to the broader genetic texture of plants or animals. spliced, a word, a sentence, or a text still maintains relations to the experience in which it was constituted. these relations are enormously relativized, subjected to a logic of vagueness. when they relate to what we write, they are empowered by emotional components that the literate experience expelled from literate expression. there is room for variation, for spontaneity, for the accidental, where before the rigor and logic of good writing stood guard against anything that might disturb. when they relate to a biological structure, they concern specific characteristics, such as composition or perisability. within the culture of sampling, the expectation of a shared body of literacy and its attached logic are quite out of touch with the dynamics of discarding the past as having no other significance than as an extended alphabet from which one can choose, at random or with some system, letters fitting the act. the letters are part of a sui generis alphabet, changing as practical experiences change, interacting with many logical rules for using them or for understanding how they work. in this new perspective, interpretation is always another instance of constituting the language, not only using it. biological sampling, along with the associated splicing, also regards the living as a text. its purpose is to affect some components in order to achieve desired qualities related to taste, look, nutritional value, etc. this is the core of genetic engineering, a practical experience in which the logic of life, expressed in dna sequences and configurations, takes precedence over the logic of language and literacy, even if the text metaphor, so prominent in genetics, plays such a major role. it is worth recalling that the word text derives from the latin word for to weave, which was later applied to coherent collections of written sentences. sampling does not necessarily transform everything into the gray mass of information. in their practical experiences, people sample emotions and feelings as they sample foods in supermarkets, sample entertainment programs (television sampling included), sample clothing, and even partners (for special occasions or as potential spouses, partners in business, or whatever else). as opposed to quoting, sampling- periodic, random, or sequential-results in the severing from what literacy celebrated as tradition and continuity. and it challenges authorship. with increased sampling as a practical experience of diversification, the human being acquires a very specific freedom not possible within boundaries of the literate experience. tradition is complemented by forms of innovation impossible within a pragmatic framework of progression and dualistic (true-false) experience. this becomes even more clear when we understand that sampling is followed by synthesis, which might be neither true nor false, but appropriate (to some degree). in the case of music, a device called a sequencer is used for this purpose. the composite is synthetic. a new experience, significant in itself at formal levels corresponding to the constitution of ad hoc languages and their consumption in the act, becomes possible. the mixmaster is a machine for recycling arbitrarily defined constitutive units such as notes, rhythms, or melodic patterns freed from their pragmatic identity. what is significant is that the same applies to the biological text, including the biology of the human being. in some ways, genetic mutation acquires the status of a new means for synthesizing new plants and animals, and even new materials. the artistic technique of collage is based on a logic of choices beyond those of realistic representations. logical rules of perspective are negated by rules of juxtaposition. collage, as a technique, anticipates the generalized stage of sampling and compositing. it changes our notion of intellectual property, trademark, and copyright, all expressions of a logic firmly attached to the literate experience. the famous case of dr. martin luther king's plagiarism reflected aspects of primitive culture carried over to the civilization of illiteracy: there is no authorship; once something becomes public, it is free to be shared. in the same vein, there is no malcolm x left in the poetry resulting from sampling his speeches, or anyone else's for that matter. post-modern literature and painting result from sampling exercises governed by an ear or eye keen to our day's vernacular of machines and alienation. the same applies to plants, fruits, and microbes insofar as sampling does not preserve previous identities, but constitutes new ones, which we integrate in new experiences of our own self-constitution. from the perspective of logic, the procedure is of interest to the extent that it establishes domains of logical appropriateness. logical identity is redefined from a dynamic perspective. from a pragmatic viewpoint, certain experiences might be maximized by applying a certain logic to them. moreover, within some experiences, complementary logics-each logic assigned to a precise aspect of the system-can be used together in strategies of layered management of the process, or in parallel processes, checked against each other at defined instances. strategies for maximizing market transactions, for instance, integrate various decision-making layers, each characterized by a different logical assumption. we experience a process of replacing the rigid logical framework of literate condition with many logical frameworks, adapted to diversity. in conclusion, one more aspect should be approached. is it enough to say that language expresses the biological and the social identity of the human being? to deal with language, and more specifically with the embodiment of language in literacy, means to deal with everything that makes the human being the bio-socio-politico- cultural entity that defines our species. the logical appears to be an underlying element: bio-logical, socio-logical, etc. the hierarchy will probably bother some, since it seems that language assumes a higher place among the many factors participating in the process of human self-constitution. indeed, in order for the human being to qualify as zoon politikon, as homo sapiens, or homo ludens (playful man) or homo faber, he or she must first qualify for the interactions which each designation describes: on the biological level, with other human beings, within structures of common interest, in the realm of a human being's own nature. this is why humans define themselves through practical experiences involving signs. at the various levels at which such signs are generated, interpreted, comprehended, and used to conceive new signs, human identity is ascertained. this is what prompted felix hausdorf to define the human being as zoon semeiotikon- semiotic animal, sign-using animal. moreover, charles sanders peirce considered semiotics as being the logic of vagueness. signs-whether pictures, sounds, odors, textures, words (or combinations), belonging to a language, diagram, mathematical or chemical formalism, new language (as in art, political power, or programming), genetic code, etc.-relate to human beings, not in their abstraction but in the concreteness of their participation in our lives and work. memetic optimism john locke knew that all knowledge is derived from experience. but he was not sure that the same applies to logic or mathematics. if we define experience as self- constitutive practical activity, whose output is the ever-changing identity of the individual or individuals carrying out the experience, logic derives from it, as do all knowledge and language. this places logic not outside thought, but in experience, and raises the question of logical replication. dawkins defined the replicator as a biological molecule that "has the extraordinary property of being able to make copies of itself." such an entity is supposed to have fecundity, fidelity, longevity. language is a replicator; or better yet, it is a replicative medium. the question is whether duplication can take place only by virtue of its own structural characteristics, or whether one has to consider logic, for instance, as the rule of replication. moreover, maybe logic itself is replicative in nature. this discussion belongs to the broader subject of memetics. its implicit assumption is that memes, the spiritual equivalent of genes, are subject to mechanisms of evolution. as opposed to natural evolution, memetic evolution is through more efficient orders of magnitude, and faster by far. in experiences of cultural transfer (sharing of experience as a practical experience itself) or of inheritance-genetic or memetic, or a combination of both- something like a gene of meaning was suspected to exist. were it to exist, that would not mean, within our pragmatic system, that signification is carried over through memetic replication, but that practical experiences of human self-constitution involve the act of conjuring meaning under the guise of various logics pertinent to sign processes. replication is, then, not of information, but of fundamental processes, conjuring of meaning being one of them. evolution of language, as well as of logic, belongs to cultural evolution. meme mutation and spread of a reduced scale, such as the scale of finite artificial languages and limited logical rules, can be described in equations similar to those of genetics. but once the scale changes, it is doubtful that we could encode the resulting complexity in such formalizations. be this as it may, expression, communication, and signification, the fundamental functions of any sign system, regardless of its logic, are endowed with replicative qualities. logic prevents corruption, or at least provides means for identifying it. the easiest way to understand this statement is to relate it to the many replications involved in the manipulation of data in a computer. the error message announcing corruption of data corresponds to a replication process that went astray. like all analogies, this one is not infallible: a certain logic, against whose rules the replication is tested, might simply prove to be inadequate to processes of replication that are different in nature. indeed, if the logic implicit in the experience of literacy were to authenticate semiotic processes characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy, the error message of corruption would overrun the monitor. all that occurs in the experience of networking and all that defines virtuality pertain to a logical framework that is by no means a memetic replication of the aristotelian or some other logical system intrinsic to the experience of literacy. memes residing in the brain's neuronal structure, as a pattern of pits on a cd- rom, or in an html (hypertext markup language) web format can be replicated. interactions among minds correspond to a different dynamic realm, the realm of their reciprocal identification. book three language as mediating mechanism mention the word mediation today, or post it on the internet. swarms of lawyers will come after you. from the many meanings mediation has acquired over time, dispute resolution is the practical activity that has appropriated the word. nevertheless, in its etymology, mediation attests to experiences that pre-date lawyers as they pre- date the earliest attempt to introduce laws. mediation, along with heuristics, is definitory of the human species. from all we know, nature is a realm of action and reaction. the realm of human activity implies a third element, an in-between, be this a tool, a word, a plan. this applies to primitive experiences of self-constitution, as well as to current embedded mediating activities: mediation of mediation ad infinitum. in each mediation there is the potential for further mediation. that is, the inserted third can be divided in turn. a lever used to move a very heavy object can be supplemented by another one, or two or more, all applied to the task at hand. each tool can progressively evolve into a series of tools. each individual called upon to mediate can call upon others to perform a chain of related or unrelated mediations. the same holds true for signs and language. mediation is the practical experience of reducing to manageable size a task that is beyond the abilities of an individual or individuals identified through the task. mediation is a mapping from a higher scale of complexity to a scale that the persons involved in a task can handle. this chapter will examine various phases of mediated human experiences. we shall examine at which pragmatic junctures language and, subsequently, literacy provide mediating functions. more important, we will define the conditions that require mediations for which literacy is no longer adequate. since tools, in their mediating function, will be frequently brought into the argument, a distinction needs to be made from the outset: signs, language, artificial languages, and programs (for computers and other devices) are all mediating entities. what distinguishes these from tools is their caoability for self-replication. they are, as much as humans constituting their identity in semiotic processes, subject to evolutionary cycles structurally similar to those of nature. their evolution is, as we know, much faster than genetic evolution. the genetic make-up of the human species has changed relatively little, while the mediating elements that substantially contributed to the increase in human efficiency underwent many transformations. some of these are no longer evolutionary, but revolutionary, and mark discontinuities. genetic continuity is a background for pragmatic discontinuity. the moments of discontinuity correspond to threshold values in the scale of human activity. they regard mediating devices and strategies as dynamic components of the pragmatic framework. the power of insertion self-constitution in mediating and mediated practical experiences is different from self-constitution in direct forms of praxis. in direct praxis, the wholeness of the being is externalized. but it is the partial being-partial in respect to the human's biological and intellectual reality-that is projected in mediated practical experiences. the narrow, limited, and immediate scope of direct human activity explains why no mediation, or only accidental mediation (unintended mediation), characterizes the pragmatic framework. in the long run, mediation results in the severed relation between individuals and their social and natural environments. as we shall see, this fact has implications for literacy. a long chain of mediations separates the working individual from the object to be worked upon, be this object raw material, processed goods, thoughts, or other experiences. it is not easy to immediately realize the pervasiveness of mediation and its effects on human activity and self-constitution. people introduce all the intermediaries they need in order to maintain efficiency. because we notice only the immediate layer with which we come into contact-the tool we use or the object we act upon-we have difficulty in recognizing the pervasiveness of mediation. the multitude of intermediaries involved in fabricating one finished product is far beyond our direct involvement. division, in the context of labor, means to break a task into smaller parts that are easier to rationalize, understand, and execute. division engenders the specialization of each mediating element. to specialize means to be involved in practical experiences through which skills and knowledge pertinent to activity segmented through labor division are acquired. whether division of physical work or of intellectual activity, at the end of the process there is a large number of components which have to be assembled. even more important, the quantity of pieces, the order in which various pieces come together, and the intermediary sequences of checks and balances (if something does not work, it is better to find out before the entire product is assembled) are essential. all these constitute the integration aspect, which requires the element of coordination through tools and methods. the segmentation of work in order to reach higher efficiency is not arbitrary. the goal is to arrive at coherent units of simpler work, which in some ways are like the letters of an alphabet. in this model, production resembles writing different words by combining available letters. segmentation of work takes place concomitant with the effort to conceive of tools appropriate to each segment in order to ensure the desired efficiency. in effect, to specialize means to be aware of and to master tools that correspond to a step in the sequence leading to the desired result-the final word, in keeping with our example. conversely, what sometimes looks like excessive specialization in our day-e.g., in medicine, physics, mathematics, electronics, computer science, transportation-is the result of the propensity of each mediating element to engender a need for further mediations, which reflect expectations for efficiency. simultaneously with the differentiation of work, language changed, becoming itself more differentiated. the efficiency reached in specialization is higher than that of direct action and of low levels of labor division. with each new specialization of a mediating element, humans constitute a body of practical knowledge, in the form of experience, that can be used again and again. this body of knowledge reflects the complexity of the task and the scale in which it is exercised. for instance, stones (the latin calcula) were used to represent quantities (just as the early english used stone as a measure of weight). over the centuries, this practice led to the body of knowledge known as calculus and to coherent applications in various human endeavors. the physical presence of stones gave way to easier methods of calculation: the abacus, as well as to marks recorded on bone, shell, leather, and paper, to a number system, and to symbols for numbers. the vector of change starts at the materiality and heads towards the abstract-that is, from objects to signs. computers were invented as a tool for calculation, as well as for other activities. they are the result of the labor of philosophers, logicians, mathematicians, and finally technologists, who changed calculation from a physical to a cognitive practical experience. boolean logic, binary numbers, and electronic gates are mediating elements that enhance the effectiveness of calculation by high orders of magnitude. as things stand today, computer technology has led to myriad specialties: design and production of chips; information processing at various levels; manufacture of components and their integration as machines; networking; visualization techniques; the creation of machine languages for rendering the illiterate input, and on and on. this development exemplifies the active character of each mediation, especially the open- endedness of the mediation process. as an insertion, mediation proves powerful also in terms of the cognitive awareness it stimulates. through mediating elements, such as signs, language, tools, and even ideas, the individual gets a different perspective on the practical experience. the distance introduced through mediation, between actions and results, is one of space-the lever, not the hand, touches the stone to be moved-and duration-the time it takes to execute an action. with each inserted third, i.e., with each mediation, seeds are planted for what will eventually result in a totally new category of practical experiences: the conception of plans. the power of insertion is actually that of acquiring a sense and a direction for the future. myth as mediating pre-text among the mediating elements mentioned so far, language performs its role in a particular way. tools (such as pulleys, levers, gears, etc.) extend the arms or the legs, that is, the human body; language extends the coordinating capability of humans. words, no matter how well articulated, will not turn the stone or lift the trunk of the fallen tree. they can be used to describe the problem, to enlist help, to discuss how the task can be accomplished, to render intelligible the sequence of accomplishing it. once writing was developed, coordination was extended to apply from those physically present to people who could read, or to whom a text could be read if one did not have reading skills. language is in extension and succession of the pragmatic phase of immediate and direct appropriation of objects. as leonard bloomfield-probably a bit hasty in his generalization-observed, "...the division of labor (...) is due to language." although different in nature from physical tools, language is instrumental: it is applied on something and embodies characteristics of human beings constituted in a practical experience that made language possible and necessary. the mediating nature of early words and early articulated thoughts derived from their practical condition: medium for self-constitution (the voice externalizes the anatomy pertinent to producing and hearing sounds), and medium of exchange of experience (pertinent to nature or to others in the group). early words are a record of the self-awareness of the human, denoting body parts and elementary actions. they also reflect the relational nature of the practical experience of those constituting viable groups. researchers infer this from words, identified in proto-languages, that point to an other, or to coalitions, or to danger. what distinguished words from animal sounds was their coherence in extending the practical experience of appropriating a uniform survival strategy. cave paintings, always regarded as a sequence of animal representations, constitute what can be called a coherent image of a small universe of human life. they are an inventory of a sort-of fauna as opposed to humans, and as a reference to animals different from humans-and a statement regarding the importance of each kind of animal to human beings. by relating animals and drawings of man and woman, they also show that there is a third element to be considered: incipient implied symbolism. this is not to say that we have language, even less a visual language, articulated in the paleolithic. but at lascaux, niaux, altamira, and at the caves in northern china, in images preserved in the caves along the lena river in russia, there are some patterns, such as the co-presence of bison and horses, and the hinted association with male and female, for example, which show that the visual can go beyond the immediate and suggest a frame of work with mytho-magical elements. indeed, myths are singular mediating entities. they convey experience and preserve it in oral societies. magic is also a mediating element, metaphysical in nature. magic, in the pre-literacy context, inserts, between humans and everything they cannot understand, control, or tame, something (actions, words, objects) that stands for the practical implications of this failure. an amulet, for example, stands for the lack of understanding of what it takes to be protected from evil forces. spells and gestures intended to scare away demons belong to the same phenomenon. though not without purpose, magic is action with no immediate practical purpose, triggered by events language could not account for. myth is a pre-text for action with a practical, experiential purpose. each myth contains rules for successful activity. the context in which language, as a complex sign system, was structured was also the context of social mediation: division of social functions and integration in a cohesive social structure. in syncretic forms of social life, with low efficiency, and limited self-consciousness, there is little need for or possibility of mediation. once human nature was constituted in the reality of practical, mytho-magical relations, both labor division and mediation became part of the new human experience. tools for plowing, processing skins, and sharing experience (in visual or verbal form) kept the human subject close to the object of work or human relation. it is probably more in respect to the unknown and unpredictable that mediation, via priests and shamans in various rituals, was used in forms of magical practice. cave paintings, no less than cuneiform, and later phonetic writing, constituted intermediaries inserted in the world in which human beings asserted their presence or questioned the presence of others. the centralized state, which is a late form of social organization, the church, and schools are all expressions of the same need to introduce in a world of differences elements with uniformizing and integrating power. what we today call politics simply belongs to the self-constitution of the individual as member of the politeia, the community. by extension, politics means to effectively participate in the life of the community. the nature of this participation changed enormously over time. it started as participation in magic and ritual, and it evolved in participation in symbolic forms, such as mancipatio, conventions embodied in normative acts. in the framework of participation, we can mention goal determination and forms of organization and representation, as well as the payment of taxes to support the mediators of this activity. at the beginning, participation was an issue of survival; and survival, of natural condition, remained the unwritten rule of social life for a very long time. while in oral language there is no mediating element to preserve the good and the right, in written language, law mediates and justice, as much as god (actually a plurality of gods and goddesses) or wisdom, are inserted in community affairs. differentiation and coordination mediation also implies breaking the immediate connection, to escape the domination of the present-shared time and space-and to discover relations characteristic of adjacency, i.e., neighboring in time and space. adjacency can be in respect to the past, as expressed through the practice of keeping burial records. it can also be in respect to the future. the magic dimension of the ritual focused on desired things-weather, game, children-exemplifies this aspect. the notion of adjacency can pertain also to neighboring territories, inhabited by others involved in similar or slightly different practical forms of experience. regardless of the type of adjacency, what is significant is the element that separates the immediate from the mediated. the expanding horizon of life required means to assimilate adjacency in the experience of continuous human self-constitution. language was among such means and became even more effective when a medium for storing and disseminating-writing-was established. in orality-dominated social life, opinion was the product of language activity, and it had to be immediate. in writing, truth was sought and preserved. accordingly, logic centered around the true-false distinction. literate societies are societies which accept the value of speaking, writing, and reading, and which operate under the assumption that literacy can accomplish a unifying function. mediation and the associated strategy of integration relied on language for differentiation of tasks and for coordination of resulting activities and products. language projects both a sense of belonging to and living in a context of life. it embodies characteristics of the individuals sharing perceptions of space and time integrated in their practical experiences and expressed in vocabulary, grammar, and idioms, and in the logic that language houses. language is simultaneously a medium of uniformity and a means of differentiation. within continuously constituted language, individual expression and various non-standard uses of language (literary and poetic, probably the most notorious of these) are a fact of life. in the practical constitution of language for religious or judicial purposes, or in order to give historic accounts of scientific phenomena, expression is not uniform. neither is interpretation. as we know from early attempts at history, there is little difference between languages used to describe relations of ownership (of animals, land, shelter) and texts on astronomy or navigation, for instance. the lunar calendar and the practical experience of navigation determined the coherence of writings on the subject. there is very little difference in the work of people who accounted for numbers of animals and numbers of stars. once differentiation of work took place, language allowed for expressions of differences. behind this change of language is the change of the people involved in various aspects of social life, i.e., their projection into a world appropriated through practical experiences based on the human ability to differentiate-between useful and harmful, pleasant and unpleasant, similar and dissimilar. in order to distinguish the level at which a language is practiced, people become aware of language's practical consequences, of its pragmatic context. plato's dialogues can be read as poetry, as philosophy, or as testimony to the state of language-based practical experiences in use at the time and place in which he was active. what is not clear is how a person operating in and constituting himself in the language identifies the level of an oral or written text, and how the person interprets it according to the context in which it was written. the question is of more than marginal importance to our understanding of how plato related to language or how people today relate to language: either by overstating its importance or by ignoring it to the extent of consciously discarding language, or certain aspects of it. here is where the issue of mediation becomes critical. the inserted third- person, text, image, theory-should understand both the language of the reader and the language of the text. more generally, the third should at any instance understand the language of the entities it mediates between. states, as political entities, are constituted on this assumption; so are legal systems, religion, and education. each such mediating entity introduces elements into the social structure that will finally be expressed in language and assimilated as accepted value. they will become the norm. the process is sometimes extremely tight. retroaction from mediating function to language and back to action entails progressive fine-tuning, never-ending in fact, since human beings are in continuous biological and social change. mediations lead to segmentation. the coordination of mediations is necessary in order to recover the integrality (wholeness) of the human being in the output of the practical experience. mediations, although coordinated by language or other mediating means, and subject to integration in the outcome of activity, introduce elements of tension, which in turn require new mediation and thus progressive specialization. when the sequence of mediations expands, the complexity of integration can easily exceed the degree of complexity of the initial task. the efficiency reached is higher than that of direct action or of low levels of labor division. with each new mediation, the human being constitutes a body of practical knowledge that can be used again and again. the necessary integrative dimension of mediations makes the strategy of using mediating entities, along with the appropriate coordination mechanism, socially relevant and economically rewarding. one can speak of mediation between rational and emotional aspects of human life, between thought and language, language and images, thought and means of expression, communication and signification. regardless of its particular aspect, mediation is an experience of cognitive leverage. integration and coordination revisited from the entire subject of mediation, two questions seem more relevant to our understanding of literacy and of its dynamics: . why, at a certain moment in human evolution, does literacy become the main mediating instrument? . under which circumstances is language's mediating function assumed by other sign systems? let us answer the questions in the order they are posed. language is not the only mediating instrument people use. in the short account given so far, other mediating entities, such as images, movements, odors, gestures, objects (stones, twigs, bones, artifacts) were mentioned. also mentioned was the fact that these are quite close to what they actually refer to (as indexical signs), or to what they depict based on a relation of similarity (as iconic signs). however, even at this level of reduced generality and limited coherence and consistency, human beings can express themselves beyond the immediate and direct. the cave paintings of the paleolithic age should be mentioned again in this respect. the immediate is the cave itself. it is shelter, and its physical characteristics are perceived in direct relation to its function. the surprise comes in noticing how these characteristics become part of the practical experience of sharing what is not present by involving a mediating element. the drawings are completions, continuations, extensions of the ridges of the stone walls of the cave. this is not a way of speaking. a better quality photograph, not to mention the actual drawings in the caves, reveals how the lines of the relief are extended into the drawing and made part of them. the first layer of exchange of information among people is comparison, focused on similarities, then on differences. we infer from here that, before drawing-a practical experience involving a major cognitive step-the human beings seeking shelter in the cave noticed how a certain natural configuration-cloud, plant, rock formation, the trail left by erosion-looked like the head or tail of an animal, or like the human head, for example. the completion of this look-alike form-when such a completion was physically possible-was an instance of practical self-definition and of shared experience. when the act of completion was physically performed, probably by accident at the beginning, the immediate natural (the cave) was appropriated for a new function, something other than merely shelter. the shape of the wings of galleries in the altamira or niaux caves suggests analogies to the male-female distinction, a sexual identifier but also a first step towards distinctions based on perceived differences. the selection of a certain cave from among others was the result of an effort, no matter how primitive, to express. together, this selected physical structure and the added elements became a statement regarding a very limited universe of existence and its shared distinctions. further on, the animals depicted, the sequence, the addition of mytho-magical signs (identification of more general notions such as hand, wound, or different animals) make the painted cave an expression of an inserted thought about the world, that is, about the limited environment constituting the world. in the case of egyptian pictographic writing, we know that images were used as mediating devices in such sophisticated instances as the burial of pharaohs and in their life after death. in the universe of ideographic languages (such as chinese and japanese), the mediating function of images constituting the written is different. combinations of ideograms constitute new ideograms. accordingly, self-constitution in language takes over experiences of combining different things in order to obtain something different from each of the combined ingredients. in some ways, the added efficiency facilitated by mediations was augmented by formal qualities that would eventually establish the realm of aesthetic practical experiences. this should come as no surprise, since we know from many practical experiences or the remote past that formal qualities often translate into higher functionality. language use, which opened access to generality and abstraction, allowed humans to insert elements supporting an optimized exchange of information in the structure of social relations, and to participate in the conventions of social life. there is not only the trace of the immediate experience in a word, there is also the shared convention of mediated interactions. language, in its development over time, is thus a very difficult-to-decode dynamic history of common praxis. we understand this from the way the use of the ax, millstone, or animal sacrifice expanded, along with the appropriate vocabulary and linguistic expression, from the universe of the semites to the indo-europeans. reconstructed vocabulary from the region of the hittite kingdom testifies to the landscape (there are many words for mountains), to trees (the hittites distinguished various species), to animals (leopard, lion, monkey), and to tools (wheel- based means of transportation). language is not only a reflection of the past, but also a program for future work. the nuclei of agriculture where language emerged (in china, africa, southeastern europe) were also centers of dissemination of practical experience. writing, even when it only records the past, does it for the future. progress in writing resulted in better histories, but moreover in new avenues for future praxis. in the ideal of literacy, the individual states a program of unifying scope in a social reality of diverse means and diverse goals. literacy as such is an insertion between a rather complex social structure, nature, and among the members of society. within a culture, it is a generic code which facilitates dialogue among the members of the literate community and among communities of different languages. its scope is multidimensional. its condition is one of mediation. a major mediating element in the rationale of industrial society, literacy fulfilled the function of a coordinating mechanism for mediations made otherwise than through language, along the assembly line, for instance. obviously conceived on the linear, sequential model of time and language, the assembly line optimally embodied requirements characteristic of complex integration. once the reductionist practice of dividing work into smaller, specialized activities became necessary, the results of these activities had to be integrated in the final product. at the level of technology of industrial society, literacy-based human practical experiences of self-constitution defined the scope and character of labor division, specialization, integration, and coordination. life after literacy the answer to the second question posed a few pages back is not an exercise in prophecy. (i'll leave that to the priests of futurology.) this is why the question concerns circumstances under which the dominant mediating function of language can be assumed by other sign systems. the discussion involves a moving target because today the notion of literacy is a changing representation of expectations and requirements. we know that there is a before to literacy; and this before pertains to mediations closer to the natural human condition. of course, we can, and should, ask whether there is an after, and what its characteristics might be. complexities of human activity and the need to ensure higher efficiency explain, at least partially, complexities of interhuman relations and the need to ensure some form of human integration. what this first assessment somehow misses is the fact that, from a certain moment on, mediation becomes an activity in itself. means become an end in themselves. when individuals constituted themselves in structurally very similar experiences, mediation took place through the insertion of rather homogeneous objects, such as arrows, bows, levers, and tools for cutting and piercing. interaction was a matter of co-presence. language resulted in the context of diversification of practical human experiences. self-constitution in language captured the permanence and the perspective of the whole into which variously mediated components usually come together. later on, literacy freed humans from the requirement of co-presence. language's mediating capabilities relied on space and time conventions built into language experience over a very long time and interiorized by literate societies. characteristics of writing specific to different notational systems resulted from characteristics of practical experiences. literacy only indirectly reflects the encoding of experience in a medium of expression and communication. moreover, the shift from a literacy-dominated civilization to one of partial literacies involves the encoding of the experience in media that are no longer appropriate for literate expression. we write to tape or to digital storage. we publish on networks. we convert texts into machine- readable formats. we edit in non-linear fashion. we operate on configurations or on mixed data types (that constitute multimedia). experiences encoded in such media reflect their own characteristics in what is expressed and how it is expressed. although there are vast qualitative differences in linguistic performance within a literate society, a common denominator-the language reified in the technology of literacy-is established. the expectation is a minimum of competence, supposed to meet integration requirements at the workplace, the understanding of religion, politics, literature, and the ability to communicate and comprehend communication. but as literacy became a socially desirable characteristic, language became a tool-at least in some professions and trades-and the command of language became a marketable skill. for example, during periods of greater political activity in classical greece and rome, the practical experience of rhetoric was a discipline in itself. orators, skilled in persuasion, for which language is necessary, made a career out of language use. the written texts of the middle ages were also intended to foster the rhetorical skills of the clergy in presenting arguments. in our time, speechwriters and ghostwriters have become the language professionals, and so have priests, prophets, and evangelists (of all religions). but what is only an example of how language can become an end in itself has become a very significant development in human praxis. not only in professions such as expository writing (for journalists, essayists, politicians, and scientists), poetry, fiction, dramaturgy, communications, but also in the practice of law (normative, enforcement, judicial), politics, economics, sociology, and psychology has language become a principal tool. nevertheless, the language used in such endeavors is not the standard, national, or regional language, but a specialized subset, marginally understood by the literate population at large. while the grammar governing such sub- languages is, with some exceptions, the grammar of the language from which they are derived, the vocabulary is more appropriate to the subject matter. moreover, while sharing language conventions and the general frame of language, these sub-languages project an experience so particular that it cannot be properly understood and interpreted without some translation and commentary. and each commentary (on a law, a new scientific theory, a work of art or poetry) is yet another insertion of a third, which refers to the initial object sometimes so indirectly that the relation might be difficult to track and the meaning is lost. a similar process can be identified in our present relation to the physical environment. many things mediate between us and the natural environment: our homes, clothes, the food processing industry. even natural artifacts, such as gardens, lakes, or water channels, are a buffer against nature, an insertion between us and nature. constituted in our language are experiences of survival and adaptation: the vocabulary of hunting, fishing, agriculture, animal husbandry, coping with changes in weather and climate, and coping with natural catastrophes such as floods and earthquakes. the mediating function of language is different here than on the production line. mediated practice leads to distributed knowledge along successive or parallel mediations that are not at all literacy-based or literacy-dependent. within the global scale of human experience, it makes sense to use a global perspective (of resources, factors affecting agriculture, navigation, etc.) in order to maximize locally distributed efforts. for example: people involved in various activities must rely on persons specialized to infer from observation (of plants, trees, animals, water levels in rivers and lakes, wind direction, changes in the earth's surface, biological, chemical, atmospheric factors) and generate predictions regarding natural events (drought, plant or animal disease, floods, weather patterns, earthquakes). what we acknowledge here is the new scale of the practical experience of meteorology, as well as methods of collecting and distributing information through vast networks of radio, television, and weather services. both the means for acquiring the information and for disseminating it are visual. local networks subscribe to the service and receive computer-generated maps on which clouds, rain, or snow are graphically depicted. the equations of weather forecasting are obviously different from local observations of wind direction, precipitation, dew point, etc. the chaotic component captured and the necessity to visually display information as it changes over time are not reducible to equations or direct observation. it is hard to imagine having weather predicted through very mediated meteorological practice, and even harder to imagine forecasting earthquakes or volcanic activity from remote stations, such as satellites. still, weather patterns display dynamic characteristics that made the metaphor of the butterfly causing a hurricane the most descriptive explanation of how small changes-caused by the flapping of the butterfly's wings-can result in impressive consequences-the hurricane. the language of the forecast only translates into common language the data (the majority in visual form) that represents our new understanding of natural phenomena. there is yet another aspect, which is related to the status of knowledge and our ways of acquiring, transmitting, and testing it. our knowledge of phenomena such as nuclear fusion, thermonuclear reaction, stellar explosions, genes and genetic codes, and complex dynamic systems is no longer predominantly based on inductions from observed facts to theories explaining such facts. it seems that we project theories, founded on abstract thinking, onto physical reality and turn these theories into means of adapting the world to our goals or needs, which are much more complex than survival. memetics is but the more recent example in this respect. it projects the abstract models of natural evolution into culture, focusing on replicative processes for the production of phenomena such as ideas, behavioral rules, ways of thinking, beliefs, and norms. mediation probably qualifies for a memetic approach, too. theories require a medium of expression, and this is represented by new languages, such as mathematical and logical formalisms, chemical notation, computer graphics, or discourse in some pseudo- language. the formalism of memetics reminds many of us of formal languages, as well as of the shorthand used in genetics. the goal is to describe whatever we want to describe through computational functions or through computable expressions. since experiential space and time are housed in our language, we can account for only a three-dimensional space and a homogeneous time that has only one direction-from past to future. nevertheless, we can conceive of multidimensional spaces and of non-homogeneous time. to describe the same in language, especially through literate expression, is not only inadequate, but also raises obstacles. with the advent of digital technology, a language of two letters-zero and one-and the grammar of boolean logic, we have stepped into a new age of language, no longer the exclusive domain of the human being. such a language introduces new levels of mediation, which allow for the use of machines by means of sentences, i.e., sequences of encoded commands triggered by a text written in a language other than natural language. physical contact is substituted by language, inserted in processes of complexity impossible to control directly or even to relate to in forms characteristic of previous scientific and technological praxis. indeed, there are instances when the speed of a process and the requirement of sequencing make direct human control not only impossible, but also undesirable. this mediation is then continued by sequences automatically generated by machines, i.e., mediation generating new mediation. although the structure of all these new languages (which describe phenomena, support programming, or control processes) is inspired by the structure of natural language, they project experiences which are not possible in the universe of standard language. new forms of interaction, higher speeds, and higher precision become available when such powerful cognitive tools are designed as custom-made instruments for advancing our understanding of phenomena that evade analytic or even small-scale synthetic frameworks. the discussion of mediation brought up other sign systems that assume the mediating function characteristic of literacy. not only artificial languages-instruments of knowledge and action, new pragmatic dimensions, in fact-but also natural languages are increasingly used in a mediating capacity. i would submit to the reader the observation that the visual, primarily, and other sensory information are recuperated and used in ways that change human experience. where words no longer suffice, visualized images of the unseen constitute a mediating language, allowing us to understand phenomena otherwise inaccessible-the micro- or remote universe, for instance. touch, smell, and sound can be articulated and introduced as statements in a series of events for which written and spoken language are no longer adequate. virtual reality is synthesized as a valid simulation of real reality. virtual realities can be experienced if we simply put on body-sensitive gloves, headgear (goggles and earphones), special footwear, or a whole suit. powerful computer graphics, with a refresh rate high enough to maintain the illusion of space and motion, make a virtual space available. within this space, one's own image can become a partner of dialogue or confrontation. journeys outside one's body and inside one's imagination are experienced not only in advanced laboratories, but also in the new entertainment centers that appeal to children as well as adults. such projections of oneself into something else represent one of the most intriguing forms of interaction in the networked world. the experience of self-constitution as an avatar on the internet is no longer one of a unique self, but of multiples. language guards the entrance to the experience, but once the human subject is inside, it has only limited power or significance. mediations other than through language dominate here, invoking all our senses and deep levels of our existence, for which literacy produced only psychoanalytic rhetoric. in other words, we notice that while language constituted a projection of the human being in the conventions of abstract systems of expression, representation, and communication, it also exercised an impoverishing function in that it excluded the wealth of senses-possibly including common sense-and the signs addressing them. language made of us one monolithic entity. in the meantime, we have come to realize that the transitions between our many inner states can be a source of new experiences. the answer to the question regarding alternatives to literacy is that part of the mediating function of language has extended to specialized languages, and to sign systems other than verbal language, when those systems are better adapted to the complexities of heretofore unencountered challenges. virtual reality is not a linear reality but an integrating, interacting reality of non-linear relations between what we do and what results. among these newly acquired, different mediating entities, relations and interdependencies are continuously established and changed at an ever faster pace. it appears that once human activity moves from the predominantly object level to the meta condition (one of self-awareness and self-interpretation), we have several languages and several contingent literacies instead of a dominant language and dominant literacy. when writing is replaced by multimedia along the communication channels of the networked world, we seem to enjoy rediscovering ourselves as much richer entities than we knew or were told about through literate mediation. the entire transition is the result of pragmatic needs resulting from the fundamental change in continuous human self-constitution and the scale in which it is exercised. mediations break activities into segments that are more intensive and shorter than the cycle from which they were extracted. therefore, mediation results in the perception of the reality of faster rhythms and of time contraction. massive distribution of tasks, finer levels of parallelism, and more sophisticated integrating and coordinating mechanisms, result in new pragmatic possibilities, for which literacy is not suitable, and even counter-productive. this entire transition comprises another vector of change: from individual to communal survival, from direct work to highly mediated praxes, from local to global to universal, from the visible to the invisible of macro and micro-universe, from the real to the virtual. mediation, in its newest digital forms of enmeshed nature and evolving culture, causes boundaries to disappear between the elements involved in practical experiences of our self-constitution. literacy, language and market markets are mediating machines. in our time, the notion of a machine is very different from that of the industrial machine age associated with the pragmatics of the civilization of literacy. today, the term machine is evocative of software rather than hardware. machine comprises input and output, process, control mechanisms, and the expectation of predictable functioning. here is where our difficulties start. at best, markets appear as erratic to us. market prediction seems to be an oxymoron. every time experts come up with a formula, the market acts in a totally new manner. an amazing number of transactions, ranging from bargaining at a garage sale to multi-prong deals in derivatives, continuously subject the outcome of practical experiences of human self-constitution to the test of market efficiency. there is nothing that can escape this test: ideas, products, individuals, art, sports, entertainment. like a tadpole, the market seems to consume itself in transactions. at times, they appear so esoteric to us that we cannot even fathom what the input of this machine is and what the output. but we all expect the charming prince to emerge from the ugly frog! what can be said, without giving away the end of the story too early, is that the functioning of this growing mechanism of human self-evaluation could never take place at its current dynamics and size in the pragmatic framework of literacy. all over the world, market processes associated with previous pragmatic frameworks-barter is one of them-are relived in bazaars and shopping malls. but if anyone wants to see practical experiences of the civilization of illiteracy unfolding in their quasi-pure manner, one has only to look at the stock market and commodities exchanges and auctions conducted over the internet. moreover, one must try to envision those invisible, distributed, networked transactions in which it is impossible to define who initiated a transaction, continued another one, or brought a deal to an end, and based on what criteria. they, too, seem to have a life of their own. mediating machine also evokes the notion of machine as program. although some stockbrokers have second thoughts about how their role is diminished through the mediation of entities that cannot speak or write, programmed trading on the various stock exchanges is a matter of course. computational economists and market researchers, who design programs based on biological analogies, genetics, and dynamic system models, can testify to the truth of this statement. preliminaries in viewing the market in its relation to the civilization of literacy, and that of illiteracy, we must first establish a conceptual frame of reference for discussing the specific role of language as a mediating element characteristic of the market. in particular, we should examine the functions filled by literacy in allowing people to diversify markets and make them more effective. when the limits of literacy's mediating capabilities are reached, its efficiency becomes subject to doubt. this does not happen outside the market, as some scholars, educators, and politicians would have us believe, or want to happen. it is within the market that this stage is acknowledged, rendering intellectual travail itself a product negotiated in the market, as literacy itself already is. to establish the desired conceptual frame of reference, i take the perspective of market as a sign process through which people constitute themselves. consequently, transactions can be seen as extensions of human biology: products of our work embody the structural characteristics of our natural endowment and address needs and expectations pertinent to these characteristics. these products are extensions of our personality and our culture, as constituted in expectations and values characteristic of the human species becoming self-aware and defining goals for the future. with language, and more so with literacy, markets become interpretive affairs, projective instantiations of what we are, in the process of becoming what we must be as the human scale reaches yet another threshold. human self-constitution through markets reflects attained levels of productive and creative power, as well as goals pertinent initially to survival, later to levels of well-being, and now to the complexity of the global scale of current and future human activity. from barter to the trading of commodities futures and stock options, from money to the cashless society, markets constitute frameworks for higher transaction efficiency, often equated with profit. the broad arguments, such as the market as semiosis, often stumble upon specific aspects: semiosis or not, practical experience or not, how come a rumor sends a company's stock into turmoil while an audited report goes unnoticed? the hidden structure of the processes discussed throughout this book might have more to do with explanations and predictive models than the many clarifications empowered by academic aura. products 'r' us the reality of the human being as sign-using animal (zoon semiotikon) corresponds to the fact that we project our individual reality into the reality of our existence through semiotic means. in the market, the three entities of sign processes meet: that which represents (representamen), that which is represented (object), and the process of interpretation (interpretant). these terms can be defined in the market context. the representamen is the repertory of signs that are identified in the market. these can be utility (usefulness of a certain product), rarity, quantity, type of material used to process the merchandise, imagination applied to the conception and creation of a product, and the technology used and the energy consumed in the manufacturing process, for example. people can be attracted by the most unexpected characteristics of merchandise, and can be enticed to develop addictions to color, form, brand name, odor. sometimes the representamen is price, which is supposed to reflect the elements listed above, as well as other pricing criteria: a trend, a product's sexiness; a buyer's gullibility, ego, or lack of economic sense. the price represents the product, although not always appropriately. the object is the product itself, be it a manufactured item, an idea, an action, a process, a business, or an index. except for the market based on exchange of object for object, every known market object is represented by some of its characteristics. that these representations might be far removed from the object only goes to show how many mediating entities participate in the market. nothing is a sign unless interpreted as a sign. someone has to be able to conjure, or endow, meaning and constitute something (an idea, object, or action) as part of one's self-constitution. this is the interpretant-understood as process, because interpretations can go on ad infinitum. for example: bread is food; an academic title acknowledges that a course of study was successfully completed; computers can be used as better typewriters or for data mining. as a sign, bread can stand for everything that it embodies: our daily bread; a certain culture of nourishment; the knowledge involved in cultivating and processing grain, in making dough, building the ovens, observing the baking process. symbolic interpretation, relating to myth or religion, is also part of the interpretation of bread as a sign. interpretation of an academic title follows a similar path: educational background (university attended, title conferred), context (there are streets on which mostly lawyers and doctors live), function (how the title affects one's activity), and future expectations (a prospective nobel prize winner). likewise with computers: intel inside, or netscape browser, networked or stand-alone, a big blue product, or one put together in the back alleys of some far eastern country. according to the premise that nothing is a sign unless considered as such, interpretation is equivalent to the constitution of human beings as the sign, represented through their product. a product is read as being useful; a product can be liked or disliked; a product can generate needs and expectations. self-constituting individuals validate themselves (succeed or fail) through their activity as represented by the product of this activity, be it tangible or intangible, a concrete object, a process (mediations are included here), an idea. these readings are also part of the process of interpretation. a conglomerate of the readings mentioned above is the mug shot of the abstract consumer, behind whom are all the others who constitute their individuality through the transactions that make up the market. a used car or computer salesman, a small retailer, and a university professor identify themselves in different ways in and through the market. each is represented by some characteristic feature of his or her work. each is interpreted in the market as reliable, competent, or creative in view of the pragmatics of the transaction: some people need a good used car, some a cheap, used computer, others a leather wallet, others an education or counsel. the forms of interpretation in the market are diverse and range from simple observation of the market to direct involvement in market mechanisms through products, exchange of goods, or legislation. as a place where the three elements-what is marketed (object), language or signs of marketing (representamen), and interpretation (leading to a transaction or not)-come together, the market can be direct or mediated, real or symbolic, closed or open, free or regulated. a produce market, a supermarket, a factory outlet, and a shopping mall are examples of real market space. the market takes on mediated, conventional, and symbolic aspects in the case where, for example, the product is not displayed in its three-dimensional reality but substituted by an image, a description, or a promise. mail-order houses, and the stock and futures markets belong here, even though they are derived from direct, real markets. once upon a time, wall street was surrounded by various exchanges filled with the odors, tastes, and textures of the products brought in by ships. it is now a battery of machines and traders who read signs on order slips or computer screens but know nothing of the product that is traded. in our day, the stock market has become a data processing center. pressures caused by the demand for optimal market efficiency were behind this transformation. nevertheless, the time involved in the new market semiosis is as real and necessary as the time of transactions in the market based on barter or on direct negotiations; that is, only the amount of time needed to ensure the cooperation of the three elements mentioned above, as human beings constitute themselves in the pragmatic context of the market. the pragmatic context affects market cycles and the speed at which market transactions take place. this is why a deal in a bazaar takes quite a bit of time, and digital transactions triggered by programmed trading are complete before anyone realizes their consequences. market regulations always affect the dynamics of mediations. the language of the market language signs and other signs are mediating devices between the object represented in the market and the interpretant-the human beings constituting themselves in the process of interpretation, including satisfaction of their needs and desires. no matter what type of market we refer to, it is a place and time of mediations. what defines each of the known markets (barter, farmers' markets and fairs, highly regulated markets, so-called free markets, underground markets) is the type of mediation more than the merchandise or the production process. of significance is the dynamic structure involved. it is obvious that if anything anticipated our current experience of the market, it was the ritual. objects (things, money, ideas, process), the language used to express the object, and the interpretation, leading or not to a transaction, constitute the structural invariable in every type of socio-economic environment. in the so-called free market (more an abstraction than a reality) and in rigidly planned economies, the relation among the three elements is the variable, not the elements themselves. interpretation in a given context can be influenced in the way associations are made between the merchandise and its representations. the history of language is rich in testimony to commerce, from the very simple to the very complex forms of the latter. language captures ownership characteristics, variations in exchange rates, the ever-expanding horizon of life facilitated through market transactions. it is within this framework that written records appear, thus justifying the idea that, together with practical experiences of human self-constitution, market processes characteristic of a limited scale of exchange of values are parents to notation, to writing and to literacy. expectations of efficiency are instantiated, within a given scale of human activity, in market quantities and qualities. nobody really calculates whether rice production covers the needs of humankind at any given instance, or if enough entertainment is produced for the billions living on earth today. the immense complexity of the market machine is reflected in its dynamics, which at a certain level of its evolution could no longer be handled by, or made subject to the rules and expectations of literacy. market processes follow a pattern of self-organization under the guise of many parameters, some of which we can control, others that escape our direct influence upon them. languages of extreme specialization are part of market dynamics in the sense that they offer practical contexts for new types of transactions. netconomy started as a buzzword, joining net, network, and economy. in less than one year, the term was used to describe a distributed commercial environment where extremely efficient transactions make up an increasing part of the global economy. but the consequences of the netconomy are also local: distribution channels can be eliminated, with the effect of accelerating commercial cycles and lowering prices. computers, cars, software, and legal services are more frequently acquired through the virtual shops of the netconomy. to see how the practical experience of the market freed itself from language and literacy, let us now examine the market process as semiosis in its various aspects. as already stated, in trading products, people trade themselves. various qualities of the product (color, smell, texture, style, design, etc.), as well as qualities of its presentation (advertising, packaging, vicinity to other products, etc.), and associated characteristics (prestige, ideology) are among the implicit components of this trade. sometimes the object per se-a new dress, a tool, wine, a home-is less important than the image it projects. secondary functions, such as aesthetics, pleasure, conformity, override the function of fulfilling needs. in market semiosis, desire proves to be just as important, if not more so, than need. in a large part of the world, self-constitution is no longer just a question of survival, but also one of pleasure. the higher the semiotic level of the market in a context of decadent plenty-the number of sign systems involved, their extent and variety-the more obvious the deviations from the rule of merely satisfying needs. human activity that aims at maintaining life is very different from the human activity that results in surplus and availability for market transaction. in the first case, a subsistence level is preserved; in the second, new levels of self-constitution are made possible. surplus and exchange, initially made possible through the practical experience of agriculture, constituted a scale of human activity that required human constitution in signs, sign systems, and finally language. surplus can be used in many ways, for which sign and later language differentiation became progressively necessary. rituals, adornment, war, religion, means of accumulation, and means of persuasion are examples of differentiations. all these uses pertained to settled patterns of human interaction and led to products that were more than mere physical entities to be consumed. to repeat, they were projections of individual self-constitution. behind each product is a cycle of conception, manufacture, and trade, and an attached understanding of utility and permanence. with the advent of writing and reading, from its rudimentary forms to the forms celebrated in literacy, and its participation in the constitution of the market, the avenue was opened towards using what was produced in surplus to cover the need to maintain life, so that more surplus could be generated. the market of merchandise, services, slaves, and ideas was completed by the market of salaried workers, earning money for their life's salt, as roman soldiers did. these belong to the category of human beings constituting themselves in the pragmatic framework of an activity in which production (work) and the means of production separated. the language through which workers constituted themselves underwent a similar differentiation. as work became more alienated from the product, a language of the product also came into being. the language of products exchanging goods pertinent to survival corresponds to a scale of human praxis that guarantees coherence and homogeneity. people who have excess grain but need eggs, people who offer meat because they need fruit or tools, do not require instructions for using what they obtain in exchange for what they offer. small worlds, loosely connected, constitute the universe of their existence. the rather slow rhythm of production cycles equals that of natural cycles. a relatively uniform lifestyle results from complementary practical experiences only slightly differentiated in structure. together, these characteristics constitute a framework of direct sharing of experience. this market, as limited as it is, forms part of the social mechanism for sharing experience. today's markets, defined by a complexity of mediations, are no longer environments of common or shareable experience. rather, they are frameworks of validation of one type of human experience against another. this statement requires some explanation. products embody not only material, design, and skills, but also a language of optimal functioning. thus they project a variety of ways through which people constitute themselves through the language of these products. accordingly, the market becomes a place of transaction for the many languages our products speak. the complexity of everything we produce in the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy is the result of expectations made possible by levels of human efficiency that literacy can only marginally support. this comes at a cost, in addition to the dissolution of literacy: the loss of a sense of quality, because each product carries with itself not only its own language, but also its own evaluation criteria. the product is one of many from which to choose, each embodying its own justification. its value is relative, and sometimes no value at all dictates the urge to buy, or the decision to look for something else. rules of grammar, which gave us a sense of order and quality of literate language use, do not apply to products. previous expectations of morality were anchored in language and conveyed through means of literacy. the morality of partial literacies embodied in competing products no longer appears to participants in the market as emanating from high principles of religion or ethics, but rather as a convenient justification for political influence. through regulation, politics inserts itself as a self-serving factor in market transactions. transaction and literacy a visit to a small neighborhood store used to be primarily a way of satisfying a particular need, but also an instance of communication. such small markets were spaces where members of the community exchanged news and gossip, usually with an accuracy that would put today's journalism to shame. the supermarket is a place where the demands of space utilization, fast movement of products, and low overhead make conversation counterproductive. mail-order markets and electronic shopping practically do away with dialogue. they operate beyond the need for literacy and human interaction. transactions are brought to a minimum: selection, confirmation, and providing a credit card number, or having it read automatically and validated via a networked service. literacy-based transactions involved all the characteristics of written language and all the implications of reading pertinent to the transaction. literacy contributed to the diversification of needs and to a better expression of desires, thus helping markets to diversify and reach a level of efficiency not possible otherwise. with required education and laws prohibiting child labor, the productive part of people's lives was somehow reduced, but their ability to be more effective within modes adapted to literacy was enhanced. thus market cycles were optimized by the effects of higher productivity and diversified demands. from earliest times (going back to the phoenician traders), writing and the subsequent literacy contributed to strategies of exchange, of taxation- which represents the most direct form of political intervention in the market-and regulations regarding many aspects of the constitution of human beings in and through the market. written contracts expressed expectations in anticipation of literacy- supported planning. there are many levels between the extraction and processing of raw material and the final sale and consumption of a product. at each level, a different language is constituted, very concrete in some instances, very abstract in others. these languages are meant to speed up processing and transaction cycles, reduce risk, maximize profits, and ensure the effectiveness of the transaction on a global level. literacy cannot uniformly accommodate these various expectations. the distributive nature of market transactions cannot be held captive to the centralism of literacy without affecting the efficiency of market mediation. the ruin left after years of central planning in the soviet union and its satellite countries-highly literate societies-is proof of this point. the expected speed of market processes and the parallelism of negotiations require languages of optimal functionality and minimal ambiguity. sometimes transactions have to rely on visual arguments, well beyond what teleconferencing can offer. products and procedures are modified during negotiations, and on-the-fly, through interactive links between all parties involved in the effort of designing, manufacturing, and marketing them. as fashion shows become prohibitively expensive, the fashion market is exploring interactive presentations that put the talent of the designer and the desire of the public one click away from each other. the expectation of freedom results in the need to ignore national or political (and cultural and religious) allegiances, which, after all, means freedom from the literate mode of a national language, as well as from all the representations and definitions of freedom housed in literate discourse. indeed, since sign systems, and language in particular, are not neutral means of expression, one individual has to specialize in the signs of other cultures. there are consulting firms that advise businesses on the cultural practices of various countries. they deal in what robert reich called symbol manipulation, semiotic activity par excellence. these firms explain to clients doing business in japan, for instance, that the japanese have a penchant for exchanging gifts. business cards, more symbolic than functional, are of great importance. these consultants will also advise on customs that fall outside values instilled through literacy, such as in which countries bribery is the most efficient way to do business. whose market? whose freedom? a market captive to moral or political concepts expressed in literate discourse soon reaches the limits of its efficiency. we face these limits in a different way when ideals are proclaimed or negotiations submitted to rules reflecting values attached to expectations-of a certain standard of living, fringe benefits-frozen in contracts and laws. many european countries are undergoing the crisis of their literate heritage because outdated working relations have been codified in labor laws. contracts between unions claiming to represent various types of workers are not subject to criteria for efficiency at work in the market. on the other hand, the freedom and rights written into the u.s. constitution are totally forgotten in the global marketplace by people who take them for granted. an american-even a member of a minority group-who buys a pair of brand-name sneakers is totally ignorant of the fact that the women, and sometimes the children, making those sneakers in faraway countries earn less than subsistence wages. it is not the market that is immoral or opportunistic in such cases, but the people who constitute their expectations for the most at the lowest cost. would literacy be a stronger force than the demand for efficiency in bringing about the justice discussed in tomes of literature? to read morality in the market context of competition, where only efficiency and profit are written, is a rather futile exercise, even though it might alleviate pangs of conscience. markets, the expression of the people who constitute them, are realistic, even cynical; they call things by their names and have no mercy on those who try to reinvent an idealized past in the transaction of futures. for reasons of efficiency only, markets are frameworks for the self-constitution of human beings as free, enjoying liberties and rights that add to their productive capabilities. it will probably irk many people to read here that markets, instances of terrible tension and amorality, are the cradle of human freedom, tolerance (political, social, religious, intellectual), and creativity. to a great extent, it was a fight over market processes that led to the american revolution. now that soviet-style communism has fallen, the flow of both goods and ideas is slowly and painfully taking place, in ways similar to that in the west, in the former soviet bloc. democratic ideals and the upward distribution of wealth are on a collision course. but the compass is at least set on more freedom and less regulation. only mainland china remains in the grip of centralized market control. the struggle between open markets and the free flow of ideas going on there today can have only one outcome. it may take time, but china, too, will one day be as free as its neighbors in taiwan. market interaction is what defines human beings, facilitating the establishment of a framework of existence that includes others. some people would prefer a confirmation of culture as the more encompassing framework, containing markets but not reducible to them. culture itself is an object in the market, subjected to transactions involving literacy, but not exclusively. here new languages are used to expedite the exchange of goods and values. when literacy reaches the limits of its implicit capabilities, new transaction languages emerge, and new forms of freedom, tolerance, and creativity are sanctioned through the market mechanism. there is a price attached here, too. new constraints, new types of intolerance, and new obstacles come about. an example is the preservation of wildlife at the expense of jobs. efficiency and wide choice entail a replacement of what are known as traditional values (perceived as eternal, but usually not older than - years) with what many would have a hard time calling value: mediocrity, the transitory, the expedient, and the propensity for waste. the market circumvents literacy when literacy affects its efficiency and follows its own course by means appropriate to new market conditions. in the quest for understanding how markets operate, the further cultivation of explanations originating from previous pragmatic circumstances is pointless. the time-consuming detour might result in nostalgia, but not in better mastery of the complexities implicit in the practical experience of human self-constitution in the market. new markets, new languages with the descriptive model of markets as sign processes, allusion was made to the open character of any transaction. with the discussion regarding the many phases through which markets are constituted, allusion was made to the distributed nature of market processes. in order to further explain the changed condition of human self- constitution in the market of a radically new scale and dynamics, we need to add some details to both characteristics mentioned. like any other sign process, language processes are human processes. the person speaking or writing a text continues to constitute his identity in one or the other, while simultaneously anticipating the constitutive act of listening to or interpreting the potential or intended readership. visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, verbal, or written expression, as well as combinations of these, which composes the language of performance, dance, architecture, etc., are in the same condition. a viewer or viewers can associate an image with a text, music, odors, textures, or with combinations of these. furthermore, the association can continue and can be conveyed to others who will extend it ad infinitum, sometimes so far that the initial sign (which is the initial person interpreting that sign in anticipation of the interpretation given by others), i.e., the image, text, or music that triggered the process, is forgotten. expanding this concept to the products of human activity, we can certainly look at various artifacts from the perspective of what they express-a need specifically fulfilled by a machine, a product, a type of food or clothing, an industry; what they communicate-the need shared by few or many, the way this need is addressed, what it says about those constituted in the product and those who will confirm their identity by using it, what it says about opportunity and risk taking; andwhat they signify-in terms of the level of knowledge and competence achieved. this is not to say that the milk we buy from a farmer or in the supermarket, the shoes, cars, homes, vacation packages, and shares in a company or options in a stock are all signs or language. rather, they can be interpreted as signs standing for an object (the state of manufacturing, quality of design, competence, or a combination of these) to be interpreted in view of the framework for the pragmatics of human self- constitution that the pragmatics makes possible. there are many instances when a word simply dies on the lips of the speaker because nobody listens or nobody cares to continue interpreting it. there are as many instances when a product dies because it is irrelevant to the pragmatic framework of our lives. there are other instances when signs lose the quality of interpretability. a company that goes public is identified through many qualifiers. its potential growth is one of them-this is why internet-oriented companies were so highly valued in their initial public offerings. potential can be conveyed through literate descriptions, data regarding patents, market analysis, or an intuitive element that there is more to this new market sign than only its name and initial offering price. at a small scale of human experience, the neighbors wanted to own some of the action; at a larger scale, literacy conveyed the information and acted as a co-guarantor. at today's scale, many similar businesses are already in place, others are emerging; supply and demand meet in the marketplace where one's risk can be someone else's gain. literacy is no longer capable of providing the background for the dynamics of change and renewal. if literacy could still control market transactions, netscape-synonymous with the internet browser-would have never made it; nor the companies that develop software facilitating telephone calls via the internet. in the markets of relative homogeneity, language proved to be an appropriate means of coordination. for as long as the various contexts making up today's global market were not as radically different as they are becoming, literacy represented a good compromise. but when market transactions themselves shift from exchanging goods against goods, or the exchange of goods for some universal substitute (gold, silver, precious stones with qualities of permanency), or even for a more conventional unit (money), for more abstract entities, such as the ecu (the basket of currencies of the european community), the eurodollar, or the e-money transacted over networks, literacy is replaced by the literacies of the segmented practical instances of each transaction. shares of an italian or spanish company, futures on the american commodities market, bonds for third world investment funds-they all come with their own rules of transaction, and with their own languages. the specialization that increases market efficiency results in a growing number of literacies. these literacies bring to the market the productive potential of companies and their management value. they encode levels of expected productivity in farming (and a certain wager on weather conditions), entrepreneurial risks assumed within the context of progressive globalization of the economy. in turn, they can be encoded in programs designed to negotiate with other programs. in addition, the mechanisms assuring the distributed nature of the market in the global economy insert other literacies, in this case, the literacy of machines endowed with search and heuristic capabilities independent of literacy. market simulations trigger intelligent trade programs and a variety of intelligent agents, capable of modifying their behavior, and achieve higher and higher transaction performance. in short, we have many mediations against the background of a powerful integrative process: the pragmatic framework of a highly segmented economy, working in shorter production cycles, for a global world. in this process, almost nothing remains sequential, and nothing is centralized. put in different words, almost all market activity takes place in parallel processes. configurations, i.e., changing centers of interest, come into existence on the ever fluid map of negotiations. being a self-organizing nucleus, each deal has its own dynamics. relations among configurational nuclei are also dynamic. everything is distributed. the relations between the elements involved are non-linear and change continuously. solidarity is replaced by competition, often fiercely adversarial. thus the market consumes itself, and the sequels of literacy, requiring provisional and distributed literacies. each time individuals project their identity in a product, the multi-dimensional human experience embodied in the product is made available for exchange with others. in the market, it is reduced to the dimension appropriate to the given context of the transaction. human behavior in the market is symptomatic of the self-awareness of the species, of its critical and self-critical capabilities, of its sense of the future. the progressive increase of the abstract nature of market transactions, the ominous liberation from literacy, and adoption of technologies of efficient exchange define a sense of future which can be quite scary for people raised in a different pragmatic context. we are beyond the disjunctive models of socialist ideologies of bourgeois property, class differences, reproduction of labor power, and similar categories that emerged in the pragmatic framework that made literacy (and human constitution through literacy) possible and necessary. property, as much as markets, is distributed (sometimes in ways that do not conform with our sense of fairness). people define their place in the continuum of a society that in many ways does away with the exceptional and introduces a model based on averaging and resulting in mediocrity. the human being's self-constitutive power is not only reproduced in new instances of practical activity, but also augmented in the pragmatics of surplus creating higher surplus. along with the sense of permanency, humans lose a sense of the exceptional as this applies to their products and the way they constitute themselves through their work. literacy and the transient when a product is offered with a lifetime warranty and the manufacturer goes bankrupt within months from the date of the sales transaction, questions pertaining to ethics, misrepresentation, and advertisement are usually asked. such incidents, to which no one is immune, cannot be discarded since the experience of market transactions is an experience in human values, no matter how relative these are. honesty, respect for truth, respect for the given word, written or not, belong to the civilization of literacy and are expressed in its books. the civilization of illiteracy renders these and all other books senseless. but it would be wrong to suggest that markets of the civilization of illiteracy corrupt everything and that, instead of confirming values, they actually empty values of significance. markets do something else: they integrate expectations into their own mechanisms. in short, they have to live up to expectations not because these were written down, but because markets would otherwise not succeed. how this takes place is a longer story, starting with the example given: what happens to a lifetime warranty when the manufacturer goes bankrupt? the pragmatic framework of human self-constitution in language through the use of the powerful means of literacy is one of stability and progressive growth. the means of production facilitated in this framework are endowed with qualities, physical, first of all, that guarantee permanency. the industrial model is an extension of the model of creation deeply rooted in literacy-dominated human activity. machines were powerful and dominating. they, as well as the products they turned out, lasted much longer than the generation of people who use them. after participating in the complex circumstances that made the industrial revolution possible, literacy was stimulated and supported by it. incandescent lighting, more powerful than the gas or oil lamp, expanded the time available for reading, among other activities. books were printed faster and more cheaply because paper was produced faster and more cheaply, and the printing press was driven by stronger engines. more time was available for study because industrial society discovered that a qualified workforce was more productive once machines become more complicated. all this happened against the background of an obsession with permanency reflected also in the structure of the markets. as opposed to agricultural products, subject to weather and time, industrial products can be accepted on consignment. literacy was a mediating tool here since transactions became less and less homogeneous, and the institution of credit more powerful due to the disparity between production and consumption cycles. the scale of the industrial market corresponded to the scale of industrial economy. industrial markets are optimally served by the sequential nature of literacy and the linearity inherent in its structure. production cycles are long, and one cycle follows the other, like seasons, like letters in a word. remember when new model automobiles came out in october, and only in october? a large manufacturer embodied permanence and so did its product. in this framework, a lifetime warranty reflects a product's promised performance and the language describing this performance. this is no longer the case in the civilization of illiteracy. from the design of the product, to the materials used and principles applied, almost nothing is meant to last beyond a cycle of optimal efficiency. it is not a moral decision, neither is it a devious plan. different expectations are embodied in our products. their life cycle reflects the dynamics of change corresponding to the new scale of human self-constitution, and the obsession with efficiency. products become transient because the cycles of relative uniformity of our self-constitution are shorter. we know that life expectancy has increased, and it may well be that people past the peak of their productive capability will soon represent the majority of the population. nonetheless, the increased level of productivity facilitated by mediating strategies is independent of this change. longer life means presence in more cycles of change (which translates into other changes, such as in education and training, family life). what was once a relatively homogeneous life becomes a succession of shorter periods, some only loosely connected. in comparison to centuries of slow, incremental development, relatively abrupt change testifies to a new human condition. where once literacy was necessary to coordinate the variety of contributions from many people-who projected as much permanency in their products, even if the individuals were more literate in drawing than in writing-new forms of coordination and integration are now in place. the corresponding pragmatics is characterized by intension and distribution, and the products capture the projected sense of change that dominates all human experiences. thus conditions were created for markets of the transient, in which lifetime functioning of ingenious artifacts is promised, because the lifetime meant is as short as the cycle of the entire line. the fact that the manufacturer goes bankrupt is not even surprising since the structural characteristics of the obsession with efficiency results in manufacturing entities that last as long (or as short) as the need for their product, or as long as the functional characteristics of the product satisfy market expectations. this is how expectations are integrated in market mechanisms. since mediation is now exercised through many literacies integrated in the product, it is clear why, together with the exhausted lifetime warranty, we throw away not only manufactured items, but also the literacy (and literacies) embodied in them. each transaction in the transient corresponds to a pragmatics that transforms the faustian promise into an advertising slogan. market, advertisement, literacy first, the indictment: "if i were asked to name the deadliest subversive force within capitalism-the single greatest source of its waning morality-i should without hesitation name advertising." these words belong to a commentator of the ill-reputed supply side economics, robert l. heilbroner, but could have been signed by many sharing in this definition. now comes the apologia: "the historians and archaeologists will one day discover that ads of our times are the richest and most faithful daily reflections that any society ever made of its entire range of activities." mcluhan's words, as familiar as they are, bear the imprint of his original thinking. the issue is not to take sides. whether admired or despised, ignored or enjoyed, advertisement occupies an inordinately important place in our life today. for anyone who went through the history of advertisement, it becomes obvious that the scale of this activity, which is indeed part of the market, has changed radically. it used to be true that only to percent of the investment in advertisement resulted in higher sales or brand recognition. today, the to percent has shrunk to less than percent. but of the percent that impacts the market, percent (or less) results in covering the entire expense of advertisement. such levels of efficiency-and waste, one should add, in full awareness that the notion is relative-are possible only in the civilization of illiteracy. the figures (subject to controversy and multiple interpretation) point to efficiency as much as to the various aspects of the market. our concern with advertisement is not only with how literate (or illiterate) advertisement is, but also with how appropriate literacy means can be to address psychological, ethical, and rational (or irrational) aspects of market transactions. a look at advertisements through the centuries is significant to the role of literacy in society and in the world of merchandising. word-of-mouth advertising and hanging signs outside a business reflect the literacy levels of an age of small-scale market transactions. the advertisements of the end of the th and beginning of the th century exemplify the levels of literacy and the efficiency expected from it for merchandising in the context and scale of that time. the ads contain more text than image and address reason more than the senses. in the age of the magazine and newspaper, advertisers relied on the power of verbal persuasion. honesty or value was not the issue here, only its appearance. the word committed to paper, black on white, had to be simple and true. in europe, advertisement took a different style at this time, but still reflected value. manufacturers engaged many well known artists of the time to design their ads. henri toulouse-lautrec, el lissitzky, and herbert bayer are among the best known. to the highly literate but more artistically inclined europeans of the time, such ads for upscale products and events were more appealing. probably taking their cue from europe, american designers experimented with image advertising after world war ii, and graphic design took off in the usa. with the advent of more powerful visualization media, and based on data from psychology to support its effectiveness, the image began to dominate advertising. as ambiguously as an image can be interpreted, its efficiency in advertising was confirmed in rising sales figures. in the rare cases when literacy is used today, it is usually for its visual impact. in an attempt to relate to the qualities of the black-on-white advertisement of earlier times, mobil started a series of ads in the mid- 's. to those not semiotically aware, the ad was simply text appealing to the reader's reason. literacy rediviva! to people attuned to semiotics, the ad was a powerful visual device. the simple tombstone style evoked relations between literacy and values such as simplicity, honesty, the permanence of the idea, the dominance of reason. the visual convention was actually stronger than the literacy element, used as an alibi in these ads. indeed, the people who hand out the clio awards for advertising were so taken in as to award mobil a first prize for these ads. markets are far from being simple causal phenomena. a market's easy switch from a well structured, rational interpretation and ethical conduit, to irrationality and misrepresentation is revealed in the new forms markets take, as well as in their new techniques for transactions and the associated advertisement. the term irrationality describes a contradiction of common sense rules (or economic theories setting them forth) of exchange of goods. during the 's, this occurred in the oil market, the art market, the market for adoptable children, and in new stock market offerings. the literate discourse of theories or of an advertisement can only acknowledge the irrationality and suggest explanations. there are schools of market analysis based on game theory, psychodrama, cyclical modeling, the phases of the moon, etc., etc., each producing newsletters, giving advice, trying to render understandable economic and financial phenomena difficult to predict. language-like explanations and advice are part of advertising, part of market language, forming its own literacy and keeping many captive to it. but even the most literate participant cannot stop the process since the literacy involved in what some perceive as an aberration is different from the literacy embodied in the product traded or in its advertisement. irrational elements are present in the market, as in life, at all times, but not to the extent to which the language of the market reflects hysteria (as on black monday in on the new york stock exchange) or simply ceases its pragmatic function. we all deplore the continuous shrinking of the intimate sphere of our lives, but admit, in the act of constituting ourselves in the space and time of market transactions, the integrating power that the market exercises, ignoring how close the relation between the two aspects is. literacy was once a protective medium and entailed rules of discretion and decency. illiteracy makes us fear; it allows us to become more efficient, but at the same time we become subject to intrusion by all the means that capture our identity. people making purchases on-line will not hesitate to write down their personal data and credit card numbers, trusting in a sense of privacy that is part of the code of literate behavior. of all people, the computer-literate should realize the power of the net for searching, retrieving, and sorting such information for all types of uses imaginable. in the civilization of illiteracy, advertisement is no longer an integrative device that addresses a non-differentiated market but a device that addresses powerful distinctions that can capture smaller groups, even the individual. "tell me what you want to buy or sell and i'll tell you who you are," is a concise way of declaring how market semiosis x-rays its participants. the enormous marketing efforts associated with a new brand of cereal, software, a political campaign, a role in a movie, or a sports event result in advertisement's becoming a language in itself, with its own vocabulary and grammar. these are subject to rapid change because the pragmatics of the activities they represent change so fast. "tell me what you buy and i'll tell you who you are"-mug shots of all of us are taken continuously, by extremely inventive digital devices, while the market fine-tunes us. buying products ended long ago. products now buy us. advertising in the civilization of illiteracy is no longer communication or illustration. it is an information processing activity, bizarre at times, extremely innovative in the ability to cross reference information and fine-tune the message to the individual. automatic analysis of data is complemented by refinement methods that adjust the weight of words in order to fit the addressee. in the reality of the market and its attendant advertising, languages pertaining to art, education, ideology, sexuality, are integrated at a high level of sophistication in the infinite series of mediations that constitute the pragmatic framework of human existence. nothing is more valuable than the knowledge of who we are. one can risk stating that brokers of information about each of us will probably fare best in this market of many competing partial literacies. when markets rely more and more on mediations, and market cycles become faster and faster, when the global nature of transactions requires mechanisms of differentiation and integration far beyond the scope of language, literacy ceases to play a dominating role. the literate message assumed that the human being is the optimal source of information and the ideal receiver. the illiterate message can send itself automatically, as image or as speech, as video or as internet spamming, whatever best hits its human target, to people's addresses. whether we like it or not, face-to-face negotiations have already become fax-to-fax and are bound to be converted into program-to-program dealings. the implications are so far-reaching that emotional reactions, such as enthusiasm or disgust, are not really the best answer to this prospect. market pragmatics in our civilization is defined by the need to continuously expand surplus to meet a dominant desire and expectation driven exchange of goods and services. these desires and expectations correspond to the global scale of human interaction for which a dominant literacy is poorly suited. hundreds of literacies, representing hundreds of forms of human self-constitution around the world, are integrated in the supersign known as the market. the market-in its narrow sense as transaction, and as a sign process joining structure and dynamics-focuses all that pertains to the relation between the individual and the social environment: language, customs, mores, knowledge, technology, images, sounds, odors, etc. through the market, economies are ascertained or subjected to painful restructuring. recent years brought with them turmoil and economic opportunity as an expression of new pragmatic characteristics. competition, specialization, cooperation, were all intensified. an exciting but just as often disconcerting growth path of economic activity generated markets of high performance. just-in-time, point-of-sale, and electronic interchanges came into being because the human pragmatic made them necessary. this is why it is difficult to accept views, regardless of their public acclaim, that explain the dynamics of economic life through technological change. the increased speeds of economic cycles are not parallel but related to the new practical experiences of human self-constitution. cognitive resources became the main commodity for economic experiences. and the market fully confirms this through mechanisms for accelerated transactions and through sign processes of a complexity that technology has really never reached. new algorithms inspired by dynamic systems, intelligent agent models, and better ways to handle the issues of opportunity and prediction are the expression of cognitive resources brought to fruition in a context requiring freedom from hierarchy, centralism, sequentiality, and determinism. as exciting as the model of the economy as ecosystem is (i refer to rothschild's bionomics), it remains an essentially deterministic view. no semiosis triggers forces of economic change. but sign processes, in the form of elaborate transactions, reflect the change in the pragmatic condition of the human being. all those new companies, from fast food chains to microchip makers and robot providers that convert human knowledge into the new goods and services, are the expression of the necessity of this pragmatic change. diversity and abundance might be related to competition and cooperation, but what drives economic life, market included, is the objective need to achieve levels of efficiency corresponding to the global scale human activity has reached. central planning, like any other centralized structure, including that of businesses, does not come to an end because of technological progress, but in view of the fact that it prevents efficient practical experiences. markets of the civilization of illiteracy, like the economy for which they stand, are more and more mediated. they go through faster cycles, their swings wilder, their interdependency deeper than ever. the literate experience of the market assumed that the individual was the optimal source of information and the ideal receiver. decision- making was an exclusively human experience. the illiterate message of complex data processing and evaluation can send itself automatically and reach whatever has to be reached in a given context: producers of raw materials, energy providers, manufacturers, a point-of-sale unit. as shoppers start scanning their purchases by themselves, information regarding their buying patterns makes it quickly into programs in charge of delivery, production, and marketing. face-to-face negotiations, many times replaced by fax-to-fax or e-mail-to-e-mail transactions, are converted into more program-to-program dealings. instead of mass markets, we experience point-cast markets. their pragmatics is defined by the need to continuously meet desire and expectation instead of need. their dynamics, expressed in nuclei of self-organization, is in the last instance not at all different from that of the human beings self-constituted in their reality. language and work work is a means of self-preservation beyond the primitive experience of survival. actually, one can apply the word work only from the moment awareness of human self- constitution in practical experiences emerged from these experiences. awareness of work and the beginnings of language are probably very close to one another. by work we understand patterns of human activity, not the particulars of one or another form of work. this defines a functional perspective first of all, and allows us to deal with replication of these patterns. interaction, mutation, growth, spreading, and ending are part of the pattern. for anyone even marginally informed, it is quite clear that work patterns of agriculture are quite different from those of the pre-industrial, industrial, or post-industrial age. our aim is to examine work patterns of the civilization of literacy in contrast to those of the civilization of illiteracy. that agriculture was determined, in its specific aspects, by different topography and climatic biological context is quite clear. nevertheless, the people constituting their identity in experiences of cultivating the land accomplished it in coherent ways, regardless of their geographic location. their language experience testifies to an identifiable set of concerns, questions, and knowledge which is, despite the fragmented picture of the world, more homogenous than we could expect. if, by contrast, one considers a chip foundry of today's high technology, it becomes clear how chip producers in silicon valley and those in chinese provinces, in russia, or in a developing country of eastern europe, asia, or africa share the same language and the same concerns. the example of agriculture presents a bottom-up structure of pre-literate nature, based mainly on reaction. reaction slowly but surely led to more deliberate choices. experience converged in repetitive patterns. the more efficient experiences were confirmed, the others discarded. a body of knowledge was accumulated and transmitted to everyone partaking in survival activities. in the case of the chip foundry, the structure is top-down: goals and reasons are built in, and so is the critical knowledge of a post-literate nature required for achieving high efficiency. skills are continuously perfected through reinforcement schemes. activity is programmed. an explicit notion of the factory's goals-high quality, high efficiency, high adaptability to new requirements-is built into the entire factory system. in both models, corresponding to real-life situations, language is constituted as part of the experience. indeed, coordination of effort, communication, record keeping, and transmission of knowledge are continuously requested. as a replicative process, work implies the presence of language as an agent of transfer. language pertinent to the experience of agriculture is quite different from the language pertinent to the modern production of chips. one is more natural than the other, i.e., its connection to the human being's natural stage is stronger than that of the activity in the foundry. in the chip age of the civilization of illiteracy, languages of extreme precision become the means for an efficient practical experience. their functions are different from those of natural language, which by all means still constitutes a medium for human interaction. all these remarks are meant to provide a relatively comfortable entry to the aspects of the changing relation between language and work. the terminology is based on today's fashionable lingo of genetics, and of memetics, its counterpart. still, i would suggest more than caution, because memetics focuses on the quantitative analysis of cultural dynamics, while semiotics, which represents the underlying conception, is concerned primarily with qualitative aspects. as we have already seen, evolutionary biology became a source of metaphors for the new sciences of economics, as well as for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, or the replication of ideas. many people are at work in the new scientific space of memetic considerations. the majority are focused on effective procedures, probably computational in nature, for generating mechanisms that will result in improved human interactions. as exciting as all this is, qualitative considerations might prove no less beneficial, if indeed we could translate them in effective practical experiences. if the purposeful character of all living organisms can be seen as an inevitable consequence of evolution, the dynamics of human activity, reflected in successive pragmatic frameworks, goes beyond the mechanism of natural selection. this is exactly where the sign perspective of human interaction, including that in work, differentiates itself from the quantitative viewpoint. as long as selection itself is a practical experience-choose from among possibilities-it becomes difficult to use selection in order to explain how it takes place. in the tradition of analogies to machines-of yesterday or of today-we could look at work as a machine capable of self-reproduction (von neumann's concept). in the new tradition of memetics, work would be described as a replicative complex unit, probably a meta-meme. but both analogies are focused ultimately on information exchange, which is only a limited part of what sign processes (or semioses, as they are called) are. this is not to say that work is reducible to sign processes or to language. what is of interest is the connection between work and signs, or language. moreover, how pragmatic frameworks and characteristics of language experiences are interconditioned is a subject that involves a memetic perspective, but is not reducible to it. inside and outside the world comparisons of the efficiency of direct human practical experiences to that of mediated forms-with the aid of tools, signs, or languages-suggest one preliminary observation: the efficiency of the action mediated through sign systems is higher than that of direct action. the source of this increase in efficiency is the cognitive effort to adapt the proper means (how work is done) to the end (what is accomplished) pursued. in retrospect, we understand that this task is of a tall order-it involves observation, comparison, and the ability to conceive of alternatives. as we learn from attempts involving the best of science and the best of technology, the emulation of such cognitive processes, especially as they evolve over time, is not yet within our reach. language, together with all other sign systems, is an integral part of the process of constitution and affirmation of human nature. the role it plays in the process is dynamic. it corresponds to the different pragmatic contexts in which human beings project their structural reality into the reality of their universe of life. the biophysical system within which this projection took and takes place underwent and still undergoes major changes. they are reflected in the biophysical reality of the human being itself. to be part of a changing world and to observe this change places the human being simultaneously inside and outside the world: inside as part of it, as a genetic sequence; outside as its conscience, expressed in all the forms through which awareness, including that of work, is externalized. whether a very restricted (limited by the pragmatic horizon of primitive human beings), or a potentially universal system of expression, representation, and communication, language cannot be conceived independent of human nature. neither can it be conceived independent of other means of expression, representation, and communication. the necessity of language is reflected in the degree to which evolutionary determination and self-determination of the individual or of society, correlate. language is constituted in human practical experiences. at the same time, it is constitutive, together with many other elements of human praxis: biological endowment, heuristics and logic, dialectic, training. this applies to the most primitive elements of language we can conceive of, as well as to today's productive languages. embodied in literacy, language accounts for the ever-deepening specialization and fragmentation of human praxis. the replacement of the literate use of language by the illiteracy of the many languages dismissing it in work, market transactions, and even social life is the process to which we are at the same time witnesses and agents of change. sign systems of all kinds, but primarily language, housed and stored many of the projects that changed the condition of praxis. the major changes are: from direct to mediated, from sequential to parallel, from centralized to decentralized, from clustered (in productive units such as factories) to distributed, from dualistic (right or wrong) to multi-valued (along the continuum of acceptable engineering solutions), from deterministic to non-deterministic and chaotic, from closed (once a product is produced, the problem-solving cycle is completed) to open (human practical experiences are viewed as problem generating), from linear to non-linear. each of these changes, in turn, made the structural limits of language more and more evident. practical experiences in the design of languages, in particular the new languages of visualization, are pushing these limits in order to accommodate new expectations, such as increased expressiveness, higher processing speed, inter-operability-an image can trigger further operations. globality of human practical experience succeeds against the background of the emergence of many languages that are very specific, though global in scope in that they can be applied all over the world. the chip factory already mentioned-or, for that matter, an integrated pizza or hamburger production facility-can be delivered turn-key in any corner of the world. the languages of mathematics, of engineering, or of genetics might independently be characterized by the same sequentiality, dualism, centralism, determinism that made natural language itself incapable of handling complexities resulting from the new scale of human activity. once integrated in practical experiences of a different nature, such as those of automation, they all allow for a new dynamics. obviously, they are less expressive than language-we have yet to read a dna sequence poem, or listen to the music of a mathematical formula-but infinitely more precise. we are what we do in the contemporary world, communication is progressively reified and takes place more and more through the intermediary of the product. its source is human work. characteristics of the languages involved in the work are also projected into them. a new underlying structure replaces that which made literacy possible and necessary. in the physical or spiritual reality of the product, specialized languages are re-translated into the universal language of satisfying needs, or creating new needs, which are afterwards processed through the mediating mechanisms of the market. reification (from the latin res: transformation of everything-life, language, feeling, work-into things) is the result of the alienating logic of the market and its semiosis. markets abstract individual contributions to a product. in the first place, language itself is reified and consumed. markets reify this contribution, turning life, energy, doubts, time, or whatever else-in particular language-into the commodity embodied in the product. the very high degree of integration leads to conditions in which high efficiency-the most possible at the lowest price-becomes a criterion for survival. the consequence is that human individuality is absorbed in the product. people literally put their lives, and everything pertaining to them-natural history, education, family, feelings, culture, desires-in the outcome of their practical experiences. this absorption of the human being into the product takes place at different levels. in the second place, the individual constituted in work is also reified and consumed: the product contains a portion of the limited duration of the lives of those who processed it. each form of mediated work depends upon its mediating entities. as one form of work is replaced by another, more efficient, the language that mediated is replaced by other means. languages of coordination corresponding to hunting, or those of incipient agriculture, made way for subsequent practical experience of self-constitution in language. this applies to any and all forms of work, whether resulting in agricultural, industrial, artistic, or ideological products. the metaphors of genetics and evolutionary models can be applied. we can describe the evolution of work in memetic terminology, but we would still not capture the active role of sign processes. moreover, human reproduction, between its sexual and its cultural forms, would become meaningless if separated from the pragmatic framework through which human self-constitution takes place. to illustrate how language is consumed, let us shortly examine what happens in the work we call education. in our day, the need for continual training increases dramatically. the paradigm of a once-for-life education is over, as much as literacy is over. shorter production cycles require changes of tools and the pertinent training. a career for life, possible while the linear progress of technology required only maintenance of skills and slight changes of knowledge, is an ideal of the past. efficiency requirements translate into training strategies that are less costly and less permanent than those afforded through literacy. these strategies produce educated operators as training itself becomes a product, offered by training companies whose list of clients includes fast food chains, nuclear energy producers, frozen storage facilities, the u.s. congress, and computer operations. the market is the place where products are transacted and where the language of advertising, design, and public relations is consumed. training, too, focused more and more on non-literate means of communication, is consumed. literacy and the machine man built machines which imitated the human arm and its functions, and thus changed the nature of work. the skills needed to master such machines were quite different from the skills of craftsmen, no longer transmitted from generation to generation, and less permanent. the industrial revolution made possible levels of efficiency high enough to allow for the maintenance of both machines and workers. it also made possible the improvement of machines and required better qualified operators, who were educated to extract the maximum from the means of production entrusted to them. at present, due to the integrative mechanisms that humans have developed in the processes of labor division, natural language has lost, and keeps losing, importance in the population's practical experience. the lower quality of writing, reading, and verbal expression, as they apply to self-constitution through work and social life, is symptomatic of a new underlying structure for the pragmatic framework. literacy-based means of expression and communication are substituted, not just complemented, by other forms of expression and communication. or they are reduced to a stereotyped repertory that is easy to mechanize, to automate, and finally, to do away with. overseeing an automated assembly line, serving a sophisticated machine, participating in a very segmented activity without having a real overview of it, and many similar functions ultimately means to be part of a situation in which the subject's competence is progressively reduced to fit the task. before being rationalized away, it is stereotyped. the language involved, in addition to that of engineering, is continuously compressed, trimmed according to the reduced amount of communication possible or necessary, and according to situations that change continuously and very fast. today, a manual for the maintenance and repair of a highly sophisticated machine or weapon contains fewer words than images. the words still used can be recorded and associated with the image. or the whole manual can become a videotape, laser disk, or cd-rom, even network-distributed applications, to be called upon when necessary. the machine can contain its computerized manual, displaying pages (on the screen) appropriate to the maintenance task performed, generating synthesized speech for short utterances, and for canned dialogues. here are some oddly related facts: the treasury designs dollar bills that will tell the user their denomination; cars are already equipped with machines to tell us that we forgot to lock the door or fasten our seat belt; greeting cards contain voice messages (and in the future they will probably contain animated images). we can see in such gadgets a victory of the most superficial tastes people might have. but once the gratuitous moment is over, and first reactions fade away, we face a pragmatic situation which, whether synthesized messages are used or not, reflects an underlying structure better adapted to the complexities of the new scale of humankind. the holographic dollar bill that declines its name might even become useless when transactions become entirely electronic. the voice of our cars might end up in a museum once the generalized network for guiding our automobiles is in place, and all we have to do is to punch in a destination and some route expectations ("i want to take the scenic route"). moreover, the supertech car itself might join its precursors in the museum once work becomes so distributed that the energy orgy, so evident on the rush-hour clogged highways, is replaced by more rational strategies of work and life. telecommuting is a timid beginning and a pale image of what such strategies might be. the speaking greeting card might be replaced by a program that remembers whose birthday it is and, after searching the mugshot of the addressee (likes rap, wears artificial flowers, is divorced, lives in bexley, ohio), custom designs an original message delivered with the individualized electronic newspaper when the coffee is ready. a modest company manufacturing screensavers, using today's still primitive applications in the networked world, could already do this. anticipation aside, we notice that work involves means of production that are more and more sophisticated. nevertheless, the market of human work is at a relatively low level of literacy because human being do not need to be literate for most types of work. one reason for this is that the new machines incorporate the knowledge needed to fulfill their tasks. the machines have become more efficient than humans. the university system that is supposed to turn out literate graduates for the world of work obeys the same expectations of high efficiency as any other human practical experience. universities become more and more training facilities for specific vocations, instead of carrying on their original goal of giving individuals a universal education in the domain of ideas. the statement concerning the literacy level does not reflect the longing of humanists but the actual situation in the manpower market. what we encounter is the structurally determined fact that natural language is no longer, at least in its literate form, the main means of recording collective experience, nor the universal means of education. for instance, in all its aspects-work, market, education, social life-the practical experience of human self-constitution relies less on literacy and more on images. since the role of images is frequently mentioned (formulated differently, perhaps), the reader might suspect this is only a way of speaking. the actual situation is quite different. pictographic messages are used whenever a certain norm or rule has to be observed. this is not a question of transcending various national languages (as in airports or olympic stadiums, or with traffic signals, or in transactions pertinent to international trade), but a way of living and functioning. the visual dominates communication today. words and sentences, affected by long-time use in various social, geographical, and historical contexts, became too ambiguous and require too much educational overhead for successful communication. communication based on literacy requires an investment higher than the one needed for producing, perceiving, and observing images. through images a positivist attitude is embodied, and a sense of relativity is introduced. avoiding sequential reading, time and money consuming instruction, and the rigidity of the rules of literacy, the use of images reflects the drive for efficiency as this results from the new scale of human survival and future well-being. the change from literacy-oriented to visually-oriented culture is not the result of media development, as romantic media ecologists would like us to believe. actually, the opposite is true. it is the result of fundamental ways of working and exchanging goods, within the new pragmatic framework that determined the need for these media in the first place, and afterwards made possible their production, dissemination, and their continuous diversification. the change under discussion here is very complex. direct demands of mediated praxis and the new, highly mediative means of mass communication (television, computers, telecommunication, networks), acting as instruments of integrating the individual in the mechanism of a global economy, are brought to expression in this mutation. transition from language to languages, and from direct to indirect, multimediated communication is not reducible to abandoning logocentrism (a structural characteristic of cultures based on literacy) and the logic attached to it. we participate in the process of establishing many centers of importance that replace the word, and compete with language as we know it. these can be found in subculture, but also within the entrenched culture. one example is the proliferation of electronic cafés, where clients sipping their coffee on the west coast can carry on a dialogue with a friend in barcelona; or contact a japanese journalist flying in one of the soviet space missions; or receive images from an art exhibit opening in bogota; or play chess with one of the miracle sisters from budapest. these experiences take place in what is known generically as cyberspace. the disposable human being while it is true that just as many different curves can be drawn through a finite number of points, consistent observations can be subsumed under various explanations. observations regarding the role and status of literacy might result in explanations that put radically different glosses on their results, but they cannot escape confirming the sense of change defined here. this change ultimately concerns the identity humans acquire in illiterate experiences of self-constitution. progressively abandoning reading and writing and replacing them with other forms of communication and reception, humans participate in another structural change: from centralization to decentralization; from a centripetal model of existence and activity, with the traditional system of values as an attraction point (religious, aesthetic, moral, political values, among others) to a centrifugal model; and from a monolithic to a pluralistic model. paradoxically, the loss of the center also means that human beings lose their central role and referential value. this results in a dramatic situation: when human creativity compensates for the limited nature of resources (minerals, energy, food supply, water, etc.), either by producing substitutes or by stimulating efficient forms of their use, the human itself becomes a disposable commodity, more so the more limited its practical self-constitution is. within the pragmatics characteristic of the underlying literacy, machines were changed less often; but even when changed, the human operator did not have to be replaced. a basic set of skills sufficed for lifelong activity. engineering was concerned with artifacts as long lasting as life. the pragmatic framework of illiteracy, as one of rapid change and progressively shorter cycles, made the human more easily replaceable. at the new scale of human activity, the very large and growing commodity of human beings decreases in value: in its market value, and in its spiritual and real value. the sanctity of life gives way to the intricate technology of life maintenance, to the mechanics of existence and the body-building shops. in the stock market of spare parts, a kidney or a heart, mechanical or natural, is listed almost the same way as pork bellies and cement, van gogh's paintings, cd players, and nuclear headscrews. they are quoted and transacted as commodities. and they support highly specialized work, compensated at the level of professional football or basketball. projected into and among products of short-lived destiny, the human beings working to make them project a morality of the disposable that affects their own condition and, finally, the dissolution of their values. as a result of high levels of work efficiency, there are enough resources to feed and house humankind, but not enough to support practical experiences that redeem the integrity of the individual and the dignity of human existence. within a literate discourse, with an embedded ideology of permanency, the morality of the disposable makes for good headlines; but since it does not affect the structural conditions conducive to this morality, it soon gets lost in the many other literate commentaries, including those decrying the decline of literacy. the broader picture to which these reflections belong includes, of course, the themes of disposable language. if basic skills, as defined by harvard professor and secretary of labor robert reich, massachusetts institute of technology economics professor lester thurow, and many educators and policy-makers, become less and less meaningful in the fast-changing world of work, it is easy to understand why little weight can be attached to one or another individual. under the guise of basic skills, young and less than young workers receive an education in reading and writing that has nothing to do with the emergent practical experiences of ever shorter cycles. companies in search of cheap labor have discovered the usa, or at least some parts of it, and achieve here efficiencies that at home, under labor laws originating from a literate pragmatics, are not attainable. mercedes-benz, bmw, porsche, and many japanese companies train their labor force in south carolina, mississippi, arkansas, and other states. the usefulness of the people these companies train is almost equal to that of the machine, unless the workers are replaced by automation. the technological cycle and the human cycle are so closely interwoven that one can predicate the hybrid nature of technology today: machines with a live component. as a matter of fact, it is interesting to notice how progressively machines no longer serve us, but how we serve them. entirely equipped to produce high quality desktop publishing, to process data for financial transactions, to visualize scientific phenomena, such machines require that we feed the data and run the program so that a meaningful output results. in the case in which the machine might not know the difference between good and bad typography, for example, the human operator supplies the required knowledge, based on intangible factors such as style or taste. scale of work, scale of language within each framework, be that of agriculture, pre-industrial, industrial, or post- industrial practical experiences, continuity of means and methods and of semiotic processes can be easily established. what should most draw our attention are discontinuities. we are going through such a discontinuity, and the opposition between the civilization of literacy and the civilization of illiteracy is suggestive of this. evidently, within the new practical experiences through which our own identity is constituted, this is reflected in fast dynamics of economic change. some industries disappear overnight. many innovative ideas become work almost as quickly, but this work has a different condition. discontinuity goes beyond analogy and statistical inferences. it marks the qualitative change which we see embodied in the new relations between work and language. one of the major hypotheses of this book is that discontinuities, also described in dynamic systems theory as phase shifts, occur as scale changes. threshold values mark the emergence of new sign processes. as we have seen, practical experiences through which humans continuously ascertain their reality are affected by the scale at which they take place. immediate tasks, such as those characteristic of direct forms of work, do not require a division into smaller tasks, a decomposition into smaller actions. the more complex the task, the more obvious the need to divide it. but it is not until the scale characteristic of our age is reached that decomposition becomes as critical as it now is. in industrial society, and in every civilization prior to it, the relation between the whole (task, goal, plan) and the parts (subtasks, partial goals, successive plans) is within the range of the human's ability to handle it. labor division is a powerful mechanism for a divide and conquer strategy applied to tasks of growing complexity. the generation of choices, and the ability to compensate for the limited nature of resources as these affect the equation of population growth, integrate this rule of decomposition. literacy, itself a practical experience of not negligible complexity, helps as long as the depth of the division into smaller parts, and the breadth of the integrative travail do not go beyond litercy's own complexity. when this happens, it is obvious that even if means belonging to literacy were effective in managing very deep hierarchies in order to allow for re-integration of the parts in the desired whole, the management of such means would itself go beyond the complexity we are able to cope with. indeed, although very powerful in many respects, when faced with many pragmatic levels independent of language, literacy (through which language attains its optimal operational power) appears flat. actually, not only literacy appears flat, but even the much glorified human intelligence. distinctions that result from deeper segmentation of work, brought about by the requirements of a scale of population and demand of an order of magnitude exponentially higher than any experience an individual can have, can no longer be grasped by single minds. since the condition of the mind depends on interaction with other minds within practical experiences of self-constitution, it results that means of interaction different from those appropriate to sequentiality, linearity, and dualism are necessary. this new stage is not a continuation of a previous stage. it is even less a result of an incremental progression. the wheel, once upon a time a rounded stone, along with a host of wheel-based means of practical experiences, opened a perspective of progression. so did the lever, and probably alphabetic writing, and the number system. this is why the old and new could be linked through comparisons, metaphors, and analogies in a given scale of humankind. but this is also why, when the scale changes, we have to deal with discontinuity and avoid misleading translations in the language of the past. a car was still, in some ways, the result of incremental progression from the horse-drawn carriage. an airplane, and later a rocket, are less along a line of gradual change, but still conceptually close to our own practical experience with flying birds, or with the physics of action and reaction. nevertheless, a nuclear reactor is well beyond such experiences. the conceptual hierarchy it embodies takes it out of the realm of any previous pragmatic experience. the effort here is to tame the process, to keep it within a scale that allows for our use of a new resource of energy. the relation between the sizes actively involved-nuclear level of matter compared to the enormous machinery and construction-is not only beyond the power of distinction of individual minds, but also of any operators, unless assisted by devices themselves of a high degree of complexity. the chernobyl meltdown suggests only the magnitudes involved, and how peripheral to them are the literacy-based experiences of energy management. the enormous satellite and radio-telephonic network, which physically embodies the once fashionable concept of ether, is another example of the scale of work under the circumstances of the new scale of human activity; and so are the telephone networks-copper, coaxial, or fiberglass. the conceptual hierarchies handled by such networks of increasingly generalized communication of voice, data, and images make any comparison to edison's telephone, to letters, or to videotapes useless. the amount of information, the speed of transmission, and the synchronicity mechanisms required and achieved in the network-all participate in establishing a framework for remote interaction that practically resets the time for all involved and does away with physical distances. literacy, by its intrinsic characteristics, could not achieve such levels. finally, the computer, associated or not with networks, makes this limit to our ability to grasp complexities even more pressing. we have no problems with the fact that a passenger airplane is times faster than a pedestrian, and carries, at its current capacity, - passengers plus cargo. the computer chip itself is a conceptual accomplishment beyond anything we can conceive of. the depth encountered in the functioning of the digital computer-from the whole it represents to its smallest components endowed with functions integrated in its operation-is of a scale to which we have no intuitive or direct access. computers are not a better abacus. some computer users have even noticed that they are not even a better cash register. they define an age of semiotic focus, in that symbol manipulation follows language processing. (the word symbol points to work become semiotic praxis, but this is not what i am after here.) in addition to the complexity it embodies, the computer makes another distinction necessary. it replaces the world of the continuum by a world of discrete states. probably this distinction would be seen only as qualitative, if the shift from the universe of continuous functions and monotonic behavior-whatever applies to extreme cases applies to everything in between-were not concretized in a different condition of human self-constitutive practical experience. in the universe of literacy-based analog expectations, accumulation results in progress: know more (language, science, arts), have more (resources), acquire more (real estate). even striving-from a general attitude to particular forms (do better, achieve higher levels)-is inherent in the underlying structure of the analog. the digital is not linear in nature. within the digital, one small deviation (one digit in the phrase) changes the result of processing so drastically that retracing the error and fixing it becomes itself a new experience, and many times a new source of knowledge. in a written sentence, a misspelling or a typographical error is almost automatically corrected. through literacy, we dispose of a model that tells us what is right. in the digital, the language of the program and the data on which programs operate are difficult to distinguish (if at all). such machines can manipulate more symbols, and of a broader variety, than the human mind can. free of the burden of previous practical experiences, such machines can refer to potential experiences in a frame of reference where literacy is entirely blind. the behavior of an object in a multi- dimensional space (four, five, six, or more dimensions), actions along a timeline that can be regressive, or in several distinct and unrelated time frames, modeling choices beyond the capability of the human mind-all these, and many more, with practical significance for the survival and development of humankind are acceptable problems for a digital computer. it is true, as many would hasten to object, that the computer does not formulate the problem. but this is not the point. neither does literacy formulate problems. it only embodies formulations and answers pertinent to work within a scale of manageable divisions. the less expressive language of zeros and ones (yes-no, open-closed, white- black) is more precise, and definitely more appropriate, for levels of complexity as high as those resulting from this new stage in the evolution. the generality of the computer (a general-purpose machine), the abstraction of the program of symbol manipulation, and the very concrete nature of the data upon which it is applied represent a powerful combination of reified knowledge, effective procedures for solving problems, and high resolution capabilities. those who see the computer as only the principal technological metaphor of our time (according to j. d. bolter) miss the significance of the new metrics of human activity and its degree of necessity as it results from awareness of the limits of our minds (after the limits of the body were experienced in industrial society). edsger dijkstra, affirming the need for an orthogonal method of coping with radical novelty, concludes that this "amounts to creating and learning a new foreign language that cannot be translated into one's mother tongue." the direction he takes is right; the conclusion is still not as radical as the new scale of human activity and the limits of our self-constitution require. coming to grips with the radical change that he and many, many others ascertain, amounts to understanding the end of literacy and the illiteracy of the numerous languages required by our practical experience of self- constitution. this conspectus of the transformation we experience may foster its own forms of fresh confusion. for instance, in what was called a civilized society, language acted as the currency of cultural transactions. if higher level needs and expectations continue to drive the market and technology, will they eventually become subservient to the illiterate means they have generated? or, if language in one of its illiterate embodiments cannot keep pace with the exponential growth of information, will it undergo a restructuring in order to become a parallel process? or will we generate more inclusive symbols, or some form of preprocessing, before information is delivered to human beings? all these questions relate to work, as the experience from which human identities result together with the products bearing their mark. the active condition of any sign system is quite similar to the condition of tools. the hand that throws a stone is a hand influenced by the stone. levers, hammers, pliers, no less than telescopes, pens, vending machines, and computers support practical experiences, but also affect the individuals constituting themselves through their use. a gesture, a written mark, a whisper, body movements, words written or read, express us or communicate for us, at the same time affecting those constituted in them. how language affects work means, therefore, how language affects the human being within a pragmatic framework. to deal with some aspects of this extremely difficult problem we can start with the original syncretic condition of the human being. innate heuristics conceptual tools that can be used to refer to the human being in its syncretic condition exist only to the degree to which we identify them in language. in every system we know of, variety and precision are complementary. indeed, whether human beings hunt or present personal experiences to others, they attempt to optimize their efforts. too many details affect efficiency; insufficient detail affects the outcome. there seems to be a structural relation of the nature of one to many, between our what and our how. this relation is scrutinized in the pragmatic context where efficiency considerations finally make us choose from among many possibilities. the optimum chosen indicates what, from the possibilities humans are aware of, is most suitable for reaching the goal pursued. moreover, such an optimum is characteristic of the pragmatics of the particular context. for example, hunting could be performed alone or in groups, by throwing stones or hurling spears, by shooting arrows, or by setting traps. the syncretic primitive being was (and still is, in existing primitive cultures) involved in a practical experience in its wholeness: through that being's biological endowment, relation to the environment, acquired skills and understanding, emotions (such as fear, joy, sorrow). the specialized individual constitutes himself in experiences progressively more and more partial. nevertheless, the two have a natural condition in common. what distinguishes them is a strategy for survival and preservation that progressively departs from immediate needs and direct action to humanized needs and mediated action. this means a departure from a very limited set of options ("when hungry, search for food," for example), to multiplying the options, and thus establishing for the human being an innate heuristic condition. this means that homo sapiens looks for options. humans are creative and efficient. my line of reasoning argues that, while verbal language may be innate (as chomsky's theory advances), the heuristic dimension characteristic of human self- constitution certainly is. in hunting, for instance, the choice of means (defining the how) reflects the goal (to get meat) and also the awareness of what is possible, as well as the effort to expand the realm of the possible. the major effort is not to keep things the way they are, but to multiply the realm of possibilities to ensure more than mere survival. this is known as progress. the same heuristic strategy can be applied to the development of literacy. before the western alphabet was established, a number of less optimal writing systems (cuneiform, hieroglyphics, etc.) were employed. the very concrete nature of such languages is reflected in the limited expressive power they had. current chinese and japanese writing are examples of this phenomenon today. in comparison to the - letters of western alphabets, command of a minimum of , ideographic signs represents the entry level in chinese and japanese; command of , ideographic signs would correspond to the western ideal of literacy. behind the letters and characters of the various language alphabets, there is a history of optimization in which work influenced expression, expression constituted new frames for work, and together, generative and explanatory models of the world were established. the what and the how of language were initially on an order of complexity similar to that characteristic of actions. over time, actions became simpler while languages acquired the complexity of the heuristic experience. the what and the how of mediation tools of a higher order of abstraction than language, achieved even higher complexities. such complexities were reflected in the difference in the order of magnitude between human work and outcome, especially the choices generated. parallel to the loss of the syncretic nature of the human being at the level of the individual, we notice the composite syncretism of the community. individual, relatively stable, wholeness was replaced by a faster and faster changing community- related wholeness. language experiences were part of this shift. self-constituted in the practical use of language, the human being realized its social dimension, itself an example of the acquired multiplication of choice. indeed, within the very small scale of incipient humanity corresponding to the stage of self-ascertainment (when signs were used and elements of language appeared), population and food supply were locked in the natural equation best reflected in the structural circularity of existence and survival. it is at this juncture that the heuristic condition applies: the more animals prey on a certain group, this group will either find survival strategies (adaptive or other kinds), or indeed cease to be available as food for others. but once the human being was ascertained, evidence shows that instead of focusing on one or few ways to get at its food sources, it actually diversified the practical experience of self-constitution and survival, proceeding from one, or few, to many resources. homo habilis was past the scavenging stage and well into foraging, hunting, and fishing during the pre-agricultural pragmatic frame. what for other species became only a limited food supply, and resulted in mechanisms of drastic growth control (through famine, cannibalism, and means of destroying life), in the human species resulted in a broadening of resources. in this process, the human being became a working being, and work an identifier of the species. language acquisition and the transition from the natural experience of self- constitution in survival to the practical experience of work are co-genetic. with each new scale that became possible, sequences of work marked a further departure from the universe of action-reaction. the observation to be made, without repeating information given in other chapters, is that from signs to incipient language, and from incipient language to stabilized means of expression, the scale of humankind changed and an underlying structure of practical experiences based on sequentiality, linearity, determinism (of one kind or another), and centralism established a new pragmatic framework. individual syncretism was replaced by the syncretism of communities in which individuals are identified through their work. writing was a relatively late acquisition and occurred as part of the broader process of labor division. this process was itself correlated to the diversification of resources and types of practical experiences preserving syncretism at the community level. not everyone wrote, not everybody read. the pragmatic framework suggested necessitated elements of order, ways of assigning and keeping track of assignments, a certain centralism, and, last but not least, organizational forms, which religion and governing bodies took care of. under these circumstances, work was everything that allowed for the constitution, survival, change, and advancement of the human species. it was expressed in language to the degree such expression was necessary. in other words, language is another asset or means of diversifying choices and resources. over time, limited mediation through language and literacy became necessary in order to optimize the effort of matching needs with availabilities. this mediation was itself a form of work: questions asked, questions answered, commitments made, equivalencies determined. all these defined an activity related to using available resources, or finding new ones. when productivity increased, and language could not keep up with the complexities of higher production, variety, and the need for planning, a new semiosis, characteristic of this different pragmatic level, became necessary. money, for example, introduced the next level of mediation, more abstract, that translated immediate, vital needs into a comparative scale of means to fulfill them. the context of exchange generated money, which eventually became itself a resource, a high level commodity. it also entailed a language of its own, as does each mediation. with the advent of means of exchange as universal as language, the what and how of human activity grew even more distant. direct trade became indirect. people making up the market no longer randomly matched needs and availability. their market praxis resulted in an organizing device, and used language to further diversify the resources people needed for their lives. this language was still rudimentary, direct, oral, captive to immediacy, and often consumed together with the resource or choice exhausted (when no alternative was generated). this happens even in our day. in its later constitution in practical activity, language was used for records and transactions, for plans and new experiences. the logic of this language was an extension and instantiation of the logic of human activity. it complemented the heuristic, innate propensity for seeking new choices. influenced by human interaction in the market, and subjected to the expectation of progressively higher efficiency, human activity became increasingly mediated. a proliferation of tools allowed for increased productivity in those remote times of the inception of language. eventually tools, and other artifacts, became themselves an object of the market, in addition to supporting self-constitutive practical experiences of the humans interacting with them. as a mediating element between the processor and what is processed, the tool was a means of work and a goal: better tools require instructed users. if they use tools properly, they increase the efficiency of activity and make the results more marketable. tools supported the effort of diversification of practical experiences, as well as the effort of expanding the subsistence base. the means for creating tools and other artifacts fostered other languages, such as the language of drawing, on which early engineering also relied. here, an important point should be made. no tool is merely used. in using it, the user adapts to the tool, becoming to some extent, the used, the tool of the tool. the same is true of language, writing, and literacy. they were developed by humans seeking to optimize their activity. but humans have adapted themselves to the constraints of their own inventions. at the inception of writing, the tension between an imposed written precision (as relative as this might appear from our perspective today)-keeping language close to the object, allowing into the language only objects that pictograms could represent- and a rather diverse, however very unfocused, oral language resulted in conflicts between the proponents of writing and the guardians of orality (as documented in ancient greek philosophy). the written needed to be freed from the object as much as the human being from a particular source of protein, or a particular food source. it had to support a more general expression (referring to what would become families, types, classes of objects, etc.), and thus to support practical efforts to diversify the ways of survival and continuous growth in number. the oral had to be tamed and united with the written. taming could, and did, take place only through and in work, and in socially related interaction. the practical effort to embody knowledge resulting from many practical experiences of survival into all kinds of artifacts (for measuring, orientation, navigation, etc.) testifies to this. phonetic writing, the development of the effort to optimize writing, better imitated oral language. personal characteristics, making the oral expressive, and social characteristics, endowing the written with the hints that bring it close to speech, are supported in the phonetic system. the theocratic system of pictographs and what others call the democratic language of phonetic writing deserve their names only if we understand that languages are both constitutive and representative of human experience. undifferentiated labor is theocratic. its rules are imposed by the object of the practical experience. divided labor, while affecting the integrity of those becoming only an instance of the work process, is participatory, in the sense that its results are related to the performance of each participant in the process. practical experience of language and experience of divided labor are intrinsically related and correspond to the pragmatic framework of this particular human scale. labor division and the association of very abstract phonetic entities to very concrete language instantiations of human experience are interdependent. the realm of alternatives in defining the context of change leading from an all-encompassing literacy to the civilization of illiteracy, i referred to the malthusian principle (population, when unchecked, increases geometrically, while food sources increase arithmetically). what malthus failed to acknowledge is the heuristic nature of the human species, i.e., the progressive realization of the creative potential of the only known species that, in addition to maintaining its natural condition, generates its own a-natural condition. in the process of their self-constitution, humans generate also the means for their survival and future growth beyond the circularity of mere survival strategies. the th century economist henri george gave the following example of this characteristic: "both the jayhawk and the man eat chicken, but the more jayhawks, the fewer chickens, while the more men, the more chickens." (just think about the purdue chicken industry!) the formula is flawed. humans also intervene in the jayhawk-chicken relation; the number of animals and birds in a certain area is affected by more elements than what eats what; and the population increase is meaningless unless associated with patterns of human practical experiences. species frequently become extinct due to human, not animal, intervention. despite all this, henri george's characterization captured an important aspect of the human species, as it defined itself in the human scale that made literacy possible and necessary. george's time corresponded to some interesting though misleading messages that followed the pattern of malthus' law. people were running out of timber, coal, and oil for lamps, just as we expect to run out of many other resources (minerals, energy and food sources, water, etc.). originators of messages regarding the exhaustion of such resources, regardless of the time they utter them, ignore the fact that during previous shortages, humans focused on alternatives, and made them part of new practical experiences. this was the case leading to the use of coal, when the timber supply decreased in britain in the th century, and this will be the case with the shortages mentioned above: for lighting, kerosene was extracted from the first oil wells ( ); more coal reserves were discovered; better machines were built that used less energy and made coal extraction more efficient; industry adapted other minerals; and the strict dependence on natural cycles and farming was progressively modified through food processing and storage techniques. the pragmatic framework of current human praxis is based on the structural characteristics of this higher scale of humankind. it affects the nature of human work and the nature of social, political, and national organization within emerging national states. a retrospective of the dynamics of growth and resource availability shows that with language, writing and reading, and finally with literacy, and even more through engineering outside language experience, a coherent framework of pragmatic human action was put in place, and used to compensate for the progressive imbalance between population growth and resources. our time is in more than one way the expression of a semiosis with deep roots in the pragmatic context in which writing emerged. engineering dominates today. in trying to define the semiosis of engineering, i.e. how the relation between work we associate with engineering and language evolved, we evidence both continuity-in the form of successive replications-and discontinuity-in the new condition of the current engineering work. our reference can be made to both the dissemination of the writing system based on the phoenician alphabet, and the language of drawing that makes engineering possible. phoenician traders supplied materials to the minoans. the minoan burial culture involved the burial of precious objects that embodied the experience of crafts. these objects were made out of silver, gold, tin, and lead. in time, increased quantities of such metals were permanently removed from the market. phoenicians, who supplied these materials, had to search farther and farther for them, using better tools to find and preprocess the minerals. the involvement of writing and drawing in the process of compensation between perceived needs and available resources, and the fact that searches for new resources led to the dissemination of writing and craftsmanship should be understood within the dynamics of local economies. up to which point such a compensatory action, implying literacy and engineering skills, is effective, and when it reached its climax, possibly during the industrial revolution, is a question that can be put only in retrospect. is there a moment when the balance was tilted towards the means of expression of and the communication specific to engineering? if yes, we do not know this moment; we cannot identify it on historic charts. but once the potential of literacy to support human practical experiences of self- constitution in a new pragmatic framework was exhausted, new means became necessary. to understand the dynamics of the changes that made the new pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy necessary is the object of the entire book. while engineering contributed to them, they are not the result of this important practical experience, but rather a cause of how it was and is affected by them. the stream of diversified experiences that eventually gushed forth through new languages, the language of design and engineering included, resulted in the awareness of mediation, which itself became a goal. mediation of mediation with the risk of breaking the continuity of the argument, i would like to continue by suggesting the implications of this argument for the reality to which this book refers: the present. first, a general thesis derived from the analysis so far: the market of direct exchange, as well as the market of mediated forms, reflect the general structure of human activity-direct work vs. mediated forms of work-and are expressed in their specific languages. from a certain moment in human evolution, tools, as an extension of the human body and mind, are used, some directly, some indirectly. today we notice how, through the intermediary of commands transmitted electronically, pneumatically, hydraulically, thermally, or in some other way, the mediation of mediation is introduced. pressing a button, flipping a switch, punching a keyboard, triggering a relay-seen as steps preparing for entirely programmed activities-means to extend the sequence of mediations. between the hand or another body part and the processed material, processing tools and sequences of signs controlling this process are introduced. accordingly, language, as related to work, religion, education, poetry, exchange in the market, etc., is restructured. new levels of language and new, limited, functionally designed languages are generated and used for mediating. the language of drawings (more generally the language of design) is one of them. relations among these different levels and among the newly designed languages are established. but how is this related to the innate heuristic condition of the human being and to the working hypothesis advanced regarding the change in the scale of humanity? or is it only another way of saying that technology, resulting from engineering interpretations of science, defines the path to higher levels of efficiency, and to the relative illiteracy of our time? the increase in population and the dynamics of diversification (more choices, more resources) at this new scale assume a different dimension. it is irrelevant that resources of one type or another are exhausted in one economy. as a matter of fact, japan, germany, england, and even the usa (rich in the majority of resources in demand) have exhausted whatever oil, copper, tin, diamonds, or tungsten was available. due to many factors, farmland in the western world is decreasing, while the quantities and different types of food consumed per capita have increased substantially. faced with the challenge posed by the national, linear, sequential, dual, deterministic nature of the pragmatic framework that generated the need for literacy, humans discover means to transcend these limitations-globality, non-linearity, configuration, multi-valued logic, non-determination-and embody them in artifacts appropriate to this condition. the new scale necessitated creative work for multiplying available resources, for looking at needs and availabilities from a new perspective. those who see globality in the japanese sushi restaurant in provence or in the midwest, in the mcdonalds in moscow or beijing, in multinational corporations, in foreign investments mushrooming all over, miss the real significance of the term. globality applies to the understanding that we share in resources and creative means of multiplying them independent of boundaries (of language, culture, nations, alliances, etc.), as well as in high efficiency processing equipment. this understanding is not only sublime, it has its ugly side. the world would even go to war (and has, again and again) to secure access to critical resources or to keep markets open. but it is not the ugly side that defines the effective pragmatics. nor does it define the circumstances of our continuous self-definition in this world of a new dynamics of survival needs and expectations above and beyond such needs. where literacy no longer adequately supports creative work based on higher levels of efficiency, it is replaced by languages designed and adapted to mediation, or to work destined to compensate for an exhausted resource, or by machines incorporating our literacy and the literacies of higher efficiency. hunting and fishing remain as mere sport, and foraging declined to the level at which people in a country like the usa no longer know that in the woods there are mushrooms, berries, and nuts that can be used as food. even agriculture, probably the longest standing form of practical experience, escapes sequentiality and linearity, and adds industrial dimensions that make agriculture a year-round, highly specialized, efficient activity. we share resources and even more in the globality of the life support system (the ecology); in the globality of communication, transportation, and technology; and, last but not least, in the globality of the market. the conclusion is that, once again, it is not any recent discovery or trend that is the engine of change, from local to national to global, but the new circumstances of human experience, whose long-lasting effect is the altered individual. freed from the human operator and replaced by technology that ensures levels of efficiency and security for which the living being is not well adapted to provide, many types of work are simultaneously freed from the constraints of language, of literacy in particular. there is no need to teach machines spelling, or grammar, or rules of constructing sentences. there is even less of a need to maintain between the human being and the machine a mediating literacy that is awkward, inefficient, stamped by ambiguity, and burdened by various uses (religious, political, ideological, etc.). the new languages, whether interfaces between machines or between humans and machines, are of limited scope and duration. in the dynamics of work, these new languages are appropriately adapted to each other. our entire activity becomes faster, more precise, more segmented, more distributed, more complex. this activity is subordinated to a multi-valued logic of efficiency, not to dualistic inferences or truth or falsehood. some might read into the argument made so far a vote against the many kinds of activists of this day and age: the ecologists who warn of damage inflicted on the environment; malthusians tireless in warning of upcoming famine; the zero-population- growth movement, etc. some might read here a vote for technocracy, for the advocates of limitless growth, the optimists of despair, or the miracle planners (free marketers, messianic ideologists, etc.). none is the case. rather, i submit for examination a model for understanding and action that takes into account the complexity of the problem instead of explaining complexities away and working, as literacy taught us to, on simplified models. mapping out the terrain of the descriptive level of the relation between language and work under current pragmatic circumstances will assist in the attempt to plot, in some meaningful detail, the position so far described. literacy and education education and literacy are intimately related. one seems impossible without the other. nevertheless, there was education before the written word. and there is education that does not rely on literacy, or at least not exclusively. with this in mind, let us focus, in these preliminary words, on what brought literacy into education, and on the consequences of their reciprocal relation. the state of education, like the state of many other institutions embodying characteristics of literacy-based practical experiences, is far from what is expected. literacy carried the ideal of permanency into the practical experience of education. in a physical world perceived as limited in scale and fragmented, captive to sequentiality, characterized by periodic changes and intercommunal commitments aimed at maintaining permanency, literacy embodied both a goal and the means for achieving it. it defined a representative, limited set of choices. within this structure, education is the practical experience of stabilizing optimal modes of interaction centered around values expressed in language. education based on literacy is adapted to the dynamics of change within the reduced scale of humankind that eventually led to the formation of nations-entities of relative self-sufficiency. within national boundaries, population growth, resources, and choices could be kept in balance. purposely simplified, this view allows us to understand that education evolved from its early stages-direct transmission of experience from one person to another, from one generation to another-to religion-based educational structures. filtered by a set of religious premises, education later opened a window beyond the immediate and the proximity of life, and evolved, not painlessly, into schools and universities concerned with knowledge and scholarship. this, too, was a long process, with many intermediate steps, which eventually resulted in the generalized system of education we now have in place, and which reflects the separation of church and state. liberal education and all the values attached to it are the foundational matrix of the current system of general education. if you give someone a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. if you give someone an alphabet, every problem becomes one of literacy and education-this would probably be a good paraphrase, applicable to the discussions on education in our day. it should not follow, however, that with the world wide web, education is only a matter of on-line postings of classes and the accidental matching of educational needs to network availabilities. in our world of change and discontinuity, the end of literacy, along with the end of education based on literacy, is not a symptom, but a necessary development, beyond on-line studies. this conclusion, which may appear to be a criticism of the digital dissemination of knowledge, might seem hasty at this point in the text. the arguments to follow will justify the conclusion. "know the best" resulting from our self-constitution in a world obsessed with efficiency and satisfaction, the insatiable effort to exhaust the new-only to replace it with the newer- puts education in a perspective different from that opened by literacy. education driven by literacy seems to be condemned to a sui generis catch-up condition, or "damned if you do, damned if you don't." in the last years, education has prepared students for a future different from the one education used to shape in a reactive mode. under the enormous pressure of expectations (social, political, economic, moral) it simply cannot fulfill, unless it changes as the structure of the pragmatic framework changed, the institution of education has lost its credibility. classes, laboratories, manuals, any of the educational methods advanced, not to mention the living inventory of teachers, account for contents and ways of thinking only marginally (if at all) linked to the change from a dominant literacy to numerous literacies. ibm, fighting to redefine itself, stated bluntly in one of its educational campaigns, "since , every institution has kept up with change, except one: education." more money than ever, more ideals and sweat have been invested in the process of educating the young, but little has changed either the general perception of education or the perception of those educated. the most recent laboratory of the high school or university is already outdated when the last piece of equipment is ordered. the competence of even the best teachers becomes questionable just as their students start their first journey in practical life. the harder our schools and colleges try to keep pace with change, the more obvious it becomes that this is a wrong direction to pursue, or that something in the nature of our educational system makes the goal unreachable-or both of these alternatives. some people believe that the failure is due to the bureaucracy of education. much can be said in support of this opinion. the national institute for literacy is an example of how a problem can become a public institution. other people believe that the failure is due to the inability of educators to develop a good theory of education, based on how people learn and what the best way to teach is. misunderstanding the implications of education and setting false priorities are also frequently invoked. misunderstanding too often resulted in expensive government projects of no practical consequence. other explanations are also given for the failure of education-liberalism, excessive democracy in education, rejection of tradition, teaching and learning geared to tests, the breakdown of the family. (listing them here should not be misconstrued as an endorsement.) it seems that every critic of today's education has his or her own explanation of what each thinks is wrong. some of these explanations go well back, almost to the time when writing was established: education affects originality, dampens spontaneity, and infringes upon creativity. education negates naturalness during the most critical period of development, when the minds of young people, the object of education, are most impressionable. other arguments are more contemporary: if the right texts (whatever right means) were to be taught, using the best methods to put them in a light that makes them attractive, education would not lose out to entertainment. some groups advocate the digest approach for texts, sometimes presented in the form of comic strips or internet-like messages of seven sentences per paragraph, each sentence containing no more than seven words. these explanations assume the permanence of literacy. they concentrate on strategies, from infantile to outlandish, to maintain literacy's role, never questioning it, never even questioning whether the conditions that made it necessary might have changed to the degree that a new structure is already in place. educators like to think that their program is defined through matthew arnold's prescription, "know the best that is known and thought in the world," an axiom of tradition-driven self- understanding. this attitude is irrelevant in a context in which best is an identifier of wares, not of dynamic knowledge. some educators would follow jacques barzun's recommendation: "serious reading, serious teaching of reading, and inculcation of a love for reading are the proper goal of education." ideal vs. real schools at all levels of education purport to give students a traditional education and promise to deliver the solid education of yesteryear. contrast this claim to reality: under the pressure of the market in which they operate, schools maintain that they prepare students for the new pragmatic context. some schools integrate practical disciplines and include training components. courses in computer use come immediately to mind. some schools go so far as to sign contracts guaranteeing the appropriateness of the education they provide. in the tradition of the service industry, they promise to take back pupils unable to meet the standardized criteria. every spring, a reality check is made. in , a poll of graduating seniors revealed that only % succeeded in answering at least of questions asked. five of these were on math, the rest on history and literature-all traditional subject matter. experts called to comment on the results of this poll-e.d. hirsch, author of cultural literacy and active in having his educational ideas implemented; diane ravitch, former assistant secretary of education; and stephen balch, president of the national association of scholars, constitute themselves in the pragmatic framework of literacy-based education. they declare, and appropriately so, that educational standards are declining, that education is failing to produce the type of citizen a democracy needs. as reputable as they undoubtedly are, these scholars, and many of those in charge of education, do not seem to realize what changes have been taking place in the real world. they live in the richest and probably most dynamic country in the world, with one of the lowest unemployment rates, and the highest rate of new business creation, but fail to associate education with this dynamism. if education is failing, then something positive must be replacing it. in modern jargon, one can say that until education is re-engineered (or should i say rethought?), it has no chance of catching up with reality. in its current condition of compromise, education will only continue to muddle along, upsetting both its constituencies: those captive to an education based on the literacy model, and those who recognize new structural requirements. the reality is that the universality implicit in the literacy model of education, reflected in the corpus of democratic principles guaranteeing equality and access, is probably no longer defensible in its original form. education should rather elaborate on notions that better reflect differences among people, their background, ethnicity, and their individual capabilities. instead of trying to standardize, education should stimulate differences in order to derive the most benefit from them. education should stimulate complementary avenues to excellence, instead of equal access to mediocrity. some people may be uneducatable. they might have characteristics impossible to reduce to the common denominator that literacy-based education implies. these students might require alternative education paths in order to optimally become what their abilities allow them to be, and what practical experience will validate as relevant and desired, no matter how different. equal representation, as applied to members of minority students or faculty, ethnic groups, sexes or sexual preferences, and the handicapped, introduces a false sense of democracy in education. it takes away the very edge of their specific chances from the people it pretends to help and encourage. instead of acknowledging distinctions, expectations of equal representation suggest that the more melting in the pot, the better for society, regardless of whether the result is uniform mediocrity or distributed excellence. actually the opposite is true: equal opportunity should be used in order to preserve distinctive qualities and bring them to fruition. as a unified requirement, literacy imparts a sense of conformity and standardization appropriate to the pragmatic framework that made standardized education necessary. numerous alternative means of expression and communication, for which education has only a deaf ear, facilitate the multiplication of choices. in a world confronted with needs well beyond those of survival, this is a source of higher efficiency. the necessary effort to individualize education cannot, however, take place unless the inalienable right to study and work for one's own path to self-improvement is not respected to the same extent as liberty and equality are. the globality of human praxis is not a scenario invented by some entrepreneur. it is the reflection of the scale at which population growth, shared resources, and choices heading to new levels of efficiency become critical. in our world many people never become literate; many more still live at the borderline between human and animal life, threatened by starvation and epidemics. these facts do not contradict the dynamics that made alternatives to literacy necessary. it is appropriate, therefore, to question the type of knowledge that education imparts, and how it impacts upon those who are educated. relevance schools and universities are criticized for not giving students relevant knowledge. the notion of relevance is critical here. scholars claim that knowledge of facts pertaining to tradition, such as those tested in the graduating class of , are relevant. relevant also are elements of logical thinking, enough science in order to understand the wealth of technologies we use, foreign languages, and other subject matter that will help students face the world of practical experience. although the subjects listed are qualified as significant, they are never used in polls of graduating students. critics of the traditional curriculum dispute the relevance of a tradition that seems to exclude more than it includes. they also challenge implicit hierarchical judgments of the people who impose courses of study. multiculturalism, criticism of tradition, and freedom from the pressure of competition are among the recommendations they make. acknowledging the new context of social life and praxis, these critics fail, however, to put it in the broader context of successive structural conditions, and thus lack criteria of significance outside their own field of expertise. with the notion of relevance, a perspective of the past and a direction for the future are suggested. that literacy-based education, at its inception, was xenophobic or racist, and obviously political, nobody has to tell us. individuals from outside the polis, speaking a different mother tongue, were educated for a political reason: to make them useful to the community as soon as possible. conditions for education changed dramatically over time, but the political dimension remains as strong as ever. this is why it can only help to dispense with certain literate attitudes expressing national, ethnic, racial, or similar ambitions. it is irrelevant whether pythagoras was greek and whether his geometry was original with him. it is irrelevant whether one or another person from one or another part of the world can be credited with a literary contribution, a work of art, or a religious or philosophic thought. what counts is how such accomplishments became relevant to the people of the world as they involved themselves in increasingly complex practical experiences. moreover, our own sense of value does not rest on a sports-driven model-the first, the most, the best-but on the challenge posed by how each of us will constitute his own identity in unprecedented circumstances of work, leisure, and feeling. relevance applies to the perspective of the future and to the recognition that experiences of the past are less and less pertinent in the new context. what should be taught? language? math? chemistry? philosophy? the list can go on. it is indeed very hard to do justice by simply nodding yes to language, yes to math, yes to chemistry, but not yes wholesale, without putting the question in the pragmatic context. this means that education should not be approached with the aura of religion, or dogmatism, assumed up to now: the teacher knew what eternal truth was; students heard the lectures and finally received communion. all basic disciplines have changed through time. the rhythm of their change keeps increasing. the current understanding of language, math, chemistry, and philosophy does not necessarily build on a progression. science, for example, is not accumulation. neither is language, contrary to all appearance. rules learned by rote and accepted as invariable are not needed, but procedures for accessing knowledge relevant to our dynamic existence are. to memorize all that education-no matter how good or bad-unloads on students is sheer impossibility. but to know where to find what a given practical instance requires, and how one can use it, is quite a different matter. should square dancing, heavy metal music, bridge, chinese cuisine be taught? the list, to be found in the curriculum of many schools and colleges, goes on and on. the test of the relevance of such disciplines (or subjects) in a curriculum should be based on the same pragmatic criteria that our lives and livelihoods depend on. new subjects of study appear on course lists due to structural changes that make literacy useless in the new pragmatic context. they cannot, however, substitute for an education that builds the power of thinking and feeling for practical experiences of increased complexity and dynamism. education needs to be shaped to the dynamics of self-constitution in practical experiences characteristic of this new age of humankind. this does not mean that education should become another tv program, or an endless internet voyage, without aim and without method. we must comprehend that if we demand literacy and efficiency at the same time, ignoring that they are in many ways incompatible, we can only contribute to greater confusion. higher education was opened to people who merely need training to obtain a skill. these students receive precious-looking diplomas that exactly resemble the ones given to students who have pursued a rigorous course of education. once upon a time, literacy meant the ability to write and read latin. therefore, diplomas are embellished with latin dicta, almost never understood by the graduates, and many times not even by the professors who hand them out. in the spirit of nostalgia, useless rituals are maintained, which are totally disconnected from today's pragmatic framework. the progressively increased mediation that affects efficiency levels also contributes to the multiplication of the number of languages involved in describing, designing, coordinating, and synchronizing human work. we are facing new requirements-those of parallelism, non-linearity, multi-valued logic, vagueness, and selection among options. programming, never subject to wrong or right, but to optimal choice, and always subject to further improvement, is becoming a requirement for many practical experiences, from the arts to advanced science. requirements of globality, distribution, economies of scale, of elements pertinent to engineering, communication, marketing, management, and of service-providing experiences need to be met within specific educational programs. the fulfillment of these requirements can never be relegated to literacy. we have seen that the broader necessity of language, from which the necessity of literacy is derived, is not defensible outside the process of human self-constitution. language plays an important role, together with other sign systems, subordinated to language or not. in retrospect, we gain an understanding of the entire process: natural instincts are transmitted genetically and only slightly improve, if degeneration does not occur, in the interaction among individuals sharing a habitat. the conscious use of signs takes newborns from the domain of nature and eventually places them in the realm of culture. in this realm, life ceases to be a matter of biology only, and takes on non-natural, social and cultural dimensions. to live as an animal is to live for oneself and for very few others (mainly offspring). to live as a human being is to live through the existence of others, and in relation to others. established before us and bound to continue after us, culture absorbs newcomers who not only begin their existence through their parents, but who also get to know culture and to adapt to it, or revolt against it. education starts with the experience of the absent, the non-immediate, the successive. in other words, it implies experiences resulting from comparisons, imitation of actions, and formation of individual patterns corresponding to human biological characteristics. only much later comes the use of language, of adjectives, adverbs, and the generation of conventions and metaphors, some part of the body of literacy, others part of other languages, such as the visual. with the constitution of the family, education begins, and so does another phase in labor division. the initial phase probably marked the transition from a very small scale of nomadic tribal life to the scale within which language settled in notation and eventually in writing. the generality of sequences, words, phonetics, nouns, and actions was reached in the practical experience of writing. the language of drawings, resulting from different experiences and supporting the making of objects, complemented the development of writing. when the scale of humankind corresponding to incipient literacy was reached, literacy became the instrument for imparting experiences coherent with the experience of language and its use. this account is inserted here as a summary for those who, although claiming historic awareness, show no real instinct for history. this summary says that education is the result of many changes in the condition of humankind and makes clear that these alterations continue. they also entail a responsibility to improve the experience of education and re-establish its connection to the broader framework of human activity, instead of limiting education to the requirements of cultural continuity. it has been said, again and again, that what we are we had to learn to become. actually, we are who and what we are through what we do in the context of our individual and social existence. to speak, write, and read means to understand what we say, what we write, and what we read. it is not only the mechanical reproduction of words or sound patterns, which machines can also be programmed to perform. the expectation of speaking, reading, and writing is manifested in all human interactions. to learn how to speak, write, and read means both to gain skills and to become aware of the pragmatic context of interhuman relations that involve speaking, writing, and reading. it also means awareness of the possibility to change this context. to educate today means to integrate others, and in the process oneself, in an activity-oriented process directed towards sharing the knowledge necessary to gain further knowledge. its content cannot be knowledge in general, since the varieties of practical experiences cannot be emulated in school and college. within the pragmatic framework that made literacy possible, it sufficed to know how an engine functioned in order to work with different machines driven by engines. literacy reflected homogeneity and served those constituted as literate in controlling the parameters within which deviations were allowed. the post-industrial experience, based on an underlying digital structure, is so heterogeneous that it is impossible to cope with the many different instances of practical requirements. the skills to orient us towards where to find what we need become more important than the information shared. ownership of knowledge takes a back seat; what counts is access, paralleled by a good understanding of the new nature of human praxis focused on cognition. education should, accordingly, prepare people to handle information, or to direct it to information processing devices. it has to help students develop a propensity for understanding and explaining the variety in which cognition, the raw material of digital engines, results from our experiences. the unity between the various paths we conceive in projecting our own biological reality into the reality of the world housing us and the result of our activity is characteristic of our mental and emotional condition. it defines our thinking and feeling. at some moment in time, after the division between physical and intellectual work took place, this thinking became relatively free of the result. the abstraction of thinking, once attained, corresponds to our ability to be in the process, to be aware of it, to judge it. this is the level of theories. the dynamics of the present affects the status of theories, both the way we shape them and how we communicate them. at least in regard to the communication of theory, but also to some of its generation, it is worthwhile to examine, in the context of our concern with education in this age, the evolution of the university. temples of knowledge education became the institution, the machine of literacy, once the social role of a generalized instrument of communication and coordination was established. this happened simultaneously with the reification of many other forms of human praxis: religion, the judiciary, the military. the first western universities embodied the elitist ideal of literacy in every possible way: exclusivity, philosophy of education, architecture, goals, curriculum, body of professors, body of students, relation to the outside world, religious status. these universities did not care for the crafts, and did not acknowledge apprenticeship. the university, more than schools (in their various forms), extended its influence beyond its walls to assume a leading role in the spiritual lives of the population, while still maintaining an aura about itself. this was not just because of the religious foundation of universities. the university housed important intellectual documents containing theories of science and humanities, and encompassing educational concepts. these documents emphasized the role of a universal education (not only as a reflex of the church's catholic drive) in which fundamental components constructed a temple of knowledge from which theories were dispensed throughout the western world. through its concept and affirmed values, the university was intended as a model for society and as an important participant in its dynamics. tradition, languages (opening direct access to the world of classic philosophy and literature), and the arts were understood in their unity. engineering and anything practical played no part in this. compared to the current situation, those first universities were ahead of their time almost to the effect of losing contact with reality. they existed in a world of advanced ideas, of idealized social and moral values, of scientific innovation celebrated in their metaphysical abstraction. there is no need to transcribe the history of education here. we are mainly interested in the dynamics of education up to the turn of the century, and would like to situate it in the discussion caused by the apparent, or actual, failure of education to accomplish its goals today. when universities were founded, access to education was very limited. this makes comparison to the current situation in universities almost irrelevant. it explains, however, why some people question the presence of students who would not have been accepted in a college a century ago, even years ago. yes, the university is the bearer of prejudices as well as values. the relevance of historic background is provided by the understanding of the formative power of language, of its capacity for storing ideas and ideals associated with permanency, and for disseminating the doctrine of permanency and authority, making it part of the social texture. religion insinuated itself into the sciences and humanities, and assumed the powerful role of assigning meaning to various discoveries and theories. education in such universities was for eternity, according to a model that placed humanity in the center of the universe and declared it exemplary because it originated from the supreme power. the university established continuity through its entire program, and did so on the foundation of literacy. as an organization, it adopted a structure more favorable to integration and less to differentiation. it constituted a counter-power, a critical instrument, and a framework for intellectual practice. although many associate the formula "knowledge is power" with the ideology of the political left, it actually originated in the medieval university, and within conservative power relations for which literacy constituted the underlying structure. looking at the development of the medieval university, one can say that it was the embodiment of the reification of language, of the greek logos and of the roman ratio. the entire history of reifying the past was summarized in the university and projected as a model for the future. alternative ways of thinking and communicating were excluded, or made to fit the language mold and submit, without exception, to the dominating rationality. based on these premises, the university evolved into an institution of methodical doubt. it became an intellectual machine for generating and experimenting with successive alternative explanations of the universe, as a whole, and of its parts, considered similar in some way to the whole they constituted. the circumstances leading to the separation of intellectual and educational tasks were generated by an interplay of factors. the printing press is one of them. the metaphors of the university also played an important role. but the defining element was practical expectations. as people eventually learned, they could not build machines only by knowing latin or greek, or by reciting litanies, but by knowing mathematics and mechanics. some of this knowledge came from greek and latin texts preserved by moslem scholars from the desolation following the fall of the roman empire. people also had to know how to express their goals, and communicate a plan to those who would transform it into roads, bridges, buildings, and much more. humans could not rely on aristotle's explanation of the world in order to find new forms of energy. more physics, chemistry, biology, and geology became necessary. access to such domains was still primarily through literacy, although each of these areas of interest started developing its own language. machines were conceived and built as metaphors of the human being. they embodied an animistic view, while actually answering needs and expectations corresponding to a scale of human existence beyond that of animistic practical experiences. industrial experience, a school of a new pragmatic framework, would impart awareness of creativity and productivity, as well as a new sense of confidence. work became less and less homogeneous, as did social life. once the potential of literacy reached its limits of explaining everything and constituting the only medium for new theories, universities started lagging behind the development of human practice. what separates galileo galilei's physics from the newtonian is less drastic than what separates both from einstein's relativity theory, and all three of these from the rapidly unfolding physics of the cosmos. in the latter, a different scale and scope must be accounted for, and a totally new way of formulating problems must be developed. humans project upon the world cognitive explanatory models for which past instruments of knowledge are not adequate. the same applies to theories in biology, chemistry, and more and more to sociology, economics, and the decision sciences. it is worth noting that scale, and complexity therein, thus constitutes a rather encompassing criterion, one that finally affects the theory and practice of education. coherence and connection education has stubbornly defended its turf. while it fell well behind the expectations of those in need of support for finding their place in the current pragmatic context, a new paradigm of scientific and humanistic investigation was acknowledged- computation. together with experimental and theoretical science, computation stimulated levels at which the twin concerns for intellectual coherence and for the ability to establish connections outside the field of study could be satisfied. computation made it into the educational system without becoming one of education's underlying structures. the late-in-coming technology literacy challenge that will provide two billion dollars by the year acknowledges this situation, though it fails to address it properly. in other countries, the situation is not much better. bureaucracies based on rules of functioning pertinent to past pragmatics are not capable of even understanding the magnitude of change, in which their reason for being disappears. in some colleges and private high schools, students can already access the computer network from terminals in their dormitories. still, in the majority, computing time is limited, and assigned for specific class work, mainly word processing. too many educational outlets have only administrative computers for keeping track of budget execution and enrollment. in most european countries the situation is even worse. and as far as the poor countries of the world are concerned, one can only hope that the disparity will not deepen. if this were the case with electricity, we would hear an uproar. computing should become as pervasive as electricity. this view is not necessarily unanimously accepted. arguments about whether education needs to be computerized or whether computers should be integrated across the board go on and on among educators and administrators with a say in the matter. it should be noticed that failure to provide the appropriate context for teaching, learning, and research affects the condition of universities all over the world. these universities cease to contribute new knowledge. they become instead the darkroom for pictures taken elsewhere, by people other than their professors, researchers, and graduate students. such institutions fathom a relatively good understanding of the past, but a disputable notion of the present and the future, mainly because they are hostages to literacy-based structures of thought and activity, even when they use computers. to function within a language means to share in the experiences which are built into it. natural language has a built-in experience of space and time; programming languages contain experiences of logical inference or of object-oriented functioning of the world. these experiences represent its pre-understanding frame of reference. knowledge built into our so-called natural languages was for a long time common to all human beings. it resulted in communities sharing, through language, the practical experiences through which the community members constituted themselves in space and time. the continuity of language and its permanence reflected continuity of experience and permanence of understanding. within such a pragmatic framework, education and the sharing of experience were minimally differentiated from each other. progressively, language experience was added to practical experience and used to differentiate such an experience in new forms of praxis: theoretic work, engineering, art, social activism, political programs. diversity, incipient segmentation, higher speeds, and incremental mediations affected the condition of self-constitutive human experiences. consequently, literacy progressively ceased to represent the optimal medium for sharing, although it maintains many other functions. indeed, plans for a new building, for a bridge, for engines, for many artifacts cannot be expressed in literate discourse, no matter how high the level, or how well literate competency is served by education or impacts upon it. accelerated dynamics and a generalized practice of mediations, by means not based on literacy, become part of human praxis in the civilization of illiteracy and define a new underlying structure. language preserves a limited function. it is paralleled by many other sign systems, some extremely well adapted to rationalization and automation, and becomes itself subject to integration in machines adept at sign processing (in particular information processing). the process can be exemplified by a limited analogy: in order to explore in depth the experience embodied in homer's texts, one needs a knowledge of ancient greek. in order to study the legal texts of the roman empire, one needs latin, and probably more. but in order to understand algebra-the word comes from the arabic al-jabr/jebr, meaning union of broken parts-one really does not need to be fluent in arabic. literacy embodies a far less significant part of the current human practical experience of self-constitution than it did in the past. still, literacy-based education asserts its own condition on everything: learning what is already known is a prerequisite to discovering the unknown. in examining the amount and kind of knowledge one needs to understand past experience and to make possible further forms of human praxis, we can be surprised. the first surprise is that we undergo a major shift, from forms of work and thinking fundamentally based on past experience to realms of human constitution that do not repeat the past. rather, such new experiences negate it altogether, making it relatively irrelevant. freed from the past, people notice that sometimes the known, expressed in texts, obliterates a better understanding of the present by introducing a pre-understanding of the future that prevents new and effective human practical experiences. the second surprise comes from the realization that means other than those based on literacy better support the current stage of our continuous self- constitution, and that these new means have a different underlying structure. searle, among many others, remarked that, "like it or not, the natural sciences are perhaps our greatest single intellectual achievement as human beings, and any education that neglects this fact is to that extent defective." what is not clearly stated is the fact that sciences emerged as such achievements once the ancillary relation to language and literacy was overcome. mathematization of science and engineering, the focus on computational knowledge, the need to address design aspects of human activity (within sociology, business, law, medicine, etc.), all belong to alternative modes of explanation that make literate speculation less and less effective. they also opened new horizons for hypotheses in astronomy, genetics, anthropology. cognitive skills are required in the new pragmatic context together with meta-cognitive skills: how to control one's own learning, for example, in a world of change, variety, distributed effort, mediated work, interconnection, and heterogeneity. we do not yet know how to express and quantify the need for education, how to select the means and criteria for evaluating performance. if the objective is only to generate attitudes of respect for tradition and to impart good manners and some form of judgment, then the result is the emulation of what we think the past celebrated in a person. in the usa, the bill for education, paid by parents, students, and private and public sources, is well over billion dollars a year. in the national budget alone, different categories of grants-programs for building basic and advanced skills in , schools, programs for safe and drug-free schools, programs for acquiring advanced technology, scholarships, and support for loans-quantify the federal part of the sum. state and local agencies have their own budgets allowing for $ , to $ , per student. if a class of students is supported by $ , of funding, something in the equation of financing education does not add up. the return on investment is miserable by all accounts. knowing that close to one million students drop out each year-and the number is growing-at various stages of their education, and that to reclaim them would cost additional money, we add another detail to the picture of a failure that is no longer admissible. in other countries, the cost per person is different. in a number of countries (france, germany, italy, some countries in eastern europe), students attend school years beyond what is considered normal in the usa. germany discusses, forever it seems, the need to cut schooling. are or years of schooling sufficient? how long should the state support a student in the university? with the reunification of the country, new needs had to be addressed: qualified teachers, adequate facilities, financing. japan, while maintaining a -grade system, requires more days of schooling ( per year compared to in germany and in the usa). france, which regulates even pre-school, maintains years of education. still, % of french students commit errors in using their language. when, almost years ago, richelieu introduced (unthinkable for the american mentality) the académie française as the guardian of the language, little did he know that a time would come when language, french or any other, would no longer dominate people's life and work, and would not, despite money invested and time spent to teach, make all who study literate. the new pragmatic context requires an education that results in abilities to distinguish patterns in a world of extreme dynamism, to question, to cope with complexity as it affects one's practical existence, and with a continuum of values. students know from their own experience that there is no intrinsic determination to the eternity and universality of language-and this is probably the first shock one faces when noticing how large illiterate populations function and prosper in modern society. the economy absorbed the majority of the dropout population. the almost % of the american population considered functionally illiterate partakes, in its majority, in the high standard of living of the country. in other countries, while the numbers are different, the general tenor is the same. well versed in the literacy of consumption, these people perform exactly the function expected: keep the economic engine turning. plenty of questions industrial society, as a precursor to our pragmatic framework, needed literacy in order to get the most out of machines, and to preserve the physical and intellectual capability of the human operator. it invested in education because the return was high enough to justify it. a qualified worker, a qualified physician, chemist, lawyer, and businessman represented a necessity for the harmonious functioning of industrial society. one needed to know how to operate one machine. chances were that the machine would outlast the operator. one needed to study a relatively stable body of knowledge (laws, medical prescriptions, chemical formulas). chances were that one and the same book would serve father, son, even grandson. and what could not be disseminated through literacy was taught by example, through the apprenticeship system, from which engineering profited a lot. what education generated were literate people, and members of a society prepared for relations without which machines made little or no sense at all. the more complex such relations, the longer the time needed for education, and the higher the qualifications required from those working as educators. education ensured the transmission of knowledge, filling empty containers sent by parents, from settled families, as incoming students to schools and colleges. industrial society simultaneously generated the products and the increased need for them. some would argue that all this is not so simple. industrialists did not need educated workers. that is why they transferred a lot of work to children and women. reformists (probably influenced by religious humanism) insisted on taking children out of the factories. children were taught to read in order to uplift their souls (as the claim went). finally, laws were enacted that forbade child labor. as this happened, industry got what it needed: a relatively educated class of workers and higher levels of productivity from employment that used the education provided. under the right pragmatic conditions, an educated worker proved to be a good investment. alan bloom detailed many of the motives that animated industrial philanthropists in supporting education. i beg to differ and return to the argument that industrial society, in order to use the potential of machine production, had to generate the need for what it produced. indeed, the first products are the workers themselves, projecting into machine-based praxis their physical attributes, but foremostly skills such as comprehension, interaction, coordination. all these attributes belong to the structural condition of literacy. industrial products resulting from qualitatively new forms of human self- constitution were of accidental or no interest to illiterates. what would an illiterate do with products, such as new typewriters, books, more sophisticated household appliances? how would an illiterate interact with them in order to get the most out of each artifact? and how could coordination with others using such new products take place? we know that things were not exactly divided along such clear-cut borders. illiterate parents had literate children who provided the necessary knowledge. the trickle-down effect was probably part of the broader strategy. but all in all, the philanthropists' support of education was an investment in the optimal functioning of a society whose scale necessitated levels high enough for efficient work. education was connected to philanthropy, and it still is, as a form of wealth distribution. but it is not love for the neighbor that makes philanthropists' support of education necessary, rather the sheer advantage resulting from money given, estate or machines donated, chairs endowed. cynical or not, this view results from the perception one experiences when noticing how generosity, well supported by public money, ends up as a self-serving gesture: donations that resulted in buildings, scholarships, endowments, and gifts named after the benefactor. the obsession with permanence-some live it as an obsession with eternity, others as a therapeutic ego massage-is but one of the overhead costs associated with literacy. lines from the prologue to the canterbury tales come to mind: "now isn't it a marvel of god's grace/that an illiterate fellow can outpace/the wisdom of a heap of learned men?" how a manciple (probably equivalent to a residence life administrator and cafeteria head combined) would perform today is worth another tale. education, as a product of the civilization of literacy, has problems understanding that literacy corresponds to a development in which written language was the medium for the spoken. nevertheless, it did learn that today we can store the spoken in non-written form, sometimes more efficiently, and without the heavy investment required to maintain literacy. as an industry, with the special status of a not-for-profit organization, education in the usa competes in the market for its share, and for high returns. endowments qualify many universities as large businesses that are buffered from the reality of economics. with or without the aid of philanthropy, learning has to free itself from its subordination to literacy and restrictive literate structures, as it previously freed itself from its subordination to the church, in whose bosom it was nurtured. obviously, if this new awareness manifests itself only in mailing out videotapes instead of printed college catalogues, then we may ask whether it is educators, or only marketers, who understand the current dynamics. the same should be asked when some professors put their courses on tape, in the belief that canned knowledge is easier for the student to absorb. on-line classes break with the mold, but they are not yet the answer, at least as long as they do not belong to a broader vision reflected in different priorities and appropriate content. there is nothing intrinsically bad about involving media in education, but the problem is not the medium for storage and delivery. media labs that are covered by dust because they convey the same useless information as the classes they were supposed to enhance only prove that a fundamental change is necessary. fundamental, for instance, is the skewed notion that knowledge is transferred from professors-who know more-to students-who know less. actually, we face a reality never before experienced: students know more than their teachers, in some disciplines. in addition, knowledge still appropriate to a subject a short time ago-call it history, politics, or economics, and think about classes in soviet and east european studies- has been rendered useless. physics, mathematics, and chemistry underwent spectacular renewal. this created situations in which what the textbooks taught was immediately contradicted by reality. should education compete with the news media? should it become an internet address for unlimited and unstructured browsing? should education give up any sense of foundation? or should universities periodically refresh their genetic make-up in order to maintain contact with the most recent theories, the most recent research techniques, the most recent discoveries? these are more than enough questions for a pen still writing one word at a time, or for a mouth answering questions as they pile up. without posing these questions-to which some answers will be attempted at the conclusion of this book-no solution can be expected. the willingness of educators and everyone affected by education to formulate them, and many more, would bear witness to a concern that cannot be addressed by some miraculous, all-encompassing formula. the good news is that in many parts of the world this is happening. finally! the equation of a compromise as the scale of humankind changed, and the efficiency of human practical experience corresponding to the scale ascertained itself as the new rationality, the practical experience of self-constitution had to adjust to new circumstances of existence and activity. there is no magic borderline. but there is a definite discontinuity between what constituted the relatively stable underlying structure of literacy and what constitutes the fast-changing underlying structure of the pragmatic framework. because in our own self-constitution literacy is only one among many media for achieving the efficiency that the new scale requires, we come to realize, even if public discourse does not exactly reflect it, that we cannot afford literacy the way we have until now. and even if we could, we should not. people recognize, even if only reluctantly, that the literacy machine, for some reason still called education, endows the new generation with a skill of limited significance. the resulting perspective is continuously contradicted by the ever new and ever renewing human experiences through which we become who we are. education based on the paradigm of literacy is, as we have seen, a luxury which a society, rich or poor, cannot afford. conditions of human life and praxis require, instead of a skill and perspective for the whole of life, a series. skill and perspective need to be understood together. their application will probably be limited in time, and not necessarily directly connected to those succeeding them. nobody seriously disputes the relevance of studying language, but very few see language and language-based disciplines as the prerequisite for the less than life-long series of different jobs students of today will have. although colleges maintain a core curriculum that preserves the role of language and the humanities, the shift towards the languages of mathematics-a discipline that has diversified spectacularly-and of visual representation is so obvious that one can only wonder why the voices of mathematicians are not heard over those of the modern language association. mathematics prepares for fields from technical to managerial, from scientific to philosophic, and from design to legal. the realization that calculus is first of all a language, and that the goal of education is fluency in it, corresponds to an awareness that musicians had for the longest time with respect to musical scores, but the champions of literacy always refused to accept. the same holds true for the disciplines of visualization: drawing, computer graphics, design. in today's education, the visual needs to be studied at least as much as language-dependent subjects. against the background of deeper changes, education is focusing on its on redefinition. the major change is from a container model of education-the child being the empty container who needs to be filled with language, history, math, and not much more-to a heuristic education. our pragmatics is one of process, as the pragmatics of education finally should be. education needs to be conducive to interaction and to the formation of criteria for choices from among many options. but change does not come easily. still using the impertinence of literacy, some educators call the container model "teaching students to think." they do not realize that students think whether we teach them to or not! students of all ages are aware of change, and familiar with modes of interaction, among themselves and with technology, closer to their condition than to that of their teachers. the majority of the new businesses on the internet are instigated by students and supported by their inventiveness and dedication. they have became agents of change in spite of all the shortcomings of education. and students have become educators themselves, offering environments for conveying their own experience. to be a child no one can declare better ways of teaching without considering the real child. in a world of choice and free movement, children are more likely to come from families that will consist of a single parent. many children will come from environments where discrimination, poverty, prejudice, and violence have an overpowering influence. such an environment is significant for a society dedicated to democratic ideals. we have to face the fact that childrearing and education are being transferred from family to institutions meant to produce the educated person. with the best of motives, society has created factories for processing children. these socio-educational entities are accepted quite obligingly by the majority of the people freed from a responsibility affecting their own lives. "everything will be fine, as long as the education of the new generation basically repeats the education of the parents," sums up the expectations regarding these institutions. although we know that, generally speaking, cycles (of production, design, and evaluation) are getting shorter, we maintain children in education well past the time they even fit in classroom chairs. one needs to see those adults forced to be students, full of energy, frustrated that their patience, not their creative potential, is put to the test. dropping out of high school or college is not indicative of a student's immaturity. society's tendency to decide what is best for the next generation has determined that only one type of education will ensure productive adults. society refuses to consider humans in the variety of their potential. from the projection of education statistics to the year , we learn that the total private and public elementary and secondary school enrollment in the usa will increase from . million in to . million. of the . million in , only . million graduated high school, and by the year the number will not exceed million. students themselves seem to be more aware of the excessively long cycle of education than do the experts who define its methods, contents, and goals. this creates a basis for conflict that no one should underestimate. growing up in an environment of change and challenge is probably rewarding in the long run. but things are not very simple. the pressure to perform, peer pressure, and one's youthful instincts to explore and ascertain can transform a student's life in an instant. the distance between paradise (support and choice without worry) and hell (the specter of disease, addiction, abandonment, disappointment, lack of direction) is also shorter than prior generations experienced it. hundreds of tv channels, the internet, thousands of music titles (on cd, video, and radio stations), the lure of sports, drugs, sex, and the hundreds of fashion labels-choosing can be overwhelming. literacy used to organize everything neatly. if you were in love, romeo and juliet was proper reading material. if you wished to explore greece, you started with homer's epics and worked your way up to the most recent novel by a contemporary greek writer. the problem is that drugs, aids, millions of attractions, the need to find one's way in a world less settled and less patient, do not fit in the neat scheme of literacy. the language of genetics and the language of personality constitution are better articulated through means other than books. heroes, teachers, parents, priests, and activists are no longer icons, even if they are portrayed to be better than they were in reality. bart simpson, the underachiever, "mediocre and proud of it," is a model for everyone who is told that what really counts is to feel good, period. still, some young people go to school or college full of enthusiasm, hoping to get an education that will guarantee self-fulfillment. all that is studied, over a long period of time and at great financial sacrifice, comes not even close to what they will face. tehy might learn how to spell and how to add. but they soon discover that in real life skills other than spelling and arithmetic are expected. what bigger disappointment is there than discovering that years of pursing a promise bring no result? if, after all this, we still want both literacy and competence for experiences which literacy does not support, and often inhibits, we would have to invest beyond what society is willing and able to spend. and even if society were to do so, as it seems that it feels it must, the investment would be in imposing useless skills and a primitive perspective on the new generation, until the time comes when it can escape society's pressure. education in our day remains a compromise between the interests of the institution of education (with tens of thousands of teachers who would become unemployed) and a new pragmatic framework that few in academia understand. one of the elements of this equation is the practical need to extend education to all, and if possible on a continuous basis. but unless this education reflects the variety of literacies that the pragmatic framework requires, admitting everyone to everything results in the lowest general level of education. the variety of practical experiences of self-constitution requires that we find ways to coordinate access to education by properly and responsibly identifying types of creativity, and investing responsibility in their development. continuous education needs to be integrated in the work structure. it has to become part of the reciprocal commitments through which the new pragmatic framework is acknowledged. to all those dedicated to the human aspects of politics, business, law, and medicine, who deplore that the technicians of policy-making can no longer find their way to our souls, all this will sound terrifying. nevertheless, as much as we would like to be considered as individuals, each with our own dignity, personality, opinions, emotions, and pains, we ourselves undermine our expectations in our striving for more and more, at a price lower than what it costs society to distinguish us. scale dictates anonymity, and probably mediocrity. ignorance of literacy's role in centuries of productive human life dictates that it is time to unload the literacy-reflected experiences for which there is no reference in the new pragmatic context. who are we kidding? scared that in giving up literacy training we commit treason to our own condition, we maintain literacy and try to adapt it to new circumstances of working, thinking, feeling, and exploring. in view of the inefficiency built into our system of education, we try to compromise by adding the dimension characteristic of the current status of human experience of multiple partial literacies. the result is the transformation of education into a packaging industry of human beings: you choose the line along which you want to be processed; we make sure that you get the literacy alibi, and that we train you to be able to cope with so-called entry-level jobs. obviously, this evolves in a more subtle way. the kind of college or university one attends, or the tuition one pays, determines the amount of subtlety. students accept the function of education insofar as it mediates between their goals and the rather scary reality of the marketplace. this mediation differs according to the level of education, and is influenced by political and social decision making. as an industry for processing the new generation, education acts according to parameters resulting from its opportunistic search for a place between academia and reality. education acknowledges the narrow domains of expertise which labor division brought about, and reproduces the structure of current human experience in its own structure. through vast financial support, from states, private sources, and tradition- based organizations, education is artificially removed from the reality of expected efficiency. it is rarely a universe of commitments. accordingly, the gap between the literate language of the university and the languages of current human practice widens. the tenure system only adds another structural burden. when the highest goal of a professor is to be freed of teaching, something is awfully wrong with our legitimate decision to guarantee educators the freedom necessary for exercising their profession. behind the testing model that drives much of current education is the expectation of effective ranking of students. this model takes a literate approach insofar as it establishes a dichotomy (aptitude vs. achievement) that makes students react to questions, but does not really engage them or encourage creative contributions. the result is illustrative of the relation between what we do and how we evaluate what we do. an expectation was set, and the process of education was skewed to generate good test results. this effectively eliminates teaching and learning for the sake of a subject. students are afraid they will not measure up and demand to be taught by the book. teachers who know better than the book are intimidated, by students and administration, from trying better approaches. good students are frustrated in their attempts to define their own passion and to pursue it to their definition of success. entrepreneurs at the age of , they do not need the feedback of stupid tests, carried out more for the sake of bureaucracy than for their well-being. standardized tests dominated by multiple-choice answers facilitate low cost evaluations, but also affect patterns of teaching and learning. exactly what the new pragmatics embodies-the ability to adapt and to be proactive-is counteracted through the experience of testing, and the teaching geared to multiple-choice instruments. the uncoupling of education from the experiential frame of the human being is reflected in education's language and organization, and in the limiting assumptions about its function and methods. education has become a self-serving organization with a bureaucratic "network of directives," as winograd and flores call them, and motivational elements not very different from the state, the military, and the legal system. like the organizations mentioned, it also develops networks of interaction with sources of funding and sources of power, some driven by the same self-preserving energies as education itself. instead of reflecting shorter cycles of activity in its own structure, it tends to maintain control over the destiny of students for longer periods of time. even in fields of early acknowledged creativity-e.g., computer programming, networking, genetics, and nanotechnology-education continues to apply a policy that takes away the edge of youth, inventiveness, and risk. the lowest quality of education is at the undergraduate level in universities, where either graduate assistants or even machines substitute for professors too busy funding their research, or actually no longer attuned to teaching. this situation exists exactly because we are not yet able to develop strategies of education adapted to new circumstances of human work and to the efficiency requirements which we ourselves made necessary. the "network of recurrent conversations," to use winograd's terminology again, or the "language game" that wittgenstein attributed to each profession, hides behind the front of literacy and thus burdens education. once accreditation introduces the language game of politics, education distances itself even more from its fundamental mission. accreditation agencies translate concerns about the quality of education into requirements, such as the evaluation of colleges and universities based on scores on exit tests taken by students. these are supposed to reflect academic achievement. in other cases, such scores are used for assessing financial support. the paradox is that what negatively affects the quality of education becomes the measure of reward. test results are often used in politicians' arguments about improved education, as well as a marketing tool. in fact, to prepare students for performance makes performance a goal in itself. thus it should come as no surprise that the most popular book on college campuses-today's education factories-is a guide to cheating. many times comparisons are made between students in the usa and in japan or in western european countries. in many ways these comparisons are against the pervasive dynamics of integration that we experience. still, there are things to consider-for instance, that japanese students spend almost the same amount of time watching tv as american students do, and that they are not involved in household tasks. noticeable differences are in reading. the japanese spend double the number of hours that american students do in reading. japanese students spend more time on schoolwork (the same -to- ratio), but much less on entertainment. should japan be considered a model? if we see that japanese students rank among the best in science subjects, the answer seems to be positive. but if we project the same against the entire development of students, their exceptional creative achievements, the answer becomes a little more guarded. with all its limitations, the usa is still more attuned to pragmatic requirements. this is probably due more to the country's inherent dynamics than to its educational institutions. largely unregulated, capable of adaptive moves, subject to innovation, the usa is potentially a better network for educational possibilities. what caused the criticism in these pages of evaluation is the indecisiveness that the usa shows-the program for school reform for the year is an example of this attitude-and the difficulty it has in realizing the price of the compromise it keeps supporting. once japanese businesses started buying american campuses, the price of the compromise became clear. universities in the usa were saved from bankruptcy. japanese schools, whose structured programs and lack of understanding of the new pragmatics made for headlines, were able to evade their own rigid system of education, reputed for being late in acknowledging the dynamics of change. abruptly, the americanization of world education-study driven by multiple-choice tests with a dualistic structure-was short-changed by a japanization movement. but in the closer look suggested above, it is evident that the japanese are extricating themselves from drastic literacy requirements that end up hampering necessary accommodations in the traditional japanese system of values. although caution is called for, especially in approaching a subject foreign to our direct experience and understanding, the trend expressed is telling in its many consequences. what about alternatives? a legitimate question to be expected from any sensible reader refers to alternatives. let us first notice that, due to the new pragmatic framework, we are more and more in the situation to disseminate every and any type of information to any imaginable destination. the interconnectivity of business and of markets creates the global economy. in contrast, our school and college systems, as separate from real life, and conceived physically outside our universe of existence, are probably as anachronistic as the castles and palaces we associate with the power and function of nobility; or as anachronistic as the high stacks of steel mills we associate with industry, and the cities we associate with social life. some alumni might be nostalgic for the gothic structures of their university days. the physical reference to a time "when education meant something" is clear-as is the memory of the campus, yet another good reason to look at the homecoming party in anticipation of the football game, or in celebration of a good time (win or lose). to make explicit the shift from a symbolism of education, coordinated with the function of intellectual accomplishment, to a stage when debunking this symbolism, still alive in and outside ivy league universities, is an urgent political and practical goal is only the beginning. there is no justification for maintaining outmoded structures and attitudes, and investing in walls and campuses and feudal university domains. as one of the successful entrepreneurs of this time put it, "anything that has to do with brick and mortar and its display is-to use some poetic license-dead." the focus has to be on the dynamics of individual self-constitution, and on the pragmatic horizons of everyone's future. fixing and maintaining schools in the usa, as well as in almost any country in the world, would cost more than building them from scratch. the advantage of giving up structures inappropriate to the new requirements of education is that, finally, at least we would create environments for interaction, taking full advantage of the progress made in technologies of communication and interactive learning. there is no need to idealize the internet and the world wide web at their current stage. but if the future will continue to be defined more by commerce expectations than by educational needs, no one should be surprised that their educational potential will come to fruition late. humans do not develop at the same pace, and in the same direction. each of us is so different that the main function of education should be not to minimize differences through literacy and literacy-based strategies that support a false sense of democracy, but to identify and maximize differences. this will provide the foundation for an education that allows each student to develop according to possibilities evinced through the relations, language-based or not, that people enter into. the content of education, understood as process, should be the experience, and the associated means of creating and understanding it. instead of a dominant language, with built-in experiences more and more alien to the vast majority of students, the ability to cope with many sign systems, with many languages, to articulate them, adapt them to the circumstance, and share them as much as the circumstance requires, should become the goal. some would counter, "this was attempted with courses labeled modern math and resulted in no one's understanding it, or even simple math." there is some truth in this. the mathematically gifted had no problem in learning the new math. students who were under the influence of literate reasoning had problems. what we need to do is to keep the mind open, allow for as much accumulation as necessary, and for discarding, if new experiences demand an open mind and freedom from previous assumptions. some students will settle (in math or in other subjects) for predominantly visual signs, others for sounds, some for words, for rhythm, for any of the forms through which human intelligence comes to expression. interactive multimedia are only some of the many media available. other possibilities are yet to emerge. the internet is in the same situation. a framework for individual selection, for tapping into learning resources and using them to the degree desired and acknowledged as necessary by praxis, would be the way to go. not only literacy, in the accepted sense, but mathematical literacy, biological, chemical, or engineering literacy, and visual thinking and expression should be given equal consideration. cross-pollination among disciplines traditionally kept in isolation will definitely enhance creativity by doing away with the obsessive channeling practiced nowadays. education needs to shift from the atomistic view that isolates subjects from the whole of reality to a holistic perspective. this will acknowledge types of mediation as effective means of increasing the efficiency of work, the requirements of integration, and the distributed nature of practical experiences in the world today. collaborative effort needs to be brought to the forefront of the educational experience. we can define communities of interest, focused on some body of experience (which can be incorporated in an artifact, a book, a work of art, or someone's expertise). education should provide means for sharing experiences. a variety of different interests can be brought into focus through sharing and collaborative learning. there are many dimensions to such an approach: the knowledge sought, the experience of the variety of perspectives and uses, the awareness of interaction, the skills for intercommunication, and more. implicit is the high expectation of sharing, while at the same time maintaining motivations for individual achievement and individual reward. this becomes critical at a time when it becomes more and more evident that resources are finite, while expectations still grow exponentially. the change from a standardized model, focused on the quick fix that leads to results (no matter how high a cost), to the collaborative model of individuality and distinction re-establishes an ethical framework, which is urgently needed. competition is not excluded, but instead of conflict-which in the given system results in students who cut pages from books so that their colleagues will fail-we ought to create an environment of reciprocally advantageous cooperation. how far are we from such an objective? in the words of jacques barzun, a devoted educator committed to literacy, education failed to "develop native intelligence." in an interesting negative of what people think education accomplishes, he points to the appearance of success: "we professed to make ideal citizens, super-tolerant neighbors, agents of world peace, and happy family folk, at once sexually adept and flawless drivers of cars." all this is nothing to be ashamed of, but as educational goals, they are quite off the target. citizenship in the society of the new pragmatic context is different from citizenship in previous societies. tolerance requires a new way to manifest it, such as the integration of what is different and complementary. peace, yes, even peace, means a different state of affairs at a time when many local conflicts affect the world. as far as family, sex, and the culture of the car are concerned, nothing can point more to the failure of education. indeed, education failed to understand all the factors involved in contemporary family life. it failed to understand sexual relations. faced with the painful reality of the degradation of sexual relations, education resorted to the desperate measure of dispensing condoms, an extension of what was gloriously celebrated as sex education. the flawless drivers never heard the criticism voiced by citizens concerned with energy waste. we made students rely on cheap gasoline and affordable cars to bring them to school and college, instead of understanding that education needs to be decentralized, distributed, and-why not-adapted to the communication and interaction possibilities of our times. the green teens who are active against energy waste might be well ahead of their educational system, but still forced to go through it. moreover, education should be seen in the broader context of the other changes coming with the end of the civilization of literacy: the status of family, religion, law, and government. while education is related to the civic status of the individual, the new conditions for the activity of our minds are also very important. ideally, education addresses all the facets of the human being. new conditions of generalized interconnection almost turn the paradigm of continuing education into continuous education that corresponds to changes in human experience unfolding under even more complex circumstances. it might well happen that for some experiences, we shall have to recuperate values characteristic of literacy. but better to rediscover them than to maintain literacy as an ideal when the perspectives for new forms of ascertaining ourselves as human beings require more, much more, than literacy. book four language and the visual photography, film, and television have changed the world more than gutenberg's printing press. much of the blame for the decline in literacy is attributed to them, especially to movies and television. more recently, computer games and the internet have been added to the list of culprits. studies have been conducted all over the world with the aim of discovering how film and television have changed established reading habits, writing ability, and the use and interpretation of language. patterns of publishing and distribution of information, including electronic publication and the world wide web (still in its infancy), have also been analyzed on a comparative basis. inferences have been drawn concerning the influence of various types of images on what is printed and why, as well as on how writing (fiction, science, trade books, manuals, poetry, drama, even correspondence) has changed. in some countries, almost every home has a television set; in others even more than one. in , the number of computers sold surpassed that of television sets. in many countries, most children watch television and films before they learn to read. in a few countries, children play computer games before ever opening a book. after they start to read, the amount of time spent in front of a tv set is far greater than the time dedicated to books. adults, already the fourth and fifth generations of television viewers, are even more inclined to images. some images are of their choice-tv programs at home, movies in the theater, videotapes they buy, rent, or borrow from the library, cd-roms. other images are imposed on the adult generations by demands connected to their professions, their health, their hobbies, and by advertisement. after image-recording and playing equipment became widely available, the focus on tv and video expanded. in addition to the ability to bring home films of one's choice, to buy and rent videotapes, laser discs, and cd-roms on a variety of subjects, we are also able to produce a video archive for family, school, community, or professional purposes. we can even avail ourselves of cable tv to generate programs of local interest. the generalized system of networking (cable, satellites, airwaves), through which images can be pumped from practically any location into schools, homes, offices, and libraries, affects even further the relation of children and adults among themselves and the relation of both groups to language and to literacy in contemporary life. anyone with access to the printing presses of the digital world can print a cd-rom. access to the internet is no more expensive than a magazine subscription. but the internet is much more exciting because we are not only at the receiving end. the subject, as almost all have perceived and analyzed it, is not the impact of visual technology and computers on reading patterns, or the influence of new media on how people write. at the core of the development described so far is the fundamental shift from one dominant sign system, called language, and its reified form, called literacy, to several sign systems, among which the visual plays a dominant role. we would certainly fail to understand what is happening, what the long-lasting consequences of the changes we face are, and what the best course of action is, if we were to look only at the influence of technology. understanding the degree of necessity of the technology in the first place is where the focus should be. the obsession with symptoms, characteristic of industrial pragmatics, is not limited to mechanics' shops and doctors' offices. new practical experiences within the scale of humankind that result in the need for alternatives to language confirm that the focus cannot be on television and computer screens, nor on advertisement, electronic photography, and laser discs. the issue is not cd-rom, digital video, internet and the world wide web, but the need to cope with complexity. and the goal is to achieve higher levels of efficiency corresponding to the needs and expectations of the global scale that humankind has reached. so far, very few of those who study the matter have resisted the temptation to fasten blame on television watching or on the intimidating intrusion of electronic and digital contraptions for the decline of literacy. it is easier to count the hours children spend watching tv-an average of , hours in comparison to , hours for study before graduation from high school-than to see why such patterns occur. and it is as easy to conclude that by the time these children can be served alcohol in a restaurant or buy it in stores, they will have seen well over a million commercials. yet no one ever acknowledges new structures of work and communication, even less the unprecedented wealth of forms of human interaction, regardless of how shallow they are. that particular ways of working and living have for all practical purposes disappeared, is easily understood. understanding why requires the will to take a fresh look at necessary developments. some of today's visual sign systems originate in the civilization of literacy: advertisement, theatrical and para-theatrical performance, and television drama. they carry with them efficiency expectations typical of the machine age. other visual sign systems transcend the limits of literacy: concrete poetry, happening, animation, performance games that lead to interactive video, hypermedia or interactive multimedia, virtual reality, and global networks. within such experiences, a different dynamics and a focus on distinctions, instead of on homogeneity, are embedded. most of these experiences originate in the practical requirement to extend the human being's experiential horizon, and the need to keep pace with the dynamics of global economy. how many words in a look? in a newspaper industry journal (printers' ink, ), fred r. barnard launched what would become over time a powerful slogan: "one look is worth a thousand words." to make his remark sound more convincing, he later reformulated it as "one picture is worth a thousand words," and called it a proverb from china. few slogans were repeated and paraphrased more than this one. barnard wanted to draw people's attention to the power of images. it took some years until the new underlying structure of our continuous practical self-constitution confirmed an observation made slightly ahead of its time. it should be added that, through the millennia, craftsmen and the forerunners of engineering used images to design artifacts and tools, and to plan and build cities, monuments, and bridges. they realized through their own experience how powerful images could be, although they did not compare them to words. images are more concrete than words. the concreteness of the visual makes images inappropriate for describing other images. however, it does not prevent human beings from associating images with the most abstract concepts they develop in the course of their practical or theoretical experience. words start by being relatively close to what they denote, and end up so far removed from the objects or actions they name that, unless they are generated together with an object or action (like the word calculator, from calculae, stones for counting), they seem arbitrary. reminiscences of the motivation of words (especially onomatopoeic qualities, i.e., phonetic resemblance to what the word refers to, such as crack or whoosh) do not really affect the abstract rules of generating statements, or even our understanding of such language signs. images are more constrained, more directly determined by the pragmatic experience in whose framework they are generated. red as a word (with its equivalencies in other languages: rot in german, rouge in french, rojo in spanish, in japanese, adom in hebrew, and in russian) is arbitrary in comparison to the color it designates. even the designation is quite approximate. in given experiential situations, many nuances can be distinguished, although there are no names for them. the red in an image is a physical quality that can be measured and standardized, hence made easier to process in photography, printing, and synthesis of pigments. in the same experiential framework, it can be associated with many objects or processes: flowers, blood, a stoplight, sunset, a flag. it can be compared to them, it can trigger new associations, or become a convention. once language translates a visual sign, it also loads it with conventions characteristic of language-red as in revolution, cardinal red, redneck, etc.-moving it from the realm of its physical determination (wavelength, or frequency of oscillation) to the reality of cultural conventions. these are preserved and integrated in the symbolism of a community. purely pictorial signs, as in chinese and japanese writing, relate to the structure of language, and are culturally significant. no matter to which extent such pictorial signs are refined-and indeed, characters in chinese and kanji are extremely sophisticated- they maintain a relation to what they refer to. they extend the experience of writing, especially in calligraphic exercise, in the experience conveyed. we can impose on images-and i do not refer only to chinese ideograms-the logic embodied in language. but once we do, we alter the condition of the image and transform it into an illustration. language, in its embodiment in literacy, is an analytic tool and supports analytic practice quite well. images have a dominantly synthetic character and make for good composite tools. synthesizing activities, especially designing, an object, a message, or a course of action, imply the participation of images, in particular powerful diagramming and drawing. language describes; images constitute. language requires a context for understanding, in which classes of distribution are defined. images suggest such a context. given the individual character of any image, the equivalent of a distributional class for a language simply does not exist. to look at an image, for whatever practical or theoretical purpose, means to relate to the method of the image, not to its components. the method of an image is an experience, not a grammar applied to a repertory, or the instantiation of rules of grammar. the power of language consists of its abstract nature. images are strong through their concreteness. the abstraction of language results from sharing vocabulary and grammar; the abstraction of images, from sharing visual experience, or creating a context for new experiences. for as long as visual experience was confined to one's limited universe of existence, as in the case of the migrating tribes, the visual could not serve as a medium for anything beyond this changing universe of existence. language resulted from the need to surpass the limitations of space and time, to generate choices. the only viable alternative adopted was the abstract image of the phonetic convention, which was easier to carry from one world to another, as, for instance, the phoenicians did. each alphabet is a condensed visual testimony to experiences in the meanwhile uncoupled from language and its concrete practical motivations. writing visualizes language; reading brings the written language back to its oral life, but in a tamed version. whether the sumerian, aramaic, hebrew, greek, arabic, latin, or slavic alphabet, the letters are not neutral signs for abstract phonetic language. they summarize visual experiences and encode rules of recognition; they are related to anthropologic experience and to cognitive processes of abstracting. the mysticism of numbers and their meta-physical meanings, of letters and combinations of letters and numbers, of shapes, symmetry, etc. are all present. with alphabets and numbers the abstract nature of visual representation took over the phonetic quality of language. the concreteness of pictorial representation, along with the encoded elements (what is the experience behind a letter? a number? a certain way of writing?), simply vanished for the average literate (or illiterate) person. this is part of the broader process of acculturation-that is, breaking through experiences of language. experts in alphabets show us the levels at which the image of each letter constituted expressive levels significant in themselves. nevertheless, their alphabetic literacy is as relevant to writing as much as a good description of the various kinds of wheels is relevant to the making and the use of automobiles. the current use of images results from the new exigencies of human praxis and developments in visualization technology. in previous chapters, some of these conditions were mentioned: . the global scale of our activity and existence; . the diversity made possible by the practical experiences corresponding to this globality; . the dynamics of ever faster, increasingly mediated, human interaction; . the need to optimize human interaction in order to achieve high levels of efficiency; . the need to overcome the arcane stereotypes of language; . the non-linear, non-sequential, open nature of human experiences brought to the fore through the new scale of humankind. the list is open-ended. the more our command of images improves, the more arguments in favor of their use. none of these arguments should be construed as a blank and non-critical endorsement of images. we know that we cannot pursue theoretic work exclusively with images, or that the meta-level (language about language) cannot be reached with images. images are factual, situational, and unstable. they also convey a false sense of democracy. moreover, they materialize the shift from a positivist conception of facts, dominating a literacy-based determinism, to a relativist conception of chaotic functioning, embodied, for instance, by the market or by the new means and methods of human interaction. however, until we learn all there is to know about the potential of images in areas other than art, architecture, and design, chances are that we shall not understand their participation in thinking and in other traditionally non-image-based forms of human praxis. images are very powerful agents for activities involving human emotions and instincts. they shy away from literal truth, insofar as the logic of images is different from the logic inhabiting human experiences of self-constitution in language. imagery has a protean character. images not only represent; they actually shape, form, and constitute subjects. cognitive processes of association are better supported visually than in language. through images, people are effectively encultured, i.e., given the identity which they cannot experience at the abstract level of acculturation through language. the world of avatars, dynamic graphic representations of a person in the virtual universe of networks, is one of concreteness. the individuals literally remake themselves as visual entities that can enter a dialogue with others. within a given culture, images relate to each other. in the multitude of cultures within which people identify themselves, images translate from one experience to another. against the background of globality, the experience of images is one of simultaneous distinctions and integration. distinctions carry the identifiers of the encultured human beings constituted in new practical experiences. integration is probably best exemplified by the metaphor of the global village of teleconnections and tele-viewing, of internet and world wide web interactions. the characteristics of images given here so far need to be related to the perspective of changes brought about by imaging technologies. otherwise, we could hardly come to understand how images constitute languages that make literacy useless, or better yet, that result in the need for complementary partial literacies. the mechanical eye and the electronic eye the photo camera and the associated technology of photo processing are products of the civilization of literacy in anticipation of the civilization of illiteracy. the metaphor of the eye, manifest in the optics of the lens and the mechanics of the camera, could not entirely support new human perceptions of reality without the participation of literacy. camera use implied the shared background of literacy and literacy-based space representations. the entire discussion of the possibilities and limitations of photography-a discussion begun shortly after the first photographic images were produced, and still going on in our day-is an exercise in analytical practice. some looked at photography as writing with light; others as mechanical drawing. they doubted whether there was room for creativity in its use, but never questioned its documentary quality: shorthand for descriptions difficult, but still possible, in writing. the wider the framework of practical experiences involving the camera, the more interesting the testimony of photography proved. this applies to photography in journalism and science, as well as in personal and family life. with photography, images started to substitute for words, and literacy progressively gave way to imagery in a variety of new human experiences related to space, movement, and aspects of life otherwise not visible. testimony of the invisible, made available to many people through the photographic camera, was much stronger, richer, and more authentic than the words one could write about the same. early photographs of the paris sewer system-the latter a subject of many stories, but literally out of sight-exemplify this function. before the camera, only drawing could capture the visible without changing it into words or obscure diagrams. drawing was an interpreted representation, not only in the sense of selection-what to draw-but also in defining a perspective and endowing the image with some emotional quality. the camera had a long way to go before the same interpretive quality was achieved, and even then, in view of the mediating technology, it was quite difficult to define what was added to what was photographed, and why. today's cameras-from the disposables to the fully automated-encapsulate everything we have to know to operate them. there is no need to be aware of the eye metaphor-which is undergoing change with the advent of electronic photography-and even less of what diaphragm, exposure time, and distance are. the experience leading to photography and the practical experience of automated photography are uncoupled. to take a picture is no longer a matter of expertise, but a reflex gesture accompanying travel, family or community events, and discrete moments of relative significance. thus photographic images took over linguistic descriptions and became our diaries. as confusing as this might sound, a camera turns into an extension of our eyes (actually, only one), easier to use than language, and probably more accurate. in some way, a camera is a compressed language all set for the generation of visual sentences. if scientific use of photography were not available, a great deal of effort would be necessary to verbally describe what images from outer space, from the powerful electronic microscope, or from under the earth and under water, reveal to us. in leonardo da vinci's time, the only alternative was drawing, and a very rich imagination! the camera has a built-in space concept, probably more explicit than language has. this concept is asserted and embodied in the geometry of the lens and is reflected in some of the characteristics of photographic images. they are, mainly, two- dimensional reductions of our three-dimensional universe of experience, also influenced by light, film emulsion, type of processing, technology and materials used for printing, but primarily by physical properties of the lens used. once our spatial concept improved and progress in lens processing was made, we were able to change the lens, to make it more adaptive (wide angle, zoom) to functions related to visual experiences. we were also able to introduce an element of time control that helped to capture dynamic events. another important change was brought about by polaroid's concept of almost instant delivery of prints. it is with this concept-compressing two stages of photographic representation into one and, in initial developments, giving up the possibility of making copies-that we reached a new phase in the relation between literacy and photography. as we know, the traditional camera came with the implicit machine-focused conversation: what can i do with it? the polaroid concept changed this to a different query: what can it do for me? this change of emphasis corresponds to a different experience with the medium and is accompanied by the liberation of photography from some of the constraints of the system of literacy. "what can i do?" concerns photographic knowledge and the selection made by photographers, persons who constitute their identity in a new practical experience. "what can it do?" refers to knowledge embodied in the hardware. the advertisement succinctly describes the change: "hold the picture in your hand while you still hold the memory in your heart." as opposed to a written record, an instant image is meant for a short time, almost as a fast substitute for writing. a more significant change occurs when photography goes electronic, and in particular, digital. both elements already discussed-the significance of the smallest changes in the input on the result, and the quality aspect of digital vs. analog-are reflected in digital photography. i insist on this because of the new condition of the image it entails and our relation to the realm of the visual. language found its medium in writing, and printing made writing the object of literacy. images could not be used with the same ease as writing, and could not be transmitted the way the voice is. when we found ways to have voice travel at speeds faster than that of sound, by electromagnetic waves used in telephone or radio transmission, we consolidated the function of language, but at the same time freed language of some of the limitations of literacy. digital photography accomplishes the same for images. a written report from any place in the world might take longer to produce, though not to transmit, than the image representing the event reported. connected to a network, an electronic camera sends images from the event to the page prepared for printing. the understanding of the image, whose printing involved a digital component (the raster) long before the computer was invented, requires a much lower social investment than literacy. the complexity is transferred from capturing the image to transmitting and viewing it. films are used to generate an electronic simile of our photographic shots. at the friendly automated image shop, we get colorful prints and the shiny cd-rom from which each image can be recalled on a video screen or further processed on our computers. from the image as testimony, as literacy destined it to be, to the image as pretext for new experiences-medium of visual relativity and questionable morality- everything, and more, is possible. images can mediate in fast developing situations- transactions, exchange of information, conflicts-better than words can. they are free of the extra burden words bear and allow for global and detailed local interpretation. electronic processing of digital photography supports comparison, as well as manipulation, of images in view of unprecedented human experiences requiring such functions. the metaphor of the one-eye, which the photographic camera embodies, led to a flat world. cyclopes see everything flat. unfortunately, but by no accident, this metaphor was taken over in computer graphics. images on the computer screen are held together by the conventions of monocular vision. digital photography can be networked and endowed with dynamic qualities. but what makes digital photography more and more a breakthrough, in respect to its incipient literate phase, is that we can build d cameras, that is, technical beasts with two eyes (and if need be, with more). this leads to practical experiences in a pragmatic framework no longer limited to sequences or to reductionist strategies of representation. who is afraid of a locomotive? the image of a locomotive moving in the direction of the spectators made them scream and run away when moving pictures were first shown to the public. movement enhanced the realism of the image, captured on film to the extent of blurring the borderline between reality and the newly established convention of cinematographic expression. in the movies of the silent era, the literacy-based realism of the image- actually an illustration of the script-successfully compensated for the impossibility of providing the sound of dialogue. the experience of literacy and that of writing movement onto film were tightly coupled. short scenes, designed with close attention to visual details, could be understood without the presence of the word, because of the shared background of language. the convention of cinematography is based on sharing the extended white page on which the projection of moving images takes place. humor was the preferred structure, since the mechanical reproduction of movement had, due to rudimentary technology and lack of sound, a comic quality in itself. later, music was inserted, then dialogue. everyone was looking forward to the day when image and sound would be synchronized, when color movies would become possible. it adds to the arguments thus far advanced that cinematographic human experience, an experience dominantly visual, revealed the role of language as a synchronizing device, while the mechanics of cameras and projectors took care of the optical illusion. cinematography also suggested that this role could be exercised by other means of expression and communication as well. language is related to body movement, and often participates in the rhythmic patterns of this movement. before language, other rhythmic devices better adapted to the unsettled self-constitutive practical experience of the homo hominis were used to synchronize the effort of several beings involved in the endeavor of survival. although there is no relation between the experience of cinematography and that of primitive beings on the move after migrating herds of animals, it is worth pointing out the underlying structure of synchronicity. the means involved in achieving this synchronicity are characteristic of the various stages in human evolution. at a very small scale of existence, such as autarchic existence, the means were very simple, and very few. at the scale that makes the writing of movement possible, these means had become complex, but were dominated by literacy. with cinematography, a new strategy of synchronization was arrived at. in many ways, the story of how films became what they are today is also the story of a conflict between literacy and image-based strategies of synchronization. the intermediary phases are well known: the film accompanied by music ("don't kill the pianist"), recorded sound, sound integrated in the movie, stereophonic sound. their significance is also known: emulate the rhythm of filmed movement, provide a dramatic background, integrate the realism of dialogue and other real sounds in the realism of action, expand the means of expression in order to synthesize new realities. some of the conventions of the emerging film are cultural accomplishments, probably comparable to the convention of ideographic writing. they belong, nevertheless, to a pragmatic context based on the characteristics of literacy. they ensue also from an activity that will result in higher and higher levels of human productivity and efficiency. each film is a mold for the many copies to be shown to millions of spectators. the personal touch of handwriting is obfuscated by the neutral camera-a mechanical device, after all. that the same story can be told in many different ways does not change the fact that, once told, it addresses enormous numbers of potential viewers, no longer required to master literacy in order to understand the film's content. the experience of filmmaking is industrially defined. it also bears witness to the many components of human interaction, opening a window on experiences irreducible to words; and it points to the possibility of going beyond literacy, and even beyond the first layers of the visible-that is, to appropriate the imaginary in the self-constitution of the human being. some of the changes sketched above occurred when cinematography, after its phase of theater on film, started to compress language, and to search for its own expressive potential. compression of language means the use of images to diminish the quantity of words necessary to constitute a viable filmic expression, as well as the effort to summarize literature. indeed, in view of the limitations of the medium, especially during its imitative phase, it could not support scripts based on literary works that exceeded film's own complexity. cinematography had also to deal with the limited span of its viewers' attention, their lack of any previous exposure to moving images, and the conditions for viewing a film. when, later on, filmmakers compressed entire books into to minutes, we entered a phase of human experience characterized by substituting written with non- or para-linguistic means. the generations since the beginning of cinematography learned the new filmic convention while still involved in practical experiences characteristic of literacy. conventions of film, as a medium with its own characteristics, started to be experienced relatively recently, in the broader context of a human praxis in the process of freeing itself from the constraints of literacy. films are an appropriate medium for integration of the visual, the aural, and motion. people can record on film some of their most intricate experiences, and afterwards submit the record to fast, slow, entire, or partial evaluation. the experience of filming is an experience with space and time in their interrelationship. but as opposed to the space and time projected in language, and uniformly shared by a literate community, space and time on film can be varied, and made extremely personal. within the convention of film, we can uncouple ourselves from the physical limitations of our universe of existence, from social or cultural commitments, and generate a new frame for action. the love affair between hollywood and emerging technologies for creating the impossible in the virtual space of digital synthesis testifies to this. but we cannot, after all, transcend the limitations of the underlying structure on which cinematography is based. generated near the height of the civilization of literacy, cinematography represents the borderline between practical experiences corresponding to the scale for which literacy was optimal, and the new scale for which both literacy and film are only partially adequate. it is even doubtful that the film medium will survive as an alternative to the new media because it is, for all practical purposes, inefficient. cinematography influenced our experience with language, while simultaneously pointing to the limits of this experience. a film is not a visually illustrated text, or a transcription of a play. rather, it is a mapping from a universe of sentences and meanings assigned to a text, to a more complex universe, one of consecutive images forming (or not) a new coherent entity. in the process, language performs sometimes as language (dialogue among characters), other times as a pre-text for the visual cinematographic text. before film, we moved only in the universe of our natural, physical existence, on the theatrical stage, or in the universe of our imagination, in our dreams. the synchronizing function of language made this movement (such as working, going from one place to another, from one person to another) socially relevant. our movement in language descriptions (do this, go there, meet so-and-so) is an abstraction. our movement recorded on film is the re-concretized abstraction. this explains the role of filmed images for teaching people how to carry out certain operations, for educating, or for indoctrinating them, or for acquainting them with things and actions never experienced directly. it also explains why, once efficiency criteria become important, film no longer addresses the individual, or small groups; rather, it addresses audiences at the only scale at which it can still be economically justified. the industry called hollywood (and its various copies around the world) is based on an equation of efficiency that keys in the globality of the world, of illiteracy, and of the distribution network already in place. on an investment in a film of over $ million, five continents of viewers are needed, and this is still no guarantee of breaking even. it is not at all clear whether dreamworks, the offspring of the affair between hollywood and the computer industry, will eventually create its own distribution channels on the global digital network. the temptation to ask whether the language of moving images made literacy superfluous, or whether illiteracy created the need for film, and the risk of falling prey to a simplifying cause-and-effect explanation should not prevent us from acknowledging that there are many relations among the factors involved. nevertheless, the key element is the underlying structure. books embody the characteristics of language and trigger experiences within the confines of these characteristics. when faced with practical requirements and challenges resulting from a new scale of existence, the human being constitutes alternatives better adapted to a dynamics of change for which books and the experience they entail are only partially appropriate. books in which even literate people sometimes got lost, or for which we do not have time or patience, are interpreted for us, condensed in the movie. the fact is that more than a generation has now had access to established works of fiction and drama, as well as scientific, historic, or geographic accounts only through films. a price was paid-there is no equivalent between the book and film-and is being paid, but this is not the issue here. what is the issue is the advent of cinematography in the framework in which literacy ceased to support experiences other than those based on its structure. films are mediating expressions better adapted than language to a more segmented reality of social existence. they are also adapted to the dynamics of change and to the global nature of human existence. they prepared us for electronic media, but not before generating those strange books (or are they?) that transcribe films for a market so obsessed with success that it will buy the rudimentary transcription together with the paraphernalia derived from the stage design and from the costumes used by the characters. we can find substitutes for coal or oil or tin, but seemingly not for success and stars. as a result, everything they touch or are associated with enters the circuit of our own practical existence. an american journalist ended his commentary occasioned by greta garbo's death: "today they no longer make legends, but celebrities." being here and there at the same time four generations old (or maybe five), but already the medium of choice-this statement does not define television, but probably captures its social significance. it can be said from the outset that while cinematography is at the borderline between the civilization of literacy and that of illiteracy, television definitely embodies the conflict between the two. in fact, television irreversibly tipped the balance in favor of the visual. the invention of television took place in the context of the change in scale of humankind. primarily, television occasions the transition from the universe of mechanics and chemistry, implicit in film making and viewing, to that of electricity, in particular electronics, and, more recently, digital technology. television, as a product of this change in the structure and nature of human theoretic and practical experience, results from the perceived pragmatic need to capture and transmit dynamic images. electricity was already the medium for capturing and transmitting sound at the speed of electrons along telephone networks. and since images and actions are influenced by the light we view them in, it followed that light is what we actually wanted to record and transmit. this is television. cumbersome and still owing a lot to mechanics, television started as a news medium, allowing for almost instantaneous connection between the source of information and the audience. it was initially mostly illustrative. today, it is constitutive, in the sense that it not only records news, it makes news. it constitutes a generalized mass-medium supporting entertainment and ritual (political, religious, military). literacy corresponds to the experiences of human self-definition in the world of classical physics and chemistry. it is based on the same underlying structure, and projects characteristics of this experience. electricity and electronics correspond to very fast processes (practically instantaneous), high leverage of human action, diversity, more varied mediating elements, and feedback. the film camera has the main characteristics of literacy. it can be compared to the printing press. but the comparison is only partially adequate since it writes movements to film, and lets us read them together on the shared white page called the screen. between recording the movement and viewing it, time is used for processing and duplication. television is structurally different, capturing movement and everything else belonging to what we call reality, in order to make it immediately available to the viewer. electronic mediation is much more elaborate, has many more layers than cinematography, and as a result is much more efficient. film mapped from the selected world of movement, in a studio, on the street, or in a laboratory, to a limited viewership: public in a movie theater. it requested that people share the screen on which its images were projected. television maps from many cameras to the entire world, and all can simultaneously partake in its images. television is distributed and introduces simultaneity in that several events from several locations can be broadcast on the tv screen. by comparison, cinematography is centralized. filming is limited to the location where it is being carried on. cinematography is intrinsically sequential in that it follows the narrative structure and constitutes a closed entity. once edited for showing, the film cannot be interrupted to insert anything new. there are still many who see the two as closely related, and others who see the use of television only as a carrier (of film, for instance). they ignore the defining fact that film and television, despite some commonalties, belong to practical experiences impossible to reconcile. in fact, while film passed the climax of its attraction, television became the most pervasive medium. due to the use of television in education, corporate communication, sports, artistic and other performances, such as space exploration and war, television impacts upon social interaction without being an interactive medium. a televised event can address audiences close to the world's entire population. when recording images for television became possible, television supported continued human experiences of decentralization, which previous communication technologies could not provide. the video camera and the video cassette recorder, especially in its digital version, make each of us own not only the receivers of the language of images and sounds, but also emitters, the sources, the private hollywood studios. that is, they make us live the language of tv, and substitute it for literacy. interactive tv will undoubtedly contribute even more in this direction. it is already the case that instead of writing a letter, some people make a video and send it to family and authorities, and to tv stations interested in viewer feedback and news stories. the massive deployment of troops in the desert storm operation made clear how the shift from literate to illiterate communication integrates video communication. together with the telephone, television and video dominated communication patterns of the people involved. subsequent troop deployments confirmed the pattern of illiterate communication. among the many networks through which the foundation of our existence is continuously altered, cable tv plays a distinct role. many consider it more important than libraries, probably for the wrong reasons. whether living in thickly populated urban clusters or in remote locations, people are physically connected through multi- channeled communication networks, and even through interactive media. cable tv is often seen only as another entry to our home for downloading classical programs as well as pornography and superstition. the full utilization of the electronic avenue as a multi-lane, bi-directional highway through which we can be receivers of what we want to accept, and senders of visual messages to whomever is interested and willing to interact with these messages, is still more a goal than a reality. with computer- supported visual communication integrating digital television, we will dispose of the entire infrastructure for a visually dominated civilization. in the age of internet, wired or wireless networks become part of the artificial nervous system of advanced societies. whether in its modem-based variant, or through other advanced schemes for transporting digital information and supporting interaction, the cable system already contributes to the transformation of the nature of many human practical experiences. these can be experiences of entertainment, but also of learning, teaching, even work. there is a negative side to all this development, and a need to face consequences that over time can accumulate beyond what we already know and understand. children growing up with tv miss the experience of movement. jaron lanier discussed the "famous childhood zombiehood," an expression of staring into nothing, a limited ability to see beyond a television image, the desire for instant gratification, and a lack of basic common sense appreciation for doing work in order to achieve satisfaction. games developed around video technology train children to behave like laboratory rats that learn a maze by rote. they grow up accepting the politics of telegenic competition, a poor substitute for competence and commitment. their vote is focused on brands, regardless of whether they regard political choices or cereals. addressed en masse, such viewers gel in the mass image of polls that rapidly succeed one another. that technology makes possible alternatives to literacy embodied in the visual is unquestionable. to what extent these alternatives carry with them previous determinations and constraints, or they correspond to a new stage in human civilization, is the crux of the matter. the degree of necessity and thus the efficiency of any new form of visual expression, communication, or interaction can be ascertained only in how individuals constitute themselves through practical activities coherently integrating the visual. there is no higher form of empowerment than in the fulfillment of our individual possibilities. telegenic or not, a president or a tv star has little, if any, impact on our fulfillment in the interconnected world of our time. television implies a great deal of language, but such language frees the audience from the requirement of literacy. you do not need to know how to write or read to watch tv; you need to be in command of a limited part of spoken language in order to understand a tv show, even to actively participate in it-from going on a game show to using cable networks, videotex, or interactive programs, exploring the internet, or setting up a presence on the network. growing up with tv results in stereotypes of language and attitudes representing a background of shared expressions, gestures, and values. to see in these only the negative, the low end, is easier than to acknowledge that previous backgrounds, constituted on the underlying structure of literacy, have become untenable under the new pragmatic circumstances. due to its characteristics, television belongs to the framework of rapid change typical of the dynamics of needs and expectations within the new scale of humankind. there are many varied implications to this: it makes each of us more passive, more and more subject to manipulations (economic, political, religious), robbing (or freeing) us from the satisfaction of a more personal relation (to others, art, literature, etc.). nobody should underestimate any of these and many other factors discussed by media ecologists and sociologists. but to stubbornly, and quite myopically, consider tv only from the perspective and expectations of literacy is presumptuous. we have to understand the structural changes that made tv and video possible. moreover, we have to consider the changes they, in turn, brought about. otherwise we will miss the opportunities opened by the practical experience of understanding the new choices presented to us, and even the new possibilities opened. there is so much more after tv, even on channels and after video-on-demand! language is not an absolute democratic medium; literacy, with intrinsic elitist characteristics, even less. although it was used to ascertain principles of democracy, literacy ended up, again and again, betraying them. because they are closer to things and actions, and because they require a relatively smaller background of shared knowledge, images are more accessible, although less challenging. but where words and text can obscure the meaning of a message, images can be immediately related to what they refer to. there are more built-in checks in the visual than in the verbal, although the deceptive power of an image can be exploited probably much more than the power of the word. such, and many other considerations are useful, since the transfer of social and political functions from literacy (books and newspapers, political manifestos, ceremonies and rituals based on writing and reading) to the visual, especially television, requires that we understand the consequences of this transfer. but it is not television that keeps voters away from exercising the right to elect their representatives in the civilization of illiteracy, and not the visual that makes us elect actors, lawyers, peanut farmers, or successful oilmen to the highest (and least useful) posts in the government. conditions that require the multitude of languages that we use, the layers of mediation, the tendency to decentralization, to name a few, resulted in the increased influence of the visual, as well as in some of the choices mentioned so far. high definition television (hdtv) helps us distinguish some characteristics of the entire development under discussion-for instance, how the function of integration is carried out. integration through the intermediary of literacy required shared knowledge, and in particular, knowledge of writing and reading. integration through the intermediary of modern image-producing technology, especially television and computer-aided visual communication, means access to and sharing of information. television has made countries which are so different in their identity, history, and culture (as we know the countries of the world to be) seem sometimes so similar that one has to ask how this uniformity came about. some will point to the influence of the market process- advertisements look much the same all over the world. others may note the influence of technology-an electronic eye open on the world that renders uniform everything within its range. the new dynamics of human interaction, required by our striving for higher efficiency appropriate to the scale of humankind, probably explains the process better. the similarity is determined by the mechanism we use to achieve this higher efficiency, i.e., progressively deeper labor division, increased mediation, and the need for alternative mechanisms for human integration, that is reflected in tv images. this similarity makes up the substratum of tv images, as well as the substratum of fashion trends, new rituals, and new values, as transitory as all these prove to be. literacy and television are not reciprocally exclusive. if this were not the case, the solution to the lower levels of literacy would be at hand. nevertheless, all those who hoped to increase the quality of literacy by using television had to accept that this was a goal for which the means are not appropriate. language stabilizes, induces uniformity, depersonalizes; television keeps up with change, allows and invites diversity, makes possible personalized interaction among those connected through a tv chain of cameras and receivers. literacy is a medium of tedious elaboration and inertia. tv is spontaneous and instantaneous. moreover, it also supports forms of scientific activity for which language is not at all suited. we cannot send language to look at what our eyes do not see directly, or see only through some instruments. we cannot anticipate, in language, processes which, once made possible on a television screen, make future human experience conceivable. i know that in these last lines i started crossing the border between television and digital image processing, but this is no accident. indeed, human experience with television, in its various forms and applications, although not at all closed, made necessary the next step towards a language of images which can take advantage of computer technology and of networking. with the advent of hdtv, television achieves a quality that makes it appropriate for integration in many practical experiences. design (of clothes, furniture, new products) can result from a collaborative effort of people working at different sites, and in the manufacture of their design during a live session. modifications are almost instantaneously integrated in the sample. the product can be actually tested, and decisions leading to production made. communication at such levels of effectiveness is actually integrated in the creative and productive effort. the language is that of the product, a visual reality in progress. the results are design and production cycles much shorter than literacy-based communication can support. hdtv is television brought to a level of efficiency that only digital formats make possible. the reception of digital television opens the possibility to proceed from each and every image considered appropriate to storing, manipulating, and integrating it in a new context. digital television reinstates activity, and is subject to creative programming and interactivity. the individual can make up a new universe through the effort of understanding and creative planning. it is quite possible that alternative forms of communication, much richer than those in use today, will emerge from practical experiences of human self-constitution in this new realm. that in ten years all our tv sets, if the tv set remains a distinct receiver, will be digital says much less than the endless creative ideas emerging around the reality of digital television. visualization whenever people using language try to convince their partner in dialogue, or even themselves, that they understood a description, a concept, a proof, and answer by using the colloquial "i see," they actually express the practical experience of seeing through language. they are overcoming the limitations of the abstract system of phonetic language and returning to the concreteness of seeing the image. way of speaking equals way of doing-this sums up one of the many premises of this book. we extract information about things and actions from their images. when no image is possible-what does a thought look like, or what is the image of right, of wrong, of ideal?-language supports us in our theoretic experiences, or in the attempt to make the abstract concrete. language is rather effective in helping us identify kinds of thoughts, in implementing social rules that encode prescriptions for distinguishing between right and wrong, for embodying the just in the institution of justice, and ideals in values. but the experience of language can also be an experience of images. once we reach the moment when we can embody the abstract in a concrete theory, in action, in new objects, in institutions, and in choices, and once we are able to form an image of these, share the image, make it part of the visual world we live in, and use it further for many practical or intellectual purposes, we expand the literate experience in new experiences. so it seems that we tend to visualize everything. i would go so far as to say that we not only visualize everything, but also listen to sounds of everything, experience their smell, touch, and taste, and recreate the abstract in the concreteness of our perceptions. the domination of language and the ideal of literacy, which instills this domination as a rule, was and still is seen as the domination of rationality, as though to be literate equals being rational, volens nolens. in fact, the rationality associated with language, and expressed with its help, is only a small part of the potential human rationality. the measure (ratio) we project in our objectification can as well be a measure related to our perceptive system. it is quite plausible to suspect that some of the negative effects of our literate rationality could have been avoided had we been able to simultaneously project our other dimensions in whatever we did. the shift from a literacy-dominated civilization to the relative domination of the visual takes place under the influence of new tools, further mediations, and integration mechanisms required by self-constitutive practical experiences at the new human scale. the tools we need should allow us to continue exploring horizons at which literacy ceases to be effective, or even significant. the mediations required correspond to complexities for which new languages are structurally more adequate. the necessary integration is only partially achievable through literate means since many people active in the humanities and the sciences gave up the obsession of final explanations and accepted the model of infinite processes. images, among other sign systems, are structurally better suited for a pragmatic framework marked by continuous multiplication of choices, high efficiency, and distributed human experience. but in order to use images, the human being had to put in place a conceptual context that could support extended visual praxis. when the digital computer was invented, none of those who made it a reality knew that it would contribute to more than the mechanization of number crunching. the visionary dimension of the digital computer is not in the technology, but in the concept of a universal language, a characteristica universalis, or lingua adamica, as leibniz conceived it. this is not the place to rewrite the history of the computer or the history of the languages that computers process. but the subject of visualization-presented here from the perspective of the shift from literacy to the visual-requires at least some explanation of the relation between the visual and the human use of computers. the binary number system, which leibniz called arithmetica binaria (according to a manuscript fragment dated march , ), was not meant to be the definitive alphabet, with only two letters, but the basis for a universal language, in which the limitations of natural language are overcome. leibniz tried hard to make this language utilizable in all domains of human activity, in encoding laws, scientific results, music. i think that the most intriguing aspect, which has been ignored for centuries, was his attempt to visualize events of abstract nature with the help of the two symbols of his alphabet. in a letter to herzog rudolph august von braunschweig (january , ), leibniz described his project for a medal depicting the creation (imago creationis). in this letter, he actually introduced digital calculus. around , he wrote two letters to nicolas de remond concerning chinese philosophy. it is useful to mention these here because of the binary number representation of some of the most intriguing concepts of the ih-king. through these letters, we are in the realm of the visual, and in front of pages in which, probably for the first time, translations from ideographic to the sequential, and finally to the digital, were performed. it took almost years before hackers, trying to see if they could use the digital for music notation, discovered that images can be described in a binary system. this long historic parenthesis is justified by two thoughts. first, it was not the technology that made us aware of images, or even opened access to their digital processing, but intellectual praxis, motivated by its own need for efficiency. second, visualization is not a matter of illustrating words, concepts, or intuitions. it is the attempt to create tools for generating images related to information and its use. a text on a computer screen is, in fact, an image, a visualization of the language generated not by a human hand in control of a quill, a piece of lead or graphite, a pencil or a pen. the computer does not know language. it translates our alphabet into its own alphabet, and then, after processing, it translates it back into ours. displayed in those stored images which, if in lead, would constitute the contents of the lower and upper cases of the drawers in each typography shop, this literacy is subject to automation. when we write, we visualize, making our language visible on paper. when we draw, we make our plans for new artifacts visible. the mediation introduced by the computer use does not affect the condition of language as long as the computer is only the pen, keyboard, or typewriter. but once we encode language rules (such as spelling, case agreement, and so on), once we store our vocabulary and our grammar, and mimic human use of language, what is written is only partially the result of the literacy of the writer. the visualization of text is the starting point towards automatic creation of other texts. it also leads to establishing relations between language and non-language sign systems. today, we dispose of means for electronically associating images and texts, for cross-referencing images and texts, and for rapidly diagramming texts. we can, and indeed do, print electronic journals, which are refereed on the network. nothing prevents such journals from inserting images, animation and sounds, or for facilitating on-line reactions to the hypotheses and scientific data presented. that such publications need a shorter time to reach their public goes without saying. the internet thus became the new medium of publication, and the computer its printing press-a printing press of a totally new condition. individuals constituting their identity on the internet have access to resources which until recently were available only to those who owned presses, or gained access to them by virtue of their privileged position in society. the visual component of computer processing, i.e., the graphics, relies on the same language of zeros and ones through which the entire computer processing takes place. as a result of this common alphabet and grammar (boolean logic and its new extensions), we can consider language (image translations, or number-image relations such as diagrams, charts, and the like), and also more abstract relations. creating the means to overcome the limitations of literacy has dominated scientific work. the new means for information processing allow us to replace the routine of phenomenological observation with processing of diverse languages designed especially to help us create new theories of very complex and dynamic phenomena. the shift to the visual follows the need to change the accent from quantitative evaluations and language inferences based on them, to qualitative evaluations, and images expressing such evaluations at some significant moments of the process in which we are involved. let us mention some of these processes. in medicine, or in the research for syntheses of new substances, and in space research, words have proven to be not only misleading, but also inefficient in many respects. new visualization techniques, such as those based on molecular resonance, freed the praxis of medicine from the limitations of word descriptions. patients explain what they feel; physicians try to match such descriptions to typologies of disease based on data resulting from the most recent data. when this process is networked, the most qualified physician can be consulted. when experimental data and theoretic models are joined, the result is visualized and the information exchanged via high-speed broadband digital networks. based on similar visualization techniques, we acquire better access to sources of data regarding the past, as well as to information vital for carrying through projects oriented towards the future. computed tomography, for instance, visualized the internal structure of egyptian mummies. three-dimensional images of the whole body were created without violating the casings and wrappings that cover the remnants. the internal body structure was visualized by using a simulation system similar to those utilized in non-intrusive surgery. the design and production of new materials, space research, and nano- engineering have already benefited from replacing the analytical perspective ingrained in literacy-based methods with visual means for synthesis. it is possible to visualize molecular structures and simulate interactions of molecules in order to see how medicine affects the cells treated, the dynamics of mixing, chemical and biochemical reactions. it is also possible to simulate forces involved in the so-called docking of molecules in virtual space. no literacy-based description can substitute for flight simulators, or for visualization of data from radio astronomy, for large areas of genetics and physics. not the last among examples to be given is the still controversial field of artificial intelligence, seduced with emulating behaviors usually associated with human intelligence in action. but it should not surprise anybody that while the dynamics of the civilization of illiteracy requires freedom from literacy, people will continue to preserve values and concepts they are used to, or which are appropriate to specific knowledge areas. paradoxically, artificial intelligence is, in part, doing exactly this. when people grow up with images the same way prior generations were subjected to literacy, the relation to images changes. the technology for visualization, although sometimes still based on language models, makes interactivity possible in ways language could not. but it is not only the technology of visualization applied within science and engineering that marks the new development. visualization, in its various forms and functions, supports the almost instantaneous interaction between us and our various machines, and among people sharing the same natural environment, or separated in space and time. it constitutes an alternative medium for thinking and creativity, as it did all along the history of crafts, design, and engineering. it is also a medium for understanding our environment, and the multitude of changes caused by practical experience involving the life support system. through visualization, people can experience dimensions of space beyond their direct perception, they can consider the behavior of objects in such spaces, and can also expand the realm of artistic creativity. the print media, as an overlapping practical experience uniting literacy and the power of sight, are more visual today than at any previous time. we are no longer subjected-sometimes with good reason, other times for dubious motives-to the sequentiality of literacy-dominated modes of communication. an entire shared visual language is projected upon us in the form of comic strips, advertisements, weather maps, economic reports, and other pictorial representations. some of these representations are still printed on paper. others are displayed through the more dynamic forms at public information kiosks, or through interactive means of information dissemination, such as computer-supported networks and non-linear search environments, which ted nelson anticipated back in . the world wide web embodies many of his ideas, as well as ideas of a number of other visionaries. parallel to these developments, we are becoming more and more aware of the possibilities of using images in human activities where they played a reduced role within literacy-civic action, political debate, legal argumentation. lawyers already integrate visual testimony in their cases. juries can see for themselves the crime being committed, as well as the results of sophisticated forensic tests. human destinies are defended with arguments that are no longer at the mercy of someone's memory or another's talent for rhetoric or drama. the citizen is frequently addressed by increasingly visual messages that explain how tax dollars are spent and why he or she should vote for one or another candidate. in becoming the netizen, he or she will participate in social interactions fundamentally new in nature. on the net, politicians claiming credit for some accomplishment can be immediately challenged by the real image. political promises can be modeled and displayed while the campaign speech is given. a decision to go to war can be subjected to an instant referendum while the simulation of the war itself, or of alternatives, is played on our monitors. but again, to idealize these possibilities would be foolish. the potential for abusive use of images is as great as that for their meaningful application. many factors are at work slowing down the process of educating visually literate individuals. we continue to rediscover the wheel of reading and writing without advancing comprehensive programs for visual education. illustrative visual alternatives, advanced more as an alibi for the maintenance of literacy-dominated communication, are by the nature of their function inappropriate in the context of higher efficiency requirements. utilized as alternatives, these materials can be, and often are, irrelevant, ugly, insignificant, and expensive. more often than not, they are used not to enhance communication, but to direct it, to manipulate the addressee. it will take more than the recognition of the role of the visual to understand that visual literacy, or probably several such literacies, comprising the variety of visual languages we need, less confining, less permanent, and less patterned, are necessary in order to improve practical experiences of self-constitution through images. we are yet to address the ethical aspects of such experiences, especially in view of the fact that the visual entails constraints different from those encoded in the letter of our laws and moral principles. in discussing the transition to the visual, i hope to have made clear that the process is not one of substituting one form of literacy for another. the process has a totally different dynamics. it implies transition from a dominating form of literacy to a multitude of highly adaptive sign systems. these all require new competencies that reflect this adaptability. it also requires that we all understand integrative processes in order to make the best of individual efforts in a framework of extremely divided and specialized experiences of self-constitution. if seeing is believing, then believing everything we see in our day is a challenge for which we are, for all practical purposes, ill prepared. unbounded sexuality "freedom of speech is as good as sex." madonna the netizens were up in arms: the communications decency act must be repealed. blue ribbons appeared on many websites as an expression of solidarity. this act was prompted by the american government's attempt to prevent children from accessing the many pornographic outlets of the internet. this first major public confrontation between a past controlled by literate mechanisms and a future of illiterate unrestricted freedom seemed to be less about sex and more about democracy. but that the two are related, and defined within the current pragmatics of human self- constitution, has escaped both parties to the dispute. seeking good sex in economic-philosophical manuscripts, karl marx (a product of the civilization of literacy) addressed alienation: "we thus arrive at the result that man feels that he acts freely only in his animal functions-eating, drinking, procreation, or at most using shelter, jewelry, etc.-while in his human functions, he feels only animal. what is animal becomes human and what is human becomes animal." how an analysis of industrial capitalism, with its underlying pragmatic structure reflected in literacy, can anticipate phenomena pertinent to the post-industrial, and reflected in illiteracy, is not easy to explain. although he referred to economic self-constitution, his description is significant in more than one way. sexuality is of concern in the civilization of illiteracy insofar as the human being in its multi-dimensionality is of concern. this might sound too broad to afford any meaningful inference from the condition of literacy to the condition of human sexuality, but it is an existential premise. through sexuality humans project their natural condition and the many influences, language included, leading to its humanization. an understanding of the multiple factors at work in conditioning human experiences as intimate as sexual relations, depends upon the understanding of the pragmatic framework in which they unfold. child pornography on the internet is by no means the offspring of our love affair with technology. neither is pornography being invoked for the first time as a justification for censorship. nevertheless, the commotion regarding the communications decency act constitutes a new experience that is intimately related to the condition of human existence in today's world. "swf seeks unemployed swm grad student for hideaway weekends, intimate dinners, and cuddling. must know how to read, and be able to converse without extensive use of 'you know' or 'wicked.'" this announcement (dated october , ) is one among many that use qualifying initials, but with one twist: "must know how to read."-moreover, to be articulate. what over ten years ago was formulated innocently (hideaway, intimate dinner, cuddling) would today be expressed quite bluntly: "looking for good sex." what does reading, and possibly writing, have to do with our emotional life, with our need and desire to love and be loved; that is, what does reading have to do with sex? long before homo sapiens ascertained itself, reproduction, and all it comprises in its natural and and form, ensured survival. do literacy, language, or sign systems affect this basic equation of life? mating seasons and habits shed some light on the natural aspect. colors, odors, mating calls, specific movements (dances, fights, body language) send sexual signals. molecular biology places the distinction between hominids and chimpanzees at four million years ago. after all this time of freeing themselves from nature, even to the extent of self-constitution in the practical experience of artificial insemination, human beings still integrate color, odor, mating calls, and particular movements into the erotic. but they also integrate the experience of their self-constitution in language. since the time hominids distinguished themselves, the sexuality of the species started differentiating itself from that of animals. for example, humans are permanently attractive, even after insemination, while animals attract each other only at moments favorable for reproduction. along the timeline from the primitive being to our civilization, sex changed from being an experience in reproduction to being predominantly a form of pleasure in itself. instead of the immediacy of the sexual urge, projected through patterns subject to natural cycles, humans experience ever more mediated forms of sexual attraction and gratification, which are not necessarily associated with reproduction. an initial change occurred when humanized sexual drive turned into love, and became associated with its many emotions. the practical experience of language played an important part in extending sexual encounters from the exclusive realm of nature to the realm of culture. here they acquired a life of their own through practical experiences characteristic of the syncretic phase of human practical experiences, mostly rituals. during the process of differentiating these experiences-constitution of myths, moral and ethical self-awareness, theater, dance, poetry-sexual encounters were subjected to various interpretations. beyond immediacy the birth of languages and the establishment of sex codes, as primitive as they were, are related to the moment of agriculture, a juncture at which a certain autonomy of the species was reached. rooted in the biological distinction between male and female, labor division increased the efficiency of human effort. divisions were also established, some under the model of male domination, others under the model of female domination, pertinent to survival activities, and later on to incipient social life. eventually, labor division consecrated the profession of prostitution, and thus the practice of satisfying natural urges in a context in which nature was culturized. the prototypical male-dominated structure of the sexual relation between man and woman marked the history of this relation more than female domination did. it introduced patterns of interaction and hierarchies today interpreted wholesale as harmful to the entire development of women. what is probably less obvious is the relation among the many aspects of the pragmatic context in which such hierarchies were acknowledged. moreover, we do not know enough about how these hierarchies were transformed into the underlying consciousness of the populations whose identities resulted from experiences corresponding to the pragmatic context. the implicit thesis of this book is that everything that made language and writing possible, and progressively necessary, led to a coherent framework of human practical experiences that are characterized by sequentiality, linearity, hierarchy, and centralism, and which literacy appropriated and transmits. consequently, when the structural framework no longer effectively supports human self-constitution, the framework is modified. other aspects of human existence, among them sexuality, reflect the modification. reading and writing have much to do with our emotional life. they remove it from the immediacy of drive, hope, pain, and disappointment and give it its own space: human striving, desire, pleasure. they are associated with an infinity of qualifiers, names, and phrases. with language, feelings are given a means for externalizing, and they are stabilized. expectations diversify from there. structural characteristics of the context that makes language necessary simultaneously mark the very object of the self- constitutive experience of loving and being loved. there are many literary and visual testimonies to how the erotic was constituted as a realm of its own: from gilgamesh, the song of solomon, kama sutra, ovid's art of love, through canterbury tales and the decameron, to the erotic literature of th and th century europe, down to the many current romance novels and handbooks on lovemaking. no matter which of them is examined, one inference becomes clear: the pragmatic context of the continuous human self-constitution effects changes in the way people are attracted to each other. love and integration of sexual experiences, in the manifold of acts through which hominids move from the self-perpetuation drive to new levels of expectation and new intensities of their relations, is also pragmatically conditioned. writing, as a practical experience of human self-constitution, is conducive to relations between male and female that are different from random or selective mating. it is bound to continue along a time sequence severed from the natural cycle of mating, reshaped into the marriage contract and the family alliance. literacy, as a particular practical experience of language, regulates the sexual, as it regulates, in a variety of forms, all other aspects of human interaction. in the literate erotic experience, expectations pertinent to the pragmatics of a society in search of alternative means of survival evolve into norms. the inherited experience of female-male relations, affected through the experience of rituals, myths, and religion, is condensed in literacy. encoding hierarchy, some languages place women in a secondary position. there is almost no language in which this does not happen. "many men and women" is in arabic ("rijaalan kafiiran wa-nisaa'aa") literally "men many women." in japan, women speak a japanese reserved to their sex alone. in the english wedding ceremony, the woman had to repeat that she would "love, honor, and obey" the husband. to this day, orthodox jewish men give thanks to god that he did "not make me a woman." with the demise of literacy, the sexual experience gets divorced from procreation. statistics of survival in the past world of limited available resources, of natural catastrophes, of disease, etc., cease to play any role in the illiterate sex encounters. sexuality becomes a diversified human experience, subject to divisions, mediations, and definitely to the influence of the general dynamics of the world today. as markets become part of the global economy, so does sexuality, in the sense that it allows for experiences which, in limited communities and within prescribed forms of ceremony (religious, especially), were simply not possible. from the earliest testimony regarding sexual awareness up to the present, everything one can imagine in respect to sex has been tried. so often placed under the veil of secrecy and mystery, sex is no less frequently and vividly, to say the least, depicted. yet a rhetorical question deserves to be raised: does anyone know everything about sex? the land of sexual ubiquity borges, in his own way, would have probably mapped the sexual realm: freud aside, to know everything about sex would require that one be everyone who ever lived, lives, and eventually will live. such a borgesian map is indeed detailed but leads no further than ourselves. connect all sex-related matter that is on the internet today- from on-line striptease and copulation to legitimate sex education and the passionate defense of love-and you will still not have more than a partial image of sexuality. when one considers all the books, videotapes, songs, radio and television talk-shows, private discussions and public sermons, the subject of sex would still not be exhausted. if sex were an individual matter-which it is, to a large extent-how could we meaningfully approach the subject without the risk of making it a personal confession, or worse, a pretentious discourse about something any author would unavoidably know only through the many and powerful filters of his or her culture? but maybe sex is less private than we, based on prejudice, ignorance, or discretion, assume. ritualized sex was a public event, sometimes culminating in orgies. it took a lot of taming, or acculturation, for sex to become an intimate affair. myths acknowledged sexual habits and propagated rules coherent within the pragmatic framework of their expression. like myths, many religions described acceptable and unacceptable behavior, inspired by the need to maintain the integrity of the community and to serve its goals of survival through lineage and proprietary rights, especially when ales began to dominate in society. art, science, and business appropriated sex as a subject of inquiry, or as a lucrative activity. sex is a driving force for individuals and communities, an inescapable component of any experience, no matter how remote from sex. sexual ubiquity and the parallel world of self-awareness, embodied in forms of expression, communication, and signification different from the actual sexual act, are connected in very subtle ways. once sexual experiences are appropriated by culture, they become themselves a sign system, a symbolic domain, a language. each sexual encounter, or each unfulfilled intention, is but a phrase in this language written in the alphabet of gestures, odors, colors, smells, body movement, and rhythm. we are the sexual sign: first, in its indexical condition-a definite mark left, a genetic fingerprint testifying to our deepest secrets encoded in our genetic endowment; second, in iconicity, that is, in all the imitations of others as they constitute their identity in the experience of sexuality. as many scholars have hastened to point out, we are also the sign in its symbolism. indeed, phallic and vulvar symbols populate every sphere of human expression (and obsession). nevertheless, our own self-constitution in the sexual act confirms a double identity of the human species: nature, involved in the struggle for survival, where the sheer power of numbers and strategies for coping with everything destructive make for continuous selection (darwin's law of natural selection); and culture, in which humans pursue a path of progressive self-definition, many times in conflict with the natural condition, or what freud and his followers defined as the psychological dimension. the two are related, and under specific circumstances one dominates the other. in my opinion, peirce's encompassing notion that the sign is the person who interprets it integrates the two levels. in the pragmatic framework, experiences of self-constitution result from the projection of natural characteristics in the activity performed, as well as from the awareness of the goals pursued, means incorporated, and meanings shared. does the pragmatic perspective negate explanations originating from other, relatively limited, perspectives? probably not. an example is furnished by the theories explaining sexuality from the viewpoint of the conflict between sex (libido) and self-preservation (ego) instincts, later substituted by the conflict between life instincts (eros) and the death instinct (thanatos, self-destruction). such theories introduce a language layer into a subject which, although acknowledged, was simply not discussed, except in religious terms (mainly as prohibitions), or in poetry. as with any other dualistic representation, such theories also end in speculation, opposing the experience to the scheme adopted. the scheme functions in extreme cases, which psychoanalysis dealt with, but explains sexual normalcy-if such a thing can be defined, or even exists-to a lesser extent, and inconsistently. the labels remain unchanged-eros, logos, thanatos-while the world undergoes drastic alterations. some of these alterations affect the very nature of the sexual experience as human beings unfold under new pragmatic circumstances, some of extreme alienation. the literate invention of the woman the case i am trying to make is for the acknowledgment of the conflict between a new state of affairs in the world and our perspectives, limited or not by the literate model of sexuality. the current situation recalls the world before literacy, before the expectation of homogeneity, and before the attempt to derive order and complexity through linear progression. the atom of that sexual world was the genderless human being, a generic existence not yet defined by sexual differentiation. the male-female distinction came as a surprise-the realization of seeing the same and its negative, as in the case of a stone and the hole that remains after it is unearthed. some read the genderless world as androcentric, because the generic human being it affirmed had a rather masculine bent. the significance of whatever such a genderless model embodied needs to be established in the pragmatic realm: how does difference result from same, if this same is an archetypal body with characteristics celebrated copiously over time? painting, medical illustration, and diagrams, from the middle ages to the th century, focus on this genderless person, who seems today almost like a caricature. the pragmatics of the time period just mentioned were conducive to a different image of genders. the sense of excitement associated with human advances in knowing nature certainly spilled over into every other form of human experience, sex included. a new scale of mankind required that the efficiency of human activity increase. this was a time of many innovations and groundbreaking scientific theories. it was also a time of diversified, though still limited, sexual experiences, made possible by a framework of creativity different from the framework of the middle ages. discoveries in many domains shook the framework of thinking according to platonic archetypes, appropriated by the catholic church and used as explanatory models for all things living or dead. pragmatics required that the one-sex model be transcended because limits of efficiency (in thinking, medical practice, biological awareness, labor division) were reached within the model. the world of practical experiences of this time unfolded in the industrial revolution. with literacy established, some sexual attitudes, consonant with the pragmatic circumstance, were enforced. others were deemed unacceptable, and qualified as such in the literate language of church, state, and education. from the ubiquity of natural sexuality to what would become sexual self-awareness and sexual culture, no matter how limited, the journey continued in leaps and bounds. to acknowledge the woman as a biological entity, with characteristics impossible to reduce to male characteristics, was not due to political pressure-as thomas lacquer, a remarkable writer on the subject, seemed to believe-but to pragmatic needs. it simply made sense to know how the body functions, to acknowledge morphology, to improve the quality of life, however vaguely acknowledged as such, by addressing the richness of the human being. interestingly enough, the order in nature and matter found by science contradicted the new experience of variety, sexuality included, made possible by the scientific revolution. a gulf opened between reality and appearance, motivating a healthy empirical program, well extended in the realm of sexual encounters. back in the medium aevum, maximus of torino thought that "the source of all evil is the woman," probably embodied in the prototypical eve. the social importance of women in the context of the empirical program, leading to the need for generalized literacy and better knowledge of the human body, discredited this prejudice of the middle ages, and of any age since. sexuality made the transition to the two-sex world with a vengeance. reproduction still dominated, since incipient industry needed more qualified workers in its own reproduction cycles, and productivity triggered the need to maintain consumption. but the unnatural dimension widened as well. the context was population growth, limited means of birth control, and levels of production and consumption characteristic of the pragmatics of high efficiency. those who think that the relation between industry, sexuality, and reproduction is far-fetched should recall the birth policies of countries obsessed with industrial growth. in what was communist romania, workers were needed to do what there were no machines to do: to produce for the benefit of the owners of the means of production. to a similar end, the soviets handed out medals to mothers of many children. the government structure, bearing the characteristics of literacy, clashed with the harsh pragmatic framework existing in the former communist countries. the result of the clash was that women avoided birth at all cost. ahead to the past longer life and the ability to enjoy the fruits of industry altered attitudes towards sex, especially reproduction. sexuality and marriage were postponed to the third decade of life as people acquired more training in their quest for a better life. children were no longer a matter of continuity and survival. after decades of denying the strength of nature's drive towards self-perpetuation of a species, today we again recognize that sexual life starts very early. but this realization should not have come as a surprise. juliet's mother was worried that juliet was not married at the age of . beyond the realization of early sexuality, we notice that adolescents have multiple sex partners, that the average american is bound to have sex partners in his or her lifetime, that prohibitions against sodomy are ignored, and that half the population is involved in group sex. statistics tell us that % of the adult population uses pornography for arousal and another % uses contraptions bought in sex shops; - / % of married couples have extra-marital affairs; the average marriage lasts years; the open practice of homosexuality increases % annually. incest, bestiality, and sexual practices usually defined as perverse are reaching unheard of proportions. it's not that changes in sexual experience take place, but that practices known from the earliest of times assert themselves, usually by appealing to the literate notion of freedom. as with many aspects of the change human society undergoes, we do not know what the impact of these sex practices will be. probably that is the most one can say in a context that celebrates permissiveness as one of the highest accomplishments of modern society. such changes challenge our values and attitudes, and make many wonder about the miserable state of morality. we already know about the cause and physical effects of aids. we do not even know how to wonder what other diseases might come upon humanity if the human relation with animals moves in the direction of bestiality. "is this the price we pay for democracy?" is asked by people accused of having a conservative leaning. enthusiasts celebrate an age of unprecedented tolerance, indulgence, and freedom from responsibility. but no matter to which end of the spectrum one leans, it should be clear that these considerations are part of the pragmatics of sexuality in the civilization of illiteracy. shorter cycles are characteristic not only of production, but also of sexual encounters. higher speed (however one wants to perceive it), non-linearity, freedom of choice from many options, and the transcendence of determinism and clear-cut dualistic distinctions apply to sexuality as they apply to everything else we do. although it is a unique experience, impossible to transmit or compare, and very difficult to separate from the individual, sex is widely discussed. media, politicians, and social scientists have transformed it into a public issue; hypocrites turn it into an object of derision; professionals in sexual disorders make a good living from them. sex is the subject of economic prognosis, legal dispute, moral evaluation, astrology, art, sports, and so on. one should see what is made public on the world wide web. highly successful networked pages of pornographic magazines are visited daily by millions of people, as are pages of scientific and medical advice. questions referring to sexuality in its many forms of expression increase day by day. questions about sex have also extended to areas where the sexual seems (or seemed) excluded-science, technology, politics, the military. for example, the contraceptive pill, which has changed the world more than its inventors ever dreamed of, and more than society could have predicted, has also changed part of the condition of the sexual. the abortion pill (with a name-ru -that reminds us of computer chips) only accentuates the change, as do many scientific and technological discoveries conceived with the purpose of sexually stimulating the individual or augmenting sexual pleasure. emancipation-social, political, economic, as well as emancipation of women, children, minorities, nations-has also had an impact on sexual relations. as such, emancipation results from different pragmatic needs and possibilities, and reflects the weaker grip of literate norms and expectations. emancipation has reduced some of sexuality's inherent, and necessary, tension. it freed the sexual experience from most of the constraints it was subjected to in a civilization striving for order and control. still, individual erotic experiences have often culminated not in the expected revelations, stimulated by the use of drugs or not, but in deception, even desperation. this is explained by the fact that, more than any activity that becomes a goal in itself, sexuality without the background of emotional contentment constitutes individuals as insular, alienated from each other, feeling used but not fulfilled. lines of a similar sway were written by opponents of sexual emancipation, and as a suggestion of a price humans pay for excess. these lines were articulated also by firm believers in tolerance, free spirits who hardly entertain the thought of punishment (divine or otherwise). concerns over human sexuality result from the role of scale and the erotic dimension. within a smaller scale, one does not feel lost or ignored. small-scale experiences are constraining, but they also return a sense of care and belonging. the broader the scale, the less restrictive the influence of others, but also the more diminished the recognition of individuality. in the modern megalopolis, the only limits to one's sexual wishes are the limits of the individual. nonetheless, at such a scale, individuality is continuously negated, absorbed in the anonymity of mediocre encounters and commercialism. the realization that scale relates not only to how and how much we produce, and to changes in human interaction, but also to deeper levels of our existence is occasioned by the sexual experience of self-constitution in a framework of permissiveness that nullifies value. the human scale and the altered underlying structure of our practical experiences affect drives, in particular the sexual drive, as well as reproduction, in a world subjected to a population explosion of exponential proportions. the entire evolution under consideration, with all its positive and negative consequences, has a degree of necessity which we will not understand better by simply hiding behind moral slogans or acknowledging extreme sexual patterns. no person and no government could have prevented erotic emancipation, which is part of a much broader change affecting the human condition in its entirety. the civilization of illiteracy is representative of this change insofar as it defines a content for human experiences of self-constitution, including those related to sexuality, which mark a discontinuity in sexual patterns. sex dreams turn into sex scripts on virtual reality programs within which one can make love to a virtual animal, plant, to oneself, projected into the virtual space and time of less than clear distinctions between what we were told is right and wrong. telephone sex probably provides just as much arousal, but against fees that the majority of callers can hardly afford. less than surprising, lesbians and gays make their presence known on the internet more than in literate publications. discussions evolve, uncensored, on matters that can be very intimate, described in titillating terms, sometimes disquietingly vulgar, obscene, or base, by literate standards. but there are also exchanges on health, aids prevention, and reciprocal support. gay and lesbian sexuality is freely expressed, liberated from the code language used in the personal columns of literary publications. freud, modern homosexuality, aids the godfather of modern homosexuality is freud (independent of his own sexual orientation), insofar as sexual expression remains a symbolic act. homosexuality, evading natural selection and eliciting acceptance as an expression of a deeply rooted human complex, is part of the ubiquitous sexual experience of the species. the fact that homosexuality, documented in some of the earliest writings as a taboo, along with incest and bestiality, predated freud does not contradict this assertion. homosexual eros has a different finality than heterosexual eros. the extent of homosexuality under the structural circumstances of the civilization of illiteracy is not only the result of increased tolerance and permissiveness. neither is it merely the result of freedom resulting from an expanded notion of liberal democracy. it is biologically relevant, and as a biological expression, it is projected into practical experiences constitutive of individuals, men or women, acknowledged as different because their practical experience of self-constitution identifies them as different. their experience, though necessarily integrated in today's global world, has many consequences for them and for others. while research has yet to confirm the hypothesis of structural peculiarities in the brain and genes of homosexuals, the specifics of the self-constitution process through practical experiences in a world subject to natural selection cannot be overlooked. genetics tells us that the borderline between genders is less clear-cut than we assumed. be this as it may, homosexuality takes place under a different set of biological and social expectations than do heterosexuality and other forms of sexuality. it is an act in itself, with its own goal, with no implicit commitment to offspring, and thus different in its intrinsic set of responsibilities and their connection to the social contract. but for this matter, so is heterosexuality under the protection of the pill, the condom, or any other birth control device or method, abortion included. a different sense of future, moreover an expectation of instant gratification, is established in the sexual experience of homosexuality. exactly this characteristic acknowledges the underlying structure of the pragmatics of high efficiency that makes homosexual experiences possible, and even economically acceptable. acknowledged also is the scale of humankind. survival is much less affected by fruitless sexuality than within a limited scale of existence and activity. the freedom gained through birth control methods and the freedom to practice non-reproductive sexual relations, such as homosexual love, are in some ways similar. it is impossible not to notice that the development under discussion displays a shift from a domain of vulnerability in regard to the species-any imbalance in procreation, under conditions of severe selection, affects the chances of survival-to the domain of the individual. the extreme case of aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), which is transmitted sexually (among other ways), reintroduced moral concerns at a time when morality was almost dropped from erotic language and expelled from the human erotic experience. the frenzy of sexual freedom and the confusion resulting from the spread of aids present contradictory images of a much broader development that affects human erotic behavior, and probably much more than that. nobody, no doomsayer on record, whether coming from a literate perspective or already integrated in the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy, predicted the new vulnerability which aids makes so painfully evident, inside and outside the homosexual segment of the population. the integrated global nature of human life brought africa, with its large aids-infected population, close to countries that reached a different (not to use the word higher) level of civilization. aids impacted on the sense of invulnerability, assumed by individuals in industrialized countries as almost a right. this invulnerability is now drastically tested, despite the enormous effort to address aids. the disease suddenly put globality in a new light. statistics connect the sense of danger experienced in hollywood by hiv-infected movie stars, fashion designers, and dancers to the desperation of the disenfranchised in the first world-drug addicts, the urban poor, and prostitutes-and to the disenfranchised and working poor of the third world. far from being a new phenomenon, the homosexual and lesbian preference, or lifestyle as it is euphemistically called, reaches a status of controversial acceptance in the civilization of illiteracy. the paradox is that while the choice of homosexuality over heterosexuality is facilitated by the pragmatic context of the civilization of illiteracy, the activism of homosexuality solicits recognition within the structures characteristic of literacy. it is very ironic that gay activism, stimulated by the many consequences of the aids epidemic, attempts to reverse time, fighting for equal access to exactly those means in which the values and prejudices that condemn homosexuality are embedded. it looks like homosexuals want to rewrite the book or books in which they are damned, instead of freeing themselves from them. homosexuals want their voice to be heard in church and politics. they want their cause present in ethical writings, and their rights encoded in new laws and rules. they want to enlighten others by making their experience known as art, literature, and social discourse. the genetic condition of the homosexual choice needs to be considered together with the variety of contexts pertaining to the diversity of the civilization of illiteracy that make its unfolding possible. there is a need to be aware that, between the function of procreation and divergent sexual behavior, a whole gamut of human cultural experience continues to unfold and challenges settled standards. this experience goes beyond language and the literate structure of a linear, sequential, hierarchic, centralized, deterministic pragmatics of limited choice. human language, as a projection of human beings living within a context appropriate to their self-preservation and development, participated in the taming of our sexual drive. illiteracy leads to its endless diversification, affecting sexuality in all its manifestations, such as patterns of mobility and settlement, family and community life, social rules, and the encoding of values in moral, economic, and educational systems. orality and sexuality were characterized by immediateness, and a reduced sense of space and time. sex equaled instinct. with writing, and thus the possibility of what later would become literacy, a new set of underlying elements was acknowledged. sexuality was subjected to the experience of accepted rules-the do's and don'ts appropriate to expectations of efficiency, and their resulting values, corresponding to the scale of humankind and the natural condition. reproduction still dominated sexuality, while rules of optimal human interaction, encoded in religion or social expectations, started to permeate erotic behavior. to a great extent, language in its literate form expresses the awareness of the various erotic dimensions as they were socially acknowledged at any given time. literacy enrolled sexuality in the quest for higher productivity and sustained consumption characteristic of the pragmatics associated with the industrial revolution. once conditions making literacy necessary are overruled by new conditions, sexuality undergoes corresponding changes. basically, sexuality seems to return to immediateness, as it integrates many mediating elements. sexuality unfolds in an unrestricted set of varieties, escaping some of its natural determination. in keeping with the shorter and shorter cycles of human activity, sexuality turns into an experience of transitory encounters. since it is a form of human expression, it ascertains its condition as yet another sign system, or language, among the many participating in the practical experiences of our new pragmatic context. it now bridges dramatically between life and death, in a world where the currency of both life and death is, for all practical purposes, devaluated. sex and creativity experts from fields as different as brain research, cognitive science, and physiology agree that a distinct similarity between the practical experience of self- constitution in sexual acts and in creative efforts of art, scientific discovery, and political performance can be established. it seems that they all involve a progression, reach a peak, experienced as enormous pleasure and relief, and are followed by a certain feeling of emptiness. like any creative experience, the erotic experience is one of expression. to express means to constitute oneself authentically, and to project hope that the experience can impact others. from this stems the possible language, or semiotics, of the erotic: how it is expressed, what the erotic vocabulary (of sounds, words, gestures, etc.) and grammar are. the semiosis of the erotic includes the participation of the language of sexual relationships, without being limited to it. having reached this understanding, we can apply it to the observation that homo eroticus is a subject who continuously negates naturalness (from what and how we eat to how we dress, etc.) while simultaneously regretting the loss. not surprisingly, sexuality is continued in the practice of producing, reading, viewing, and criticizing erotic literature, printed images, video, film documentaries, cd-rom, or virtual reality. real- time interactive erotic multimedia captures even more attention. in parallel, humans try to be authentic, unique, and free in their intimate sphere. they scan through image- dominated books, some more than vulgar, subscribe to magazines, face their own sexuality on videotapes, register for sex initiation seminars, or take advantage of group sex encounters. millions land on pornographic websites or create their own sex messages in the interconnected world. they do all this in an attempt to free themselves from natural necessity and from the conformist frame of literate eros, including the many complexes explaining painful real or imaginary failures. living in an environment in which science and technology effectively support human experiences of overcoming the constraints of space, time, and material existence, humans freed sexuality from the influence of natural cycles. these, as we know, can even be altered as pragmatic conditions might require for sportswomen and ballerinas. new totems and taboos populate this environment in which eros, as a reminder of distant phases of anthropological evolution, continues to be present. like any other creative act, the sexual act involves imagination, and the urge to explore the unknown. it is irrepeatable, yet another instance of discovering one's identity in the uniqueness of the experience. although continuously programmed through endlessly refined means, humans maintain a nostalgia for the authentic, but accept, more often unconsciously than not, a mediocre syntax of the sexual impressed upon them from the world of celebrity and success. this syntax is a product of erotic experts, writers, and imagemakers. it is a contentless semantics-the meaning of erotic encounters fades in the meaning of the circumstance-and an absurd pragmatics-sexuality as yet another form of competition, deliriously celebrated by mass media. while artificial insemination was a scientific breakthrough, it is also symptomatic of the process analyzed here, in particular of the changes in the underlying structure leading to the civilization of illiteracy. artificial insemination is part of this background; so is the entire genetic research that resulted in our ability to design not only new plants and animals with expected characteristics, but also human beings. specialization reached a point where the market can satisfy a new type of consumption, in this case represented by artificial insemination, under acceptable economic conditions. whether a pill, or aesthetic insemination, will ever make those who desire to be artists become creative is still to be seen. (the same holds true for science, politics, and any other creative career.) but we have already seen the dissemination of tools (mainly computer- based) that give many the illusion of becoming abruptly talented, as some women discover that they are abruptly fecund because they found the right pill, or the right gynecologist, to make the impossible happen. as part of contemporary society's generalized illiteracy, erotic illiteracy is eloquently illustrated by the pervasiveness of sex in art. the transition from pornography to artistic pornography corresponds to the search of those human obsessions that legitimize art's appropriation of territories considered taboo. as some see it, once freed from the constraints implicit in the pragmatic framework relying on literacy, art and sexuality intensified their reciprocal influence. aesthetic concerns changed from elaboration and method to improvisation and process. the expectation of education or therapeutics gave way to triggering excitement, more obliquely sexual excitement. striptease has moved from the back alleys of bigoted enjoyment into movie theaters, museums, prime time television, the internet. and so has the language of arousal, the voice of pleasure, the groan of post-coital exhaustion, or disappointment from teleporn services to the pay-per-session websites, where credit card numbers are submitted without fear of their being used beyond payment for the service. in certain countries still under a literate regimen, the problem of pornography has been solved by administrative prohibitions; in others, a solution arises from blind market logic. the market acknowledges the various aspects of sexuality in the civilization of illiteracy through products and services geared towards all those involved. many market semioses work in this direction-from the pornographic sites on the internet to the red light districts where risk can be generously rewarded. sometimes the market's attention leads to unexpected changes in what is marketed, and how previous acceptable codes of sexual behavior are revised and new codes publicly sanctioned. the many forms of advertisement catering to homosexuals, sexploitation, gendered sexuality, group experiences, while never using one qualifier or another, are quite explicit in identifying their public and the patterns of behavior characteristic for this public. means used for this purpose correspond to those of the civilization of illiteracy. there is, probably, no other medium of more precise narrow casting of sexual wares, from legitimate to scandalously base, than that of the networked world. in the framework of literacy, the erotic (as all other creative contributions) was idealized in many respects. language projected the erotic experience as one that transcended sexuality, leading to stable and selective male-female relationships within the boundaries of the family characteristic of industrial society. in time, various value representations, symptomatic of a peculiar understanding of the differences between man and woman, and stored in the language of customs and rituals, took over the substance of the erotic and made form predominant. literacy and the ceremonies celebrating the erotic-especially marriage and wedding anniversaries-are connected far beyond what most would accept on first reflection. the fact that the civilization of illiteracy took over these ceremonies, and created a service sector able to provide a substitute for an instance that used to signify commitment only proves how ubiquitous the expectation of high efficiency is. the vows that made marriage a social event, sanctioning the implicit sexual component of the contract, and sometimes celebrating more prejudice than tolerance, are expectations expressed in literate language and submitted for public validation. whether newlyweds knew what they signed-or did not know how to sign-does not change the fact that the institution was acknowledged in the integrating reality of language. equal access to erotic mediocrity once the homogeneous image of society breaks, and sexuality more than previously turns into another market commodity (prostitution, in its hetero- and homosexual forms), once morals and direct commitments are substituted by rules of efficiency and population control, the language of the erotic is emptied. it is useless to accuse people of lower moral standards without understanding that, under new conditions of human experience, these standards simply embody ways of achieving the efficiency that this civilization of illiteracy strives for. to own your partner, as the marriage certificate is interpreted by some, and to buy pleasure or perversion as one buys food or clothing, are two different contexts for the self-constitution of the individual. it is much cheaper-and i cringe to state this so bluntly-to buy sexual pleasure, regardless how limited and vulgar it can be, than to commit oneself to a life of reciprocal responsibility, and unavoidable moments of inequity. the economic equation is so obvious that facing it, one ends up discouraged. but this equation is part of the broader equation of high expectations defining the illiterate practical experience of self- constitution in a world of a very large scale. in this equation, access to pornographic sites on the internet can indeed appear to some as an issue of freedom of speech or freedom of choice. even those living outside the platinum and diamond belt of wealth and prosperity partake in the illiterate expression of sexuality as this created global markets of prostitution, pornography, and vulgarity, or widely opened the doors to sexual experimentation. from food, music, and photography, to video, films, and clothing, almost everything seems to address sexuality, moreover, to stimulate it. crime and sex drive the market (the art market included) more than anything else. all age groups are addressed on their own biological and cultural terms; all backgrounds, including ethnic and religious, are involved in the fabric of sex messages. one million children are forced yearly into the sex market, the majority of them from poor countries. people who do not know how to read or write, and who probably never will, live under the seduction of the calvin klein label and will imitate the lascivious moves of the models through which they learn about them. enormous numbers of people who might not have appropriate shelter, or enough food, buy madonna videos and indulge in the fantasy that sexual freedom embodies in their particular illiterate expression. today, humans no longer share a literate notion of the sexual, but display a multitude of attitudes and involve themselves in a variety of experiences, which include the expectation of a common denominator, such as the family used to be. humans tamed their own nature and discovered, at the peak of what seemed to become a collective sense of invulnerability, that there are still points of individual vulnerability. some are reviving hopes of chastity and clean marriages, of generalized heterosexuality-in short, of a return to the safe shores of an idealized erotic experience of the past. sexuality, however, always had its bright and dark sides. suffice it to recall the explicit images in the ruins of pompeii, or those in indian and japanese art. sometimes, not even our most aggressive sex magazines, porno shops, hollywood crap, and internet sites equal their boldness. but people have managed to hide the dark side, or at least what could be construed as such, and to propagate, through literacy, the sublime erotic poem, the clean erotic novel, the romance, the love songs and dances, and everything else testifying to the sublime in love. what is new in the context of the civilization of illiteracy is that one side no longer excludes the other. to be is to be different, even if the biological equation of only two sexes seems so limiting. becoming more indirect and transitory, human relations affect sexuality and the ability to cope with what is defined as deviant erotic behavior in respect to tradition. aids will not turn back events that made the current pragmatic context necessary. rather, it will add to the demystifying of love and sex, and thus effectively bridge between genetic research and the self-perpetuation drive of the species, rationalized in formulas meeting higher levels of efficiency, resources, and human reproduction. such formulas, more sophisticated than the progressions malthus used, are already tested by various organizations concerned with strategies for avoiding human self-destruction by overpopulation. a condom is cheaper than giving birth; all the pills women swallow over a lifetime are far less costly than taking care of one child. it should not surprise that japan, committed to all the values of literacy and the sexuality attached to them, is reluctant to adopt the pill. the country has a very low birth rate, so low that its leaders are justified in fearing that soon japan will not have enough people to fuel the economy through production and consumption. still, japan sees a relation between the pill and the state of morality as part of the cultural homogeneous fabric on which it relies. nobody really doubts that the globality of human experience, to which japan contributed through its productive genius probably more than any country, will catch up with it. sexually, the literate japanese are no less daring than the illiterate americans. to continuously tend towards having more at the cheapest price-in many ways an expression of rape of other people's work and resources-means to exhaust not only the object, but also the subject. rape, one of the most heinous crimes people commit, generalized in political and economic rape, projects sexuality and its powerful action even outside the biological realm of human life. to want all (especially all at once) means to want nothing in particular. at the end of the total sexual experience lies nothing but disappointment for some; for others, the next experience. profoundly subjective, deeply individual, unique and irrepeatable, human sexuality has meaning only to the extent that it remains an integrating factor, relating individual destiny to that of the species. the similarity between the creative and sexual acts might explain why changes similar to those occurring in erotic experience can be identified in the artistic, scientific, or political practice of the civilization of illiteracy. unless we understand the many implications of such changes, we would only leap into a vortex of wild conjecture. family is the part of the experience of human self-constitution in which such implications are most likely to have a profound effect. family: discovering the primitive future a paradox has developed: homosexuals want to establish families and to have them acknowledged by society. adults who have children choose to avoid the family contract. well over % of the children born in the usa are born out of wedlock. in the pragmatic equation of human self-constitution, these facts bear deeper signification. commenting before a television camera after a celebrity divorce trial, an onlooker remarked that there is more communication in preparing a pre-nuptial agreement than during a marriage. as exaggerated and imprecise (communication between whom-the couple or their representatives?) as this remark probably is, it nevertheless captures some traits of family life in our age. indeed, families are constituted on the basis of economic agreements, mediated by lawyers and financial consultants. the risk of family breakdown is carefully integrated in the calculations establishing the viability of the marriage. children are part of the calculation-minus the long-lasting emotional effects-as are the odds for illness, disability, and liabilities, such as living parents and siblings who might need assistance, or obligations due to previous marriages. the curves registering amount of time the recently married spend together reveals that once the agreement is signed, dialogue shrinks to less than eight hours a week, which is well below the time spent watching television-almost seven hours a day-or devoted to physical exercise. if surfing the net is part of the newlyweds' life, there is even less dialogue. typically, both partners in the marriage work, and this affects other aspects of family life besides dialogue. when children arrive, the time parents spend with them decreases progressively from the days following birth through the critical years of high school. it is reported that on the average, youngsters in the usa get their parents' attention for less than four hours a week. in some european countries, this time can reach eight to ten hours. on the asian sub-continent, many children lose contact with their parents before the age of six. statistics show that over a quarter of the american student population planning to enroll in college never discuss their high school programs, or necessary preparation courses, with their fathers. close to half this amount never discuss their plans with their mothers (single or not). the same holds true for students in italy, france, and belgium. divorce percentages, abortion rates, number of partners over one's lifetime, and hours spent with the family in meaningful exchange of ideas or in common tasks express a condition of the family that reflects the dynamics of today's human practical experiences. over million children under the age of eighteen years live with one parent (mainly the mother). economics (income level, joblessness, opportunity) plays a critical role in the life of the young and of their progenitors. all the changes leading to the civilization of illiteracy affect the experience of family life, and result in radical changes of the family model itself. faster rhythms of experiences leading to casual relationships and to forming a family are on record. shorter cycles during which the experience is exhausted result in increasingly unstable relations and families. permanence is no longer the expectation in marriage. throughout society, clear-cut distinctions between morally right and wrong are being replaced by situation ethics. increased mediation, through counselors, lawyers, doctors, and financial planners, explains the new efficiency of the family as short-lived interaction and cooperation. the factors mentioned characterize the new pragmatic framework of human existence in which a new kind of interpersonal commitment is made and a new type of family is established, not unlike the short-lived corporations that are exhausted as soon as their product's potential has been reached. in this pragmatic framework, family-like interactions harking back to the civilization of literacy, with its hierarchy and central authority and the promise of stability and security, are considered the only alternative to the new situation of the family. the people who consciously seek this alternative discover that the family is bound by relatively loose connections and that reciprocally advantageous distributed tasks replace family unity. mediated and segmented experiences and vague commitments, which evolve into a frame of vague morality, dominate family life today. marriages of expediency, undertaken to solve some difficulty-such as resident status in some countries, health insurance, care for one's old age, better chances at a career- illustrate the tendency. once the conditions for the perpetuation and dissemination of values associated with literacy are no longer granted, at the current globally integrated scale of humankind, family life changes fundamentally. even the notion of family is questioned. family unity, reflected in the coherent pragmatic framework afforded by literacy, is replaced by individual autonomy and competition. an array of options greater than the one feasible at the scale characteristic of agricultural or industrial economy, presents itself to adults and children in their practical experiences of self-constitution. nobody escapes the temptation of trying and testing in the multiple of choices that are characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy. there are many facets to what is called family. the concept displays ample variety in its perceived or construed meaning. sexual instincts manifested as attraction, associated with the awareness of the consequence of reproduction, might lead the list in defining what it took to establish a family. at the same level of importance is the need to establish a viable unity of economic, cultural, and psychological significance, a framework, sanctioned by religious and political entities, for carrying out obligations significant to the community. these, and a number of additional elements, such as morality based on the pragmatics of health, inter-generational exchange of information and aid, social functions ensuring survival and continuity through cooperation and understanding with other families, are tightly connected. the nature of this interconnectedness is probably a much better identifier of what, under given socio- historical circumstances, is considered and experienced as family. togetherness dictionaries point to the broader meaning of an extended notion of family-all living in a household-with the root of the word extending to all the servants, as well as to blood relations and descendants of the same progenitor. what is probably missing from such a definition is the understanding of interconnectedness, more specifically, awareness of the role played by agents of connection, among which language, in general, and literacy, in particular, become relevant. much has been written concerning the change from animal-like sexual drive to the formation of family; much, too, about the many specific forms of practical experiences through which families were established and maintained. the history of the human family captures the nature of the relations between man and woman, parents and offspring, near and distant kin, and between generations. natural aspects of production and reproduction, and cultural, social, political, and ethnic elements are also expressed through the family. its reality extends even to the area of interdependencies between the language of individuals constituting families as viable survival units, and the language of the community within which family is acknowledged. whether female- or male-dominated, as the pragmatic context afforded, the family ascertains a sense of permanency against the background of need and flux. it is another constitutive practical experience involving the projection of individual biological characteristics in the context of life and work, an experience that progressively extended beyond biology into its own domain of expectations and values, and finally into its own effectiveness. in search of a family nucleus, we arrive at female, male, offspring. the biological structure is maintained by some bond, probably a combination of factors pertaining to survival (the economy of family), emotions, sexual attraction (which includes psychological aspects), and ways of interacting with the extended family and with other families (social aspects). but beyond this, little else can be stated without causing controversy. within each family, there is a maternal and a paternal line. in some family types, mother and father together feed the children, introduce them to survival tactics, and train their family instincts. in other cases, only one parent assumes these functions. the implicit linearity of family relations unfolds through new family associations. anthropological research reports in detail how families are established. the pragmatic aspect is decisive. in melanesia, the goal is to acquire brothers-in-law who will join the woman's family in hunting, farming, and other activities. margaret mead described the rule of not marrying those one fights. expressed in language, this rule has a normative quality. nevertheless, in some tribes in kenya, enemies marry to ensure that they become friends. the language expressing this strategy is more suggestive than imperative. research also documents variations from the nuclear model. the nayar, a population in india, consecrates a family in which children belong to the maternal line; fathers visit. the woman can have as many lovers as she desires. the semiosis of naming children reflects this condition. rules established over time in some countries are indicative of peculiar pragmatic requirements: polygamy in societies where marriage is the only form of protection and fulfillment for women; polyandry in societies with a high man to woman ratio; uxorilocation (the new couple resides in the wife's home territory), and virilocation (the new couple resides in the husband's home territory). the scale at which family self-constitution takes place affects its effectiveness. when this scale reaches a certain threshold or critical size, structural changes take place. the family, in its various embodiments, and within each specific pragmatic framework, reflected these major changes in the human scale of mankind at many levels. from the first images documenting families over , years ago, in the paleolithic age, to the paintings at sefar (tassili des ajjer, th century bce), and to many other subsequent forms of testimony, we have indicators of change in family size, the nature of family hierarchy, inheritance mechanisms, restrictions and prohibitions (incest foremost), and above all, change in the family condition when the pragmatic context changes. the testimony extends to cemeteries: it matters who is buried with whom or close to whom; to the evolution of words: what beneviste called glottochronology; to contracts. marriage contracts, such as the cuneiform tablet of kish, dated bce, or contracts documenting the sale of land, in which the family tree of the sellers is reproduced as testimony that the entire family accepts the transaction, shed light on the evolution of family. when aristotle stated "each city is made up of families," he acknowledged that a stage of stabilized family relations had been reached, well adapted to the stabilizing pragmatic framework facilitated by the new practical experience of writing. by aristotle's time, togetherness was designated through a name. the expectation at this scale of human relations was: without a name there is no social existence. characteristics of sign processes pertinent to self-constitution as members of various family types become characteristic of the family. that is, the structure of family-based semiotic processes and the structure of the family are similar. rudimentary signs, incipient language, oral communication, notation, and writing are stages in the semiosis of means of expression and communication. the sign processes of family develop in tandem. the quest for permanency at the time literacy became possible and necessary, it embodied an idiom of effective relations, both synchronically-at a given instance of those relations-and diachronically-over time, such as from one generation to another, each attached to the same use of language in writing, reading, and speaking. it is precisely the need to achieve efficiency, in every human endeavor, that assigns to the family the function of co-guarantor of tradition. even before the possibility of literacy, language carried the do's and don'ts transmitting rules, based on the practical experience, that ensured survival through cooperation and new ways to satisfy direct needs and respond to expectations-rules that affected the efficiency of each practical experience. the family appropriated these requirements, shaping them into a coherent framework for efficient togetherness. directness, sequentiality, linearity, centralism, cooperation, and determinism marked the family experience as it marked other experiences of human self-constitution. family members relied directly on each other. as one male assumed the role of provider, and the female, or females, of caretaker, a certain structure of dependence was put in place, resulting in hierarchy and sub- hierarchies. family activity involved repetitive and sequential phases related to survival: reproductive cycles of animals; the progression of seasons and its relation to agriculture (rainy and dry, cold and hot, long days and short days). the pragmatics of survival seemed determined; there was little choice in method and timing. the family took shape in a world of cause-and-effect, which also determined religious practices. the source of each rule for successful family life was direct practical experience; the test of validity was the effectiveness appropriate to the specific scale of humanity. the do's changed over time, as experience confirmed their efficiency. they became a body of accepted knowledge from which moral ideals are extracted, laws derived, and political action inspired within the context of literacy. in the industrial equation, output (products, end results, increase or profit) should equal or exceed input (raw materials, energy, human effort). the don'ts, adopted by religion, law, and rudimentary medical praxis, were engraved in language even more deeply. they were encoded together with punishments that reflected the urgency behind preserving the integrity of the family- based pragmatic framework, in the experience of the agricultural and, later on, the industrial model. the association between act and result was continuously scrutinized in a world of action and reaction. in a world of experience mediated through literacy, rules were followed for their own sake; or rather, for the sake of the permanence that literacy embodied. that at some time sexual relations outside marriage could be the cause of so many prohibitions and dire punishment, mainly for women, does not bear as much significance on the state of morals as upon the pragmatic implications of the act of infidelity and wantonness. these implications refer to lineage, continuity, and inheritance, psychological effects on other family members, health, and status of offspring born out of wedlock. rules regarding family integrity were encoded in the language of custom, ritual, and myth. later on they were encoded in the language of religion, philosophy, ethics, law, science, ideology, and political discourse. eventually, they were recorded in the rules of the market. filtered over time through a variety of experiences resulting in success or failure, they are acknowledged in culture, and adopted in the language of education, and probably most directly in the language of market transactions. to give birth meant to continue the sequence and enhance the chances of survival; to rear children to adulthood meant to afford new levels of efficiency. more people could be more effective in ensuring survival in a pragmatic framework of direct action and immediacy. beyond a certain scale, it became effectively impossible to coordinate the complex of families that went into the entire family. city life, even in early cities, was not propitious to extended families. during this period, the strategy of labor division took over undifferentiated, direct execution of tasks. over time, as the scale of human experience changed, community expectations were reflected in what used to be the domain of the individual or that of families. the term over time needs some clarification. the first phases to which we refer are of very slow change. from the initial indications of family-like relations up to the establishment of language families, the time span is greater than , years. from nuclei practicing agriculture to the first notation and writing, the time is in the range of , to , years. from then on, the cycles became more compressed: less than , years to the time religions were established, another , years to settlement in cities. each moment marks either progressive changes in the pragmatic framework or radical change, when the scale of human life and work required different means to meet efficiency expectations. language acquisition, settlement of populations, development of writing, the emergence of philosophy, science and technology, the industrial revolution, and the civilization of illiteracy are the six changes in the scale of humankind, each with its corresponding pragmatic framework. many agents of influence contribute to the change from one pragmatic framework to another: climactic conditions, natural selection, the environment, religions, communal rules, distribution of resources, and the experience of the market. regardless of the difference in languages, language use is probably the common experience through which natural changes are acknowledged and social differentiation effected. exactly what made literacy necessary-the need to achieve levels of efficiency corresponding to the human scale that led to industrial society-made the corresponding type of family necessary. families reproduced the needed working force and transmitted the literacy required to attain the efficiency of qualified work. such work was accomplished in a setting fundamentally different from that of immediate, direct, practical experiences with nature (farming, animal husbandry), or small-scale craftsmanship. literacy was fostered by the family as a means of coordination and as a universal language of human transactions. this is how family fulfills the function of co- guarantor of education. conversely, among the forms through which the future contract of literacy was acknowledged, family is one. the pragmatic need for permanency reflected in the expectation of the stable family has many consequences inside and outside family life. these can be witnessed in the spirit and letter of contractual obligations people enter under the coordinating power of the literate commitment. education, law, politics, religion, and art are impregnated with this spirit. as the ultimate family-the homogeneous family of families-the nation asserts its permanency as a reflection of the permanency of its constituent atoms. when deterioration occurs in the conditions that make literacy possible and necessary, many of the permanencies associated with literacy, including the interpersonal relations adapted to it, or the homogeneity of nations, fail. as we entertain the prospect that nations, as definable political entities, might disappear, we automatically wonder whether the family, as a definable social entity, will survive-and if yes, in what form. what breaks down when family fails? the downfall of nations and empires has been attributed to the breakdown of the family. the weakening of family has been cited as a cause of the decline and fall of the roman empire. anti-abortionists and other traditionalists in the united states blame the breakdown in traditional family values for many of the social ills of our day. now that the royal children in great britain are divorced, people wonder how long the monarchy will last. one of the symptoms of the civilization of illiteracy is the perceived breakdown of family. simultaneously, other institutions, such as schools, the church, the military, embodying permanency and stability, are undergoing drastic reassessment. in a broad sense, a transition from one way of life to another has been taking place. but things are a little more confusing since what used to be is not always actually replaced by something else, but rescaled, turned into a possibility among many, in a dynamics of ever-expanding diversity and wider choices. many have argued that the breakdown of the traditional family was inevitable. they bring up cultural, ideological, and socio- economic arguments-from the liberation of women and children to the exhausted model of the patriarchal structure. all these arguments are probably partially right. after previous economies of scarcity and limited means of production, human experience at the global scale has brought about a wealth of choices and means of affluence that question the very premise of the family contract. in a context of rapid change from the practical experience of authority to the pragmatics of endless choice, subsumed under the heading of freedom, the permanency of the family structure comes under the methodical doubt of our new patterns of praxis. the tension between choice and authority was experienced in family life in the specific context of human relations based on hierarchy and centralism. new questions have a bearing on sexuality, parent-child relations, interactions among families, and the whole social fabric. likewise, the transition of what was projected as self-control-with elements of self-denial, for the sake of family, a form of internalized authority-to the discovery of new frontiers, and the alternative pursuit of self- indulgence, follows the same path. these new frontiers and alternatives make values appear relative and undermine the spirit of sharing implicit in the traditional experience of family. sharing is replaced by strategies of coordination and wealth preservation, all involving many mediating elements, such as political power, the legal system, taxation, charity. it is argued, probably with good reason, that the high rate of divorce-the socially sanctioned breakdown of a family, but probably only relatively indicative of the breakdown-is not meaningful unless put in a broader context: how many people still marry, how many remarry, how much longer people live. the high rate of divorce at the end of world war ii is symptomatic of events above and beyond the structural characteristics of family constitution, re-constitution, or breakdown. the rate of divorce in the years following the war, especially in the last - years, is nevertheless connected to the underlying structure of a pragmatic framework within which permanency, whether that of language, family, values, nations, laws, art, or anything else, becomes a liability because it affects the dynamics of change. one out of two marriages-and the proportion is changing quite fast-ends in divorce. this is, nevertheless, only one aspect of broader modifications making such a rate more of a qualifier than an accident in human pairing. the dynamics of reproduction-births per marriage, average number of children per family, children living with one parent, infant mortality-is significant from the perspective of one of the most important functions of family. in the pragmatic context of today's integrated world, the need to have many children in order to maintain continuity and viability is different, even in bangladesh, afghanistan, or africa, than at any previous time. the species has practically freed itself from the direct pressure of natural selection. what is at work, even in areas of extreme poverty, is a perverted mechanism of interdependencies echoing what herders in east africa expressed as: "he who has children does not sleep in the bush." the family has ceased to be the sole source of welfare. its functions are taken over by the community, the state, even international organizations. the fact that in some parts of the world this structural change is not acknowledged, and very high birth rates are on record, shows that the result of ignoring the pragmatic exigencies of this new age adds to the burden, not to the solution. another phenomenon difficult to assess is the single woman who decides to give birth. if individual or social material resources are available, moral and educational needs or expectations still remain to be addressed. individualism fostered to the extreme partially explains the trend, but cannot satisfactorily indicate the many aspects of this new phenomenon characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy. if one reads the statistics, single parenthood appears like a sure winner in the lottery of poverty and frustration. the problems of children who will be growing up with a mother single by choice will be the source of much sociological and psychoanalytical research in the future. but existence is more than numbers in ledgers, or psychological predicaments. self-fulfillment, the instinct to nurture and to ensure continuity are all at work in such cases. the homosexual family no group has done more in the way of forcing us to rethink the definition and role of family as homosexuals have. within the civilization of illiteracy, homosexuals assert their identity in the public eye. gay and lesbian groups fight for the ratification of the homosexual family, which could not even be conceived of within the pragmatics associated with literacy. their fight corresponds to a practical experience that is not motivated by the self-perpetuation drive of the species, but by other forces. these are economic, social, and political-the right to enjoy the same benefits as members of heterosexual families. interestingly enough, social principles adopted in the age when pragmatics required that society support childbirth, family nurturing, and education are extended today, under totally different circumstances, in ignorance of the necessities that were reflected in these principles. a tax deduction was an expression of social co- participation, since society needed more people, better educated youth, a stable framework of family life. the economy and the military could not succeed without the fresh flesh of new generations. gays and lesbians challenge the traditional notion of family in a context that no longer requires hierarchy and that redefines roles that have become stereotypes and undemocratic. they propose a model on a continuum in which each partner can be provider and assume household duties to any degree. there are no clear-cut roles, no clear-cut hierarchy, and no long-term commitments. children are not the consequence of sexual relations but of desire and choice. this choice has two aspects of special significance for the pragmatics of our age. one concerns the human desire to form an alliance in the form of family, which seems almost instinctual. it may be difficult to recognize a natural inclination in a context (homosexuality) that negates propagation of the species. it is this threat to survival that caused so many taboos to be placed on homosexuality in the first place. these taboos took on other dimensions when encoded in a literacy that ignored the pragmatics. the second aspect has to do with the extent to which homosexuals' desire for a family constitutes its own validity in the pragmatic framework of our time. to what extent does the desire to have a family reveal characteristics of human self-constitution in the current context? in a world in which there is a high rate of births out of wedlock, a world in which the traditional family is no guarantee of relationships free of abuse and exploitation, a world with great numbers of children in orphanages or in foster care, any desire to place children in a loving family context is worthy of attention. what constitutes a family in an age whose pragmatics is not defined by the values perpetuated in and through literacy? the new definition might go along these lines: main provider (the father role); second provider (the mother role), who is also manager of the household. the two roles are not polarized; each provider participates in household work and in salaried work outside the home, as circumstances require. a child is a dependent under the age of years (or years if in college), for whom the providers are legally responsible. a grandparent is qualified through age and willingness to assume the role. aunt/uncle is someone with fraternal ties to the providers. the definitions can go on. in considering these literate definitions, we can see that they apply to the situation of the current traditional family as well, in which father and mother both work, in which a child may live with and be cared for by a parent's second or third spouse, in which distance from or lack of blood relations calls for ad hoc relatives. the most vital implications concern our culture as it has been passed down over the centuries through literate expression, laden with values that literacy perpetuates and endows with an aura, in defiance of the new pragmatics and the new scale in which humans operate. the homosexual family and its occasional focus on adopting children reflects the fact that we live in a world of many options, and consequently of very relative values. their desire for a family, under circumstances that are far from being conducive to family life, is as valid as that of an unmarried woman who wants to give birth and rear a child (the one-parent household). it is as valid as the desire of infertile couples who use every means the market offers to have a child, through costly medical intervention or by hiring surrogates. in the civilization of illiteracy, each person forms his or her own definition of family, just as people form their own definitions of everything else. the only test of validity is, ultimately, effectiveness. in the long run, the biological future of the species will also be affected, one way or another, as part of the effectiveness equation. to want a child the new pragmatics ultimately affects the motives behind forming a family in the civilization of illiteracy. marriage, if at all considered, has become a short-term contract. its brevity contradicts marriage's reason for being: continuity and security through offspring and adaptation to life cycles. the attitudes with which partners enter the family contract result in a dynamic of personal relations outside of that sanctioned by society. vows are exchanged more as a matter of performance than of bonding. natural instincts are systematically overridden through mediating mechanisms for providing nourishment, acquiring health care, and settling conflicts. child rearing is the result of pragmatic considerations: what does a couple, or single parent, give up in having a child? can a mother continue working outside the home? in order to correctly qualify answers to these questions, we would need to acknowledge that many characteristics of the individuals constituting a family, or seeking alternatives to it, are reflected in the family experience, or in experiences that are parallel to it. economic status, race, religion, culture, and acculturation play an important role. literacy assumed homogeneity and projected expectations of uniformity. the new pragmatic framework evidences the potential of heterogeneous experiences. data indicating that the average numbers of divorces, single-parent households, number of partners, etc. vary drastically among groups of different biological, cultural, and economic backgrounds shows how necessary it is to realistically account for differences among human beings. let us take a look at some statistical data. but before doing that, let us also commit ourselves to an unbiased interpretation, free of any racial prejudice. almost % of black children in the usa are living in a one-parent household. of these children, % live with their mothers. it was documented that % of the juveniles in long-term correctional facilities grew up without a father. to make any inference from such data without proper consideration of the many factors at work would only perpetuate literacy-based prejudices, and would not lead to a better understanding of the new circumstances of human self-constitution. our need to understand the dynamics of family and what can be done to effect a course of events that is beneficial to all involved cannot be served unless we understand the many characteristics of the practical experience of self-constitution of the black family, or of any non-standard western family. under the expectations of literacy, a prototypical family life was to be expected from all. as the expectation of homogeneity is overridden by all the forces at work in the civilization of illiteracy, we should not be surprised by, and even less inclined to fasten blame on people who constitute themselves in ways closer to their authenticity. multiplication of choice is-let me state again-part of the civilization of illiteracy. modern, enlightened laws introduced in some african countries prohibit polygamous families. with this prohibition in place, a new phenomenon has occurred: husbands end up having extra-marital affairs and support neither their lovers nor their children, which they did under polygamy. paradoxically, activists in the women's liberation movement are seriously considering the return to polygamy, as an alternative to the increasing number of deadbeat dads and the misery of abandoned wives and children. there is no necessary relation between the two examples, rather the realization that within the civilization of illiteracy, tradition comes very powerfully to expression. children in the illiterate family nobody can characterize families of the past (monogamous or polygamous) as unfailingly unified and showing exemplary concern for offspring. children, as much as wives and husbands, were abused and neglected. concern over education was at times questionable. the projected ideal of authority and infallibility resulted in the perpetuation of patterns of experiences from which we are still fighting to free ourselves. notwithstanding these and other failures, we still have to acknowledge that a shift, from individual and family responsibility to a diffuse sense of social responsibility, characterizes the process affecting the status of children. the family in the civilization of illiteracy embodies expectations pertinent to progressively mediated practical experiences: from childbirth-an almost industrial experience-to education; from entering the family agreement, mediated by so many experts-lawyers, priests, tax consultants, psychologists-to maintaining a sense of commonalty among family members; from embodying direct interaction and a sense of immediacy to becoming instances of segmentation, change, and interaction, and instances of competition and outright conflict. the institution of the family must also counteract sequentiality and linearity with a sense of relativity that allows for more choices, which the new human scale makes possible. this new pragmatic framework also allows for higher expectations. like any other institution, the institution of marriage (and the bureaucracy it has generated) has its own inertia and drive to survive, even when the conditions of its necessity, at least in the forms ascertained in the past, are no longer in place. in short, the breakdown of the family, even if equated with the failure of the individuals constituting it-children included-is related to the new structural foundation of a pragmatic framework for which it is not suited as a universal model, or to which it is only partially acceptable. this does not exclude the continuation of family. rather, it means that alternative forms of cooperation and interaction substituting the family will continue to emerge. just as literacy maintains a presence among many other literacies, the family is present among many forms of reciprocal interdependence, some expanding beyond the man-woman nucleus. to understand the dynamics of this change, a closer look at how the new pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy affects experiences pertinent to family is necessary here. the history of the family, independent of its various embodiments (matriarchal, patriarchal, polygamous, monogamous, restricted or extended, heterosexual or homosexual), is in many respects the history of the appropriation of the individual by society. the offspring of primitive humans belonged to nobody. if they survived to puberty, they continued life on their own, or as members of the group in which they were born, as nameless as their parents. children and parents were amoral and competed for the same resources. the offspring of the humans constituting their own identity, and their own universe parallel to that of nature, belonged more and more to what emerged as the family, and by extension to the community (tribe, village, parish). the child was marked, named, nurtured, and educated, as limited as this education might have been. it was given language and, through the experience of work, a sense of belonging. in all known practical experiences-work, language, religion, market, politics-the succession of generations was specifically acknowledged. rules, some pertaining to the preservation of biological integrity, others to property and social life, were established in order to accommodate relations between generations. over centuries, family ownership of children decreased while that of society increased. this is reflected in the various ways church, school, social institutions, and especially the market claim each new generation. in this process, mediation becomes part of family life: the priest, the teacher, the counselor, the language of advertisement, direct marketing, and much, much more is insinuated between children and their parents. the process intensifies as expectancies of better life for less effort become predominant. responsibilities, procreation included, are distributed from the parents to the practical experiences of genetics. test tube production of babies is an alternative to natural procreation. more to come. as a matter of fact, both procreation and adoption are dominated by strong selective methods and design procedures. genetic traits are identified and matched in the genetic banks of adoptable children. surrogate mothers are selected and contracted based on expectations of behavior and heredity. sperm banks offer selections from high iq or high physical performance bulls. other mediators specify ideal cows, surrogate mothers whose offspring are treated like any other commodity-"satisfaction guaranteed." if the product is somehow unsatisfactory, the dissatisfied parents get rid of it. obviously, the language and literacy expected for the success of the biochemical reaction in the test tube is different from that involved in the constitution of the family. it is also different from the literacy involved in the change from instinctual sexual encounters to love, procreation, and child rearing. in each of the procedures mentioned, new languages-of genetics, for example-introduce levels of mediation that finally affect the efficiency of procreation. as nightmarish as some of these avenues might seem, they are in line with the entire development towards the new pragmatics: segmentation-the task is divided into sub-tasks-networking-to identify the desired components and strategies for synthesis-and task distribution. children are not yet made on the internet, but if the distinction between matter and information suggested by some geneticists is carried through, it would not be impossible to conceive of procreation on networks. a new individuality the process of mediation expands well further. family life becomes the subject of practical experiences involving family planning, health, psychology, socialized expectations of education, the right to die. the private family owned their offspring and educated it to the level of its own education, or to the level it deemed advantageous, consistent with the progress of literacy. to the extent that this family was involved in other experiences, such as religion, sport, art, or the military, children grew up partaking in them. once one aspect of the relation between environment, home, family, and work changes-for example, living in the city reshapes the nature of the dependence on the environment, the house is one of several possible, family members work at different jobs-the family is made more and more part of a bigger family: society. in turn, this belonging dissolves into solitary individualism. nothing any longer buffers the child from the competitive pressure that keeps the economic engine running. industrial society required centers of population while it still relied on relatively nuclear families that embodied its own hierarchy. the human scale reflected in industrial society required the socialization of family in order to generate an adequate workforce, as well as the corresponding consumption. with networking, children as much as adults are on their own, in a world of interactions that breaks loose from any conceivable constraints. there is no need to fantasize here, rather to acknowledge a new structural situation of consequences beyond our wildest imagination. literacy unified through its prescriptions and expectations. it facilitated the balance between the preserved naturalness and the socialized aspect of family. it projected a sense of permanency and shielded the family from the universe of machines threatening to take over limited functions of the body: the mechanical arm, the treadmill. as a human medium for practical experiences involving writing and reading, literacy seemed to represent a means of resistance against the inanimate. it helped preserve human integrity and coherence in a world progressively losing its humanity due to all the factors that the need for increased efficiency put in place (machines, foremost). it eventually became obvious that procreation had to be kept within limits, that there is a social cost to each child and to each mother giving birth. moreover, family structural relations needed to be reconsidered for the expected levels of efficiency to be maintained and increased, as expectations took over desires. the new pragmatic framework is established as this borderline between the possible and the necessary. the civilization of illiteracy is its expression. at the family level, the civilization of illiteracy corresponds to increased segmentation, affecting the very core of family life, and mediation. the family can no longer be viewed as a whole by the many mediating entities constituting the market. the market is with us from birth to death. it deals in every aspect of life, and extends the pressure of competition in each moment of our existence. the market segments medical care. it is most likely that each family member sees a different doctor, depending on age, sex, and condition. it segments education, religion, and culture. it is not uncommon that family members constitute their identity in different religious experiences, and some of them in none, as it is not uncommon that their educational needs run the gamut from a modicum of instruction to never-ending study. they live together, or find togetherness on the network matrix-one running a business on some remote continent, the other pursuing solitary goals, and some adapting to foreign cultures (less than to foreign languages). the market has broken society into segments and the family into parts on which it concentrates its message of consumption. there is not one market entity that views the family as a whole. children are targeted on the basis of their economic, cultural, and racial background for everything from food to clothing to toys and recreation. and so are their respective natural or adoptive parents, grandparents, and relatives. we can all decry this as manipulation, but in fact it corresponds to the objective need to increase commercial efficiency through narrow marketing. accordingly, a new moral condition emerges, focused on the individual, not on the family. part of the broader pragmatic framework, this process stimulates the relative illiteracy of the partners constituting the family. this illiteracy is reflected in varied patterns of sexual behavior, in new birth control strategies, in a different reciprocal relation between men and women, or between individuals of the same sex, and in as-yet undefinable codes of family behavior. the condition of the child in the civilization of illiteracy corresponds to the same dynamics. children are less and less cared for at home, often entrusted to specialized caretakers, and finally started on their way through the vast machine called the education system. discontinuity it makes no sense to decry the hypocrisy of double (or multiple) standards and the loss of a morality associated with the misery of people obliged to remain together by forces they consider legitimate (religion foremost). in the dynamics of the civilization of illiteracy, forces kept under the control of rules and norms established in the practical experience of literacy are unleashed. it would be difficult to speak about progress where one sees the demise of family, the erosion of private life, the increased number of one- parent households, of early and very early maternity, of incest, rape and increased child abuse, of obsession with contraceptives or ignorance of their use, and the threat of sexually transmitted diseases and drugs. still, before hurrying value judgments, one would be better advised to consider the entire picture and to assess what makes all these occurrences possible, indeed, what makes them necessary. it might well be true that what we perceive as the sources of morality and happiness-the family, children, love, religion, work, and the satisfaction associated with all of these-are exhausted. it might well be that fresh sources must be sought, or invented, or at least not eliminated because they do not fit the mold of previous choices. even the thought that morality and happiness are altogether unnecessary deserves to be considered. they are loaded with the expectation of permanency and universality rendered impossible in the new pragmatic framework of permissiveness, local values, instant gratification, change, and interconnectedness. the nuclear family of the civilization of literacy has been absorbed in the illiterate dynamics of societal functioning. it is coming out of the experience restructured. on the other hand, socially acceptable patterns of development are encouraged through the public education system, where the chief objective is the socialization of children, not the dissemination of knowledge. ethnic characteristics are progressively, although timidly, acknowledged. the seemingly losing battle against drugs leads many parents and social researchers to wonder whether legalization would be more efficient than spending immense amounts of money and energy to fight the underground market. in this world of mediation, science and technology make genetic engineering possible in the form of influencing the profile of the offspring, ways to avoid what does not fit the fashionable, ways to induce early in development (almost at the embryonic stage) preferences and cognitive characteristics. together with everything pertaining to the human being self-constituted in the framework of the civilization of illiteracy, the family goes public in the stock market of the many enterprises involved in the self-perpetuation and the well being of the species. its value is no longer a matter of those constituting it, of its goals and means, but of the return on the investment society makes in it. as a competitive unit within the pragmatic framework associated with literacy, the family freed itself from the constraints implicit in literacy that affect its efficiency. it became a contract, one among the growing number, in whose expression literacy gives way to the alternative litigation language of the law, in respect to which, with the exception of lawyers, everyone else is illiterate. favorable taxation supports children-euphemistically called deductions when they are really additions-but not beyond what is socially expected of them, at least in the usa: to become agents of consumption and increased efficiency as soon as possible. in this sense, the tensions between generations are simply refocused-society is willing to make available social help in the form of transitory family substitutes. the problem is not addressed, only its symptoms. the languages of counseling and psychiatry at work here are another instance of specialized literacy. they substitute for family communication while projecting limited and limiting psychological explanations upon all those involved. in an age that expects efficiency to lead to satisfaction, if not happiness, the family relies on specialists when problems arise: psychiatrists, counselors, specialized schools. sometimes the specialists are imposed when society perceives a need to intervene, especially in cases of suspected child abuse. it is reflective of the pragmatics of our time that the elderly receive attention in the market of mediations and specializations on a less obvious level. they are considered only to the extent that they are viable consumers. once upon a time, and still in isolated cases, such as the amish and mennonites in the usa, age was to be honored for its own sake, a value kept alive through literacy. while many elderly enjoy the benefits of better healthcare and economic sufficiency, they effectively divorce themselves from the family in enjoying what the market offers them. their participation in the family is a matter of choice more than necessity. the success of the internet among the elderly, in need of communication and support groups, is a very telling phenomenon. networks of reciprocal support, as nuclei of self-organization, emerge independent of any form of social intervention. their viability is based on this dynamics. the struggle between the value of life in the civilization of literacy and that of illiteracy can be seen in hospitals and nursing homes where the aged are treated on machine-based analogies, abandoned or entrusted to specialists in the care of the dying. while aging and death cannot be eliminated, the market provides ways to avoid them as long as we can afford to. it used to be that the new generation continued the family work-farming, carpentry, pottery, law, business, banking, publishing. this happened in a context of continuity and relative permanence: the work or business remained relatively unchanged. literacy was appropriate for the transfer of know-how, as it was for the maintenance of family-based values and successive assumption of responsibilities regarding the family, moreover the community. these pragmatic elements no longer exist the way they did. today, even within the same generation, the nature of business evolves, and so does the nature of the values around which family is established. in addition, ownership changes as well; businesses are more and more integrated in the market; they become public entities; their shares are traded with no regard to the object those shares represent. the consequence is what we perceive as lack of family continuity and bonding. the new nature of the family contract is such that its basis of affection is eroded. sequentiality of work is replaced by cycles of parallel activity during which generations compete as adversaries. this is why the family contract is shifted more and more to the market, depersonalized, indexed like one among many commodities. this contract is no longer literacy-bound, but rooted in circumstances of distributed activities of intense competition and networking. once demythified, family relations are reassessed; continuity is severed. the market acknowledges the segmentation of family-no longer an economic entity in its own right-and in turn accentuates it. the baby business, the infant market, teenagers, and so on to the senior market are well focused on their respective segments as these embody not just age groups, but foremostly expectations and desires that can be met at the level of each individual. how advanced the past; how primitive the future no matter how intense the desire to maintain a neutral discourse and to report facts without attaching teleological conclusions to them, it turns out that the language of family, probably more than the language of science, machines, or even art, religion, sports, and nourishment, involves our very existence. where should somebody place himself in order to maintain some degree of objectivity? probably at the level of the structural analysis. here, everything affecting the status of family and the condition of morality appears as a network of changing interrelations among people involved in the practical experiences of defining what a human being is. it seems, at times, that we relive experiences of the primitive past: the child knew only his or her mother; women started giving birth at an early age (almost right after menarche); children were on their own as soon as they could minimally take care of themselves. but we also build an ideal image of the family based on recollections of the less distant past: permanent marriages ("until death"), respect for parents, mother cooking meals for which the whole family sits down, father bringing wood for the family hearth, children learning by participating, assuming responsibilities as their maturity permitted. this idealized image is also the bearer of prejudices: women's subservient role, the authoritarian model passed from one generation to another, frustration, unfulfilled talents. so the paradox we experience is that of a primitive future: more animality (or, if you want a milder term, naturalness) in comparison to a civilized (or at least idealized) past. there is no cause for worry, especially in view of the realization that despite our success in labeling the world (for scientific and non-scientific purposes), the majority of human behavior is determined (as already pointed out) independent of labels. taking into account that the notion of permanency is related to relatively stable frames of reference makes it easier to explain why the high mobility of our age results in changes, both physical and psychological, that undermine previous expectations. losing the discipline of the natural cycle that affected human work for centuries, human beings freed themselves from a condition of subservience, while at the same time generating new constraints reflected in the nature of their reciprocal relations. what does it mean to become used to something-environment, family, acquaintances-when this something is changing fast, and with it, we ourselves? the industrial revolution brought about the experience of labor-saving machinery, but also of many new dependencies. in henri steele commanger's words, "every time-saving machine required another to fill the time that had been saved." one might not agree with this description. but it would be hard to contradict its spirit by taking only a cursory look at all the contraptions of illiteracy filling the inventory of the modern household: radio, photo camera, tv set, video recorder, video cassette player, walkmant, cd player, electronic and digital games, laser disc player, cd-rom, telephone, computer, modem. the one-directional communication supported by some of these machines affected patterns of interaction and resulted in audiences, but not necessarily in families, at least not in the sense acknowledged in practical experiences of family life. with the two-directional communication, supported by digital networks, human interaction takes on a new dimension. choices increase. so do risks. once the substance of one's experience is substituted by mediations, even the rationale for communication changes, never mind the form. families separated by virtue of assignments (war, business) at remote locations, or in pursuit of various interests (sport, entertainment, tourism), exchange videotapes instead of writing to each other, or focus on telephone conversations meant to signal a point of reference, but not a shared universe of existence and concerns. they discover e-mail and rationalize messages to a minimum. or they become a web page, available to whoever will surf by. all these changes-probably more can be acknowledged-took place concomitant with changes in our expectations and accepted values. with the increased gamut of choice, attachment to value decreases. when all emotions come from soap operas, and all identity from the latest fashion trend, it becomes difficult to defend notions such as sensitivity and personality. when love is as short as the random encounter, and faith as convincing as reading a person's palm or tarot cards, it is impossible to ascertain a notion of reciprocal responsibility or the moral expectation of faithfulness. on the other hand, when the need to achieve levels of efficiency dictated by a scale of humankind never experienced before and by expectations and desires in continuous expansion is as critical as we make it, something is given up-or, to put it the other way around, somebody has to pay for it. with the sense of globality-of resources, actions, plans- comes the pressure of integration of everybody into the global market, and the expectations of consumption attached to it. many-to-many communication is not just a matter of bandwidth on digital networks, but of self-definition, also. the family used to reflect the perceived infinity of the universe of existence., despite the family's finite and determined internal structure. with the awareness of limited resources, in particular those of the natural support system, comes the realization that alternative practical experiences of life and cooperation become necessary in order to generate new pragmatic frameworks for increased efficiency and enhanced dynamism. the indefinite expansion of what people want and the progressive incorporation of higher numbers of human beings into the market through which affluence, as much as misery, can be achieved, results in the devaluation of life, love, of values such as self-sacrifice, faithfulness, fairness. the moral literate philosophers of the th century-ralph waldo emerson, thomas carlyle, william james-thought that the answer lay in our recognition that the world is not only for enjoyment. one can imagine a tv debate (interrupted by commercials, of course) between them and the romantic proponents of the ideology of progress-john maynard keynes, adam smith, david hume. it's safe to wager that the audience would zap over their literate debate, while they would enjoy the illiterate -second spots. none of the philosophers would establish a web site, as none would be terribly excited about the discussion forums on the internet-not a place for intellectual debate. who would read their elegant prose? to say more at this point would almost preempt the argument: the family in the civilization of illiteracy ascertains new forms of human interaction. it departs from the expectation of conformity for a model that acknowledges many ways to live together and, even more important, how we transcend our own nature in this process. we might, after all, be much more than we know, or trust that we could become. a god for each of us on the memetic algorithms web page on the internet, h. keith henson illustrates the lifelike quality of memes by recounting an episode from his time as a student (university of arizona, ). having to fill out a form on which religious affiliation was to be disclosed, he chose the denomination druid, after having initially tried myob (the acronym for mind your own business). as he stated, "it was far too good a prank to keep it to myself." replication mechanisms, in addition to a healthy dose of social criticism, soon had the university record almost % of the student body as reform druids, orthodox druids, southern druids, members of the church of the nth druid, zen druids, latter-day druids, and probably a number of other variations. once the question regarding religious affiliation was removed from the entry form, the chain of replication and variation was interrupted. there are many aspects of the relation between religion and language embedded in the anecdote. in some of the themes to be discussed in the coming pages, the humorous aspects will resonate probably less than questions on how religious experiences extend from early forms of human awareness to the current day. using, or even inventing, advanced technology, asking the most probing questions, experiencing injustice and pain, being subjected to antireligious indoctrination, or even repression, does not result in the abandonment of religion. ignorance, primitive living conditions, extreme tolerance and liberalism, the possibility to freely choose one's religious affiliation from the many competing for each soul might lead to skepticism, if not to outright rejection of divinity. in other words, conditions that seem to support religious beliefs do not automatically lead to practical experiences of human self-constitution as religious. neither do adverse conditions generate atheists, or at least not the same kinds. there is no simple answer to the question of why some people are religious, some indifferent, and others actively against religion. enlightenment did not result in generalized atheism; the pressure of the church did not generate more believers. scientific and technological progress of the magnitude we experience did not erase the verb to believe from among the many that denote what people do, or no longer do, in our day. to believe, and this applies to religion as it applies to all other forms of belief, is part of the practical experience of human self- constitution. it involves our projection in a world acknowledging distinctions that are pragmatically significant and synchronized with the dynamics of life and work. the world of nature is not one of belief but of situations. we humans perceive the world, i.e., project ourselves as entities, forming images of the surroundings in our mind, through many filters. one of them is our continuously constituted beliefs, in particular, our religious faith. webster's dictionary (probably as good a source as any reference book) defines religion as "belief in a divine superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshipped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe." religion today is far less a coherent and consistent practical experience than it was in previous pragmatic frameworks. the manifold relation between literacy and religion can be meaningfully understood by explaining the pragmatic context of the constitution of religion. its further development into different theologies, and its embodiment in various churches and other institutions connected to religion, also help in this understanding. the centralized and hierarchic structure of religion, the basic notions around which theology evolves, and the dynamics of change in religion and theology that reflect adaptive strategies or goals of changing the world to make it fit a theology, have a strong bearing on the values that formed and transformed literacy. truly, language and religion, especially language after the experience of writing, developed practically in tandem. the transition from ritual to myth to incipient religion is simultaneously a transition from primitive expression, still tightly connected to body movement, image, and sound, to a more self- organized system of expression becoming communication. during the process, presented here in compressed form, writing appears as a result of interactions between the experiences of language and religion. that writing is a premise for pragmatic requirements that will eventually lead to literacy has already been generously explained. it has also been pointed out that with writing emerges the perspective of literacy into whose reality many more practical experiences will eventually crystallize. literacy and religion are intertwined in ways different from those characteristic of other human practical experiences. in the historic overview to be provided, these peculiarities will be pointed out. expression, as a practical experience of human self-constitution, interrupts the slow cycle of genetic replication, and inaugurates the much shorter cycles of memetic transmission-along the horizontal axis of those living together, and along the vertical axis in the quickly succeeding sequence of generations. the role of scale of human experience, the relation between religious, ethical, aesthetic, political, and other aspects, the relation between individual and community, and between right and wrong will also be addressed in their context. in addition, logical, historic, and systemic arguments will be employed to clarify what religions have in common. in anticipation of a short history, it should be clarified that living in a religion of one god (such as judaism, christianity, islam), or of many (as the hindu world entertains), or of a mixture of pantheism and mysticism (as in the chinese or japanese worlds), even living in animism, does not imply identification with its history, nor even with its national or ethnic confines or premises. islamic enthusiasm and christian retreat in our day is not a matter of the validity of one religion over the other, but rather a matter of their pragmatic significance. united in accepting allah as their god, or a broadly defined way of living according to the koran, moslims are far less united than the less religious, and less homogeneous, christians. but in giving up the clear-cut distinctions between right and wrong, and especially involving relativity in the search for options leading to higher efficiency, we constitute ourselves in a framework of vagueness and relativity-different from the transcendental value of hinduism, or from the clear-cut values of contemporary islam-which can no longer rely on the certainty embodied in literacy-based praxis, and which leads us to subject human existence to doubt. in realizing the broad consequences of a pragmatics based on the desire to achieve levels of efficiency appropriate to a given scale of human experience, we can understand why some conflicts involving forces identifying themselves with religions from the past against forces of the present appear as religious conflicts. the most vivid examples can be found in bosnia-herzegovina and in the southern republics of the defunct soviet union. through a religious past to which they have lost any meaningful connection, orthodox serbs, catholic croats, and muslim bosnians try to reconnect to the world of experiences to which they traditionally belong. in the central asian conflicts, allegiances are confused-sunni from tadjikistan align themselves with the shiites of iran, while the uzbeks pursue the hope of a new pan-turkish empire. in a different vein, the sanctity of life celebrated in taoism, as well as in judaism and christianity, ends at the doors of the shiny palace of cheap, replaceable values of planned obsolescence, eventually of the human being itself. in hope of redemption, many give their lives, probably not understanding that they close the cycle of potential practical experiences just as drug addicts, suicidals, and murderers do, obviously in different contexts and with different motivations. this might sound too strong, but it is no more extreme than the extremes of existence and faith, or lack thereof. friends and foes of religion will agree that, for better or worse, it has played an important role in the history of humankind. the complement to this agreement is less clear: we cannot define what replaced, or could replace, religion. the new world order brought about by the downfall of communism in the soviet union and east europe raises even more questions regarding religion: are the extremist-not to say fanatical- forms of religion that replace official atheism religion or disguised forms of ethnic or cultural identification? to which extent do they reflect pragmatic reintegration in the global economy or safe isolationism? practical experiences of religious nature were all affected by a change in their details: different ways of preserving religious doctrine, a different attitude towards authority, a change from self-denial to indulgence, but not in the fundamental acceptance of divinity. characteristics of religions are still in flux. for instance, religious events embedded in various cultures take on a merely ceremonial role in today's world, aligning themselves with the newest in music, imagery, interactive multimedia, and networks. believers as well as casual spectators have access to religious ceremonies through websites. probably even more telling is the appropriation of social, political, and moral causes, as religion ascertains itself in our time as open, tolerant, and progressive, or conversely as the guardian of permanent values, justifying its active role outside its traditional territory. this ascertainment is dictated by the pragmatic framework of the dynamic reality in which religion operates, and not by the memetic replication of its name. this is, of course, the reason for not limiting our discussion to variation and replication, no matter how exciting this might appear. but who made god? the variety of religions corresponds to the variety of pragmatic circumstances of human identification. regardless of such differences, each time children, or adults, are taught that god made the world, the oceans, the sun, stars, and moon, and all living creatures, they ask: but who made god? trying to answer such a question might sound offensive to some, impossible to others, or a waste of time. still, it is a good entry point to the broader issue of religion's roots in the pragmatic framework. the commonalties among the majority of religions, to which comparative studies (especially those of mircea eliade) point, are significant at the structural level. we have, on the one hand, all the limitations of the individual human-one among many, mortal, subject to illness and defeat, object of passion and seduction, deceitful, limited in understanding of the various forces affecting one's projection as part of nature, and as part of the human species. on the other hand, there is the uniqueness of the immortal, untouchable, impervious, omniscient, entity (or entities) able to understand and unleash forces far more powerful than those of nature or of men, an entity (or entities) upon which depends the destiny of all that exists. through belief, all the limitations of the human being are erased. it is quite instructive, as well as impressive, how every limitation of the human being, objective and subjective, is counteracted and given a life of its own in the language housing the progression from man to gods or to god, on one side, and to the practice of religion, on the other. the various gods constituted in the world's religious texts also recount what people do in their respective environment, natural or tamed to some degree. they tell about what can go wrong in their life and work, and what community rules are most appropriate to the pragmatic context. the value of rain in the middle east, the fine- tuning of work to seasonal changes in the far east, the significance of hope and submission in the indian subcontinent, the increased role of animal domestication, the extension of farmland, the role of navigation in other parts of the world are precisely encoded in the various religions and in their books. these books are bodies of explanations, expectations, and norms pertinent to practical experiences, written in very expressive language, ambiguous enough to accommodate a variety of similar situations, but precise in their identification of who is part of the shared religious experience, and who is outside, as foreign and undesirable, or foreign and subject to enticement. the plurality of religious experiences what makes religion necessary is a subject on which it would be foolish to expect any degree of consensus. what makes it possible, at least in the forms experienced and documented from ancient times to the modern, is language, and soon after language, writing-although japanese shintoism, like judaism, began before writing-and reading, or more to the point, the book. for the judeo-christian religions, as well as for islam, the book is the sufficient condition for their development and persistence. when the book grew into books, it actually became the center of religious praxis. this is reflected in the nature of religious rituals, an extension of mytho-magical experiences previous to writing. they were all meant to disseminate the book, and make its rules and prescriptions part of the life of the members of the respective community. the timeline of the practical experience of religious human self-constitution suggests significant commonalties among the various religions. the way the notion of god was constituted is only one of these commonalties. what separates religion from pre-religious expression (such as animism) is the medium in which each is articulated. the subject is relatively constant. acknowledgment of forces beyond individual understanding and desire to overcome confusion or fear in facing difficult and inexplicable aspects of life and death go hand in hand. a perceived need to pursue avenues of survival which promise to be successful because of the implied expectation that forces residing in the unknown would be, if not directly supportive, at least not actively opposed, is also discernible. but when rationalizing the coming of age of religion, one automatically faces the broader issue of the source of religion. is it given to humans by some perceived superior force? does it result from our involvement with the environment of our existence and from the limits of our experience? when praxis began to differentiate, mytho-magical experiences proved unadaptable to the resulting pragmatic framework. farming and animal husbandry replaced scavenging, hunting, and foraging. communities started to compete for resources (manpower included). efficiency of human work increased, resulting in more forms of exchange and leading to accumulation of property. relations among people within communities became complex to the extent that arguments, attributed to forces outside direct practical experiences, were necessary to instill and maintain order. the process was multi- faceted, and still involved myths, the magical, and rituals. all three-still retraceable in some parts of the world-were carried over to religion, progressively forming a coherent system of explanations and prescriptions meant to optimize human activity. the sequence is known: practical experiences conveyed by example from one individual to another, or orally from one to several. where the unknown forces were ritually conjured in new forms of human practical self-constitution, these practical experiences were progressively unified and encoded in forms apt to further support the new scale achieved in the insular communities around the world. abraham, accepted almost equally by jews, christians, and moslems, lived at around , bce and proclaimed the existence of one supreme god; moses in the th century bce; the six sacred texts of the hindus were compiled between the th and th centuries bce; taoism-the chinese religion and philosophy of the path-came to expression around bce, and confucius's teachings on virtue, human perfectibility, obedience to providence, and the role of the sage ruler shortly afterwards; buddhism followed within decades, affirming the four noble truths, which teach how to exist in a world of suffering and find the path to inner peace leading to nirvana. this listing is meant to highlight the context in which the practical experience of religious self-constitution was expressed in response to circumstances of life and work that necessitated a coherent framework for human interaction. the torah, containing the five books of moses dedicated to the basic laws of judaism, was written around , bce. it was followed by the other books (prophets and writings) and form the old testament. the greeks, referring to all seven books (the septuagint), called the entire work ta biblia (books). this collection of books is dedicated to the theme of creation, failure, judgment, exodus, exile, and restoration, and introduced prescriptions for conduct, diet, justice, and religious rites. the themes were presented against the broad background in which laws pertinent to work, property, morals, learning, relations between the sexes, individuals, tribes, and other practical knowledge (e.g., symptoms of diseases, avoidance of contamination) were introduced in normative form, though in poetic language. the pragmatic framework explains the physics of the prescriptions: what to do or not do in order to become useful in the given context, or at least not to be harmful. it also explains the metaphysics: why prescriptions should be followed, short of stating that failure to do so affects the functioning of the entire community. what was kept in writing from the broader oral elaborations that constituted the covenant (testament) for practical experience was the result of pragmatic considerations. writing was done in consonantal hebrew, a writing system then still at its beginning, on parchment scrolls, and thus subject to the limitations of the medium: how much text could be written on such scrolls in a size that facilitated reading and portability. between these books and what much later (translations notwithstanding) came from the printing presses following gutenberg's invention, there is a difference not only in size, but also in sequence and in substance. over time, texts were subject to repeated transcriptions, translations, annotation, revision, and commentary. the book that appeared to be given once and for all kept changing, and became subject to interpretations and scrutiny ever so often. still, there is a fundamental element of the continuity of its expressed doctrine: life and work, in order to be successful, must follow the prescribed patterns. hence the implicit expectation: read the book, immerse yourself in its spirit, renew the experience through religious services meant to extol the word. but since alternate explanatory systems were progressively developed-science not the last-parallel to relative fixed pragmatic frames sanctioned in early religion, a certain separation of religion from practical experience took place. religion consecutively constituted its own domain of human praxis, with its own division of labor, and its own frame of reference. christianity, islam, the protestant reformation, and various sectarian movements in china, japan, the indian subcontinent (neo- confucianism, zen, the sikh religious movement) are such developments. we have heard about such expatiations and hear as well about conflicts triggered around them, but fail to put these conflicts in the perspective that explains them. within a given context, a new growth triggers reactions. members of the baha'i religion (a faith that began in the th century) are subjected to the repression of muslims because its program is one of unity of religions, not subordination of some to others. the expectation of universal education, or active promotion of equality between sexes, corresponds to a pragmatics different from that from which islam emerged, and for that matter, many other religions. the religious society of friends, i.e., the quaker movement, was a reaction to the corruption of the church as an institution. it spells out a program in line with the requirements of the time: reaching consensus in meetings, doing away with sermons, pursuing a program of education and non-violence. it was also subjected to repression, as each schism was, by the powers that were in place. these and many other developments mark the long, as yet unfinished, process of transition from religion to theology and church, and even to business, as well as the process of permutation of religion into culture, in particular from religion to secular culture and market. the book became not only many different books, but also varied experiences embodied in organized religion. alternative perspectives were submitted as different ways to practice religion within a pragmatic context acknowledged by religion. and the word became religion in the circular structure of survival in nature, there was no room for metaphysical self-constitution, i.e., no practical need to wonder about what was beyond the immediate and proximate, never mind life and death. when the practical experience of self-constitution made rudiments of language (the language of gestures, objects, sounds) possible, a sense of time-as sequences of durations-developed, and thus a new dimension, in addition to the immediate, opened. this opening grew as awareness of oneself in relation to others increased in a context of diversified practical experiences. acknowledging others, not just as prey, or as object of sexual drive, but as associates (in hunting, foraging, mating, securing shelter), and even the very act of association, resulted in awareness of the power of coordination. thus the awareness, as diffuse as it still was, of time got reinforced. be-hu tung ventured a description of the process: "in the beginning there was no moral or social order. people knew only their mothers, not their fathers. hungry, they searched for their food. once full, they threw the rest away. they ate their food with skin and hair on it, drank blood and covered themselves in fur and reeds." he described a world in its animal phase, still dependent on the cycles of nature, perceiving and celebrating repetition. myth and ritual responded to natural rhythms and incorporated these in the life cycle. once human self-constitution extended beyond nature, creating its own realm, observance of natural rhythms took new forms. this new forms were more able to support levels of efficiency appropriate to the new condition achieved in the experience of farming. it was no longer the case that survival equaled finding and appropriating means of subsistence in nature. rather, natural cycles were introduced as a matrix of work, modulating the entire existence. once the experience of religion was identified as such, religious praxis adopted the same matrix. in almost all known religions, natural cycles, as they pertain to reproduction, work, celebrations, education, are detailed. cooperation and coordination progressively increased. a mechanism of synchronization beyond the one that only accommodated natural cycles became necessary. in retrospect, we understand how rules of interaction established in the nature-dominated pragmatic framework turned into the commandments of what would be asserted through written religion. we also understand how animistic pre-religious practice-embodied in the use of masks and charms, in worship of the untouched natural object (tree, rock, spring, animal), and the employment of objects meant to keep harm away (tooth, bone, plant) took new forms in what can be defined as the semiotic strategy of attaching the religious word (more broadly, the book) to the life of each member of the religious community. the need to establish the community, and to identify it through action, was so pressing that ceremonies were put in place to bring people together for at least a few times during the year. in egyptian hieroglyphics, one can distinguish an affection for coordination of effort, expressed in the depiction of rowers on boats, builders of pyramids, warriors. the written word of the hebrews was inspired by the experience of hieroglyphics, taking the notion of coordination to a more abstract level. this level provided a framework for synchronizing activity that brought ritual closer to religion. this added a new dimension to ceremonies based on natural cycles, gradually severing the link to the practical experience of interaction with nature. notation evolving into the written word was still the domain of the very few. accordingly, religious reminders were strongly visual, as well as aural, a state of affairs that continued in the religions that sprouted from judaism and established themselves after the fall of the roman empire. the populations adhering to these religions were largely illiterate, but derived important characteristics from religions based on the written word-the word that was equated with god. nailed to the doorways or inscribed over portals, converted into many types of charms, the words of a religious creed became elements of the synchronizing mechanism that religion embodied in the pragmatic framework of its constitution. prayer punctuated the daily routine, as it continues to do in our day. the seasons and the cycles of nature, embodied in the mytho-magical, were reinterpreted in religious celebrations, which referenced the natural cycle, and appropriated pre-religious rituals. cycles of activity aimed at maintaining and increasing the outcome of work for survival were thus confirmed. a community's well-being was expressed by its ability to satisfy the needs of its members and achieve a pattern of growth. still heavily dependent upon natural elements (rain, floods, wind, insects, etc.), as well as subjected to attacks from neighbors, communities developed strategies for better use of resources (human included), storage, and defense mechanisms. these strategies were carefully encoded in the respective religious covenants. the religions that have survived and developed seem to gravitate around a core of very practical writings and associated visual reminders of the power they invoke in connection to the pragmatic identity of the community. the book was the standard; those who constituted the organization of religion-the priesthood-could usually read the book. scribes, even some of the priests, could write and add to the book. the majority listened and memorized, resorting to better memory than we exercise today, memory that their practical experience required. they subscribed to religious patterns, or carried out rituals on a personal or communal level. it is helpful to keep in mind that religious involvement was facilitated by the fact that religion is not only pragmatically founded, but also pragmatically ascertained and tested. rules for farming, hunting, preparing food; rules for hygiene and family relations; rules for conducting war and dealing with prisoners and slaves were expressed against the background of an accepted supreme reference, before evolving into future ethical rules and legal systems. those rules which were not confirmed, progressively lost authority, were "erased" from the people's memory, and ceased to affect the rhythm of their lives. the written word survived the oral, as well as the living who uttered it or wrote it down. this word, abstracted from voice, gesture, and movement, and abstracted from the individual, was progressively assigned a more privileged place in the hierarchy. the writings seemed to have a life of their own, independent of the scribes, who were believed to be only copiers of everlasting messages entrusted to them. written words express the longing for a unified framework of existence, thought and action. within such a framework, observance of a limited number of rules and procedures could guarantee a level of efficiency appropriate to the scale at which human activity took place. this is a world of human practical experiences transcending natural danger and fear. it is a universe of existence in which a species is committed to its further self-definition in defiance of nature while still dependent upon it. religion as a human experience appears in this world as a powerful tool for the optimization of the effort involved, because it effectively constitutes a synchronizing mechanism. in the practical experience of religious writing and the associated experience of reading or listening to a text, the word becomes an instrument of abstraction. accordingly, it is assigned a privileged position in the hierarchy of the many sign systems in use. memetic replication appropriately describes the evolution of religious ideas, but not necessarily how these ideas are shaped by the pragmatic framework. tablets, scrolls, and books are blueprints for effective self-constitution within a community of people sharing an understanding of rules for efficient experiences. the outcome is guaranteed by the implicit contract of those self-constituted as believers in the supernatural from which the rules supposedly emanate. in search of authority, this world settled for unifying motivations. the rules of animal, and sometimes even human, sacrifice, and those of religious offerings were based on the pragmatics of maintaining optimal productivity (of herds, trees, soil), of entering agreements, maintaining property, redistributing wealth, and endowing offspring. the immediate meaning of some of the commitments made became obscured over time as scale changed and the association to nature weakened. the rules were subsequently associated with metaphysical requirements, or simply appropriated by culture in the form of tradition. to ensure that each individual partook in the well-being of the community, punishments were established for those violating a religious rule. immediate punishment and, later, eternal punishment, although not in all religions, went hand in hand as deterrents. the involvement of language, in particular of writing and reading, is significant. as already stated, the individual who could decipher the signs of religious texts was set apart. thus reading took on a mystical dimension. the division between the very few who wrote and read and the vast majority involved in the religious experience diminished over a very long time. more than other practical experiences, religion introduced the unifying power of the written word in a world of diversity and arbitrariness. under the influence of greek philosophy, the word was endowed with godlike qualities, implicitly becoming a god. seen from a given religious perspective, the rest of the world fails because it does not accept the word, i.e., the religion. the irreligious part of the world could be improved by imposing the implicit pragmatics that the religion carried; it could submit to the new order and cease to be a threat. at this time, religion entered the realm of the abstract, divorced from the experience with nature characteristic of religions originating in the oral phase of human self-constitution. it is at this time that religion became dogma. all over the globe, in the worlds of hinduism, taoism, confucianism, judaism, christianity, and later islam, the conflict between communities embracing a certain creed and others, in pre-religious phases or dedicated to a different religion, is one of opposing pragmatics in the context of increased differentiation. in other words, a different religious belief is a threat to the successful practical self-constitution of one group. to get rid of the threat is a pragmatic requirement, for which many wars were fought. some are still going on. with each religion that failed, a pragmatic requirement failed, and was replaced by others more appropriate to the context of human self- constitution. that these conflicts appeared under the aegis of conflicting deities, represented by leaders regarded as representatives of divinity, only goes to show how close the relation is between the underlying structure of human activity and its various embodiments. in a world of unavoidable and even necessary diversity, religion maintained islands of unity. when interaction increased among the various groups, for reasons essentially connected to levels of efficiency required for current and future practical experiences, patterns of common activity resulted in patterns of behavior, increased commonalty of language, accepted (or rejected) values, and territorial and social organization. the commonalty of language, as well as the commonalty of what would become, during the middle ages, national identity (language and religion being two of the identifiers), increased steadily. from among the major changes that religion underwent, the most significant are probably its reification in the institution of the church and the constitution of vast bodies of discourse regarding its intrinsic logic, known as theology. once asserted as an institution, religion became the locus of specific human interaction that resulted in patterns based on the language (latin, for some in the western christian world, and arabic in the islamic east) in which religion was expressed. religious practical experience progressively distanced itself from the complexities of work and socio- political organization, and constituted a form of praxis independent of others, although never entirely disconnected from them. the organization of religion concerns the pattern of religious services at certain locations: temple, church, mosque. it concerns the institution, one among many: the military, the nobility, guilds, banks, sometimes competing with them. it also concerns education, within its own structure or in coordination, sometimes in conflict, with other interests at work. a multitude of structural environments, adapted to the practical aspects of religious experience appear, while religion progressively extricated itself, or was eliminated, from the pragmatics of survival and existence. the institution it became dedicated itself to pursuing its own repetitive assignments. at the same time, it established and promoted its implicit set of motivations and criteria for evaluation. in many instances, the church constituted viable social entities in which work, and agriculture in particular, was performed according to prescriptions combining it with the practice of faith. rules of feudal warfare were established, the day of rest was observed, education of clergy and nobility were provided. from the middle ages to the never abandoned missionary activity in africa, asia, and north and south america, the church impacted community life through actions that sometimes flew in the face of common sense. the effort was to impose new pragmatics, and new social and political realities, or at least to resist those in place. whether in agreement or in opposition, the pattern of religious experience was one of repeated self-constitution of its own entity in new contexts, and of pursuing experiences of faith, even if the activity as such was not religious. in this process, the church gained the awareness of the role of scale, and maintained, though sometimes artificially, entities, such as monasteries, where scale was controllable. autarchy proved decreasingly possible as the church tried to extend its involvement. the growing pragmatic context had to be acknowledged: increased exchange of goods, reciprocal dependencies in regard to resources, the continuous expansion of the world-a consequence of the major discoveries resulting from long-distance travel. in recent years the challenge has come from communication-in particular the new visual media-requiring strategies of national, cultural, social, and even political integration. from the scrolls of the torah and from the sacred texts of the rig veda and taoism, to the books of christianity, to the koran, to the illuminated manuscripts copied in monasteries, and to the bible and treatises printed on the presses of fust and schöffer (gutenberg's usurpers) in mainz, cologne, basel, paris, zurich, seville, and naples-over , years can be seen as part of the broader history of the beginning of literacy. this history is a witness to the process, one of many variations, but also one of dedication to the permanency of faith and the word through which it is reified. replications of all kinds mark the memetic sequence, and so religion appears in retrospect as propagation of a special kind of information, generated in the human mind as it started labeling what we know, as well as what is beyond our direct understanding. what did not change, although it was rendered relative, is the acknowledgment and acceptance of a supreme authority, known as god, or described through other names such as allah and myo-ho-ren-ge, and the nature of the practical experience of self- constitution as believer. if abraham, moses, jesus, mohammed, confucius, and the japanese and indian religious leaders were alive today, they would probably realize that if religion had any chance, it could no longer be founded on the written text of the book or books, but in the practical experiences of the civilization of illiteracy. by no accident, the first category on one of the web sites dedicated to religion is entitled finding god in cyberspace. the educated faithful-a contradiction in terms? the pragmatic requirement of optimally transmitting experience essential to a group's permanency was recognized as one of the main functions of language. it should come as no surprise that education was carried out, if not exclusively then at least to a high degree, in religion. neither should it surprise that religion appropriated literacy as one of its programs once the scale of human activity that made literacy necessary was reached. in the context of nation-states that adopted religion as one of their identifiers, the entire history of the relation between society and religion can be seen in a different light. as we know from history, the quest for power frequently brought state and religion into conflict, although one needed and relied on the other. in the unifying pragmatic framework of industrial society, their alliance was sealed in literacy programs. these were simultaneously programs for higher efficiency and for the maintenance of values rooted in religious belief, as long as these did not adversely affect the outcome of work or of market transactions. parallel to the initially dominant religious view of life, change, origins, and future, alternative views were expressed as the result of self-observation and observation of the outside world. philosophy, influenced by religion and by religious explanations of the world, of men, of society and its change, is one example. sciences would diverge from philosophy, multiplying alternate models and explanatory contexts. these were usually carefully construed so as not to collide with the religious viewpoint, unless they bluntly rejected it, regardless of the consequences of such an attitude. there were also heresies based on an individual's notions, or holdovers from past religions. during the renaissance, for instance, such holdovers derived from studies of the bible, which led to the reformation. ideas not rejected as heresy were usually within the scope of the church. these ideas were expressed by men and women who founded orders. they were put into practice by religious activists or made into new theologies. there is no religion that does not go through its internal revisions and through the pain of dividing schisms. on today's list of religious denominations, one can find everything, from paganism to cyberfaith. the rational explanation for this multiplication into infinity is not different from the explanation of any human experience. multiplication of choices, as innate human characteristic, applies to religious experiences as it does to any other form of pragmatic human self-constitution. the practical experience of science, diverging more and more from philosophy and from religious dogma, also followed many paths of diversification. so did the unfolding of art, ethics, technology, and politics. the unifying framework offered by the written word, as interpreted by the monolithic church, was progressively subjected to distinctions that the experience of literacy made possible. when people were finally able to read the bible for themselves-a book that the catholic church did not allow them to read even after the reformation-protest started, but it started after the renaissance, when political entities were strong enough to defy the papacy with some degree of success. the illiterate warriors of centuries ago and the sometimes illiterate, at least unlettered, worshipper and military insurgent of today belong to very different pragmatic frameworks. the former did not have to be able to read or write in order to fight for a cause superficially (if at all) related to the book. one had only to show allegiance to the institution guarding souls from hell. in the scale characteristic of these events, individual performance was of extreme importance to the community, as we know from the stories of king frederick, joan of arc, jan hu?s-or, to change the reference, from the story of guru nanak (the first guru of the sikhs, a religion prompted by the muslims' persecution of hindus at about the time columbus was on his last expedition to the new world), martin luther, george fox (founder of the quaker movement), and many others. the educated faithful of the past probably obtained access to the established values of culture and to the main paradigms of science as these confirmed the doctrine defended by the church. an educated faithful in contemporary society is torn between accepting a body of knowledge ascertaining permanency, while experiencing change at a pace for which no religion can prepare its followers. indeed, from the unity of education and faith-one meant to reinforce the other-the direction of change is towards their contradiction and disparity. the secular web is not only that of the internet infidels, but also of a broad segment of the population that has no need for either. challenging permanency and universality for many, the survival of religion is itself a miracle. for many more, it is indicative of human aspects not sufficiently accounted for in science, art, or social and political life. its role in a new pragmatic framework of fast change, mediated activity, alienation, decentralization, and specialization, is obviously different from that it played in the time of religious constitution and in a reduced scale of humankind. religion did not start out to deceive, but to explain. its practices, while seeming violent, empty, extreme, demagogic, cunning, or even ridiculous at times, fulfill a purpose deemed pragmatic at the inception. the old and familiar are reassuring, if only by resort to endurance. the promise of redemption and paradise gain in attraction the more people face change and uncertainty. while the original purpose of religion was modified over time, the practice is kept up precisely because novelty and progress, especially in their radical form, are difficult to cope with. once old values are questioned in the light of succeeding pragmatic circumstances, under new patterns of self-constitution, the result is complacency and deception, if there is no alternative. religion and literacy ultimately find themselves in the same predicament. religious diversification reflects each new scale at which human practical experience takes place. changes in the pragmatic framework in which people constitute themselves as religious result in tension between the variability of the elements involved in work or new aspects of social life and the claims of the eternal. this tension triggers numerous rethinkings and consequent rewritings of the books, as well as the generation of numerous new books of new forms of faith. christianity and islam are revisions; within them other revisions (schisms) took place, such as the roman and orthodox churches, the sunni and shiite. other sects and religions, schisms, and reformations and protestations (movements claiming to reconstitute the original status, whatever that means), are to a great extent rewritings based on acknowledging new contexts-that is, new pragmatic requirements. once upon a time, the book was supposed to address everyone in the small community in which it came to expression. over time, many books addressed their own constituencies-adherents to certain teachers, to particular saints, or to some subset of the religious doctrine-within a larger community. the success of these sub-groups grew in proportion to the diversification of human praxis and to the function of education exercised on a broader and broader scale. from the religion of small-scale human activity to the churches of universal ambitions, many modifications in the letter and the spirit of the respective books occurred. they ultimately reflect alterations of values that religious institutions had to adapt to and justify. the tribes that accepted the book as a unifying framework- embodiment of tradition which became law-as well as the followers of the prescriptions in the hindu scriptures of veda and upanishad, the followers of the enlightened one (buddha), the practitioners of taoism and confucianism, also acknowledged a sense of community. it is the same sense of community held, at a different scale and with different goals, by the nation-state. the spread of religions, parallel to military conquest, resulted in the spread of the respective religious books, and of the letters that the books were written in. this is not necessarily the same as the spread of literacy. religion established its own state, the holy roman empire (which is now down to the size of vatican city) that transcended national boundaries and languages, and was considered universal. in the language of islam, umma is the world community of moslems, while wattan is the motherland. the moslem armies, defeated at poitiers by the catholic charles martel, were also disseminating the religion, language, and culture of the world community they envisioned. the crusades, in turn, and the religious wars that plagued europe did not spread literacy as much as they attempted to defend or establish the dominance of a way of living meant to ensure an order that promised eternal life. in the scale of today's human practical experience, efficiency in general is almost independent of individual performance. it is independent of the degree of faith, ethical behavior, family status, and other characteristics of what religion calls good, and which ethics appropriates as a desired set of social expectations. within a small scale of existence and work, things belong together: the practical and the spiritual, politics and morals, the good and the useful. religion is their syncretic expression. the need for specialization and mediation changed the nature of pragmatic relations. various realms of human practical experience are severed from each other. as this takes place, the religiously grounded system of values based on unity and integration-after all, this is what monotheism, in its various embodiments, represents-is submitted to the test of new circumstances of human self-constitution. among the many explanations of the events of the late sixties, at least the phenomenon of the attraction exercised by the various churches of meditation and their gurus is reflective of the crisis of monotheism, and of the culture that grew around it. an increasing number of esoteric, exotic, scientific, or pseudoscientific sects today bear witness to the same. the difference is that these sects are no longer isolated, that almost the entire religious dimension of people is connected to some sect, be it even one that used to be a dominant church. religion-based values or attitudes are carried over into the new segmented practical experiences of work, family, and society, and thus into the realm of politics, law, and market relations. originating from sexual drive, love is one of the experiences from which family, friendship, art, and philosophy derived over time. once written in the book as a different form of love, once ascertained as a practical experience, it bridges between its natural biological basis and its cultural reality as a characteristic of a framework of human interaction in which individuals project their biological and cultural identity. written about in religious books, love starts a journey from naturalness to artifact. expressed as intelligence, temperament, appearance, or physical ability (our natural endowment), love is subjected, in conjunction with the experience of writing the book, to a set of expectations expressed as though they originated from outside the experience. in this process, there is no passive participant. the written word is permeated by the structural characteristics of the act of preferring somebody to somebody else, one course of action from among many, and, more generally, something over something else, according to religious values. the implicit expectation of permanency (of faith, love, or ownership) results from the pragmatic reasons acknowledged by the book(s). a consensus essential for the survival and well being of the community is reached by acknowledging forces from outside, and accepting their permanent and quasi-universal nature. in a universe of immediacy and proximity, change other than that experienced in natural cycles is not anticipated. divinity makes sense only if constituted in practical experiences from which a notion of eternity and universality result. the written words exalting unity, uniqueness, eternity, and the promise of a better future are the result of the practical experience, since in the realm of nature only the immediate and the proximate are acknowledged. forever marked by this experience of time and space beyond the immediate, the written language of religion, together with the written language of observations connected to the awareness of natural cycles (the moon, the seasons, plagues), remains a repository of the notion of permanency, universality, and uniqueness, and an instrument for hierarchical differentiation. whenever constituted in activities related to or independent of religion, language, as a product of and medium for human identification, projects these structural characteristics upon whatever the object of practical experience is. once written, the word seems to carry into eternity its own condition. with the advent of literacy, as this is made possible and necessary by a different scale of human praxis, literacy itself would appear as endowed with the quality of eternity and universality, triggering its own sense of exaltation and mission, lasting well into our day. for millions of citizens from countries south of russia, who once gave up their roots to show allegiance to the soviet empire, to return to arabic writing after being forced to adopt the cyrillic means rediscovering and reconnecting to their eternity. that some of them, caught in the geo- political confrontation of their neighbors, adopt the roman alphabet of their turkish moslem brothers, does not change the expectation. religion and efficiency in the literate forms of language experiences, not only religion, but also science and the humanities, literature, and politics are established and subjected to the practical test of efficiency. each projects a notion of permanency and universality, which is influenced by the practical experience of religion, sometimes in contradiction to the archetypal experience resulting in the notion (or notions) of god (or gods). now that the pragmatic framework of the very ample scale of human practice makes permanency and universality untenable, the tendency to escape from the confines of religion becomes evident. there is a strong sense of relativism in science, an appropriate self- doubt in humanistic discourse, and an appropriate understanding of the multiplicity and open-endedness in almost every aspect of our social and political life. this was not achieved through and in literacy, but in disregard of it, through the many partial literacies reflecting our practical self-constitution. the reality of the global nature of human experience, of interconnectedness, of its distributed nature, and of the many integrative forces at work, renders the centralism implied in the book(s) obsolete for many people. at the same time, let it also be noted that this reality makes the book even more necessary than ever for many, and at different levels of their practical life. the many religious literacies of these days-promoting permanent modes of life, exotic and less exotic codes of behavior, ways of eating and dressing, hopes for a happy future or some form of afterlife-maintain dualistic schemes of good and bad, right and wrong, sacred and secular in a world of extremely subtle and painfully vague distinctions. the question whether love and reason can undergird community awareness, social action, political activism, and education if, as seems to be the case, their connection to faith continues to decline, belongs to the same dualistic perspective. this perspective is common to both partisans and enemies of religion. it used to be the backbone of the ideology of religious suppression-either under communism, or wherever a dominant religion takes upon itself the eradication of any other religion. and it is becoming the argument of the many emancipatory movements promoting the religions of atheism and agnosticism as a substitute for religion. the subject is ultimately one of faith, concerning very intimate aspects of individual self-assessment, but not necessarily the institution of creed. still captive to dualism, brought about and nourished by experiences constitutive of literacy, we have problems coping with a world where the enemy is us and where religion is different from what it was at the time of its inception, or the time we were first were exposed to it. in view of these developments, we wonder how the rules and values established in the original religious framework are to survive. if the literacy through which these rules come to us is seen only as a vessel, a means of expressing values and criteria for evaluation, then any other means could perform the same function. the crystal cathedral of television fame, no less than the web sites of many churches, proves the point. since we are our language, and we constitute ourselves as spiritual and physical entities in the experience of language, writing cannot be seen as a passive medium, nor reading as a mechanical rendition. accordingly, the medium through which religion is expressed affects the religion, changes its condition. applied to contemporary religious experience, this argument is confirmed again and again. from the entire practical experience of religion, what survives is the liturgy, transformed into a performance of limited cathartic impact. merchandising completes this new condition of faith. for millennia, a community considered its priests vital to its survival. in the civilization of illiteracy, the situation is reversed. ministers, and to some extent priests, depend on a community for their survival. ministers are in the business of selling themselves as much as they are in the business of selling their church or even god. some evangelists remain independent in the sense that they package their own programs for presentation to large crowds in tents, in auditoriums, or on television. these religious enterprises create a vast business empire around a persona. as long as the enterprise can deliver what the preacher promises-through his performance act and the merchandise he sells to the faithful-then the tele-congregants-no less fascinated by celebrity than the rest of society-will buy him. a newer phenomenon is less personality dependent and more message- oriented, but the goal is the same: ministers need to make a living. relying on information polled from hundreds of middle-class non-churchgoers, some enterprising ministers came up with a product bound to please: nothing boring or aggressive; cost- efficiency; comfortable seating; no organ. according to a study by the harvard business school, the resulting church was the embodiment of the phrase "knowing your customers and meeting their needs." church attendance grew by relying on customer recommendation. soon, the ministers franchised their operation in localities with a target market: -to- -year-old seekers ("a growing market"), with middle to upper middle class salaries. other seekers look in different directions. almost anyone with a message can establish a religion, and sometimes entire sects are based on just a few words from the bible (the seventh-day adventists, for example, or the snake handlers of the appalachians, or the pentecostals). participatory forms of worship are another trend. they may derive inspiration from the book, but they aim to involve avenues of perception not bound to literacy: song, dance, meditation, the inhaling of aroma, touching minerals. some religions hark back to nature, animism, and what can be called neo-paganism, as in the wikka religion. no matter how far back some of these religions claim to go, they are religions of the civilization of illiteracy. they do not repeat the original pragmatic framework but respond to today's framework of self-constitution and the individual needs or desires of the people who constitute themselves as religious through these new manifestations. while observations made in language can be subjected to confirmation, religious assumptions are expressed through the inner reality of language, and are only subject to language correctness. it is impressive how language houses concepts for which there is no referent in practical experience, but which are constituted exactly because some aspects of practical experience cannot be otherwise explained. in the history of how ideas, generalities, and abstractions are formed, the experience of religion is of particular interest. values and beliefs that cannot be submitted to the physical senses, but can be comprehended through language-written, read, sung, danced, and celebrated-are transmitted through religion. many assume that the new status of religion in our day is due not only to market pressure and obsession with consumption, but also to the advancement of science. supposed to debunk the rationality of faith and offer its own rationality as the basis of new ways of understanding the origin of life, the role of human beings, the source of good and evil, and the nature of transcendence, science introduces a positivist conception of facts, irreconcilable with that of the relativity of religious images. research in artificial intelligence discovered that " % of human activity (is) concept- free, driven by control mechanisms we share not only with our simian forebears, but with insects." if this is indeed true, the role of rationality, religious or scientific, in our practical experiences of self-constitution has to be revisited. the various manifestations of religion subtly address this need because they recognize dimensions of human experience that cannot be reduced to scientific explanations and logic, or cannot be explained without explaining them away in the process. one interesting tendency in the civilization of illiteracy is less to assimilate the new science and technology-as was the case only - years ago-and more to subject it to what religion considers right. fundamentalism of any kind corresponds to the dynamics of this illiterate society, in the sense that it promotes a very limited and limiting subset of the language of religion, in a world segmented into more religious denominations than ever before. if over , registered churches serve the religious needs of the population in the usa, and almost as many meeting places are available to small groups of believers, nobody will seriously argue that people are less religious, rather that they are religious in a different way, often integrating the latest in science and technology. among the most active internet forums, religion maintains a presence supported by the best that technology can offer. with each new scientific theory unveiling the deeper structure of matter, more subtle forms of interconnectedness among phenomena, new sources of creativity, and new limits of the universe, the need for religion changes. to cope with complexity means either to have a good command of it-which seems less and less possible-or to accept a benevolent underwriting. the challenge of complexity generates its own need for creed. social, economic, and political realities are not always encouraging. integration based on pragmatic motives increases, as does individual anxiety. no matter how much we learn about death, we are still not free of its frightening randomness. realistically speaking, the belief in an afterlife and the dedication to cryonics are less far apart than they seem at first glance. religiosity in the civilization of illiteracy some will argue, probably with good reason, that religion in the civilization of illiteracy is but another form of consumerism, or at least of manipulation. no matter what the religious occasion, and if it is still indeed of religious motivation, the market celebrates its highest results in anticipation of holidays (the former holy days). the , car dealerships, many designed as car cathedrals, and almost , shopping malls get more visitors during the holiday season than do churches. in addition, even ceremonies whose significance is fundamentally different today than during previous periods, generate more business than religious awareness. the language of ceremonies is entrusted to consultants in marriage, confirmation, baptism, bar mitzvah, and death. texts related to circumstances of practical experiences different from those of our day are written and read, or, to be more precise, performed without either understanding what kind of pragmatics made them necessary or realizing the discrepancy between past and present pragmatics. this is why they ring so hollow in our day. when permanence is exalted, faithfulness promised, acceptance of biblical or other precepts (of the koran, of far eastern pantheistic religions) ascertained, literacy and religion are only mimicked. talaba, the rubles (or whatever the currency of choice) per month paid by shiite missionaries from iran, brings many tadjiks, uzbeks, and turkmenians to the new religious schools of islam. chances are that a higher bidder from another religion would spoil the game. under the new pragmatic circumstances of human self-constitution, change, variety, self-determination, individualism, negation of authority, divine or secular, and skepticism are decisive for reaching the levels of efficiency demanded by a dynamic scale of existence. today's world is not one of generalized atheism. it is, rather, one of many partial religious literacies, sharing in some basic symbolism, although not necessarily in a unifying framework for its consistent interpretation. many do not believe, for reasons of science or convenience, in the religious explanation of the origin of the universe and life. or they do not care for the message of love and goodness embedded in almost every current manifestation of faith. they see in every religious book the handwriting of some groups who, in order to impose their values, invented the image of a supreme force in order to achieve, if not authority, at least credibility. we live in an environment of compromise and tolerance, infinite distinctions, fast sequences of failure and success, challenged authority and generalized democracy. in today's huge and ineffective social mechanism, in the integrated and networked world, individual failure does not affect the performance of the system. illiteracy, while dangerous under circumstances characteristic for the pragmatic of the recent past, only marginally affects the levels of efficiency reached. religiosity, of consequence in the same pragmatic framework, plays no role whatsoever in the illiterate practical experiences of human self-constitution. calling such assessments heresies, as some might be inclined to do, does not really answer the question of whether religious law can still serve, alone or together with other laws, as the binding tie of community-as it does not address the broader issues of whether literacy can serve as the binding tie of community. because of their pragmatic nature, characteristics of religion and structural characteristics of language are fundamentally similar. if we want to understand the condition of religion today, we have to specifically address the pragmatic circumstances of self-constitution within the civilization of illiteracy. in the events of tele-evangelism there is no place for literacy. but the video church, and computer-aided religion, the bible on cd-rom, or cd-i, the vacation village for believers, and religious tourism are mainly forms of entertainment. their validity is divorced from the concept of the exalted individual, critical in the context of a small- scale community. consequently, the religious dimension of transcendence is annihilated. ours is the time of the eternal instant, not of some vague eternity promised as reward after the present. partially banalized through abuse of the word, concepts such as dignity, decency, and human values have become the clichés of the video church, with as many gospels as there are preachers. religiosity today differs from the religiosity of previous pragmatic frameworks insofar as it corresponds to the accentuated insularity of the individual. as long as the viewer is only a digit away on his or her remote control from a pornography channel, from the latest quote on the stock market, of from a commercial message-for denture adhesive, gastric relief, and home pregnancy tests-it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between sanctity and triviality, righteousness and venality. the global community of tele-viewing is splitting into smaller and smaller groups. and tv, as a pulpit of missionary activity, reveals itself as only syntactically different from the missionary work of advertisement. mass religion proves to be as impersonal as the market. in effect, it severs the relations between religion and the mysterious, still unexplained aspects of human existence. a virtual reality package can be as good as the performance of having the blind see, and the cripple leave the wheelchair to enter the -meter dash. the virtual cathedral, the stadium, and the mass audience addressed in front of the camera are themselves of a scale inadequate to both the teaching disseminated and the nature of religious experience, no matter how far the effort to change the vocabulary goes. the language of the books is rooted in experiences to which the tele-viewer no longer has a direct relation. they cannot be substituted in a medium adapted to change and variety. the categories that religious discourse centers on-faith, goodness, transcendence, authority, sin, punishment-were established in a pragmatic framework totally different from that of the present. today, existence offers variety, immediate satisfaction, and protection from the whims of nature. the sense of danger has changed. the equity accumulated by the church in these categories may be enough to entitle claims of ownership, given people's inertia, but not to maintain them as effective means of affecting current practical experiences. it might well be true that three out of five americans now believe there is a hell, and that people in other countries share the same assumption, but this has no bearing on their self-constitution in the world of quickly changing scenarios for fulfillment outside faith. networking and distributed work are better synchronized with the pragmatics of high efficiency of our day. software for interactive multimedia keeps track of a person's religious patterns, and provides prayer and interpretation integrated in the same package. in its attempt to adapt to a new framework of human activity, religion adopted social causes (renouncing its metaphysics), scientific terminology (renouncing agnosticism), or the means of entertainment (renouncing its asceticism). with each step outside the boundaries of religion, the transcendental dimension is sacrificed. this dimension is embedded in the medium of literacy through which religious practical experience became a fixture in society. when the word does not satisfy, believers resort to other means of expression, some older than religion. it is not unusual to have a religious celebration during the day in some catholic churches in brazil, and at night, on the same altar, a chicken sacrificed to yemenyá. the literate celebration, of european import, and the illiterate sacrifice to which a different group of believers connects, are impossible to reconcile. in this framework, freedom of choice, as vulgar or trivial as those choices might be, takes precedence over authority. in brazil, "graças a deus!" is paired with the practice of african cults (candomblé, umbanda, macumba), just as "allah-hu-akbar" is with shamanistic or buddhist celebrations in azerbaidjan and kazakstan. these are particular expressions of religion in the civilization of illiteracy, as much as tv evangelism is. for as much as religion was submitted to the word, performance always seems to get the upper hand. to blindly ascertain permanence against the background of change would only further undermine religious practice. this is why the new religions focus on the immediate and produce the reward as fast as it is expected. the continuous proliferation of new religious denominations, soon to be as many as there are people who constitute the networks of human interaction in today's pragmatic context, reflects also the ability of the church to adapt. but this was not religion's reason for being in the first place, and will not represent more than what actually happens when we all wear the same shoes, or shirts, or hats but read a different label on each, when we all eat the same food that is only packaged differently, when we all vote for the same politics (or lack of same) while maintaining party affiliations. when each has his or her own god, god ceases to exist. with the end of the civilization of literacy, partial religious literacies emerge, developing their own languages, their own organizations, their own justification. the heterogeneity of the world, its intrinsic relativity, and its dynamics of change mark religious practical experiences in ways not dissimilar to those of scientific, artistic, political, educational, moral, and many other experiences. consumption of the language of religion in ceremonies and holidays that promote the expectation of more and cheaper, on which the quest for unlimited satisfaction of needs and desires is based, does not qualify anyone as religious or literate. neither does secularism for that matter, no less illiterate, and no less subjected to the same expectation of high efficiency which undermines the core of any religion. secular religion in our day of increased secularism, the extent to which religion permeates people's lives, whether faithful, indifferent (neutral), or actively antireligious, is probably difficult to assess. the separation of church and state is powerfully anchored in constitutions and declarations of independence, while new presidents, kings, emperors, state officials, and members of the judiciary still swear on the books of their religious faith, invoke their respective gods as the ultimate judge (or help), and openly, or covertly, participate in the rituals inherited from theological practical experiences. the dominant symbolism of our day has a religious aura. it seems that both the faithful and the secularists of all nuances entered a mutual agreement in sanctioning what came to be known as civil religion. people pledge allegiance to the flag, get emotionally carried away when the national anthem is played, and partake in the celebration of holidays, never questioning their justification. these elements of civil religion come to us in perverted forms, divorced from the pragmatic context within which they were constituted. to swear on the bible was specifically prohibited ("you are not to swear at all, not by heaven, for it is god's throne, nor by earth, for it is his footstool..." matthew : - ). swearing-in ceremonies take place in the open in order to make them manifest to the gods. in some countries a window is still opened when an oath of office is recited. holidays, meant as occasions of religious recollection, or to instill a sense of solidarity, remain only what each person makes of them. even more, in countries making a point of avoiding the domination of one religion over another, the holidays of the dominant religion become the holidays of the entire nation, enjoyed foremostly as market celebrations. to notice the contradictory nature of the presence of religion in contexts of secular practical experiences, some directly contrary to religious beliefs, means to notice how some of the motivations of religion expatiate in a context contradicting the legitimacy of the theological experience in our day and age. this became clear even within the particular circumstances of revolutions whose stated goal was to eradicate religion through state oppression or by education. the french revolution discovered, soon after the king and other members of the power elite were decapitated, that the authority of its ideals, embodied in the call for liberty, equality, fraternity, was not enough, despite being housed in the same body of literacy as religion was, to substitute for the higher authority of divinity. the soviet revolution hoped that theater or cinematography would substitute for religion, or at least for church. some of its ideologues experimented with a secular god- building strategy, inventing a sui generis higher force to which people could relate, and on which hope could be placed. they tried, very much in the spirit of the utopian marx, to deify the collective force of the working class in order to inspire a religious sense of community. enormous energy was invested in designing new rituals. many of the atheist artists of the russian avant-garde served the cause they thought opened the gates of artistic freedom and universal love. their own escape from the realm of literacy into the realm of imagery-intended to replace the confining texts of religion and ideology-should have warned them about the impossibility of the task at hand. disappointed by their own naiveté, but incapable of acknowledging failure, some of them wound up embracing the new civic religion of gods and holidays, as shallow as the theology around which they were built. what we identify in all these elements is the continuation of structural characteristics pertinent to religion and to the medium of its expression, i.e., literacy in a fundamentally different context. the encompassing principles of tolerance, equality, and freedom contradict the spirit on which religion and literacy were based. they weaken our convictions of what is right and efficient in view of the desired end, and of endurance as a group. the decline of morals in a context in which moral behavior does not affect efficiency is not due to the decline in religiosity, but to the general perception, justified or not, that morality and religion do not count; or that they play no role in making people happy. the sanctity of life gone, there is little sanctity left in forms of celebrating it: birthdays, communions, marriage, funerals. between birth and death, the audience at our rites of passage diminishes painfully. we know that death is very personal, but communities, for pragmatic reasons, used to confront death and its consequences, many related to inheritance, not relegate it to specialists in the various aspects of dying. death is reduced to a biological event leading only to biochemical decomposition: no fun, no direct practical significance for others, except in the inheritance process, a market event for funeral parlors and pushy clergy. appropriation of life events in the civilization of illiteracy equals the structuring of small languages of post-literate celebrations, taken over by baptism, communion, and marriage consultants, all alienated from the religious meaning they had, moreover from the initial pragmatic motivation. literacy stood as the rulebook for all these direct, integrated, sequentialized, deterministic occurrences. the illiterate celebrates the randomness and the relative and makes everything a festival of randomness-crime, deadly disease, a riot, a bargain, a love affair. religion and church tried to instill permanency. baptism was the initiation rite that opened the cycle. confirmation entailed acceptance in the community. marriage, once and forever, introduced a sense of unity and continuity. the last rites freed one from life for an afterlife in which the deceased still watched over the living faithful. today, each of these moments is associated with a civil ritual: birth is recorded in the town or city hall. the child must have a social security number by the age of two. at age five, children must enter school. children no longer join the community as responsible members at the age of or years, but they are given rights that they sometimes cannot handle. marriage and the establishment of family come much later than in earlier pragmatic contexts. extracted from the religious context, family life is a strange mixture of biological convenience and contractual obligations. death, always the focus of religion, is defined in terms of its effects on efficiency. the fine distinction between clinical death and total death only shows how priests, the final witnesses to the end of a life, are replaced by the technologists who keep the heart beating under the alibi of "sanctity of life." life ends as it begins, as an entry in the record books, for tax purposes. japanese parents-to-be might still consult an ekisha (a sort of fortune teller) in order to choose the proper name for a newborn infant, already thinking about the marriage (names should fit in order to ensure harmony); others will have difficulty in understanding the similarity between choosing a name and the observance of agricultural cycles, as both were religiously encoded in minute rules centuries ago. these people will even cringe at the discourse in a monastery where the priest might indulge in the discussion of the unity between inner order (of the individual) and outer order. the fact that mandala, traded all over the world, once represented that order escapes their personal experience. religions distinguished between nature and cosmos. whether explicitly stated or not, nature was seen as earthbound, the source of our existence, the provider. cosmos, beyond our reach, should not be interfered with. the experience of extraterrestrial research expanded the notion of nature. in today's integrated world, resources and environmental concerns also contribute to the expanded notion of nature pertinent to our activity and life. our worries about pollution of earth, oceans, and skies are not religious in nature. neither is the distinction between what is feasible and what is desirable. the ten commandments tell us what we should not do, while the devil called desire whispers into our ears that nothing is forbidden unless we really do not care for it. the relation between the wholeness of the being and its parts is subject to maintenance, just as the automobile is. once gods were described as jealous and intolerant. now they are presented as accommodating a world of diversified experiences and heterogeneous forms of worship, including satanism. our pragmatic context is one of generalized pluralism, embodied in the many choices we pursue in the practical experience of self-constitution. when the pragmatics of self-constitution can be based on rationality, the churches of the civilization of illiteracy are houses of secular religion. a mouthful of microwave diet have you ever ordered a pizza over the internet? it is an experience in illiterate cooking. the image on the screen allows clients to prepare the most individualized pizza one can think of: they decide what the shape, size, and thickness of the crust will be; which spices and how much; what kind of cheese; and which toppings. they can arrange these the way they want, layer them, and control how much tomato sauce, if any, should be used. done? ask your children, or your guests, whether they want to correct your design. the on-line chef is open to suggestions. all set? the pizza will be delivered in minutes-or it's free. the entire transaction is illiterate: selection is made by clicking an image. with each choice, prices are automatically calculated and listed. addition is as error-free as it can get. taxes are calculated and automatically transferred to the irs. a voice announces over the internet, "food is ready! thank you for your order. and please visit us again." no, this is not fantasy. pizza shops and hamburger joints figure visibly on the internet (still in its infancy). their structure and functioning, as well as the expectations connected to them, are what defines them as belonging to the civilization of illiteracy. but the picture of what people eat and how their food is prepared is more complicated than what this example conveys. this chapter will describe how we arrived at this point, and what the consequences of the fundamental shift from the civilization of literacy in our relation to food are. food and expectations how does one connect food to literacy? in the first place, how we eat is as important as what we eat and how we prepare it. there is a culture of dining, and an entire way of viewing food-from obtaining raw ingredients to preparation and to eating-that reflects values instilled in the civilization of literacy. food and eating in the civilization of illiteracy are epitomized not only by the pizza outlet on the internet, by mcdonalds, burger king, and the frozen dinner waiting to be thrown into the microwave oven, but also by the vast industry of efficient production of primary and secondary foodstuffs, the anonymous, segmented processing of nutrition. it is not an individual's literacy that characterizes the meal, but the pragmatic framework in which people emerge and how they project their characteristics, including dietary and taste expectations, in the process. the hunger-driven primitive human and the spoiled patron of a good italian restaurant have in common only the biological substratum of their need, expressed in the very dissimilar acts of hunting and, respectively, selecting items from a menu. primitive beings are identified by projecting, in the universe of their existence, natural qualities pertinent to the experience of feeding themselves: sight, hearing, smell, speed, force. restaurant patrons project natural abilities filtered through a culture of eating: taste, dietary awareness, ability to select and combine. these two extremes document a commonalty of human self-constitution. nevertheless, what is of interest in the attempt to understand food and eating in the civilization of illiteracy are actually differences. the nuclei of ancient incipient agriculture, which were also the places of origin for many language families, are distinct pragmatic frameworks relevant also to the experience of cooking. within agriculture, absolute dependencies on nature are changed to relative dependencies, since more food is produced than is needed for survival. the food of this period is cause for some of the rituals associated with the elements involved in producing it. the layers between animal hunger and the new hunger, filter new experiences of satisfaction or illness, of pleasure or pain, of self-control or abuse. symbolism (concerning fertility, agriculture, power) confirms patterns of successful or failed practical experiences against the background of increased awareness of the biological characteristics of the species. notation and writing contribute to the change of balance between the natural and the cultural. but the difference between the primitive eater and the person who awaits his dinner at a table derives from the distinctive conditions of their existence. in the pragmatic framework that constitutes the foundation for literacy, expectations regarding food were already in place: slow rhythm, awareness of the environment, environment and natural cycles, labor division according to sex and age (the female was usually the homemaker and cook). food preparation was characterized by its intrinsic sequentiality, by linear dependencies among its variables. cooking was inspired and supported by the sequence of seasons, local stock, and relative immediacy of needs, affected by weather conditions, intensity of effort, and celebration pertinent to seasons or special events. in short, the relation to food was governed by the same principles that notation and writing were. in the civilization of illiteracy, personal attitudes towards preparing food and eating, whether at home or in a restaurant, are affected by a different pragmatic framework. probably more is known about food in the civilization of illiteracy than at any other time in the history of agriculture and cuisine. but this knowledge does not come from the direct experience of the food, i.e., how it is grown and processed. human beings in the civilization of illiteracy know better why they eat than what they eat. it is not what is in the food that concerns many people, but what the food is supposed to do for them: maintain and service the body through the proper balance of vitamins, minerals, and protein; help people cope with residue; and, eventually, conjure meaning as a symbol in a universe of competing symbolisms. fashion extends to food, too! people feed themselves today according to expectations different from those of primitive human beings-hunters, farmers, craftsmen, and workers involved in pre- industrial experience. needs are different, and food resources are different. many layers of humanity stand between an individual projecting animal hunger in a world of competing animals and an individual expressing desire for french cuisine, in its authentic variations, in its snobbish form, or in its fast food versions, fresh or frozen, regular or dietetic. pizza, spaghetti, falafel, sushi, tortillas, cold cuts, and egg rolls figure no less on the list of choices. many filters, in the form of various taboos and restrictions, as well as personal tastes, are at work. meaning is incidentally elicited as one chooses the recipe of a celebrity cook, or decides on a certain restaurant. the hungry primitive human, the human beings working the land in the agricultural phase, the farmers, craftsmen, soldiers, and scholars of the pre-industrial age expected only that food would still their hunger. more is expected from the eating experience today, and some of these expectations have nothing to do with hunger. people take it for granted that they can buy any type of food from anywhere in the world, at any time of the year. globality is thus acknowledged, just as the sequence of seasons is ignored. in between these two extremes is the literate eating experience, with its own expectations. the experience of eating reflected a way of life, a way of self-constitution as civilized, progressive, literate. here are the words of charles dickens, recorded during his visit to the united states in . he gave a vivid summary of american eating habits west of the big eastern cities (boston, new york) as he observed them on steamboats and in inns where stagecoaches stopped for the night in pennsylvania, ohio, and missouri. i never in my life did see such listless, heavy dulness [sic] as brooded over these meals: the very recollection of it weighs me down, and makes me, for the moment, wretched. reading and writing on my knee, in our little cabin, i really dreaded the coming of the hour that summoned us to table; and was as glad to escape from it again as if it had been a penance or a punishment. healthy cheerfulness and good spirits forming part of the banquet, i could soak my crusts in the fountain with le sage's strolling players, and revel in their glad enjoyment: but sitting down with so many fellow-animals to ward off thirst and hunger as a business; to empty each creature his yahoo's trough as quickly as he can, and then to slink sullenly away; to have these social sacraments stripped of everything but the mere greedy satisfaction of the natural cravings; goes so against the grain with me, that i seriously believe the recollection of these funeral feasts will be a waking nightmare to me all my life. dickens was the epitome of the literate experience, and he was addressing a literate audience that had literate expectations in the experience of dining: what time meals were held, who sat where and next to whom, the order in which certain foods were served, how long a meal should last, what topics could be discussed. literate characteristics persist in the literate frameworks of political and formal dinners: hierarchy (who sits where), the order in which food is presented, the types of dishes and eating utensils. fishing in a videolake many questions come to mind with respect to how, and what, and when, people eat and drink. human beings still project their reality in the environment through biological characteristics-the ability to see, smell, taste, move, jump, etc.-but some in unnatural ways. not only do we help vision with glasses and hearing with aid devices, but even taste and smell are helped through the appropriate chemistry, in order to buffer some odor and enhance others. from odorless garlic to tofu smelling of pork chops, everything is within the possibility of biochemistry. at the extreme, nutrition is altogether removed from the context of nature. this is the case not just with people who are fed artificially, through tubes, pills, or special concoctions. what does this have to do with literacy? how is it influenced, if at all, by the increased illiteracy of the new condition of human activity? the answers are far from being trivial. an editorialist from germany, a country of solid, if not necessarily refined, eating instincts, went to great lengths to explain the alienation of nourishment in our age. the final scene he described is comic and sad at the same time. some artificially obtained nutritive substance, molded in the shape of fish, is fried and served to a video- literate who eats the food while watching a videotape about fishing. the ersatz experience of tele-viewing is probably disconnected from the experience of river, trees, sunshine, and fish biting the hook, not to mention the taste of fresh fish. dwindling stocks of fish is one reason why we can no longer afford the nourishment that results from direct involvement with nature. not everyone can or wants to be a hunter, a fisherman, or a farmer. the romanticism of literacy, and of the utopian ideologies it helps express, would lead some to believe that this is possible, even desirable. but maybe not, since the new scale of humankind does not go unnoticed, even by those still clinging to the continuity and permanency embodied in literacy. values, rules, and expectations such as health considerations, efficiency, and taste are embodied in programs and procedures for which machines are built, new substances designed, and waste reprocessed. it might make some people shiver, but about % of a person's average caloric intake is the result of artificial synthesis and genetic engineering. louis de funés (in a french film directed by claude zidi) almost wound up as part of the food processed at tricatel, a new factory that produces tasteless food based on the rules and looks of french cuisine, which the factory effectively undermines. the comedian, performing as a food inspector, has to decide what the real thing is and what is the fake. competing with this burlesque, a national program, awakening of taste, under the aegis of the minister of culture, was set up to encourage french students in primary schools to rediscover the true national cuisine. that such a program parallels the effort of the académie française to maintain the purity and integrity of the language is a convenient argument concerning the interdependence of the ideal of literacy and that of haute cuisine. the movie satirizes the human being's relation to food and technology. eating something reminiscent of a fish, whether farmed or synthetically produced, while having video nostalgia for fishing is not an exception. in the mental gardens we plant each spring, when magazines and television shows present images of the beautiful tomatoes we might enjoy in a few months, there is a virtual space for every practical experience we gave up in order to satisfy our desire for more at the lowest price. the tomato in the civilization of illiteracy, hydroponic or garden grown, ripens faster, is perfect in form, and tastes almost like we think it should. irony and science fiction aside, we are indeed engineering proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. they are designed to optimally maintain the human being and enhance his or her performance. this can be seen as a new phase in the process of transferring knowledge pertinent to nourishment from the encompassing and dominating medium of literacy to the many partial literacies- chemical, biological, genetic-of the civilization of illiteracy. having in mind the image of where we currently stand and the direction in which we are heading, we can trace human self-constitution with the practical experience of food. language and nourishment the relation between what people eat, how they prepare their food, how they serve and how they eat it, is accounted for in language, especially in its literate use, in many ways. experiences of our continuous constitution through work, personal life, habits, defense, and aggression are expressed through language and other manifestations of our nature and culture. the same holds true for such peculiarities as the way people eat, entertain, dress, make love, and play. language, as one among many expressive means, is a medium for representation, but also for diversifying experiences. it supports the research of new realms of existence, and participates in the maintenance of the integrity of human interdependencies as they develop in work, leisure, and meditation. when the question "why are there fewer alcoholics in china, korea, japan, and india?" was asked, answers were sought in culture. reformulated as "why can't asians tolerate alcohol?" the question shifted the focus from what we do or do not do- the filters of exclusion or preference-to biology. environmental, cultural, social, psychological, and cognitive characteristics can be acknowledged once the biological substratum is brought to light. many people of asian origin display an intolerance to alcohol that is due to a metabolism peculiar to their race. the intolerance to alcohol is associated with the lack of a catalytic enzyme, which under normal circumstances does not affect the functioning of the body. only when alcohol is consumed do unpleasant symptoms appear: the face becomes flushed, skin temperature rises, the pulse quickens. europeans, black africans, and north american indians are not affected in the same way. but they are subject to other genetically determined food sensitivities. for example, lactose intolerance is highest in blacks. the example given above tells us that the projection of biological characteristics into the universe of people's existence results in the image of differences among various groups of people and among individuals. people noticed these peculiarities before science existed in order to explain them. relating the effect to a cause-a certain food or drink-people incorporate this relation into their body of experiences. established connections become rules that are intended to ensure optimal individual and group functioning. rules pertaining to food and ways of eating were eventually encoded and transmitted through literate means. in short, patterns of work and life are affected. they point to various levels at which human practical experiences and the experience of nourishment are interconditioned. a first level regards nourishment and our biological endowment. a second level is nourishment and the environment-what we can afford from the world surrounding us. a third level is nourishment and self-consciousness-what best suits our life and work. over time the interdependency changes. and at moments when the scale of mankind reaches a threshold, it is drastically redefined-as in our times, for instance. on a larger scale, food- and drinking-related instances prompt vast servicing activities and the establishment of networks of distributed tasks. today, diet engineers, caterers, geneticists, nutritionists, are set up to provide whatever fits the occasion, the guest list, dietary prescriptions, and astrological or medical recommendations. a formal dinner can become a well mediated activity, with many prefabricated components, including table manners-if the commissioning party so desires. associated or not to the menu, a preparatory seminar in what to wear, how to use utensils (if more than plastic spoons and knives are used), what kind of conversation with the entrée, and which jokes before, or after, or instead of the wine, educates for the event. in fact, the buffet, a configuration from which each can assemble his or her menu, not unlike the on-line order form for the internet pizza, is more and more preferred. it is less confining than the literacy-based sequence of the three-course meals-structured as introduction, thesis, and conclusion, known under the labels appetizer, main entrée, dessert. sequence and configuration revisited with writing and reading, the experience of feeding oneself and one's family expanded to partaking in the experience of food preservation and sharing. french assyriologist jean bottero read recipes, in cuneiform writing on clay tablets from around bce, for food cooked at important occasions for people in power. that this was "cuisine of striking richness, refinement, sophistication, and artistry" should not necessarily impress us here. but the description of the ingredients, some no longer known or in use, of the sequence, and the context (celebration) deserve attention: "head, legs and tail should be singed. take the meat. bring water to boil. add fat. onions, samidu, leeks, garlic, some blood, some fresh cheese, the whole beaten together. add an equal amount of plain suhutium." this is a stew of kid, a meal for an exceptional occasion. the pragmatic framework that made this cooking possible also made writing possible and necessary. over time, this connection became even closer. between the experiences of language and that of eating and drinking, a continuum of interactions can be noticed. language distinctions pertinent to the practical experience of cultivating plants, taking care of animals, processing milk, and seasoning food expanded from satisfying needs to creating desires associated with taste. new knowledge is stimulated by experiences different from nourishment, such as new forms of work (cooking included), use of new resources, new tools, and new skills. and so is the expression of logic in the act of preparing, serving, and eating the food. on reading a book of recipes from the tiberian era of the roman empire-de re culinaria (the art of cooking, attributed to gaelius apicius) and de re rustica (by cato)-one can discern how things have changed over years. apicius expressed many distinctions in foods and in ways of cooking and eating. he also expressed a certain concern for health. "digging one's grave with one's teeth," as the expression came to life in connection with gluttony (crisp tongues of larks, dormice marinated in honey, tasty thighs of ostrich are listed), was replaced by elaborate recipes to relieve an upset stomach or to facilitate digestion. the books do not say what everyone ate, and there are reasons to believe that there was quite a difference between the menu of slaves and that of their owners. advances in identifying plants and in processing food go in tandem with advances in medicine. writings from other parts of the world, especially china, testify to similar developments. it was already remarked, by no other than roland barthes, that the two basic language systems-one based on ideographic writing, the second on the phonetic convention-put their characteristic stamp on the menus of the far eastern and western civilizations. a japanese menu is an expression of a configuration. one can start with any of the dishes offered simultaneously. combinations are allowed. eating is part of the japanese culture, a practical experience of self-constitution with strong visual components, refined combinations of odors, and participation of almost all senses. it also reflects the awareness of the world in which the japanese constitute themselves. japanese food is focused on what life on an island affords, plus/minus influences from other cultures, resulting from the mobility of peoples. the more concrete writing system of the far east and the more down-to-earth nourishment, i.e., the closeness to what each source of nutrition is (raw fish, seaweed, rice, minimal processing, strict dietary patterns based on combinations of nutritional ideograms), are an expression of the unity of the pragmatic framework within which they result. a western menu is a sequence, a one-directional linear event with a precise culmination. eating proceeds from the introduction to the conclusion, "from soup to nuts." a meal has a progression and projects expectations associated with this progression. within the language of our food, there are well formed sentences and ill- formed sentences, as well as a general tendency experience gastronomic pleasure. a literate society is a society aware of the rules for generating and enjoying meals according to such rules. the rules are based on experiences transmitted from one generation to the next, not necessarily in written form, but reflecting the intrinsic sequentiality of language and its abstract writing system. goethe fired his cook (lina louise axthelm) because she could not realize the distinction between healthy meals and the more sophisticated art of preparing them according to rules of literacy and aesthetic distinction. on cooks, pots, and spoons cooking food-a practical experience that followed catching prey-represents an important moment in human self-definition. as a form of praxis, it parallels the experience of self-constitution through language. it extends, as language does, far beyond satisfying immediate needs, allowing for the establishment of expectations above and beyond survival. cooking implies generality, but also integrates elements of individuality. some foods taste better, are more easily digested, support specific practical experiences. for example, some foods enhance prowess. when eaten before a hunt, they can trigger lust for chasing the animal. some foods stimulate sexual drive, others induce states of hallucination. cooking was, in many ways, a journey from the known into the unknown. together with the sensorial experience, intellectual elements were involved in the process. they are observations, of similarities and dissimilarities of certain procedures, of substances used, of the influence of weather, season, tools, etc.; simple inferences, discoveries-the effect of fire, salt, spices. the experience of preparing food, together with many other practical experiences on which it depends or which are connected to it, opens avenues of abstraction. cooking improves the quality of individual life, and thus empowers members of a community to better adapt to pragmatic expectations. the constitution of the notion of food quality, as an abstraction of taste, and crafting of tools appropriate to the activity, is of special interest. an example: pottery, in the natural context where it was possible, became the medium for preserving and cooking. in other contexts, carved stone, carved wood, woven branches, or metal was used, for storing or for cooking, according to the material. progressively, tools for preparing and tools for eating were crafted, and new eating habits were acknowledged. when the multiple interdependency food-container-cooking-preservation was internalized in the activity of preparing food, a framework for new experiences was established. some of these experiences, such as how to handle fire, transcend nourishment. the significance of this process can be succinctly expressed: cooked food, which we need to associate to the tools used, is food taken out of the context of nature and introduced in the context of culture. the experience of cooking involves other experiences and then expands into other domains unrelated to nourishment. this experience requires instruments for cooking, but even more an understanding of the process involved, of the effects of combinations and additions, and a strategy for delivery to those for whom cooking was undertaken. satisfying hunger in the fight for survival is an individual experience. preparation of food requires time. in the experience of achieving time awareness, cooking played a role not to be ignored. if time can be used for different purposes by different people, associated in view of shared goals, then some can tend to the need of prepared food for others, while in turn partaking in their effort of hunting, fishing, agriculture, and craftsmanship. it was a simple strategy of labor assignments, affected by tribal life, family, rituals, myth, and religion: knowledge gained in preparing food disseminated without the need for specialized activity. but once pragmatic circumstances of life required it, some people assumed the function and thus, once a critical mass of efficiency was reached, what we today call the cook was identified. from the not-too- many written recipes that come down to us through the centuries, as well as from religious writings containing precise, pragmatically motivated restrictions, we learn enough about the stabilizing role of writing upon food preparation. we also gain understanding of the new functions played by food preparation: celebration of events, sacrifice to gods, expression of power. people learn to cook and to eat at the same time. in this process, they come to share values beyond the immediacy of plants, fruits, and a piece of meat. mediations pertinent to the art of cooking and eating are also part of the language process and become language. culinary restrictions, such as those set down in some religions, are but an example of this process. they encode practical rules related to survival and well- being, but also to some conventions beyond the physical reality of the food. language makes such rules the rules of the community; writing preserves them as requirements and thus exercises an important normative role. each pragmatic context determined what was acceptable as food and the conditions of food preparation, henceforth the condition of cooks and their particular role in social life. many cooks, serving at courts of royalty, in monasteries, in the military, became the object of folk tales, fiction, of philosophers' comments. no cook seems to have been highly educated, but all their clients tried to impress through the food served and the wines, or other drinks, accompanying them. in such circumstances, the symbolic function of food indeed takes over the primary function of satisfying hunger. thus the cook, like the singer and the dancer and the poet, contributes his part to what becomes the art of living. it is probably worth pointing out that memory devices similar to those used by poets and musicians are used by cooks, and that improvisation in preparing a meal plays an important part. writing entered the kitchen; and some of the last to resist literacy, when it became a pragmatic requirement, were those who cooked for others. orality is more stubborn, for many reasons, when it involves the secrecy of food preparation. there are good reasons for this, some obvious even in our day of cracking the most guarded secrets. indeed, labor division does not stop at the gates of factories. the segmentation of life and labor, increased mediation, and expectations of high efficiency make mass production possible. almost everything people need to feed themselves, in order to maintain their physical and mental productive powers with a minimum of investment, is provided in favor of productive cycles. in the pragmatic framework of the industrial age, this meant the reproduction of the productive forces of the worker in a context of permanency. the investment in education and training was to be recuperated over a lifetime of work. nourishment contributed to the same pattern: the family adapted to the rhythms of the practical experience of industry related jobs. at work, at home, in school, at church, and last but not least in nourishment, acceptance of authority together with the discipline of self-denial were at work. that literacy, through its own structural characteristics (hierarchy, authority, standardization) accentuated all these peculiarities should at this time be evident. on special occasions, accounted for in the overall efficiency of effort, nourishment became celebration. it was integrated in the calendar of events through which authority was acknowledged: sabbath, religious holidays, and political celebrations were motives for a better, or at least different, menu. other days were meant to raise the awareness of self-denial (fish on friday, for instance). the cook did not necessarily become a literate person, but he or she was a product of the literate environment of practical experiences of pre-industrial and industrial societies. the tools and the culture of spices, ingredients, matching food and dishes, of expressing social status in the dinnerware set out, and the meal, i.e., the structure of the entire statement which a meal constitutes were all subjected to literacy. labor division made the cook necessary, while simultaneously generating an industrial culture of food. in the equation of the labor market in industrial society, with literacy as its underlying structure, eating equals maintenance of productive and reproductive power. it also means the reproduction of needs at an increasing scale, as well as their change from needs to desires triggering the expansion of industrial production. in the expectations associated with food there is more than only the voice of hunger. our system of values, as it was articulated in the literate use of language, is expressed in our hunger, and in our particular ways to satisfy it. based on this observation, we acknowledge that all the forces at work in structuring democratic social relations also affect the socialization of our nourishment. uniform quality, and access to this common denominator quality, are introduced in the market, and with them the possibility of stating and maintaining health standards. within the boundaries of the civilization of literacy and its associated hygiene and health standards, there is little left that can be identified with the country home that cannot be industrialized and made uniformly available. beyond these boundaries starts a new reality of expectations, of transcended needs, and of technological means to satisfy them within standards of quality that reinforce the notion of democracy. the identity of food it is the act of mixing ingredients, boiling or stir-frying them, and the preparation of everything, the testing of different proportions, of new ingredients, of new combinations that results in the food we care for so much. the awareness of the entire process during which humans distanced themselves from nature is reduced in our understanding to some simple facts: instead of devouring the hunted animal, humans cooked it, preserved some parts for other days, learned how to combine various sources of nutrition (animal and plant), noticed what was good for the body and the mind. what is generally not accounted for is the fact that the break from the direct source of food to the experience of preparing is simultaneous with the emergence and establishment of language. consequent changes are the use of methods for preserving, the continuous expansion of the food repertory (sources of nourishment), the development of better artifacts for increasing the efficiency of production and preparation of foods, and industrial processing. these changes parallel differentiations in the status of language-based practical experiences: the appearance of writing, the emergence of education, progress in crafts, the pragmatic of industrial society. with the experience of literacy, human awareness of food experienced as a necessity, and as an expression of human personality and identity, increases. claude lévi-strauss, among others, forcefully dealt with this subject. the basic idea-of human dimensions expressed in nourishment-becomes more significant today. none of the many writers infatuated with the subject have noticed that once the limits of literacy, as limits of the pragmatics that made it necessary, are reached, we transcend the age of mcdonalds, of synthetic nutritional substances, and of an infinity of prefabricated foods. this is also the age of endless variations and combinations. the human personality and identity are more difficult to characterize. it is expressed in our nourishment, as well as in how we dress-choosing from an infinity of available cloths-our sexual behavior- free to experiment in ever-expanding possibilities: patterns of family life, education, art, and communication. the infinity of choices available in the civilization of illiteracy eradicates any center, and to some extent undermines commonalty, even at the level of the species. in this civilization, the investment in self is less community-related and more an act of individual choice. these choices are embodied in precise, customized diets based on individual requirements as defined by dietitians. computer programs control personalized recipes and the production of any meal or menu. the balance of time and energy has changed totally. experiences of work, free time, and fitness mix. the clear borderline between them is progressively blurred. it is not clear whether one burns more calories today in jogging than in working, but it is clear that discipline, in particular that of self-denial, is replaced by unpredictable self-indulgence. consequently, to maintain the body's integrity, individual diet and exercise programs are generated, given a new focus through the transition from the economy of scarcity to that of consumption. illiterate subjects accept that the market decide for them what and when and how to eat, as well as what to wear, with whom to pair, and how to feel. the appearance is that of self-determination. independence and responsibility are not instant-mix experiences. whether embodied in fast food chains, in microwave nourishment, in the television cooking shows, there is an illusion of self-determination, continuously reinforced in the seductive reality of a segmented world of competing partial literacies. the appearance is that one can choose from many literacies, instead of being forced into one. the fact is that we are chosen in virtue of having our identity constituted and confirmed within the pragmatic context. awareness of and interaction with nature, already affected in the previous age of industrial processing of basic foods, are further eroded. the immediate environment and the sources of nutrition it provides are assimilated in the picture of seasonless and context-free shelves at the supermarket. space (where does the food come from?) and time (to which season does it correspond?) distinctions, accounted for so precisely in literacy, dissolve in a generic continuum. one does not need to be rich to have access to what used to be the food of those who could afford it. one does not need to be from a certain part of the world to enjoy what used to be the exotic quality of food. time and space shrink for the traveler or tv viewer, as they shrink for the supermarket patron. they shrink even more for the increasing number of people shopping through the world wide web, according to formulas custom designed for them. with brand recognition, brands become more important than the food. the rhythms of nature and the rhythm of work and life are pulled further apart by the mediating mechanisms of marketing. the natural identity of food vanishes in the subsequent practical experience of artificial reality. there is little that distinguishes between a menu designed for the team of the space shuttle, for the military personnel in combat far from home, and the energy calculations for a machine. a little artificial taste of turkey for thanksgiving, or the cleverly simulated smell of apple pie, makes the difference. the language of expectations beasts of habit, people expect some reminders of taste and texture even when they know that what they eat or drink is the result of a formula, not of natural processes. this is why the almost fat-free hamburger, devised in laboratories for people in need of nourishment adapted to new conditions of life and work, will succeed or fail not on the basis of calories, but on the simulation of the taste of the real thing. this is how the new coke failed. non-alcoholic beer and wine, fat- and sugar-free ice cream, low cholesterol egg, vegetable ham, and all substitutes for milk, butter, and cream, to list a few, are in the same situation. in the fast lane of the civilization of illiteracy, we expect fast food: hamburgers, fish, chicken, pizza, and chinese, indian, mexican, thai, and other foods. the barriers of time and space are overcome through pre-processing, microwave ovens, and genetic engineering. but we do not necessarily accept the industrial model of mass production, reminiscent of literacy characteristics quite different from those of home cooking. we cannot afford those long cooking cycles, consuming energy and especially time, that resulted in what some remember as the kitchen harmony of smell and taste, as well as in waste and dubious nutritional value, one should add. a mcdonalds hamburger is close to the science fiction image of a world consuming only the energy source necessary for functioning. but the outlet reminds one of machines. it is still a manned operation, with live operators, geared to offer a uniform industrial quality. however, the literate structure gives way to more effective functioning. at intervals defined by a program continuously tracking consumption, the restaurant is stocked with the pre-processed items on the menu. none of the cooks needs to know how to write or read; food preparation is on-line, in real time. and if the requirements of the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy overcome the current industrial model, the new mcdonalds will be able to meet individual expectations no less restricted than those of the internet pizza providers. if this does not happen, mcdonalds and its many imitators in the world will disappear, just as many of the mass production food manufacturers have already disappeared. the mediating nature of the processes involved in nourishment is revealing. between the natural and artificial sources of protein, fats, sugar, and other groups recommended for a balanced meal and the person eating them with the expectation of looking, feeling, and performing better, of living longer and healthier, there are many layers of processing, controlling, and measuring. many formulas for preparation follow each other, or are applied in parallel cycles. after we made machines that resemble humans, we started treating ourselves as machines. the digital engine stands for the brain, pump for the heart, circuits for the nervous system. they are all subjected to maintenance cycles, clean sources of energy, self-cleaning mechanisms, diagnostic routines. the end product of food production-a customized pizza, taco, egg roll, hamburger, gefilte fish-resembles the "real thing," which is produced at the lowest possible cost in a market in which literate food is a matter of the past, a subject of reminiscence. the new dynamics of change and the expectation of adaptability and permanence associated with the nourishment of the civilization of literacy collide at all levels involved in our need to eat and drink. what results from this conflict are the beautiful down-sized kitchens dominated by the microwave oven, the new cookware adapted to the fast food and efficient nourishment, the cooking instructions downloaded from the digital network into the kitchen. the interconnectedness of the world takes rather subtle aspects when it comes to food. microwave ovens can perfectly be seen as peripheral devices connected to the smart kitchens of the post-industrial age, all set to feed us once we push the dials that will translate a desire, along with our health profile, into a code number. three-quarters of all american households (barbie's included) use a microwave oven. and many of them are bound to become an address on the internet, as other appliances already are. the conflict between literate and illiterate nourishment is also documented by the manner in which people write, draw, film, televise, and express themselves about cooking and related matters. this addresses the communication aspects of the practical experience of what and how we eat. the people who could go to their back yard for fresh onions or cabbage, get meat from animals they hunted or tended, or milk their own cow or goat, belong to a pragmatic framework different from that of people who buy produce, meat, cheese, and canned and frozen food in a small store or a supermarket. to communicate experiences that vanished because of their low efficiency is an exercise in history or fiction. to communicate current experiences in nourishment means to acknowledge mediation, distribution of tasks, networking, and open-endedness as they apply to communication and the way we feed ourselves or are fed by others. it also means to acknowledge a different quality. once upon a time, writing on food and dining was part of literature. food authorities have been celebrated as writers. but with the advent of nourishment strategies, literate writing gave way to a prose of recipes almost as idiosyncratic as recipes for the mass production of soap, or cookbooks for programming. some gourmets complained. food experts suggested that precision was as good for cooking as temperature gauges. the understanding of how close the act of cooking is to writing about it, or, in our days to the tele-reality of the kitchen, or to the new interactive gadgets loaded with recipes for the virtual reality cooking game, is often missing. when conditions for exercising fantasy in the kitchen are no longer available, fantasy deserts the food pages and moves into the scripts of the national gourmet video programs and computer games-or on web sites. moreover, when predetermined formulas for bouillons, salad dressings, cakes, and puddings replace the art of selecting and preparing, the writing disappears behind the information added according to regulation, as vitamins are added to milk and cereals. a super-cook defines what is appropriate, and the efficient formula turns our kitchens into private processing plants ensuring the most efficient result. what is gained is the possibility to assemble meals in combinations of nutritional modules and to integrate elements from all over the world without the risk of more than a new experience for our taste buds. from the industrial age, we inherited processing techniques guaranteeing uniformity of flavor and standards of hygiene. the price we pay for this is the pleasure, the adventure, the unique experience. food writing is based on the assumptions of uniformity. in contrast, cooking shows started exploring the worlds of technological progress, in which you don't cook because you are hungry or need to feed your family. you do it for competitive reasons, in order to achieve recognition for mastering new utensils and learning the names of new ingredients. in the post-industrial, the challenge is to break into the territory of innovation and ascertain practical experiences of cooking, presentation, and eating, freed from literate constraints. coping with the right to affluence pragmatic frameworks are not chosen, like food from a menu or toppings from a list. practical experiences of human self-constitution within a pragmatic framework are the concrete embodiments of belonging to such a pragmatics. a new pragmatic framework negates the previous one, but does not eliminate it. although these points were made in earlier chapters, there is a specific reason for dealing with them again here. as opposed to other experiences, nourishment is bound to involve more elements of continuity than science or the military. as we have already seen, literacy-based forms of preparing and eating food exist parallel to illiterate nourishment. this is the reason why some peculiar forms of social redistribution of food need to be discussed. from self-nourishment to being fed humanized eating and drinking come with moral values attached to them, foremost the rule of sharing. pragmatic rules regarding cleanliness, waste, and variation in diet are also part of the experience of nourishment. these associated elements- values, expectations, rules-are rarely perceived as constituting an extension of the practical experience through which humanity distinguishes itself from sheer naturalness. literacy appropriates the rules and expectations that acknowledge and support ideals and values. once expressed in the literate text, however, they appear to be extraneous to the process. changes in the condition of religion, civic education, family, and the legal code, as well as progress in biology, chemistry, and genetics, create the impression and expectation that we can attach to food whatever best suits the situation morally or practically. the self-control and self-denial of previous pragmatic contexts are abandoned for instant gratification. in the competitive context of the new pragmatics that renders literacy useless, the sense of a right to affluence developed. parallel to this, institutions, founded on literacy-based experiences, were set up to control equity and distribution. against the background of high efficiency that the new pragmatics made possible, competition is replaced by controlled distribution, and the experience of self-nourishment is replaced by that of being fed. absorbed by tax-supported social programs, the poor, as well as others who chose giving up responsibility for themselves, are freed from projecting their biological and cultural identity in the practical experience of taking care of their own needs. thus part of the morality of eating and drinking is socialized, in the same manner that literacy is socialized. at the same time, people's illiteracy expands in the sphere of nourishment. today, there are more people than ever who could not take care of themselves even if all the food in the world and all the appliances we know of were brought into their homes. dependencies resulting from the new status of high efficiency and distribution of tasks free the human being in relative terms, while creating dependencies and expectations. the problem is generally recognized in all advanced countries. but the answer cannot be so-called welfare reforms that result only in cutting benefits and tightening requirements. such reforms are driven by short-sightedness and political opportunism. a different perspective is necessary, one that addresses motivation and the means for pursuing individual self-constitution as something other than the beneficiary of an inefficient system. the pragmatics that overrides the need for literacy is based on individual empowerment. as necessary as soup kitchens are under conditions of centralism and hierarchy, the dissemination of knowledge and skills that individuals need in order to be able to provide for themselves is much more important. run and feed the hungry "sponsorship for a charitable track event. funds for third world countries threatened by starvation sought. register support through your donations." and on a nice sunny weekend, many kind-hearted individuals will run miles around a city or swim laps in a pool in order to raise funds for organizations such as care, oxfam, action hunger, or feed the world. hunger in this world of plenty, even in the usa and other prosperous countries, derives from the same dynamics that results in the civilization of illiteracy. the scale of humankind requires levels of efficiency for which practical experiences of survival based on limited resources are ill suited. entire populations are subjected to hunger and disease due to social and economic inequities, to weather conditions or topological changes, or to political upheaval in the area where they live. short of addressing inequities, aid usually alleviates extreme situations. but it establishes dependencies instead of encouraging the best response to the situation through new agricultural practices, where applicable, or alternative modes of producing food. seduced by our life of plenty and by the dynamics of change, we could end up ignoring starving and diseased populations, or we could try to understand our part in the equation. living in an integrated world and partaking in the pragmatics of a global economy, people become prisoners of the here and now, discarding the very disconcerting reality of millions living in misery. but it is exactly the pragmatic framework leading to the civilization of illiteracy that also leads to the enormous disparities in today's world. many forces are at work, and the danger of falling prey to the slogans of failed ideology, while trying to understand misery and hunger in today's world, cannot be overestimated. starvation in africa, south america, in some east european countries, and in parts of asia needs to be questioned in light of the abundance of food in japan, west europe, and north america. both extremes correspond to changes in human self-constitution under expectations of efficiency critical to the current scale of humankind. if human activity had not changed and broadened its base of resources, the entire world would be subject to what ethiopians, sudanese, somalis, bangladeshis, and many others are facing. extreme climatic conditions, as well as decreasing fertility of the land due usually to bad farming practices, can be overcome by new farming methods, progress in agricultural technology, biogenetics, and chemistry. spectacular changes have come about in what is considered the most traditional practice through which humans constitute their identity. the change affected ways of working, family relations, use of local resources, social and political life, and even population growth. it resulted in a new set of dependencies among communities that had afforded autarchic modes of existence for thousands of years. the environment, too, has been affected probably as much by scientific and technological progress as by the new farming methods that take full advantage of new fertilizers, insecticides, and genetic engineering of new plants and animals. motivated by literacy-based ideals, some countries took it upon themselves to see that people in less developed lands be redeemed through benefits they did not expect and for which they were not prepared. at the global levels of humankind, when the necessity of literacy declines, dependencies characteristic of literacy-based interactions collide with forces of integration and competition. what results is a painful compromise. hunger is acknowledged and tended to by enormous bureaucracies: churches, charities, international aid organizations, and institutions more concerned with themselves than with the task at hand. they maintain dependencies that originated within the pragmatics of the civilization of literacy. the activities they carry out are inherently inefficient. where the new dynamics is one of differentiation and segmentation, the main characteristics of these experiences are those of literacy: establishment of a universal model, the attempt to reach homogeneity, tireless effort to disseminate modes of existence and work of a sequential, analytic, rationalistic, and deterministic nature. consequently, where nourishment from the excess attained elsewhere is dispensed, a way of life alien to those in need is projected upon them. aid, even to the extent that it is necessary, re-shapes biology, the environment, the connection among people, and each individual. diseases never before experienced, behavioral and mental changes, and new reliances are generated, even in the name of the best intentions. in some areas affected by starvation, tribal conflicts, religious intolerance, and moral turpitude add to natural conditions not propitious to life. these man-made conditions cannot and should not veil the fact that human creativity and inventiveness are prevented from unfolding, replaced by ready-made solutions, instead of being stimulated. empowerment means to facilitate developments that maintain distinctions and result from differences, instead of uniformity. would all the populations facing hunger and disease actually jump from the illiteracy of the past-a result of no school system or limited access to education, as well as of a pragmatics that did not lead to literacy-to the pragmatically determined illiteracy of the future? the pragmatic framework of our new age corresponds to the need to acknowledge differences and derive from heterogeneity new sources of creativity. each ton of wheat or corn airlifted to save mothers and children is part of the missionary praxis commenced long ago when religious organizations wanted to save the soul of the so-called savage. the answer to hunger and disease cannot be only charity, but the effort to expand networks of reciprocally significant work. the only meaningful pragmatics derives from practical experiences that acknowledge differences instead of trying to erase them. access to resources for more effective activities is fundamentally different from access to surplus or to bureaucratic mechanisms for redistribution. where literacy never became a reality, no organization should take it upon itself to impose it as the key to survival and well being. our literacy-based medicine, nourishment, social life, and especially values are not the panacea for the world, no matter how proud we are of some, and how blind to their limitations. human beings have sufficient means today to afford tending to differences instead of doing away with them. in this process, we might learn about that part of nourishment that was rationalized away in the process of reaching higher levels of efficiency. and we might find new resources in other environments and in the peculiar self-constitution of peoples we consider deprived-resources that we could integrate into our pragmatics. no truffles (yet) in the coop our civilization of illiterate nourishment is based on networks and distributed assignments. the change from self-reliance to affluence corresponds, first and foremost, to the change of the pragmatic context within which the human condition is defined. we project a physical reality-our body-that has changed over time due to modifications in our environment, and the transition from practical experiences of survival to the experience of abundance. the room for invention and spontaneity expands the more we discover and apply rules that guarantee efficiency or limit those preventing it. there might be several dozens of sauces one can select from, and no fewer cereals for breakfast, many types of bread, meat, fish, and very many preprocessed menus. it would probably be an exaggeration to say that all taste alike. but it would not necessarily be false to ascertain that behind diversity there are a limited number of changing formulas, some better adapted to succeed in the marketplace than others, and some better packaged than others. yes, people are nostalgic. more precisely, people are subjected to the nostalgia- triggering stimuli of mass media: the attraction of the homemade, homestyle, mom's secret recipe. this is not because the majority of us know what these icons of the past are, but rather because we associate them with what is no longer possible: reassurance, calm, tradition, protection, permanence, care. we also hear the voices of those who demystify the literate cooking of yesteryear: women spent their lifetime slaving in their kitchens. they did so, the argument goes, to satisfy males, only too happy to be taken care of. both voices, those idealizing and those demystifying the past, should be heard: we enslaved part of nature and took it upon ourselves to annihilate animals or, worse, change their genetic structure. in order to satisfy our appetites, we sacrificed the environment. and, giving in to gluttony, we effectively changed our genetic constitution. the truth, if there is any above and beyond the cultural and economic conditions of cooking, is that transitions from one scale of humankind to another subjected practical experiences of self-constitution to fundamental modifications. trying to understand some of the patterns of life and work, as well as patterns of access to food or of preparing it, requires that we understand when and why such changes take place. language stored not only recipes, but also expectations that became part of our nourishment. the culture of food preparation and serving, the art of discovering new recipes and enjoying what we eat and drink, is more than language can convey. truffles, the food of kings and nobles, and more recently of those who can afford them, bear a whole history, obviously expressed in language. whether seen as the spit of witches, a more or less magic aphrodisiac, or a miraculous life-prolonging food, truffles gain in status because our experience, reflected in the language pertinent to cooking, led us to regard them from a perspective different from those who first discovered, by accident, their nutritive value. it is in the tradition of orality that fathers whispered to their sons the secret of places where truffles could be found. practical experiences involving writing, and later literacy, raised the degree of expectancy associated with their consumption. they affected the shift regarding the eating of truffles from the sphere of the natural (the pigs that used to find them, and liked them probably as much as the gourmets, had to be replaced by specially trained dogs) to the realm of the cultural, where the interests of human beings prevail over anything else. through language processes paralleled by the semiosis of high gastronomy, truffles enter the market as sign-of a discriminating palate, of snobbery, or of actually knowing why truffles are good. language and food interact. this interaction involves other sign systems, too: images, sounds, movements, texture, odor, taste. through the influence of language and these other sign systems, the preparation of food and the appropriate drinks becomes an art. in the age of illiteracy, the languages of genetics, biology, and medicine make us aware of what it takes to avoid malnutrition, what it takes to maintain health and prolong one's life. literacy was reinforced in the convention of how people eat, what, when, and how satisfaction or disappointment was expressed. in our new nutritional behavior and in our new values, literacy plays a marginal role (including interaction at the dining table). the artificial truffle is free of the mystique of origin, of the method for finding truffles, of secret formulas (except the trade secret). it is one item among many, cheap, illusory, and broadly available, as democratic as artificial caviar or, as rousseau would have put it, government by representation. identical in so many ways, the cafeterias that extend an industrial model in a post-industrial context feed millions of people based on a formula of standardization. hierarchies are wiped away. this is no place for truffles. one gets his tray and follows those who arrived before. there is no predetermined sequence. all that remains is the act of selection and the execution of the transaction-an exercise in assemblage not far removed from composing your own pizza on a computer monitor. when the language of available nourishment is standardized to the extent that it is in these feeding environments-elegant coops stocked with shining metal coffee, tea, and soda dispensers, refrigerated containers of sandwiches, cake, fruit-the language of expectations will not be much richer. the increased efficiency made possible this way accounts for the wide acceptance of this mediocre, illiterate mode of nourishing ourselves. we are what we eat if we were to analyze the language associated with what, how, when, where, and why we eat, we would easily notice that this language is tightly connected to the language of our identification. we are what, how, why, when, and where we eat. this identification changed when agriculture started and families of languages ascertained themselves. it changed again when the pragmatic framework required writing, and so on until the identity of the literate person and the post-literate emerged from practical experiences characteristic of a new scale of human experiences. today we are, for quite a broad range of our social life, an identification number of a sort, an address, and other information in a database (income, investment, wealth, debt history) that translates into what marketing models define as our individual expectations. information brokers trade us whenever someone is interested in what we can do for him or her. powerful networks of information processing can be used to precisely map each person to the shelf surface available in stores, to the menus of restaurants we visit on various occasions, and to the internet sites of our journeys in cyberspace. our indexical signs serve as indicators for various forms of filtering calories (how many do we really need?), fats (saturated or not), proteins, sugars, even the aesthetics of food presentation, in order to exactly match individual needs and desires. scary or not, one can even imagine how we will get precisely what best suits our biological system, influenced by the intensity of the tennis game (virtual) we just finished, the tv program we watched for the last seconds, or the work we are involved in. to make this happen is a task not so much different from receiving our customized newspaper or only the information we want through pointscape, saving our monitors from excessive heat and saving us time from useless searches. in the pragmatic framework where illiteracy replaces literacy, eating and drinking are freed from the deterministic chain of survival and reproduction. they are made part of a more encompassing practical experience. each time we take a bite from a hot dog or sandwich, each time we enjoy ice cream, drink wine or beer or soda, take vitamins or add fiber to our diet, we participate in two processes: the first, of revising expectations, turning what used to be a necessity into luxury; the second, of continuous expansion of the global market present through what we eat and drink. many transactions are embodied in our daily breakfast, business lunch, or tv dinner. with each bite and gulp (as with each other product consumed), we are incorporated into the dynamics of expanding the market. the so-called florida orange juice contains frozen concentrate from brazil. the fine italian veal microwave dinner contains meat from romania. the wildflower honey "made in germany" is from hungarian or polish beehives. bread, butter, cheese, cold cuts, jams, and pasta could be marked with the flag of the united nations if all the people involved in producing them were to be acknowledged. meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables, not unlike everything else traded in the global market, make for an integrated world in which the most efficient survives in the competition for pleasing if not our taste, at least our propensity to buy. the efficiency reached in the pragmatic framework of illiteracy allows people to maintain, within the plurality of languages, a plurality of dietary experiences, some probably as exotic as the literacy of ancient greek, sanskrit, aramaic, or cuneiform writing. even the recipes of the roman empire can be enjoyed in exclusive settings (as in saint-bernard-de-comminges in the pyrénées) or as haute, ready-made cuisine (the comptesse du barry food company offers wild boar in spicy sauce, stuffed duck in ginger, and sea trout with wild leeks). the japanese have their sushi prepared from resuscitated fish flown, in a state of anabiosis (organic rhythm slowed through refrigeration), from wherever the beloved delicacies are still available. the multiplicity of food-related experiences in our time is representative of segmentation and heterogeneity in the civilization of illiteracy. it is also an expression of the subtle interdependencies of the many aspects of human self-constitution. the democracy of nourishment and the mediocrity of food are not necessarily a curse. neither are the extravagant performances of artist-cooks that fetch a price equivalent to the average annual salary of a generic citizen of this integrated world. difference makes a difference. feminism, multiculturalism, political activism (from right to left)-all use arguments related to how and what we eat, as part of the broader how and why we live, to advance their causes. if nothing else, the civilization of illiteracy makes possible choices, including those pertinent to nourishment, for which we are ill prepared. the real challenge is still ahead of us. and no one knows how it tastes. the professional winner the connections between sports and literacy are far from obvious. watching sports events, as a spectator in the stadium, or in front of the television, does not require the literacy we associate with libraries, reading and writing, and school education. one does not need to read in order to see who is fastest, strongest, or jumps the farthest or highest, or throws or catches the best. and one does not really need to be literate in order to become a champion or to make it into a first-league team. running, jumping, pushing, throwing, catching, and kicking are part of our physical repertory, related to our day-to-day existence, easy to associate with ways through which survival took place when scavenging, hunting, fishing, and foraging were the fundamental ways for primitive beings to feed themselves and to avoid being killed. even the association of sports and with mytho-magical ceremonies implying physical performance is easy to explain without reference to language, oral or written. exceptional physical characteristics were, and still are in some parts of the world, celebrated as expressions of forces beyond immediate control and understanding. gods were worshipped through exceptional physical feats performed by people worshipping them. in archaic cultures, athletes could even be sacrificed on the altar of gratitude, where the best were destined to please the gods. the initial phases of what was eventually called sport correspond to establishing those sign systems (gestures, sounds, shapes) which, in anticipation of language, made language possible and necessary. this was a phase of syncretism, during which the physical projection of the human being dominated the intellect. running after an animal or from one, and running for play are different forms of human experience corresponding to different pragmatic contexts. they have different motivations and different outcomes. probably , years separate these two experiences in time. in order to reach the level of generality and abstraction that a competition embodies, the human being had to undergo experiences of self-constitution within which the domination of physical over intellectual characteristics changed drastically. the qualifier sport-a word which seems to have ascended within the english language of the th century-probably came about in the framework of the division between secular and non-secular forms of human praxis. both maintenance and improvement of the human biological endowment and mytho-magical practice were based on awareness of the role the body plays and the recognition of the practical need to disseminate this awareness. efficiency was the governing aspect, not recognized as such, not conceptualized, but acknowledged in the cult of the body and the attempt to make it part of the shared culture. the contest (for which the greeks used the words athlos) and the prize (athlon, which eventually led to the word athlete) embody generalizations of those practical situations through which survival and well-being came about. as a complex experience, sports involves rational and irrational components. this is why approaching the relation between literacy and sports, one has to account for both dimensions. sports is approached here from the perspective of the changes through which it became what it is today: a well defined form of relaxation, but probably more a competitive type of work acknowledged in the market like any other product of human practice. the immediate connection between physical fitness and the outcome of practical experiences dominated by physical aspects was established within very limited, but strongly patterned, activity. it soon became the measure of survival success, and thus the rationality shared by the community experiencing the survival of the fittest is reflected in competition. athletes competed in order to please gods; to conjure fertility, rain, or the extension of life; or to expel demons. the process is documented in a variety of petroglyphs (cave paintings, engravings on stone) and in carvings or etchings on animal horn and metal, as well as in the first written testimony, in which the role of the stronger, the faster, the more agile was evinced. documents from all known cultures, regardless of their geographic coordinates, have in common the emphasis on the physical as it acquired a symbolic status. to understand how some biological characteristics improved chances of survival means to understand the rationality of the body. its embodiment in the culture of physical awareness facilitated practical experiences of human self-constitution that would result in sports professions. the irrational element has to do with the fact that although all males and all females are structurally the same, some individuals seem better endowed physically. as with many other aspects of the practical experience through which each person acknowledges his or her identity, what could not be clarified was placed in a domain of explanations where the rationality is lost. this is why expectations of rain, of longer life, of chasing away evil forces are associated with sports. the cult of the body, in particular of body parts, resulted from experiences leading to awareness of oneself. when the body, or parts of it, became a goal in itself, the rationality of physical fitness for survival is contradicted by the irrationality of fitness for reasons other than individual and communal well-being. rituals, myths, religion, and politics appropriated the irrational component of physical activities. in ancient communities, in the context of a limited understanding of physical phenomena, attempts were made to infer from the immediate well-being of the body of competing athletes to the future well-being of the entire community. when it comes to physical fitness in the context of survival of the fittest, can we suppose that a lone human being stands out, something like the lonely animals on their own until the time for pairing comes, competing with others, killing and being killed? probably not. scale defines the species as one that ascertains its self-constitution in cooperative efforts, no matter how primitive. up to a certain scale, the only competition was for survival. it translated into food and offspring. only after the agricultural phase, which corresponds to a level of efficiency of more food than immediately necessary, the element of competition shifts from survival to ascertainment. competition and expectations of performance correspond to the period of incipient writing, and were progressively acknowledged as part of the dynamics of communal life. every other change in the role of humankind brought with it expectations of physical fitness corresponding to expected levels of efficiency. sports and self-constitution gymnastics is an expression of the cult of the body parallel to that of art. in order to realize its dimensions, it needs to be seen from this broader perspective, not as a random set of exercises. it has a physical and a metaphysical dimension, the latter related to the obsession with ideal proportions that eventually were expressed in philosophic terms. there are plenty of explanations to be considered for both the origin of the practical experience of sports and the forms this experience took over centuries. alluding to some explanations, though not in order to endorse them, will help to show how diversity of sports experiences resulted in diversity of interpretations. the basic assumption of this entire book, human self-constitution in practical experiences, translates into the statement that sports is not a reflective but a constitutive experience. indeed, through running, jumping, wrestling, or otherwise participating in some game, human beings project themselves according to physical characteristics and mental coordination that facilitate physical performance in the reality of their existence. this projection is a direct way of identifying oneself and thus of becoming part of an interacting group of people. the majority of researchers studying the origins of sports identify these in the experience of survival, thus placing them in the darwinian evolutionist frame. when survival skills, maintenance, and reproduction skills become distinct and relatively autonomous, they follow recurrent patterns on whose basis social practice takes place and new ideas are formulated. from the perspective of today's jogger, running might seem an individual experience, and to a great extent it is. but fundamentally, running as a practical experience takes place among people sharing the notion of physical exercise and attaching to it social, cultural, economic, and medical meaning. we create ourselves not only when we write poetry, tend land, or manufacture machines, but also when we are involved in athletic experiences. there is in sports, as there is in any other form of practical experience, a natural, a cultural (what we learn from others and create with others), and a social (what is known as communication) dimension. the sports experience appears to us as the result of the coordination of all these elements. for someone attending a sports event, this coordination can become an object of description: this much is due to training, this much to natural attributes, and this much to social implications (pride, patriotism). this is why sports events sometimes appear to the spectator as having a predetermined meaning, not one resulting from the dynamics of the interaction characteristic of this human experience. in the mytho-magical stage of human dynamics, in which the ability of the body was celebrated, the meaning seemed to drive the entire event more than it occurs today in a game of hockey or football. due to the syncretic nature of such events, rituals addressed existence in its perceived totality. the specialized nature of games such as hockey or football leads these to address only one aspect of existence-the experience of the particular sport. a game can degenerate from being a competition structured by rules to a confrontation of nerves, violence, or national pride, or into sheer exhibitionism, disconnected from the drive for victory. although the physical basis for the practical experience of sports is the same- human beings as they evolved in time-in different cultures, different recurrent patterns and different meanings attached to them can be noticed. this statement does not align itself with explanations of sports given in freudian tradition, marxist theory, or in huizinga's model of the human being as playful man (homo ludens). it takes into consideration the contextual nature of any form of human practice and looks at sports, as it does at any human experience, from the perspective of a constitutional, not representational, act; in short, from the pragmatic perspective. when japanese players kick a ball in the game called kemari, the recurrent pattern of interaction is not the familiar football or soccer game, although each player constitutes his identity in the performance. when the zen archer tenses his bow, the pattern, associated with the search for unity with the universe, is quite different from the pattern of archery in africa or of the archery competition at the olympic games of the past. the ball games of the mayans relied on a mythology which was itself a projection of the human being in quest of explaining and finding an answer to what distinguishes the sun from the moon and how their influence affects patterns of human practice. it is probably easier to look at the recurrent patterns of interaction of more recent sports experiences not rooted in the symbolism of the ancient, such as baseball, aquatic dancing, or ice skating, to understand what aspect of the human being is projected and what kind of experience results for the participants (athletes, sports fans, public, media). the surprising reality is the diversity. people never exhaust their imagination in devising new and newer forms of competition involving their physical aptitude. no less surprising is the pursuit of a standard experience, modeled in rules for the competition. some are intrinsic to the effort (the rules of the game), others to the appearance (expected clothing, for instance). parallel to the standard experience, there is also a deviant practice of sports (nonstandard), in forms of individual rules, ad hoc conventions, private competition. the social level of sports and the private level are loosely connected. to become a professional means, among other things, to accept the rules as they apply in the standard experience, within organizations or acknowledged competition. the language professional is pretty much in a similar situation. literacy serves as the medium for encoding the rules. language and physical performance but the subject here is not the similarity between sports and language, butrather their interrelation. the obvious entry point is to notice that we use language to describe the practical experience of sport and to assign meaning to it. as obvious as this is, it is also misleading in the sense that it suggests that sports would not be possible without language-an idea implicit in the ideal of literacy. in ages when written language emerged, sporting events become part of social life. visual representation (such as petroglyphs and the later hieroglyphics), while not exactly a statement about the awareness of exercise, contain enough elements to confirm that not only immediate, purposeful physical activity (running after a wild animal, for instance) and the exercise and maintenance of the physical were, at least indirectly, acknowledged. testimony to the effect that at a certain moment in time the community started providing for the physically talented-in the tombs of the egyptian pharaoh beni hasan the whole gamut of wrestling is documented in detail-helps us understand that labor division and increased efficiency are in a relation that goes far beyond cause and effect. the specialization, which probably started at that time, resulted not just from the availability of resources, but also from the willingness to allocate them in ways that make the sports experience possible because a certain necessity was acknowledged. the pattern of kicking a ball in kemari and the pattern of language use in the same culture are not directly connected. nevertheless, the game has a configurational nature: the aim is to maintain the ball in the air for as long as possible. soccer, even football, are sequential: the aim is to score higher than the opposing team. in the first case, the field is marked by four different trees: willow, cherry, pine, and maple. in the second, it is marked by artificial boundaries outside of which the game rules become meaningless. the languages of the cultures in which such games appeared are characterized by different structures that correspond to very different practical experiences. the logic embodied in each language system affects, in turn, the logic of the sports experience. kemari is not only non-predicative and configurational, but also infused by the principle of amé, in which things are seen as deeply interdependent. soccer and football are analytical, games of planning, texts whose final point is the goal or the touchdown. no surprise then, that mentality, as a form of expressing the influence of practical experience in some patterned expectation, plays a role, too. there are many extremely individualistic forms of competition, and others of collective effort. while in today's global market mentality plays a different role than in the past, it still affects sports in its non-standard form. these and other differences are relevant to understanding how different practical experiences constitute different instances of human objectification, sports being one of these. even when the sports instance is disconnected from the experience that made it necessary, it is still affected by all the structural elements that define the pragmatic context. indeed, while there is a permanency to sports-involvement of the human body-there is also a large degree of variation corresponding to successive pragmatic circumstances. sport is also a means of expression. during the action, it externalizes physical capabilities, but also intellectual qualities: self-control, coordination, planning. initially, physical performance complemented rudimentary language. afterwards the two took different paths, without actually ever separating entirely (as the greek olympics fully document). when language reached some of its relative limits, expression through sports substituted for it: not even the highest literate expression could capture the drama of competition, the tragedy of failure, or the sublimity of victory. but more interesting is what language extracted from the experience of sports. language captured characteristics of the sports experience and generalized them. through language, they were submitted, in a new form, to experiences very different from sports: sports for warfare, athletics for instilling a sense of order, competitions as circus for the masses. but primarily, people derived from sports the notion of competitiveness, accepted as a national characteristic, as well as a characteristic of education, of art, of the market. rationalized in language, the notion of competition introduces the experience of comparing, later of measuring, and thus opens the door to the bureaucracy of sports and the institutionalized aspects we today take for granted. greeks cared for the winner. time-keeping devices were applied to sports later, more precisely at the time when keeping records became relevant within the broader pragmatics of documentary ownership and inheritance. while playing does not require language, writing helped in establishing uniform rules that eventually defined games. the institution of playing, represented by organized competitions, is the result of the institution of literacy, and reflects pragmatic expectations pertinent to literacy. in every sports experience, there is a romantic notion of nature and freedom, reminiscent of the experience of hunting, fishing, and foraging. but at the same time, sports experiences testify to changes in the condition of human beings as they relate to the natural environment, their natural condition, social environment, and the artificial world resulting from human practice. target shooting, or, more recently, nintendo-type aiming with laser beams, is at the other end of the gamut. the circumstances of human experience that made literacy necessary affected the status of the sports experience as well. the contest became a product with a particular status; the prize reflects the sign process through which competition is evaluated. allen guttman distinguished several characteristics of modern sports: secularism, equality of opportunity, specialization of roles, rationalization, bureaucratic organization, quantification, and quest for records. what he failed to acknowledge is that such characteristics are not relevant unless considered in connection to the recurrent patterns of sports seen against the background of the general pragmatic framework. once we make such connections, we notice that efficiency is more important than the so-called equality of opportunity, quantification, and bureaucratic organization. the quest for efficiency appropriate to the new scale of humankind is exactly what today affects literacy's degree of necessity. the quest for efficiency in sports becomes evident when we compare the changes from the very sophisticated, indeed obscure, rules governing sports performances in ritualistic cultures (indian, chinese, mayan, apache) with the tendency to simplify these rules and make the sports experience as transparent as possible. when certain african tribes adopted the modern game of soccer, they placed it in the context of their rituals. the entire set of premises on which the game is based, and which pertain to a culture so different from that of the african tribes, was actually dismissed, and premises of a different nature were attached as a frame for the adopted game. consequently, the inyanga (witch-doctor) became responsible for the outcome; the team and supporters had to spend the night before the game together around a campfire; goats were sacrificed. in such instances, the ceremony, not the game, is the recurrent pattern; winning or losing is of secondary importance. once such tribes entered literate civilization, the utilitarian aspect became dominant. if we take european soccer and extend it to the american game of football, we can understand how new patterns are established according to conditions of human practice of a different structural nature. this discussion cannot be limited to the symbolism of the two games, or of any other sport. the attached meaning corresponds to the interpreted practical experience and does not properly substitute for the recurrent patterns which actually constitute the experience as a projection of the humans involved. what is of interest here is that literacy was a powerful instrument for structuring practical experiences, such as sports (among others), in the framework of a dynamics of interaction specific to industrial society. as the cradle of the industrial age, england is also the place where many sports and experiences associated with physical exercise started. but once the dynamics changed, some of the developments that the industrial revolution made necessary became obsolete. an example is national isolation. literacy is an instrument of national distinction. by their nature, sports experiences are, or should be, above and beyond artificial national boundaries. still, as past experiences show (the olympics in berlin was only the climax) and current experiences confirm (national obsession with medals in more recent olympics), sports in the civilization of literacy, like many other practical experiences, is tainted by nationalism. competition often degenerates into an adversarial relation and conflict. in the physical exercises of ancient greece, china, or india, performance was not measured. the patterns were those of physical harmony, not of comparison; of aesthetics, not of functionality. in england, sports became an institution, and performance entered into the record books. indeed, in england, the history of competitions was written to justify why sports were for the upper, educated classes, and should be kept for amateurs willing to enjoy victory as a reward. some games were invented in the environment of the civilization of literacy and meant to accomplish functions similar to those fulfilled by literacy. they changed as the conditions of the practice of literacy changed, and became more and more an expression of the new civilization of more languages of a limited domain. in the information age, where much of language is substituted by other means of expression, sports are an experience that results primarily in generating data. for someone attracted by the beauty of a tennis game, the speed of a serve is of secondary relevance. but after a while, one realizes that tennis has changed from its literate condition to a condition in which victory means obliteration of the game. a very strong and fast serve transforms the game into a ledger of hits and misses. quite similar is the dynamics of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, all generators of statistics in which the experts find more enjoyment than from the actual event. the dynamics of changes in the nature and purpose of sports is related to what makes the sports experience today another instance in the process of diversification of languages and the demotion of the necessity of literacy. the illiterate champion the dynamics of the change from the sports experience embodying the ideal of a harmoniously developed human being to that of high performance is basically the same as the dynamics of change behind any other form of human projection. structurally, it consists of the transition from direct forms of interaction with the outside world to more and more mediated interrelations. chasing an animal that will eventually be caught and eaten is a performance directly related to survival. in addition to the physical aspect, there are other elements that intervene in the relation hunter-hunted: how to mask the presence of one's odor from the prey; how to attract game (through noise or lure); how to minimize energy expended to succeed (where to hit the prey, and when). ritual, magic, and superstition were added, but did not always enhance the outcome. running for the maintenance and improvement of physical qualities is immediate, but still less direct in relation to the outcome than in hunting. the activity displays an understanding of connections: what do muscle tone, heartbeat, resilience, and volition have to do with our life and work, with our health? it also testifies to our efforts to preserve a certain sense of time and space (lost in the artificial environments of our homes or workplaces) and projects sheer physical existence. running for pleasure, as we suppose animals do when young and enjoying security (think about puppies!) is different from running with a purpose such as hunting an animal, catching someone (friend or foe), running after a ball, or against a record. running for survival is not a specialized experience; running in a war game implies some specialization; becoming the world champion in field and track is a specialized effort for whose outcome many people work. in the first case, the reason is immediate; in the second, less direct; in the third, mediated in several ways: the notion of running to compete, the distance accepted by all involved (athletes, spectators, organizations), the value attached, the meaning assigned, the means used in training and diet, the running costume. before specialization, which is exclusive commitment to a particular practical experience, socially acknowledged selection took place. not everybody had the physical and mental qualities appropriate to high sports performance. in the background, the market continuously evaluates what becomes, to variable degrees, a marketable product: the champion. in the process, the human being undergoes alienation, sometimes evinced through pain, other times ignored-books never read don't hurt. people tend to remember the festive moments in a champion's life, forgetting what leads to victory: hard work, difficult choices, numerous sacrifices, and the hardship inflicted on the bodies and minds engaged in the effort of extracting the maximum from the athlete. how literate should an athlete be? the question is not different from how literate a worker, farmer, engineer, ballerina, or scientist should be. sports and literacy used to be tightly associated in a given context. the entire collegiate sports world (whose origin in th century britain was already alluded to) embodies this ideal. mens sana in corpore sano-a healthy mind in a healthy body-was understood along the line of the practical experience involving literacy as a rule for achieving high efficiency in sports. some forms of sport are a projection from language and literacy to the physical experience. tennis is one example, and possibly the best known. such forms of sport were designed by literates and disseminated through the channels of literacy. collegiate sports is their collective name. but once the necessity of literacy itself became less stringent, such sports started emancipating themselves from the confinements of language and developed their own languages. when winning became the aim, efficiency in specific sports terms became paramount and started being measured and recorded. literates are not necessarily the most efficient in sports where physical prowess or quick scoring are needed to win: football, basketball, or baseball, as compared to long-distance running, swimming, or even the exotic sport of archery. this statement might seem tainted by stereotype or prejudice to which one falls prey when generalizing from a distorted past practical experience (affected by all kinds of rules, including those of sex and race discrimination). what is discussed here is not the stereotypical illiterate athlete, or the no less stereotypical aristocrat handling latin and his horse with the same elegance, but the environment of sports in general. people involved in the practical experience of sports are sometimes seen as exceptionally endowed physically, and less so intellectually. this does not have to be so; there is really nothing inherent in sports that would result in the intellect-physique dichotomy, one to the detriment of the other. examples of athletes who also achieved a high level of intellectual development can be given: dr. roger bannister, the runner who broke the four-minute mile barrier; william bradley, the former basketball player who became a united states senator; michael reed, once defense lineman who is now a concert pianist; jerry lucas, now a writer; michael lenice, a wide receiver who became a rhodes scholar. they are, nevertheless, the exception, not because one kind of experience is counterproductive to the other, but because the expectations of efficiency make it very difficult for one and the same person to perform at comparable levels as athletes and as intellectuals. specialization in sports, no less than in any human activity, requires a focus of energy and talent. choices, too, come with a price tag. while literacy does not result in higher performance in sports, a limited notion of sports literacy, i.e., control of the language of sports, allows for improved performance. it is relevant to analyze how today's sports experience requires the specialized language and the understanding of what makes higher performance, and thus higher efficiency, possible. once sport is understood as a practical experience of human self- constitution, we can examine the type of knowledge and skill needed to reach the highest efficiency. knowledge of the human body, nutrition, physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology is important. information focused on reaching high performance has been accumulated for each form of physical exercise. as a result of the experience itself, as well as through import of pertinent knowledge from other domains of human activity, expertise becomes more and more focused. in some ways, the commonalty of the experience diminished while the specific aspect increased. for instance, on the basketball court, as we see it in various neighborhoods, playing is the major goal. rules are loosely respected; players exert themselves for the pleasure of the effort. one meets others, establishes friendships, finds a useful way of getting physical exercise. on the professional basketball team, various experts coordinated by a coach make possible an experience of efficiency predictable to a great extent, programmable within limits, original to some measure. the effort to coordinate is facilitated through natural language; but the expectation of efficiency in achieving a goal-winning the game-extends beyond the experience constituted in and communicated through language. games are minutely diagrammed; the adversary's plays are analyzed from videotapes; new tactics are conceived, and new strategies followed. in the end, the language of the game itself becomes the medium for the new game objectives. in the last seconds of a very tight game, each step is calculated, each pass evaluated, each fault (and the corresponding time) pre-programmed. technology mediates and supports sports performance in ways few would imagine when watching a volleyball team in action or a runner reaching the finish line. there are ways, not at all requiring the tools of literacy. to capture recurrent patterns characteristic of high efficiency performance and to emulate or improve them, adapt them to the type of sportsperson prepared for a certain contest, becomes part of the broader experience. indeed, boundaries are often broken, rules are bent, and victories are achieved through means which do not exactly preserve the noble ideal of equal opportunity or of fairness. sports experiences were always at the borderline. a broken rule became the new rule. extraneous elements (mystical, superstitious, medical, technological, psychological) were brought into the effort to maximize sports performance. the entire story of drugs and steroids used to enhance athletic prowess has to be seen from the same perspective of efficiency against the background of generalized illiteracy. the languages of stimuli, strategies, and technology are related, even if some appear less immoral or less dangerous. as drugs become more sophisticated, it is very difficult to assess which new record is the result of pure sports and which of biochemistry. and it is indeed sad to see sportsmen and sportswomen policed in their private functions in order to determine how much effort, how much talent, or how much steroid is embodied in a performance. stories of deception practiced within the former totalitarian states of europe might scare through gruesome detail. people risked their lives for the illusion of victory and the privileges associated with it. but after the ideological level is removed, we face the illiterate attitude of means and methods intended to extract the maximum from the human being, even at the price of destroying the person. whether a state encourages and supports these means, or a free market makes them available, is a question of responsibility in the final analysis. facts remain facts, and as facts they testify to the commercial democracy in which one has access to means that bring victory and reward, just as they bring the desired cars, clothes, houses, alcohol, food, or art collections. among the records broken at the olympic games in atlanta is the number of samples collected for doping control (amounting to almost percent of the number of athletes). american football is possibly the first post-modern game in that it appropriates from the old for use in a new age. comparing american football with sports of different pragmatic frameworks-to tennis, volleyball, or rugby-one can notice the specialization, mediation, new dynamics, and language of the game. there are twenty- two positions and special formations for place kicks, kick-offs, and receiving. there are also support personnel for different functions: owners, managers, coaches, trainers, scouts, doctors, recruiters, and agents. the game is burdened with literacy-based assumptions: it is as totalitarian as any language, although its elementary repertory is quite reduced-running, blocking, tackling, catching, throwing, kicking. rules implicit in the civilization of literacy-all know the language and use it according to its rule, sequentiality, centralism-are observed. the word signal, snap numbers, color code, and play name are part of the semiosis. it is a minimal rule experience, which seems a comedy to someone who never watched it before. the players are dressed in ridiculous gear. they seem actors in a cheap show, and act according to plans shared through private code. as opposed to many games that we can only sketchily retrace to someplace back in history, we know how all this came about in american football. the goal was no longer the game, as it was in its early history as a college sports, but winning. a more efficient game required more efficient football machines, specialized in a limited repertory, present only for the duration of their task. the game acquired a configurational aspect, takes place at many levels, requires distribution of tasks, and relies upon networks of communication for maintaining some sense of integration. its violence, different from the staged buffoonery of wrestling, is in sync with the spirit of belligerence implicit in today's competitive environment: "we teach our boys to spear and gore.... we want them to plant that helmet right under a guy's chin." (woody hayes, legendary coach at ohio state university, better known for its football team than its academic standards). there is physical involvement, injury, steroids, drugs, illicit money-and there are statistics. the spirit of the game is disseminated to other sports and other aspects of life (business, politics). in the case of baseball, the statistics are most important. they attach to each gesture on the field a meaning which otherwise would escape the mind of the viewer. in games of a more continuous flow (soccer, tennis, handball), the attraction is in the particular phase, not in the number of yards gained or the average (hits, home runs, strike-outs). the general dynamics of existence and human interaction in the civilization of illiteracy also marked the dynamics of the practical experience of sports. higher speed, shorter encounters, short action spans-these make the sports event more marketable in the environment of the new civilization. the more precise the experience, the less expressive. almost no one watched the compulsory ice skating exercises at world championships, and so they were canceled, but millions enjoy the dramatics of dancing on ice that is becoming more and more a show watched around the world. the more extensive the effort, the less attractive to spectators. a twenty-five kilometer cross- country competition will never interest as many viewers as a fast, dangerous downhill race. these characteristics are definitive of the civilization of illiteracy. people do not want to learn how to perform at the same level; knowledge is irrelevant. performance is what attracts, and it is the only thing which gains prizes that the winner of the ancient olympics, who was also spoiled, never dreamed of. "winner take all" is the final rule, and the result is that winning, more than competing, has become the goal. the efficiency requirement leads not only to the relative illiteracy of those involved in sports, but also to a practice of discriminatory physical selection. in the usa, for instance, black african-americans dominate football and basketball, which have become national obsessions. if equal opportunity were applied to professional sports as it is to other activities, the competitions would not be so attractive. the irony of this situation is that, in fact, black african-americans are still entertainment providers in the usa. regardless of how profitable professional sports are, the obsession with efficiency effectively consecrates an important segment of the population to entertaining the rest. blacks are also playing in the most advanced major basketball leagues in the world. in what used to be the soviet union, chances were that the winter sports teams would be recruited from the siberian population, where skiing is a way of life. all over europe, soccer teams recruit from spain, italy, africa, and south america. it is easier to attain maximum efficiency through those endowed with qualities required by the new goals of the games instead of creating a broad base of educated athletes. the public, homogenized through the mediating action of television, is subjected to the language of the sports experience and is presented with performance and interpretation at the same time. thus, even the mechanism of assigning meaning is rationalized, taken over by the market mechanism, freed from the constraints of literacy and reason, and rendered to human subjects without requiring that they think about it. blaming changes in sports, or for that matter in literacy, the condition of the family, the fast-food curse, television, increased greed, new technology, or lower levels of education, results in only partial explanations of the new condition of sports. yes, the greatly celebrated champions are illiterate. no matter how good in their political game of finding excuses and alibis, colleges care for the high performances of physically gifted students, recruited only insofar as they add to the marketability of the institution, not to the academic entry requirements. literacy is not a prerequisite for sports performance. it might actually interfere with it. in the world of competitions, sportsmen and sportswomen are either jetting around the globe or traveling from one exhibition game to another, barely able to breathe, never mind to take care of their literacy or their private lives. their language is one of pitiful limitation, always inferior to the energy spent in the effort or externalized in frustration when the rules don't work in their favor. they don't read, they don't write. even their checks are signed by others. the description might be somewhat extreme and sound harsh, and the attitude might seem impertinent, but after all, it is not because sportsmen and sportswomen know shakespeare's sonnets by heart that people watch baseball, nor because they write novels (or even short stories) that the public applauds the ice skating dancers, and even less that they keep diaries, with minimal spelling errors and full sentences, that spectators die to be on the stand of the stadium where the drama of football starts in the fall and ends shortly before another sports takes over the media. sports are marketable work, of high intensities and no literate status. the efficiency of each sport is measured in the attraction it exercises over many people, and thus in the ability of a sport to transmit messages of public interest, insofar as public interest is part of the market process. alienated from the expectation of integration, corresponding to the ideal of the complete human being, sport is as specialized as any other form of human praxis. sports constituted their own domains of competence and performance, and generate expectations of partial sport literacies. that in the process, because they address physical attributes and intellectual functions, sports became a molding machine for the athletes, another nature, should not go without saying or understanding what it takes to succeed. all over the world, where efficiency reached levels corresponding to the new scale of humankind, football, basketball, soccer, and tennis players, swimmers, runners, and gymnasts are created almost from scratch. experts select children, analyze their genetic history and current condition, devise training procedures, and control diet, psychology, and emotional life until the desired performer is ready to compete. gentlemen, place your bets! the investment in sports, as in the stock market, is supposed to return profit. successful sportspeople need not testify to how high their own return is. that this return also means compromised physical or mental integrity is part of the cynical equation that the public enthusiastically validates. when players are traded and contracts are signed, the money they earn, disproportionate as it seems at times, corresponds, almost to the last digit, to the number of people who will watch them, some for the sake and pleasure of the performance, others making money from a team's victory or an athlete's record. in some states and countries, whether betting is legal or prohibited, it is by far the strongest sector of the economy. it takes very interesting forms, however. one is the direct bet: this horse, this player, this team. betting, with its partial literacy involving its own mediating elements that render reading and writing useless, is not a new institution. people were challenged by the odds down through history. but once the structural change that entailed means of networking, task distribution, and almost instant access to any event in the world was in place, the experience of betting totally took over that of competing. all our unfulfilled desires and drives are now embodied by those we choose to represent us, and for whose victory we not only root, but also invest in. there is an ideal stake-the successful player-and a mundane stake-the actual wager. expectation of high figures is an extension of literate expectations. it embodies the naive assumption that cultivated minds and challenged bodies unite in a balanced personality of high integrity. the reason this model failed over and over need not be restated here. but the point needs to be made that the ideal stake and the trivial stake are not independent. this introduces to competition an element of obscurity in the form of motivations not intrinsic to sports. the indirect wager represents this element. the message is the sneaker the biggest indirect bet is made by marketing and advertising. on the never- ending table of olympic records, the most spectacular performances are dollar signs preceding figures into the billions. within the general shift from manufacturing to service economy characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy, sport becomes a form of entertainment. new media, replacing the printed word as the dominant means of communication, makes possible international viewing of competitions as they happen. in the past, we were satisfied with the image of the winner. now we can own the tape of the game and can retrieve each moment of any event. more broadband, and soon we will download the running athlete directly onto our monitors. for a price, of course. people consume sports. they are able to fly to the olympics, wherever the best bid takes them (barcelona, atlanta, or sydney), even able to pay for forty-five minutes or a whole week of shaping up with the very best trainers. facts in the world of sports, as much as in the rest of our activities, are less important than the image. the authority and self-discipline, on which physical education was built, are replaced by the freedom and opportunity to choose from among many sports events, and by an attitude of permissiveness and self-indulgence which many times results in considering the whole world as a sports show. sports are used to further many causes and support many interest groups. on the stage of the events they sponsor, the world's largest companies compete with feminism, equal opportunity, aids, and various disabilities for the attention and dollars of the audience. sponsorship is a highly selective experience. nevertheless, it frequently contradicts the slogans it sets before the public. these are important because the indirect bet on sports takes into consideration the huge market of entertainment, and defines within this market the segments it will address. product endorsements, advertising, and public relations are the media through which marketing places its bets. no less than , brands were traded in atlanta. only to keep track of them was a major task, described officially as "protecting the integrity of the olympic games and the rights of official sponsors," but also "detecting attempts at parasitic marketing." every square inch on the body of a tennis player or a track and field athlete can be rented. and is. the better the manager (not necessarily a player's game), the higher the endorsement contract. the minute detail picked up by the camera allows us to see the name of the maker on the watch, the manufacturer's logo on the socks, a sponsor company's name on the shirts and headgear, the brand of glucose or mineral water, the maker of ice or snow for winter games. it seems that the competition on the court and the competition among those who buy the space available on cyclists' ware, football players' uniforms, skiers, swimmers, runners, and chess players are feeding off one another. when the canon company chose as its prime-time advertising actor a tennis player who did not make it beyond the preliminary games, the bet continued on the waves, on the screens, on the videotapes, and on any other imaginable display. marshall mcluhan plays year after year in the superbowl. the world indeed becomes a village. moreover, the world has almost decided that the outcome is less important than the new commercials, the new thirty-second drama, followed by the numbers telling us all how much more a second of prime time costs, and what benefits it might bring. but the message is actually lost. here mcluhan was still somehow captive to literacy, believing there was a message, as we are used to when writing or reading a text. the message is the sneaker, or whatever will take over, for its own short turn in the glory of consumption, the world. the day the object is acknowledged, between new york and zambia, paris and the tribes in the brazilian rain forests, frankfurt and the starving populations of africa or asia, there will be a trade in the original and its many substitutes, reaching sheer madness. sports entrusted with the marketing image are equalled in their persuasive power only by the entertainment stars, of similar illiterate condition, singing for the world's hungriest only in order to add one more marketing craze to their torment. in these and in other characteristics mentioned, the unnatural aspect of sports takes over their original, natural component. it seems almost as though the sports experience is falling into itself, is imploding, leaving room for the many machines and gadgets we use at home in order to salvage our degenerating bodies. now we still bicycle, ski, climb stairs, and row in the privacy of our rooms, with our eyes glued to the images of the very few who still do the real thing, but for reasons less and less connected with excellence. soon we will swim in the pools and ski on the slopes of virtual reality. some are already timing their performance. little do they know that they are pioneering one of the many olympic games of the future. science and philosophy-more questions than answers words strain, crack and sometimes break, under the burden, under the tension, slip, slide, perish, decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, will not stay still. t.s. elliot, burnt norton in some of the most advanced fields of scientific inquiry, research results are exchanged as soon as they become available. obviously, the sluggish medium of print and the long cycles involved in the review process prior to academic publication do not come into the picture. on web sites dedicated to research, the review process consists of acknowledging, challenging, and furthering breakthrough hypotheses. it is carried out by real peers, not by the geriatric or opportunistic hierarchies that have the publishing process in their firm grip. frequently, research is carried out in and through the communication media. images, data, and simulations are part of the work and part of the shared knowledge, already available in formats that can be inputted for further work or can be technologically tested. of course, there are many issues connected to the new dynamics of science, not the least of which is intellectual property and integrity. a totally new experience in research and knowledge dissemination is taking place. the majority of the researchers involved know that previous models, originating in the pragmatics of the civilization of literacy, will not provide answers. as beautiful as the science embodied in the technology of industrial society is, it will not, not even accidentally, contribute to the scientific progress in nanotechnology, in bioinformatics, in fluid dynamics, and in other frontier domains researched today. gene expression and protein syntheses are many working centuries-the total of the years contributed by researchers to the advancement of their respective fields-ahead of everything that science has produced in the past. add to these accomplishments in the ever-expanding list of modern sciences, and you get the feeling that humankind is literally reinventing itself in the civilization of illiteracy. the list to follow is telling of the shift from the coarse level of scientific effort corresponding to the industrial operations of milling and grinding, to a level of atomic and sub-atomic re-ordering. the same components, differently ordered, can appear to us as graphite or diamonds, sand or silicon for chips. the list represents a reality of enormous consequence, confirmed in the daily commotion of a never-ending series of discoveries. life on mars, molecular self-assembly, protein folding, atomic resolution imaging, nano-structural materials with unprecedented properties, quantum devices, advances in neuro-medicine-the list is a shameless exercise in creating headlines, soon to be replaced by newer and more creative endeavors. this is why, in addressing issues of science and philosophy, i do not intend to offer a catalogue of current research, but to put the subject in a dynamic perspective. by all means, i want to avoid the danger of presenting science especially as the agent of change, as though its own motivations and means could give humankind its direction and purpose. rationality, reason, and the scale of things the dynamics of change in scientific and philosophic thinking is not independent of the underlying structure of the pragmatics that leads to the civilization of illiteracy. both involve rationality, which connects human practical experiences to consistent inferences (sometimes seen as logical conclusion) and to the ability to predict events (in nature or society), even to influence and control them. rationality is connected to efficiency insofar as it is applied in the selection of means appropriate to accomplishing goals; or it serves as an instrument for evaluation of the premises leading to a selected course of action. in short, rationality is goal oriented. reason, in turn, is value oriented; it guides practical experiences of human self-constitution in the direction of appropriateness. rationality and reason are interconditioned. right and wrong, good and bad, are the axes along which human action and emotion can be diagrammed in the matrix of living and working that they constituted under the guise of literacy. the process through which human rationality and reason become characteristics of human self-constitution is long and tortuous. people defining themselves in different pragmatic contexts enter into a network of interdependency. at a very small scale of human existence and activity, rationality and reason were indistinguishable. they began to differentiate early on, already during hunting and gathering. but during the long experience of settlement and taking care of plants and animals, they grew aware of the distinction between what they were doing and how. with the culture of artifacts, to which tools belong, reason and rationality took separate paths. with the advent of science, in its most primitive forms, documented in ancient china, egypt, india, and greece, rationality and reason often conflicted. things can be right, without being good at the same time. there is a rationality-goal oriented: how to get more goods, how to avoid losses-with the appearance of reason-actions to please forces supposed to control nature or matter. parallel to science, magic manifested itself through alchemy, astrology, and numerology, all focused on the attempt to harmonize human beings, constituted in practical experiences focused on goodness, with the world housing them. in some cultures, rationality resulted in the propensity to face, change, and eventually dominate nature-that is, to submit the environment to a desired order. reason aimed at finding practical grounds for harmony with nature. after the phase of orality, writing served both of them equally. it made language a mold for new experiences, a container for storing knowledge, and an effective means for the practical experience of evaluation and self-evaluation. the overwhelming majority of human accomplishments leading to the possibility and necessity of literacy were connected to the experience of human self-constitution in writing. the science and philosophy upon which the scientific revolution and the revival of humanities (in particular philosophy) of the th and th centuries took place are deeply rooted in the pragmatics that made writing necessary. this revolution is usually summarized through three main accomplishments. first: a new picture of the universe, scientifically expressed in heliocentric astronomy and philosophically a turning point in understanding the role of the human being in this world. second: the mathematical description of motion. third: the new conceptual framework of mechanics. as impressive as they are, their meaning is revealed in the fact that the industrial revolution was actually triggered by the scientific and humanistic renewal embodied in these accomplishments. the change from an agrarian economy, appropriate to a relatively reduced scale of population and work, to industrial production changed efficiency by orders of magnitude corresponding to those of the critical mass reached by humankind. all the characteristics of this new pragmatics-sequentiality, linearity, centralism, determinism (mechanical in nature), clear-cut distinctions, interdependencies-contributed to the establishment of literacy. a lost balance within the pragmatic framework of the industrial society, science progressively assumed the leading role over philosophy. in fact, science changed from an elitist practical experience strongly controlled by the guardians of literacy (i.e., religion) to an experience integrated in society. philosophy followed an inverse path, from a generalized attitude of wonder to becoming the privilege of the few who could afford to contemplate the world. generalized in technology, the rationality of science reached its peak in the civilization of literacy through standardization and mass production of processed food, means of transportation (cars, airplanes), home building, and the use of electricity as the efficient alternative energy source. but the real challenge was yet to come. einstein took a daring guess. "the tragedy of modern men...is that they created conditions of existence for which, from the perspective of their phylogenetic development, they are not adjusted." the lost balance between rationality and reason is reflected in the image of all the consequences of the industrial revolution that led to the runaway capitalism of the th and th centuries. exhaustion of raw materials, air and water pollution, erosion of productive land, and mental and physical strain on humans are the concrete results of this imbalance. but if these consequences were all people and society had to cope with, the dominance of literacy in science would still be defensible. the challenge comes from the new scale of humankind for which the industrial revolution model and literacy are no longer adequate. efficiency expectations, of an order of magnitude incompatible with the underlying structure of the pragmatic framework based on literacy, result in the need for a new dynamics, for mediation, acknowledgment and use of non-linearity, vagueness, and non-determinism. science, as well as the implicit philosophic component of this new science, already approached areas of knowledge beyond the borderline guarded by literacy. on the initial success of micro-physics, the first non- literacy-based technological challenge for more energy was met in the form of relatively rudimentary weapons. in the meanwhile, it became clear that a new physics and a new chemistry, and a new biology, along with many disciplines non-existent within literacy, of a systemic focus with quality and process is what we need. some of the scientific themes mentioned already illustrate how science is evolving. they also illustrate how a new epistemological condition is established, one that is based on projecting explanatory models upon the world and testing them for appropriateness and coherence. in the lead are practical experiences of science driven by cognitive resources no longer constrained by observation. what is free of epistemological doubt is that almost all the science that has emerged has reclaimed interest in the living. these new sciences, which are philosophies at the same time, are computationally disclosed biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, medicine, and knowledge of the micro- and nano-universe. literacy, because of its inherent structural characteristics, is no longer the appropriate mold for such new experiences, the proper container for knowledge, or even an effective means of evaluation. among many possible literacies, it maintains a domain of appropriateness, and within this domain it allows for local performance synchronized with the general expectation of efficiency. the shift from literacy to literacies-in fact, the shift to the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy- takes place against the background of conflict between means of restricted efficiency and new means for coping with larger populations, and with the newly acquired right to well-being, or even affluence. almost all new sciences evolve in new technologies. we are already familiar with some, since we were told that from science programs (space exploration, genetic research, biophysics), products as trivial as calculators, thermal fabric, and new construction materials were made available at prices affordable in the global economy. we are getting used to others as they become available: intelligent materials able to alter their structure, and self-assembling materials. thinking about thinking one dominant inherited assumption is that thinking takes place only in language; that is, that language is the medium of thinking. this is a very difficult subject to deal with because, despite claims to the contrary, some people (einstein is most quoted witness) maintain that they think in images, others in sounds, others in some combination of shapes, colors, textures, even odor and taste. until now, no one could conclusively prove whether this is a way of speaking or a fact. but the same can be said of language. that we can express thoughts, sometimes frustratingly incomplete, in language does not necessarily mean that we think in language, or only in language. that language is a medium for explanation and interpretation, well adapted to support incomplete inductions or deductions, and sometimes hypothetical thinking (so-called abductions), is not necessarily the proof that it is the only one. scientists think in the language of mathematical or logical formalism, or in some of the new programming languages, even if they do not carry on dialogue or try to write poetry or love letters in such languages. literacy, as a socially encompassing ideal, states that people should be literate because people think in language. accordingly, proper use of language, as set forth in the rules of literacy, is a premise for successful thinking. besides introducing circularity-the premise turns out to be the conclusion-this is a strong assumption, with too many implications for science and for philosophy to be left unchallenged. the assumption was never entirely proven; and it is probably impossible to prove, given the strong connection between all signs participating in thinking processes. images call up words, but so do odors, flavors, textures, and sounds. words recall or trigger images, music, etc. the integrated nature of thinking is probably affected by mechanisms of voluntary decision-making or by genetic mechanisms structured to accept a certain sign system (language, mathematical formalism, diagrams) as dominant, without precluding modes of thought different from those resulting from the premise of literacy. if defining thinking as language processing resulted in human experiences possible only under this assumption, there are also other ways to define thinking which, in turn, may become, if they haven't yet, necessary and beneficial. in this respect, one question can be raised: are thinking machines, i.e., programs able to autonomously perform operations we associate with human thinking, excluded from the discussion because they do not qualify as literate? many scientific endeavors of our time would not have started if potential success were to be put to a literacy test. the area of new materials, able to fix themselves, and of machines resulting from self-assembly belong among our examples. fortunately, science based on alternative practical human experiences, fairly independent of language and literacy, discovered that there are alternative ways to define thinking, and rationality, for that matter. considering thinking together with other human traits, such as emotion, sense of humor, aesthetics, the ability to project ideas through various media, senses or languages will probably lead to even more daring scientific research. before considering alternative ways to define thinking and the relation between rationality and human reason, let us look at the characteristics of thinking in current praxis, science and philosophy included. the amount of language we need to function in the workplace and in social life has diminished in comparison to previous circumstances of human experience. if thinking took place only in language, that would mean that thinking itself has diminished. very few people would be inclined to accept this conclusion. the small subset of language used in social life and in professional interaction is representative of the segmented nature of this life and of the interactions it supports. this small subset of language, the command of which does not require literacy skills, is composed of social stereotypes, but is not sufficient to constitute a medium for thinking. parallel to the diminished subset of natural language, the languages of science and technology expanded as expectations of scientific and technological efficiency increased. expressions in the small subset of natural language that people use in order to function are generated regardless of the requirement of variety and change in our reciprocal relations. as canned expressions of limited function, they are taken over from previous circumstances, and used independently of what once determined their need. chances are that an illiterate neighbor will never be noticed since everything pertaining to the social status of such a neighbor is literacy independent: driving, washing clothes, cooking, banking, telephoning, watching television, connecting to the internet. the trained illiterate can perform these tasks and those pertinent to work perfectly without ever displaying a literacy handicap. no doubt that the new machines, new materials, new foods, and new medicines that are more at the frontiers of science than in the mainstream of living and working will further affect the need and possibility of a civilization dominated by more than one of its means of expression and communication. people can function as illiterates in societies of extreme specialization without being noticed as illiterates and without affecting the efficiency of the system to which they belong because their own involvement in the functioning of the world in which they live is changing. illiterate rationality is no less goal oriented than any other rationality. it is just expressed through other means. and it is no less concerned with predicting the behavior of systems driven by languages of extreme functionality, working regardless of the literacy of the operators. scientific literacy is either stored in skills, through training, or in the systems operated by people who know less about their functioning than the machines themselves. symptoms such as misuse of words, sloppy language and grammar, use of stereotypes, the inability and even unwillingness to sustain dialogue might be telling something about thinking, too-for instance, that forms of thinking based on sign systems other than language are more effective, or more appropriate to what people do in our days; or even that appropriateness in one particular sign system does not translate into appropriateness and effectiveness in another practical experience. no wonder that science, in addition to reasons implicit in the nature of scientific inquiry, shies away from language, from its imprecision, ambiguity, and tendency to coalesce in stereotypes, or become stereotypes under circumstances of patterned use. philosophy, by and large, follows the same tendency, although its alternatives are not comparable to those of science. the experience of science, and to a more limited degree that of philosophy, is simultaneously an experience in generating language capable of handling continuity, vagueness, and fuzzy relations. spatial reasoning and replication of phenomena, usually associated with the living as aspects of common-sense knowledge, are also constitutive of the new science. extremely specialized human practical experiences are no longer predominantly experiences based on knowledge, but on constituting the person as information integrator. the continuous diminution of the need to think corresponds to the extreme segmentation of work and to the successful technological integration of various partial contributions resulting from this highly efficient segmented and mediated work. in one's individual life, in activities pertinent to self-maintenance (nourishment, rest, hygiene, enjoyment), the process is the same. thinking is focused on selection: cooking one from many pre-processed meals at home, dressing in one from among many ready- made clothing items, living in pre-fabricated homes, washing objects in programmed machines. but the objects embody someone else's thinking. the reified thinking projected into gene manipulation, materials, and machines leads to a reduction of live thinking. people integrate themselves in the information network, and for a greater part of their existence they act as information processors: heat something until it pops; snap or zip to close; press a button that will adjust water temperature and wash cycle according to the type of clothes. more generally, people rely on the living machine that adapts to the user, re-assembles itself as requirements change, and/or fixes itself. rationality is more and more integrated in the technology; thus it is rationalized away from the process of individual self-constitution. as tremendous as the consequences can be, they will be infinitely more dangerous if we do not start thinking about them. technology at this level uncouples the past from the present. consequently, life and actual existence are alienated. individuals do not have to think, they have to integrate themselves into the program embodying high efficiency rationality and reason. today, knowledge of what goes into food, how preparation affects its qualities, what makes for a good shirt or sweater, what makes for a good house, what it means to wash, and how a material is affected by certain chemicals and water temperatures are rendered irrelevant. what matters is the result, not the process. what counts is efficiency, not individual know-how. thinking is detached from thinking in the sense that all thinking, and thus rationality, is embodied outside the self-constituted human being. the appearance is that this outside thinking and this outside rationality have a life of their own. memetic mechanisms are a testimony to the process. in the civilization of illiteracy, we experience not only the benefits of high efficiency, but also the self-perpetuating drive of new pragmatic means. at times it appears that humans do not compete for achieving higher levels of creativity and productivity. affluence appears as a given that takes over the need to match efficiency expectations characteristic of the global scale of humankind. to keep pace with technological progress and with scientific renewal becomes a rationale in itself, somehow disconnected from human reason. the confusing rationality of ever- increasing choices is matched by the frustrating realization that value options literally disappear, leaving no room for sensible reasoning. as a result, social and political aspects of human existence are short circuited, in particular those affecting the status of science and the condition of philosophy. frequently, research is questioned as to whether its goals make sense at all. only years ago, half of the population in the usa suspected that science and the technology it fosters were the cause rather than the cure of many problems faced in the country, social problems included. the balance changed, but not the attitude of those captive to literacy's goals and values, who oppose science and the humanities instead of seeing them in their necessary, although contradictory, unity. quo vadis science? discovery and explanation from among the many levels at which the issue of language in relation to science is relevant, two are critical: discovery and explanation. in all fairness, it should be said that literacy never claimed to be a way towards scientific discovery, or that language is the instrument making discovery possible. the main claim is that access to science, and thus the possibility to continue scientific work, is primarily through language. this assertion was correct in the past as long as scientific practice took place in a homogeneous cognitive context of shared representations of time and space. once this context changed, the built-in language metrics of experience, what is called the ratio, the shared measure, started to get in the way of new discoveries and efficient explanations of previous discoveries. among the many new codes scientists use today, symbolic reasoning (used in mathematics, logic, genetics, information science, etc.) is the most pervasive. all in all, a transition has been made from a centralized scientific practice to new experiences, which are quite often independent of each other and better adapted to the scale of the particular phenomenon of interest. this independence, as well as sensitivity to scale, results from different objects of specialized disciplines, from different perspectives, and from different sign systems structured as research tools or as medium for constituting efficient explanatory theories. plato would have barred entrance to the academy to those who did not master mathematics: "let no one enter who is not a mathematician." in today's world, the guardians of science would require logic, and others the mastery of artificial languages, such as programming languages, themselves subject to improved focus (as in object programming) and increased computational efficiency. in the time of socrates, "the orator," language was ascertained to be constitutive of cities, laws, and the arts. in the time of the roman poet lucretius, physics was written in verse ( , lines of heroic hexameter were used to present epicurus' atomic theory). galileo preferred the dialogue, written in colloquial italian, to share discoveries in physics and astronomy with his contemporaries. with newton, equations started to replace words, and they became, almost to our time, the vocabulary of physics. very similar developments took place in the evolution of science in china, india, the middle east. the emergence of new visual or multimedia languages (of diagrams, systems of notation, visual representations, mixed data types) corresponds to the different nature of visual and multimedia experience. they are steps in the direction of deeper labor division, increased mediation, and new forms of human interaction-in particular, of a practice that is more intensional than extensional. time and space: freed hostages the encyclopedic tradition centered around the scientific human being (l'homme scientifique) who it defined through language. this tradition continued a line of progressive changes in humankind's scientific experience. we can learn about these changes by examining the language through which they are expressed. the syncretic stage of human activity was dominated by observations and short cycles of action- reaction. incipient, rudimentary science was not independent of the human being's practical projection. images and, later, names of plants, animals, mountains, and lakes pertained to the beginning. only when the scope of observation broadened and, instead of the immediate connection, a series of connections was accounted for, did science become a praxis in itself. science was born together with the magical, and would continue to develop in this symbiosis. eventually, it joined religion in opposing the magic. observation and fear of the observed were one. names of stars testify to changes in the language in which what we call astronomical science is embodied. obviously there was little awareness of the mechanics of the cosmos during the time names changed. mytho-magical terminology, followed by zodiac signs of magic origin (in both cases with reference to the practical activity of people during changing seasons), and by the christian names (after the establishment of christianity), is a line continued today in detailed catalogs encoding positions, dynamics, and interrelations in numeric form. in the experience of observing the sky and in deriving the notion of duration (how long it took for celestial objects to change position), humans projected their biological and cognitive characteristics: seeing, association, comparison. names were given and observations were made, of position mainly, but also of light intensity. with the emergent notion of time, generalized from the notion of duration, stars were nolonger related to divinities. still, astronomical observation was used to structure monastic life. stars served as a nighttime clock. at a time of reduced scientific inquiry (europe from the th century to the th), the observation of the skies, reflected in maps of various constellations, prepared for future progress in astronomy. physical properties, such as intensity of light, color, and brilliancy, later suggested better names because the experience in which stars were recognized (navigation, in the first place) required identification for successful performance. magic and science explained success in very different ways. this was the time when planets were identified through properties evident to all who needed the sky. the magic layer was projected as a result of associations people made between qualities characteristic of persons and the behavior of certain stars, i.e., the perceived influence they had on events pertinent to human existence. during the entire process, language served as an instrument of integration and observation, as well as a means for logical practice, such as deductions. molding the experience of time perception, storing the acquired knowledge, and further shaping practical experiences of time, language acquired a very powerful position in the human being's self-constitution in time. this position would be strengthened by literacy, bound to generalize distinctions in language and introduce them as effective means of structuring new expectations. only when time-dependent practical requirements, such as those of relativity, impossible to satisfy within literacy, became critical was time freed from the captivity of verbal language. a giant cognitive step bridged the immediacy of the surroundings-where magic forces were rumored to exist, waiting for humans to free them-and the notion of space. geometry-which literally means to measure land-is relevant as a practical experience of human self-constitution that unites the concrete task at hand (surveying, building, decorating, observing the sky) and the generalization of distance. measuring land ends up not only in description of the land, but also in its reconstitution in the abstract category of space. language was part of the process, and for as long as practical experiences in the immediate surrounding were direct, geometric conventions remained very close to their practical implications. once distinctions beyond direct relations in space were made possible by the experience of navigation, by settled forms of social life (leading to future cities), and by strategies for successful securing and defense of land, the language of geometry changed. internally motivated developments, as well as those rooted in forms of human praxis other than geometry, resulted in the constitution of many geometric languages. the languages of the foundations of geometry and of algebraic, differential, or topological geometry are as different as the practical experiences from which they are derived. in many cases, literate language suffices for formulating geometric problems, but breaks down in supporting the practice of attempting solutions. obviously enough, the intuitive visual aspect of geometry is quite often better adapted to subjects such as symmetry, higher order spaces, and convexity than is literacy. rigid spaces and elastic spaces behave differently from spaces describable in language. geometry frequently uses notations whose referent is rather abstract. the freeing of time and space from the captivity of language made an impact on the condition of rationality, where scientific praxis is rooted, and of reason, where philosophy originates. coherence and diversity science integrates the results of diversified experiences and expresses the perceived human need to maintain a coherent perspective of the whole. as a reaction to the establishment of a permanent and universal language embodied in the practice of literacy, partial languages of scientific focus emerged. those who knew from their own self-constitution in scientific practice that global coherence, as preserved in language, and specialized knowledge conflict, gave up the effort to harmonize the general framework (of language) and the specialized perspective (of science). the understanding that the language of science is not simply a descriptive device, but a constitutive element of scientific practical experience, did not come easy, especially since language kept human awareness of space and time captive to its mechanism of representation. seemingly, it was less difficult to notice how measuring some phenomena (especially in physics) changed the system observed than to understand how a scientific hypothesis expressed in language created a framework of subjective science. the subjectivity of the language description corresponds to a particular practical experience involving identification through language. particular developments in science are not identical in all scientific branches. astronomy and geometry evolved differently from each other and from other sciences. as a result of the inherent dynamics of conflict between means and goals of sciences, a phase of liberation from language started. once language itself reached its limits in literacy, in respect to the efficiency of the new human experiences that the current scale of humankind brought about, new languages were needed. breaking the language barrier, with implicit emancipation from literacy, is a practical experience in itself. in this experience, two aspects of language come under scrutiny: the epistemological and the communicational. in the epistemological status, we evaluate how language is a medium for embodying science and shaping the perspective of scientific inquiry. the communicational status refers to language as a medium for sharing knowledge. the levels of problem formulation, of solutions, of interpretation, of experiment and validation, and of communication are quite different. they will continue to differentiate even more in order to be efficient. the rationality intrinsic to this new science is no longer reducible to finding the logos in things and phenomena, or to instill a logos into techné. this is why the legacy of francis bacon-the prophetic theoretician of experimental science-as well as of descartes-whose rules for understanding dominated the literate phase of humankind's scientific practical experience-literally cease to be relevant once we move from language to languages, from literacy to illiteracy. computational science language is ambiguous, imprecise, and not neutral in respect to the phenomena observed and accounted for. for these and other reasons, researchers working within the informational paradigm needed to synthesize specialized languages designed in such ways to avoid ambiguity and make higher efficiency of automated processing possible. many formal languages have become the new scientific laboratories of our time, preparing quite well for the new stage of computational disciplines. in parallel, new forms of scientific experimentation, which correspond to the complexity of the phenomena under observation and to their dynamics, were developed. these forms are known under the name simulation (sometimes modeling) and consist of observing not the behavior of the researched aspect of the world, but one or several of its descriptions. to observe the explosion of a remote star, a time-span of data collection that extends well over the age of humankind is required. instead of waiting (forever, so to speak), scientists model astrophysical phenomena and visualize them with the aid of sophisticated computable mathematical descriptions. these are better suited to the scale of the phenomena than all the equipment ever used for this purpose. radio astronomy is no longer about the stars seen through human eyes. it is not about the visible, and it is not burdened by all the history of star names. radio-astronomy is about star systems, cosmic physics, dynamics, even about the notion, so often discarded, of the beginning of the universe. the geometry of higher (than three) space dimensions is not about the visible-the surveyed land, building, or ornament-never mind the magical spirits inhabiting it. such geometries submit theoretical constructs supporting a practice of thinking, explaining, even acting, that is not possible without the generalization of space dimensions. whether in the fiction of flatland (edwin abbott's book about how different life is in lower-dimension space compared to life in what we take to be -dimensional reality), or in the computer graphics animated representation of the hypercube, or in the theories of higher dimension spaces (relating to einstein's relativity theory), scientific languages, irreducible to the general language and non- translatable into it, are at work. there are quite a number of similar subjects which make evident the border at which science can no longer rely on language. a non-language-based rationality- spatial reasoning, for instance-becomes necessary in this realm of inquiry. as sciences enter the age of computation, necessities become possibilities. there are subjects of research in which the brevity of a process makes impossible its direct observation and appropriate description in language. indeed, the universe of extremely short interactions, of fast exchanges of energy, of high frequency patterns (which give the appearance of a continuum), among others, can be approached only with instruments of observation whose own inertia is lower than that of the phenomena scrutinized and with a conceptual framework for which language (of high inertia) is ill equipped. language preserves in its structure the experience that made it necessary; literacy does the same. this is why their sequentiality conflicts with subjects of configurational condition. this is also why linearity, inherent in the pragmatics that formed literacy, conflicts with the inherent non-linearity of the world. many other conflicts are at work at the same time: centrality of work opposed to distribution of tasks; hierarchy and distributed networking; clear-cut distinctions and vagueness; deterministic experiences of limited scope opposed to self-configurational, chaotic processes of infinite adaptation to new circumstances; dualism as opposed to pluralism (in scientifically significant forms). at stake is the efficiency of the effort, as it approaches issues of recuperation mechanisms in nature and society, strategies of co- evolution (replacing strategies of dominance) with nature, holistic models made possible by both increased mediation and powerful integrative mechanisms. idealizing all these possibilities would be as counterproductive as demonizing literacy-based practical experiences. nevertheless, we need a better understanding of what no longer responds to requirements of human self-constitution under the new scale of humankind, as we need an image of the alternative practical experiences through which a new rationality is formed. in the rapidly expanding context of parallel scientific endeavors and distributed tasks supported by speedy and reliable networks, scientific research is liberated from the industrial model. instead of centralized institutions sharing in the use of expensive instruments, there is an increasing number of experiments taking place all over the world. tele-presence is less expressive a name for what researchers actually perform thousands of miles away from each other, using expensive machines and various measuring and testing devices. the laboratories that once served as the place for scientific self-constitution are replaced by collaboratories, a combination of real instruments, which can be used more efficiently, and virtual places of research that allow for more creativity. real-time interaction is fundamental to the context of focusing on nano-scale. multidisciplinarity is no longer an illusion, but a practical requirement for the integration that scientific effort requires. explaining ourselves away systematic domains of human practical experiences are changing fast. the science of the ever shorter and more intense phenomena in which the human being of this age is constituted consists of a body of expressive means in which language either plays a secondary function or is substituted with forms of expression other than language. procedures to capture the coherence of the phenomena researched now need to be adapted to this reality. the coherence embodied in language reflects past experiences, but does not properly explain experiences characterized by new kinds of coherence. in recent years, a question has come up time and again: is there some common element in language, in the possible messages exchanged in our universe by civilizations different from ours, in the messages exchanged at the genetic level of our existence or in the biochemical trails which we associate with the behavior of ant colonies or beehives? it would be premature to attempt an answer. as already mentioned, david hirsch ascertains that % of human activity is concept free. control mechanisms in charge of this form of activity are common not only to humans, but also to lower level biological entities (insects, for instance). exploration of cosmic civilizations, genetics, biochemistry, not to mention memetics, is not necessarily helped by this answer. having to explain abstract mathematical concepts or the behavior of complex systems (such as the human nervous system), some displaying learning capabilities or self-organization tendencies, raises the stakes quite high: do we explain ourselves away in the effort to emulate the human being? replication of ideas (scientific, philosophic, or of any other type) based on the genetic model inspired by evolutionary theory, contributes new angles to the subject. but even if we manage to establish methods for successful replication, have we captured the characteristics of human self-identification? in the same vein, another question needs to be addressed: the mystique of science comes from the realization that the law of gravity applies everywhere, that electricity does not depend on the geographic coordinates of the place where people live, that computation is a universal calculus. still, science is not value neutral; one model dominates others; one rationality wins over others. the truth of a scientific theory and its empirical adequacy are only loosely related. to accept one science over another is to the scientist an issue of rationality, while for those integrating it in their practical experiences, it becomes an issue of adequacy. this aspect constitutes more than a cultural or memetic issue. at stake is the fact that the natural condition of the human being is quite often rationalized away, regardless of the reason. the efficiency of science in recent years language has changed probably more than in its entire history. still, these changes are not of the depth and breadth of scientific and technological praxis. computer science, as dijkstra pointed out, deserves a better name, more in line with the fundamental change this practical experience brings about. ("would anyone call surgery knife science"? he asked.) we don't have better names for many other fields of new human experience: artificial life, artificial intelligence, genetics, qualitative reasoning, and memetics. but we do have powerful new notation systems, new ways of reasoning (combining qualitative and quantitative aspects), and fresh methods of expression (interactive). consequently, a new human condition resulting from the practice of science will probably emerge. this condition will reflect the changed premises of scientific experiment. experimentation joined logical analysis over years ago. simulation, the experiment of the civilization of illiteracy, is becoming the dominant scientific form of expression of the systematic search for the multitude of elements involved in new scientific theories and in their applications. a variety of simulators embody knowledge and doubt. this can be seen in a broader context. through simulation, variability is accounted for, relations are scrutinized, functional dependencies are tested over a wide array of data critical to the performance of new systems, or over a wide array of the people involved with them. after heroically, and necessarily, separating from philosophy and establishing its own methods, science is rediscovering the need for the dimension covered by human reasoning. this is, after all, what the subject matter of artificial intelligence is and what it ultimately produces: simulations of our capability to reason. in the same vein, scientists are concerned with the metaphysics of the beginning of the universe, and the language of the mind (lingua mentis), evidently assumed to be different from language as we use it in the framework of community, cultural, and national existence. to reflect upon the beginning of the universe or upon the mind means to constitute oneself, together with the appropriate language, in a pragmatic context different from community interaction, cultural values, or national characteristics. the focus is changed from obsession with quantity to preoccupation with quality. qualities are pursued in the attempt to build a science of artificial reality. as a scientific artifact, this reality is endowed with characteristics of life, such as change and evolution over time, selection of the fittest, the best adapted to that world, and acquisition of knowledge, common sense, and eventually language. focused on the model of life as a property of organization, artificial reality is intent on generating lifelike behavior: iterative optimization, learning, growth, adaptability, reproduction, and even self-identification. whereas science followed strategies of standardization, artificial life is focused on generating conditions for diversity, which eventually foster adaptability. allocation of resources within a system and strategies of co-evolution are seen as resources of incremental performance. research starts from a premise that belongs to the realm of reasoning, not rationality: humans and the problem being solved are continuously changing. exploring the virtual virtual realities are focused on almost everything that art pursues: illusion of space, time, movement, projection of human emotions. interacting with such a system means that the person becomes involved in the inside of images, sounds, and movements. all these are simulated, using animation as the new language of the science that the moving image embodies. in some ways, virtual reality becomes a general purpose simulator of a captivating variable reality, made possible by mediating elements such as computer graphics images, animation, digital sound, tracking devices, and quite a number of other elements. inside this reality, virtual objects, tools, and actions open the possibility of practical experiences of self-constitution in a meta- knowledge world. quality in virtual reality is also pursued as scientists try to give a coherent image of the very first minutes of the universe. physics, genetics, biophysics, biochemistry, geology, and all else integrated in this multi-mediated effort are turned from science into natural history or philosophic ontology. to explain why physicists needed an indestructible proton for explaining matter is not an issue of numbers, precision, or equations, but of common sense: if protons could decay, mountains, oceans, stars, and planets would crumble and turn back into neutrons and electrons, and a reversal of the big bang might occur. is this predictive rationality? is validation of this type of experimentation a subject of language? as a possible explanation, which facilitates a new array of experiments in computer simulation, particle accelerators, and radio- astronomic observations, virtual reality facilitates new forms of human praxis and is embodied in new theories of physics. obviously, the efficiency factor, one of the major elements in the transition from one dominant literacy to partial literacies, plays an important role in this endeavor. this generalized notion of efficiency has several components in the case of science. one is the efficiency of our attempts to make science productive. compared to the efficiency of the lever and the pulley, the efficiency of the electric engine reaches a different scale of magnitude. the same applies to our new tools, but in more dramatic ways. so far, we have managed to make science the most expensive human endeavor. its current development appears to be motivated by a self-perpetuating drive: knowledge for the sake of knowledge. science generated technology, which dramatically affects the outcome of human effort. the second component factor in the transition to the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy is the efficiency of our preparation for commanding these new tools, new forms of energy, and new forms of human interaction. learning how to operate simple mechanical devices is different from learning how to program new tools capable of commanding sophisticated technology and of controlling tremendous amounts of energy. although mediation has increased in human praxis, people do not yet know how to handle mediation, even less how to adapt education, their own and their children's, to shorter cycles of scientific and technological renewal. last among the factors at work in the change we are going through is the efficiency of invention, discovery, and explanation. largely supported by society (states invest in science in order to pursue their goals, as do businesses and various interest groups), science is under the pressure of performance. markets confirm scientific results from the perspective of the return on investment they promise to deliver. parallel to the most advanced and promising scientific endeavors, venture capital underwrites the industries of the near future. insulation of any kind, even secrecy, no matter how stubbornly pursued and justified, is no longer possible within the economic dynamics of the present. no matter how hard companies try to impose secrecy, they fail when faced with the interactivity and integration of effort characteristic of the new dynamics. the expectation of change, of shorter cycles of investigation, and of shorter times for integration of results in the productive ability of technology is unavoidable. still, in the usa and in europe, there are conflicts between the new dynamics of scientific and technological progress and the bureaucracy of science. driven by motivations characteristic of literate infatuation with national pride and security, this bureaucracy extends well beyond science and is hard at work to protect what is already passé. for science to advance, networks of activity, distributed tasks, and shared resources, all implying transparency and access, are essential. the conflict between scientific goals and morality takes on its own characteristics in the civilization of illiteracy. indeed, scientific results might be right, but not necessarily always good for humankind. they might support higher efficiency, but sometimes to the detriment of people obsessed with maintaining high standards of living. there are many activities-too many to list-in which humans can be entirely replaced by machines. extreme effort, exposure to chemicals, radiation, and other unfriendly elements could be avoided. however, doing away with the living person whose identity is constituted in work experiences makes the activity itself questionable. it is no longer the case that we only talk about genetic control of populations, or about mind control, about creating machines endowed with extreme capabilities, including control of the people who made them. these are distinct possibilities, to which we are closer than many believe. neither science nor technology, even less philosophy, can afford to ignore the conflict immanent in the situation, or the danger posed by giving in to solutions resulting from a limited perspective, or from our dedication to make real everything that is possible. after all, we can already destroy the planet, but we do not, or at least not so radically as it could be destroyed. short of being paralyzed by all these dangers, science has to question its own condition. in view of this, it is far from accidental that sciences in the civilization of illiteracy rediscover philosophy, or they re-philosophize themselves. quo vadis philosophy? the language of wisdom reflecting upon human beings and their relation to the outside world (nature, culture, society) constitutes a determined form of philosophical experience. it involves awareness of oneself and others, and the ability to identify similarities and differences, to explain the changing dynamics of existence, and to project the acquired understanding into the practice of formulating new questions. practical implications of philosophic systems are manifold. such systems affect scientific, moral, political, cultural, and other human practical experiences of self-constitution. they accumulate wisdom more than knowledge. to this effect, we can say that the classic model of philosophy remains a science of sciences, or at least the alma mater of sciences. philosophic systems are concerned with human values, not with skills or abilities involved in reaching goals defined by our rationality. nevertheless, this status has been continuously challenged from inside and outside philosophy. the decline of respect for philosophy probably results from the perceived omniscient attitude philosophers have displayed and from their unwillingness to focus on aspects of human reason. philosophy has never been a domain for everyone. in our day, it has become a discourse expressed, if not in painfully contorted language, in a multitude of specialized languages addressed to a relatively small circle of interested parties, themselves philosophers for the most part. the change in the pragmatic condition of philosophy is reflected in its current linguistic equivocations. "my philosophy" is an expression used by anyone to express anything from a tactic in football to investments, drug use, diet, politics, religions, and much more. misunderstood cultural exigencies, originating in the civilization of literacy, and political opportunism maintain philosophy as a required subject in universities, no matter what is taught under its name, who teaches it, or how. under communism in east europe and the soviet union, where free choice was out of question, philosophy was obligatory because it was identified with the dominating ideology. in most liberal societies, philosophic abstraction is as much abhorred as lack of money. philosophic illiteracy is a development in line with the deteriorating literacy manifested in our days. but what affects this change is the new pragmatic framework, not the decline in writing and reading proficiency. the specialization of philosophic language, as well as the integration of logico- mathematical formalism in philosophical discourse, have not contributed to recuperating the prestige of philosophy, or of the philosopher, for that matter. neither did it contribute to resolving topics specific to the discipline, in particular, to human experience and conscience. in fact, philosophy has disappeared in a number of philosophies practiced today: analytic, continental, feminist, afro-american, among others. each has constituted its own language and even perspective, pursuing goals frequently rooted in the philosophy of the civilization of literacy, or in its politics. the relevance (or irrelevance) of philosophy cannot be ascertained outside the practice of questioning and answering, a practice that made philosophy necessary in the first place. indeed, as a practice of positioning the human being in the universe of human experience, philosophy is as relevant as the practical results of this positioning. there are scientific theories, such as the theory of relativity in physics or gene theory in biology, that are as philosophically relevant as they are scientifically significant. and there are, as well, philosophic theories of extreme scientific significance. many components of leibniz's system, of descartes' rationalism, and peirce's pragmaticism can be mentioned. each originates within a distinct pragmatic framework of practical experiences through which reason comes to expression and questions specific forms of rationality. philosophy, as we know it from the texts in which it was articulated, is a product molded through the experience that initially made writing possible (though not universally accepted) and, later, literacy necessary. its fundamental distinctions- subject/object, rational/irrational, matter/spirit, form/content, analytic/synthetic, concrete/abstract, essence/phenomenon-correspond largely to human practical experiences in the framework of language. the traditional gnoseological approach reflects the same structure, as does formal logic, based on aristotle's syllogistic theory. the fundamental linguistic distinction of subject/predicate marks-at least for western civilization-the entire approach. expectations of efficiency pertinent to the human scale leading to the industrial revolution affected the condition of philosophy. at this juncture, philosophers realized the practical aspect of the discipline. marx thought that it would empower people and help them change the world: "until now philosophers interpreted the world; it's time to change it." and change it did, but in ways different from what he and his followers anticipated. the hard grip of reified language turned the workers' paradise into a mental torture chamber. once the underlying structure (reflected in the requirements of literacy) changed, philosophy changed as well, also freeing itself from the categories of language that molded its speculative discourse. nevertheless, its institutions (education, professional associations and conferences) continue to pursue goals and functions peculiar to literate expectations. this prompted a strong movement of philosophic dissidence (feyerabend and lakatos are the main representatives), attuned to the practical need of a philosophic praxis aware of the relative nature of its assertions. multi-valued logic, the logic of relations, fuzzy set theory, and computation in its algorithmic and non-algorithmic forms (based on neural networks) allow philosophers to free themselves from the various dualisms embedded in the language of philosophy. significantly better answers to ontological, gnoseological, epistemological, and even historic questions have to reflect such and other cognitively relevant perspectives of knowledge. philosophy undergoes a process of mathematization in order to gain access to science and improve its own efficiency. it has become logic oriented, more computational. it has adopted genetic schemes for explaining variation and selection, extending to the current memetic conversations and methods. it is not unusual for philosophers to abandon the pattern of rehashing older theories and views, and to attempt to understand pragmatic exigencies and their reason. the scientification of philosophy could not have happened under the scrutiny of language and the domination of literacy. neither could we expect, within the literate framework, anything comparable to plato's dialogues, to the great philosophical systems of leibniz, kant, hegel, and marx, to the literary seduction of heidegger, sartre, or martin buber. in scientific disguise developing, parallel to common language (which philosophers frequently call natural language), different types of sign systems, humans utilize the latter's mediating force in order to increase the efficiency of their action. "give me a fixed point and i'll move the world" is the equivalent philosophical statement characteristic of the civilization of the lever and pulley. "when i use a word," humpty dumpty says in a scornful tone, "it means just what i choose it to mean, neither more nor less." "the question is," says alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." reading the dialogue from lewis carroll's through the looking glass, with the magnificent works of great philosophers (from plato to leibniz, kant, and hegel, peirce and many more) in mind, one understands alice's trouble. with the exception of wittgenstein, nobody really seems to have been bothered by the ability people have to make words mean many things. today, we could be directed to a philosophical paraphrase in which, instead of a fixed point, the need for a sign system (a language) is spelled out. adapted to the scope of the conceived practical experience, such a sign system, when put into practice, will change the world, will "move" it. diagrammatic thinking, the powerful cognitive model peirce advanced, exemplifies the idea. cybernetics, biogenetics, computers, and research in artificial intelligence and artificial life, as well as political, social, aesthetic, or religious concepts are examples of domains where such sign systems have been devised. they have facilitated forms of human self-constitution that contribute to the contradictory image of today's world. such languages reflect the fundamental process of progressive mediation, participate in the diversification of the languages used, and affect the status and value system of the ideal of literacy. they serve as the scientific disguise of philosophy. clarity (difficult to achieve in natural language), evidence, and certainty seem guaranteed in the language of science. in addition, objectivity and the ever seductive truth, for which philosophy was never known, are also apparently within reach. there is to philosophic discourse an internal reason for its continuous unfolding: people constituting themselves as philosophers change as the world they live in changes. human reasoning is part of the world; the ability and, moreover, the desire to think of new questions, attempt answers, and doubt our own ability to reach the right answer are part of what defines the human being. the consequences of mediation in philosophy should not be ignored. mediation implies, on one hand, a high degree of integration of human praxis (to the extent of making individual contribution anonymous), and on the other, a no less high degree of the subject's independence in respect to the object of work or reasoning, or the object represented by the other participants in human praxis. while it seems appropriate for science to know more and more about a narrower range of subjects, it contradicts the image of philosophy as it is formed in language and embodied in the ideal of literacy. due to this metaphorically defined deepening of knowledge, each philosopher is more independent of the other, but more intensely integrated than ever before due to the necessary interconnection of this knowledge. the meaning of this paradoxical situation is not easy to clarify. the overall process has followed two qualitatively contrary directions: ) concentration on a precisely delineated aspect of knowledge or action in order to understand and control it; ) abandoning interest in the whole as a consequence of the assumption that the parts will finally be reunited in the social integrating mechanism of the market, whether we want it or not. we now have particular philosophies-of law, ethics, science, sport, recreation, feminism, afro-centrism-but no longer a comprehensive philosophy of existence. the scientific disguise of philosophy contributes to its renewed struggle for legitimacy. it adopts concepts and methods pertinent to rationality. in order to deal with reason, or to do away altogether with questions of reasoning, it unfolds in science and technology. durkheim tried to apply darwin's natural selection model to explain labor division. at present, philosophers have become memeticians, and examine computational simulations of darwinian principles in order to see how ideas survive and advance. spencer believed that the increase of the productive power of work increases happiness. present-day philosophers are eager to diagram the relation between work satisfaction and personality. some even try to revive compte's positivist philosophy, to improve upon past utopian schemes, or to invent a calculus of intellectual well-being. short of a philosophic inquiry, everything becomes a subject waiting for a philosopher who does not want to stay within the boundaries of the history of philosophy. once new movements, some better justified than others, and all reflecting the shift from the authority-based civilization of literacy to the endless freedom of choice of the illiterate context, needed a powerful instrument to further their programs, they chose, or were chosen by, philosophy. secularism and pluralism meet within philosophic concerns with the gay movement, feminism, multi-culturalism, integration of new technology, implications of aging, the new holisms, popular philosophy, sexual emancipation, virtuality, and more along this line. in a way, this reflects the new awareness of efficiency that permeates philosophic activity, but also its struggle to maintain its relations to literacy. legitimate doubt is generated by the choice of subjects that seem to attract philosophers, and by the apparent lack of philosophic matter. when the language is not obscure, the philosopher seems to discuss matters, not really question reasons, and even less advance ideas or explanatory models. wholesale generalizations do not help, but one can really not escape the feeling that the process through which philosophy liberates itself from literacy has been less productive than the similar process of science's emancipation from language. a journey through the many philosophically oriented web sites reveals very quickly that even when philosophy opts out of the print medium, it carries over many of the limitations of literacy. the ability to open philosophic discourse, to adopt non- linearity, and to encourage dialogue free of the pressure of tradition is often signaled, but rarely accomplished. the medium is resisted, not enjoyed as an alternative to classic philosophical discourse. such observations have prompted the opinion that scientists are becoming the most appropriate philosophers of their own contributions. who needs philosophy? and what for? at this point, one question naturally arises: is philosophy relevant after all? moreover, is it even possible without the participation of natural language, or at least without this intermediary between philosophers and their public? in blunter terms, can we live without it? in the context in which efficiency expectations translate into a practical experience of an unprecedented degree of specialization, will philosophy turn into another mediating activity among people? or will it be, as it was considered in the culture of a romantic ideal, humanity's self-consciousness, as expressed in hegel's philosophy? if indeed philosophy is absorbed into science, what can its purpose be? as with literacy, the inclination is to suggest that, regardless of the new condition of language, philosophy remains possible and is indeed relevant. as far as its functions are concerned-mediating activity, humanity's self-consciousness, corpus of interpretive discourse about humanity and nature-they remain to be defined in the pragmatic context. it is needless to reiterate that within each scale of humankind, philosophy pursued different interests as these proved pertinent to efficiency expectations. philosophers never contributed bread to the table nor artifacts. their skill was to formulate questions, especially the very probing questions-"what is what?" and "why?"-in their attempt to address the origins of things. deciphering the reason of things and actions-in other words, understanding the world and its apparent order (what the greeks called eunomia)-made them simultaneously philosophers and interpreters of science. "how can we know?" and "how can we explain?" are subsequent questions, pursued more stringently by people in search of scientific rationality than by philosophers per se. no historic account, no matter how detailed, can do justice to the definition of philosophy. its subject changes as human beings change in the process of their practical self-constitution. from philosophy, science and all the humanities (ethics, aesthetics, politics, sociology, law) evolved. even our concern with language is of a philosophic nature. it seems that philosophy is, in the final analysis, the only authentic domain of abstraction. its interest is not the individual, the concrete, the immediate, not even the idea, but the abstraction of these. where other domains, such as mathematics, logic, linguistics, and physics are intent on understanding the abstract notions around which their domains are built, on giving them life in the context of practical experiences, philosophy seems driven by the quest for reaching the next level of abstraction, the abstraction of abstractions, and so on. science uses abstraction as an instrument for reaching concreteness; philosophy follows the inverse path. there is always to the philosophic attempt a call for the next step, into the infinite. each accomplishment is provisional. to experiment philosophically means not so much to search systematically for causes as to never end the inquiry. there are no right or wrong philosophic theories. philosophy is cumulative and self-devouring. that people will never stop wondering what is what, the more their own activity will multiply the domain of existing entities, goes almost without saying. that they will ask again and again how they can know, how they can be sure that what they know is true, or at least relevant, is also evident. the species is characterized by its ability to think, produce and master tools, acknowledge value, and constitute itself as a community of shared concern and resources, through its playfulness and other characteristics (alluded to in terms such as homo economicus, zoon semiotikon, zoon politikon, homo ludens). probably more than all these partial qualifiers, the species is the only one known to question everything. as language experience marked the genetic condition of the human being, questioning marked it too, probably through language mechanisms in the first place. when the child articulates the first question, the entire genetic endowment is at work. we are who and what we are in our inquisitive interaction with others. our minds exist only through this interaction. this statement says in effect that to philosophize became part of the process of human self-constitution and identification. the only referent of philosophy is the human being constituted in practical experiences. together with other surviving literacies, philosophic literacy will be one of many. the philosophy of the civilization of illiteracy will reflect the circumstances of work and life characteristic of the pragmatic framework. it will also be subjected to the severe test of market exigencies as these reflect efficiency expectations characteristic of the new scale of humankind. science can justify itself by the return in investment in new explanatory models. it also leads to new technologies and to higher levels of efficiency in human practical experiences. philosophy certainly has a different justification. philosophic necessity is evasive. short of living off the past, as literacy, religion, and art do, it needs to refocus on reason as the compass of human activity. focusing on alternative practical experiences, philosophy can practically help people to free themselves from the obsession with progress-seen as a sequence of ever-escalating records (of production, distribution, expectation)-and moreover, from the fear of all its consequences. it can also focus people's attention on alternatives to everything that affects the integrity of the species and its sense of quality, including the relation to their environment. when past, present, and future collapse into the illiterate frenzy of the instant, philosophy owes to those who question its articulations an honest approach to the question, "is there a future?" but as this future takes shape in the presence of humans partaking in the open world of networked interactions, banalities will not do. art(ifacts) and aesthetic processes confusing as it is, a snapshot of everything that today goes under the names art and literature conveys at least a sense of variety. forget the never-ending discussions of what qualifies as art and what does not. and forget the irreconcilable disputes over taste. what counts are practical experiences of self-identification as artist or writer, as well as involvement with artifacts eventually acknowledged within the experience as art or as literature, i.e., experiences through which the art public and readership are constituted. what comes to mind when we think about the art and literature of the civilization of illiteracy are not illiterate writers-although they exist-and not illiterate painters, composers, pianists, dancers, sculptors, or computer artists of all kinds. rather, disparate examples of works, each remarkable in its own way (or altogether unremarkable), but above all marked by characteristics that distinctly disconnect them from the literate experience of art and literature capture our memory. cautionary note ended. here are the examples: surviving auschwitz translated into a comic book parable populated by cats (depicting the nazis) and mice (depicting their victims); a grammy award returned by a famous singing group because someone else was doing the singing for them; the tear-jerkers from disney studios (a company whose audience is the world), classic stories or history turned into feminist or politically correct musicals; paintings by a controversial artist (self-made or made by the market?), fetching prices as high as overvalued shares of a new internet company, after he died of aids at an early age; the never-ending parade of computer animation miracles; the web sites of uninterrupted aesthetic frenzy that would have delighted andy warhol, one of the authentic founders of art in the civilization of illiteracy, if anyone could pinpoint the beginning of this civilization. these are examples. period. originality, aesthetic integrity, homogeneity, and artfulness are the exception. the process through which these examples were produced begs qualifiers different from art produced under the aegis of literate expectations. today, art is produced much faster, embodied-or disembodied-in and disseminated through more media, and exhausted in a shorter time-sometimes even before it comes into being! cycles of artistic style are abridged to the extreme of being impossible to define. artistic standards are leveled as the democracy of unlimited access to art and literature expands their public, without effecting a deep rapport, a long-lasting relation, or a heightened aesthetic expectation. never before has more kitsch been produced and more money spent to satisfy the obsession with celebrity that is the hallmark of this time. museums became the new palaces and the new shopping malls, opening branches all over the world, not unlike macdonalds and fashion retail stores. and never before were more technological and scientific means involved in the practical experience of art, always on the cutting edge, not only because art is traditionally associated with innovation. these new experiences make possible the transition from an individual, private, almost mystical, experience to a very public activity. open a virtual studio on the web, and chances are that many people will exercise their calling (or curiosity) on the digital canvas. not infrequently, this activity is carried on at the scale of the integrated world: major concerts viewed on several continents, attempts to integrate art from all nations into a super-work, the melange of literatures fused into new writing workshops, distributed, interactive installations united in the experience of digital networks. good taste and bad co-exist; pornography resides as bits and bytes in formats not different from those of the most suave examples from art history. the internet is the one and only uncensored place left on the earth. all these phenomena deserve to be understood as testimony to the change of the condition of human experience, and in the context of change from a literacy-dominated art to an art of many partial literacies, of mediations, and of relatively vague notions of value and significance. making and perceiving nature and culture meet in artistic practical experiences of human self- constitution, as they meet in any other human experience. what makes their meeting extraordinary is the fact that what we see, or hear, or listen to is the expression of their intersecting. through art, humans project sensorial, as well as cognitive, characteristics. the experience of structuring a category of artifacts, defined through their aesthetic condition, and the complementary experience of self-definition through aesthetically relevant actions constitute the realm of the artistic. in their interaction with objects and actions resulting from such experiences, individuals conjure meaning as they define themselves in respect to the experiences in a given context. like any other practical experience, the production of art belongs to the pragmatic framework. we are what we do: hunting, running, singing, drawing, telling stories, creating rhymes, performing a play. in their respective doings, artists identify themselves through particular aptitudes and skills: rhythm, movement, voice, sense of color, harmony, synchronism, contrast. the emergence of language and the consecutive experience of recording led to the association of skills with the writing of the language, that is, drawing and reading it to others, performing it in rituals. the domain of art seems to be characteristic only of the human species. since the practical experience of art is so close to our biogenetic structural reality, while at the same time constitutive of a non-existential domain, the making of art and the cultural appropriation of art are perceived as similar experiences. nevertheless, language exercised coordination for the simple reason that successive motivations of the art experience-such as the mytho-magical, practical, ritual, sexual, gnoseologic, political, or economic-and the underlying structure of art belong to different domains. the underlying structure of art defines its aesthetics. the underlying structure of magic, ritual, or the sexual defines their respective condition, as it expresses human understanding of the unknown, or the many aspects of sexuality. the interaction between artist and society, once markets emerged and art was acknowledged as a product with its own identity, resulted in specific forms of recurrence: recognition of the uniqueness of the work, of the artist, and of interpretive patterns. once the framework for recognizing artworks as merchandise was established, transactions in artworks became transactions in the artist-society relation, with a lot of give-and-take that was difficult, if not impossible, to encode. the nature of the relations can be partially understood by examining behaviors of artists, who are almost always seen as eccentric, a little off the middle of the road, and behaviors of the public. there is much instinctive interaction, and even more learned behavior, mediated through an experience constituted in and communicated through language. looking at a painting-once painting is acknowledged as artifact-is more than acknowledging its physical reality: the optical, and sometimes the textual, appearance, or the context of contemplation. the action of painting, sculpting, dancing, performing, or writing poetry or a novel is simultaneously an action of constituting oneself as artist or writer and projecting this self, as it results from the practical experience characteristic of such an endeavor, into the social space of interactions. this is why art is in the first place expression, and only secondly communication. this is also why looking at a work is to constitute the individual experience of context, in the first place, and only secondly to conjure and assign meaning. in both the action of painting and looking at a painting, biologically inherited characteristics, together with learned elements (skills), participate in the process of constituting the being (the painter and the onlooker, for instance) as both individual and member of the community. the natural and the acquired, or learned, interact. and in the course of time, the natural is educated, made aware of characteristics connected to culture rather than nature. two simultaneous processes take place: ) the recurrent interaction of those making art and those acknowledging it in their practical life; ) establishment of patterns of interpretation as patterns of interaction mediated by the artwork. language experiences take place in both processes. consequently, artistic knowledge is accumulated, and art-related communication becomes a well defined practical experience, leading to self-identification such as art historian, art theoretician, art critic, and the like. the nature and characteristics of the practical experience of art-related language ought to be examined so that we can reach an understanding of the circumstances under which they might change. art and language language is a multi-dimensional practical experience. in the interaction between individuals who produce something (in this case, works of art) and those who consume them, self-constitution through language makes coordination possible. production and consumption are other instances of human self-constitution. frequently, integration takes place in the process of exchanging goods or, at a more general level, values. drawing something, real or imaginary, and looking at the drawing, i.e., trying to recognize the drawn object, are structurally different experiences. these two practical experiences can be related in many ways: display the drawing and the object drawn side-by-side; explain the drawing to the onlookers; attach a description. here is where difficulties start to accumulate. the artifact and the experience leading to it appear as different entities. descriptions (what is on paper or on canvas) lead to identification, but not to interaction, the only reason behind the artistic experience. language substitutes its own condition for the entire physical-biogenetic level of interaction. it overplays the cultural, which is consequently made to represent the entire experience. people speak about works of art, write about art, and read writings about art as though art had no phylogenetic dimension, only a phylocultural reality. language's coordinative function is relied upon because of the dissimilarity between the practical experiences of making art and of appropriating it in the cultural environment. through cultural experiences, the coordinating function of language extends to facilitating new forms of practical experiences associated with making art: instruction, use of technology, and cooperation peculiar to artmaking. it also facilitates experiences of appropriation in the art market, the constitution of institutions dedicated to supporting education in art, the politics of art, and forms of public evaluation. art implicitly expresses awareness, on the part of artists and public, of how persons interacting through artistic expression are changed through the interactions. language, especially in forms associated with literacy, makes this awareness of reciprocal influence explicit. in the civilization of illiteracy, all non-literate means of information, communication, and marketing (e.g., songs, film, video, interactive multimedia) take it upon themselves to reposition art as yet another practical experience of the pragmatics of high efficiency peculiar to a humankind that reached yet another critical mass. it was not unusual for an artist in the literacy-dominated past to go through very long cycles in preparing for the work, and for the work itself to unfold after years of effort. it is quite the contrary in the case of the instantaneous gratification of a video work, of an installation, or of gestural art. within the pragmatics of an underlying structure reflected in literacy, art was as confined as the experience of language, which represented its underpinning. the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy makes the experience of art part of the global experience. many people wonder whether the basic, though changing, relation between art and language, in particular art and literacy, is unavoidable-furthermore, whether coordination can be assumed by a sign system other than literate language. in prelude to answering this question, i would like to point out that the influence of language on the arts, and even on the language arts (poetry, drama, fiction), was hailed by as many as deplored it. to account for attitudes in favor of or against an art connected to, or resulting from, high levels of literacy, i.e., of favoring an art emancipated from the domination of language, means to account for the change of art and its perceived meaning. the entire artistic effort to transcend the figurative and the narrative, to explore the abstract and the gestural, to explore its own reality, and to establish new languages testifies to this striving towards emancipation. ascertaining that the art- language relation is not inescapable does not purport the invention of a new relation as an alternative to what culture acknowledges as the relatively necessary dependence of the two. as with the case of other forms of practical experiences discussed against the background of literacy, examination of directions of change and the attempt to conjure their meaning is required. human beings are agents of change and, at the same time, outside observers of the process of change. an observer can distinguish between the recurrent influence of the human biogenetic structure and the interactions based on this structure. an observer can also account for the role of the phylocultural, in particular the interactions this triggers. restricted to the literate means of communication that i chose for presenting my arguments, i want to show that art and its interpretation are no longer the exclusive domain of literate language. alternative domains of creation and interpretation are continuously structured as we project ourselves in new practical experiences. moreover, the eternal conflict inherent in art experiences, between what is and what unfolds, best expressed in the quest for innovation, integrates aspects of the conflict between literacy-dominated pragmatics and pragmatics dominated by illiteracy. were i an artist, and were we all visually attuned, this topic could have been explained through one or several artworks, or through the process leading to an artwork. the role of processing current practical experiences of art needs to be properly highlighted. exacerbated in the self-consciousness of art in the age of illiteracy, artistic processes take precedence over artifacts; the making of art becomes more important than the result. artists would say that we exist not only in the environment of our language projections, but probably just as much (if not more) in the environment of our art projections. impatience and autarchy the prophets of the end of the arts (hegel was their most convincing, but most misunderstood, representative) were so confused by changes in the arts that, instead of approaching the dynamics of the process, they concentrated on the logical possibility that artistic practice is self-devouring and self-destructive. the initial end-of-the-arts prophecies were delivered during a time of relatively mild change in the status of the aesthetic appropriation of reality. recent prophecies occurred in a very different context. it was only after world war i that aesthetic experiences really difficult to connect and integrate in an accepted explanation changed our notion and expectations of art. with the experience of disposable language, which the dadaist movement submitted to a community already skeptical of language, came the experience of disposable art. while literacy supplied a framework for (almost) consistent representations of values and norms, human practice at the border between literacy and a-literacy introduced and fostered inconsistency, believed to be the last resort of individual freedom. eclecticism and consumption joined in this experience, since mixing without system or justification of any kind is like stating that everything is worth whatever people make of it, and therefore they want to have it. re-evaluation of available art, good or bad, aesthetically relevant or kitsch, significant or insignificant, is part of this change. once re-evaluation started, the processes of artmaking and aesthetic appropriation grew relatively disconnected. where language, through literacy as a generalized medium of interaction, maintained cultural distinctions, such as the ones embodied in our notions of perspective, resemblance, and narration, the new art experience introduced distinctions at the natural level, such as instinct, energy, choice, and change. for as long as literacy maintained control and integration, viewers, irritated by conventions foreign to them, physically attacked works (such as impressionist paintings) resulting from artistic practices different from those congruent to the practice of language and to the associated expectations of seeing. art under the scrutiny of literacy is always model driven. once the necessity of literacy as the only integrating mechanism was challenged by the need to maintain levels of efficiency for which language is not well equipped, new forms of artistic appropriation of reality and a new notion of reality itself became possible. model was replaced by iconoclasm. walter benjamin captured some of these changes in the formula of "art in the age of its mechanical reproduction." the end of the aura, as benjamin has it, is actually the aura's shift from the artifact to the process and the artist. it corresponds not to the end of art's uniqueness, but to the artist's determination to get rid of all restrictions (of subject matter, material, technique) and to ascertain artistic freedom as the goal of artistic experience. but there are yet more possibilities for the emancipation of artists and their work. as we enter the age of electronic reproduction, massive communication that supports interactive multimedia, and information integration through networks (adapted for pipelining data and all kinds of images), we encounter such possibilities. we are also subjected to new experiences-for instance, simultaneous transmission of art and interpretation, moreover the possibility to contribute our own interpretation, to become co-makers of whatever is presented to us through the very malleable digital media. technology and change of aesthetic goals affect the scale of artistic experience, as well as the relation between artists and the world. projects such as walter de maria's lightening field and christo's umbrella project (extended over california and japan) are examples of both the change of scale and of new interpretation processes. they are also vivid proof that globality permeates art at each level. so does the sense of rapid change, the acknowledgment and fear of perishability, and the open-endedness of the practical experience of making art. i doubt that anyone could have captured this sense as well as the web site on which millions of viewers could experience the wrapping and unwrapping of the reichstag in berlin. christo and jeanne-claude might remain the authors of record, but the event grew beyond the notion of authorship. the artistic experience of the civilization of illiteracy is also characterized by impatience and autarchy. things happen fast and relatively independent from one another. artistic experiment always embodied characteristics of the practical experience of human self-constitution. from petroglyphic expression to the art of our age, this happens again and again, obviously in context-dependent forms. the dutch and flemish baroque artists celebrated results of industriousness through mythological themes. before that, religion dominated up to and through the renaissance. in the context of african, asian, and south american art, the forms were different, but the pragmatic stamp is faultlessly evident. no wonder that in the settled age of literacy, art had a structure similar to that of the practical experience of literate language, regardless of the richness of its forms. it even called for experimental settings reminiscent of industry, or of the university context, as we know from art history. and it was sanctioned on the same pragmatic criteria as any other literate experiment: success (it was useful), or failure (it was discarded). accordingly, it implied sequential development and a rather settled succession of operations. as artistic experimentation took place in line with all other experiments characteristic of the pragmatic context of literacy, it even resulted in an industrial model based on modularity, which the bauhaus enthusiastically promoted. a number of shops produced thousands of ready-made artistic objects with a clear goal in mind: value through usefulness, function over form, functionality as aesthetics at work. artistic practice and appropriation were coordinated through the still literate language of the market. art in the civilization of illiteracy is less a matter of invention and discovery, as it was in the civilization of literacy, and more one of selection, framing, and endless variation. since the end of the last century, artists started breaking away from some of the characteristics implicit in the literate experience, such as hierarchy, centralism, and nationalism. this is not a time for rules and laws, unless they are taken from the books of the past, relativized and integrated in the tools needed in artistic practice, made into underlying principles. appropriation is not of the object, but of the method, process, and context. the tools of this civilization are endowed with the literacy required for certain partial experiences. artists, instead of acquiring skills, are trained to master such tools. in his series of ready-mades, marcel duchamp anticipated much more than a style. he anticipated a new kind of artistic practice and a different interrelation among the individuals involved in producing-literally selecting from the infinite repertory of ready- mades and framing-and the individuals who appropriate the artifact for whatever reason (aesthetic satisfaction, status, investment, irrational drive to collect). today, artists are more dependent on others involved in the pragmatic framework of the time. this dependency is the result of the more integrated nature of human effort. everything that is eventually built into the work, regardless of whether this work is an object, an action, or a process, results from other human practical experiences. the time of the artist's inventing his own pigments, making his own canvasses and frames, that is, the time of the artist's integral ownership and quasi- independence, was already over with the advent of industrial production. in the context of mediation and task distribution, new levels of dependencies are established and reflected in the work. video art, photography, film, computer-based installations, and much of the computer music, interactive multimedia, and virtual art experiences are examples of such dependencies. simultaneously they are examples of the new forms of conflict and tension that mark the artistic experience. artistic freedom and self- determination are only apparent. the limits of the many elements involved in an artistic experience affect choice and artistic integrity. free choice, a romantic notion, is a delusion under these new circumstances. there is no censorship on the internet, but that does not make the medium totally free. the forms of integration in the guise of new science and technology are probably less troublesome than integration through language. they are, however, much more constricting and restrictive because they derive from elements over which the artist has little, if any, control. the growth of non-verbal modes of human expression, communication, and interaction introduces elements of mediation. these can be seen as intermediaries, such as images to be integrated, sounds, political actions (a sit-in is the best known example) that are involved in the practical experience of art in all its phases. formulation of aesthetic goals, in the form of video improvisations, diagrams, multimedia installations, computer-generated simulations, interpretation of an artwork (animation of a painting or sculpture, for example), and processes of meaning realization and valuation (represented by market transactions, insurance estimates, political relevance, ideological tendency, cultural significance) use mediating elements. none of christo's elaborate and very comprehensive projects could have been carried through without such means. keijo yamamoto's widely celebrated virtual performance could not come into being without an understanding of all that it takes to establish a worldwide network art. art, as a human experience, emphasizes its own transitory nature and becomes less permanent than in previous stages of artistic practice, but far more pervasive. still, to qualify this process as mere democratization of the arts would be misleading. that supermarkets are full of meat, oranges, cheese, and all kinds of graphic signs should not be interpreted as the democratization of meat, oranges, cheese, or graphic signs. the majority of artists still strive for recognition. to the extent that their own recognition as different means that there are people who do not qualify for the same recognition and reward, there is no equality in the realm of art. on the other hand, the pressures of leveling and the iconoclastic component of artistic experience reduce the passion that drove artists in the past, or at least changes the focus of this passion. although the artistic process has changed in line with other changes in the systematic domain of human experience in general, it still resists doing away with the terms for artistic recognition. the uncertainty (including that of recognition, but not limited to it) projected in the work qualifies it as an expression of individualism. the heuristic attempt to establish new patterns of human interaction through art reflects the uncertainty. to own art that is stored in units of information and in invisible processing instructions means something totally different from being in possession of unique artifacts embodied in matter, regardless of how much they are affected by the passing of time. the recurrent phylogenetic and phylocultural structure, on which the artist-public interaction was built in the pragmatic framework fostering literacy, is questioned from within artistic practice. art is only indirectly affected by the new scale of humankind, as it tries to acknowledge this scale. but the efficiency that this scale requires is reflected in the means available to support experiences of human self-constitution as artist. related to scale are the notions of survival and well being. people do not need art to survive, and the majority of people on earth are living proof of this assertion. but in a broader sense, life that does not have an artistic dimension is not human. that is what we have learned or what we want to believe. to express oneself in forms involving an artistic element is part of self- constitution as a human being, distinct from the rest of the natural realm. moreover, to have access to the richness of other expressive forms-rhythms, colors, shapes, movements, metaphors, sounds, textures-is to reascertain a sense of belonging. in this vein, the right to affluence implicit in the civilization of illiteracy extends well into the domain of the aesthetic. new artistic structures and means are continuously submitted and consumed. some end up in oblivion; others suggest dynamic patterns. freed from the constraints of a dominant literacy, artistic practice is becoming more and more like any other form of human experience, emancipated from the obsession of universality and eternity (embodied in museums and art collections), from centralism (expressed in such elements as the vanishing point, the tonal center of music, the architectural keystone). true, a great deal of narcissism has come to the forefront. and there is a tendency to break rules for the sake of breaking them, and to make the act of breaking the rule the object of artistic interest. in transcending old media boundaries, production and appropriation come closer together. the person making the artwork already integrates the appropriation in the making. thus a complicity beyond and above language is established in defiance of time, space, and the universal. nevertheless, artists still want to be eternal! art establishes itself on a plurality of levels of interaction. this is its main characteristic, since the cultural level supported by literacy is breaking the bonds of a generic, pervasive literacy. several specialized languages mediate at various levels. the language of art history addresses professionals at one level, and laymen at another, through an array of journals and magazines. art theory speaks to experts and, in a different tone, to neophytes who themselves will judge or produce artworks. the language of materials and techniques delves into particulars beyond oil, canvas, melody, beat, and rhythm that a generally literate onlooker or listener would not readily comprehend. the art of the civilization of illiteracy partly reprocesses previous artistic experience. by no accident, the entire modern movement looked back at ancient art forms and exotic art and appropriated their themes and structural components. in this experience, cultural conventions expressed through literacy (such as the recurrent linear perspective, illusory space, or color symbolism) are of secondary import. the goal is to account for the tension between motives (the magical, the sacred, or the mythic), the realistic image, and abstract extensions. the experience, which language inadequately reported, but could not substitute, is the subject of artistic investigation. african and chinese masks, russian icons, mayan artifacts, arabic decorative motifs, and japanese syllabaries are invoked with the intention of arousing awareness of their specific pragmatic context, which in turn will influence new artistic practical experiences. this is art after art. evidently, russian avant-garde, french cubism, american conceptualism, and all the other isms cannot be seen as ordinary extensions to experiences alien to tradition, or as attempts to loosen the ties between art and literacy in conscious preparation for relative emancipation from language. this phase has its own, new, recurring interactions. the post-modern is probably the closest we have come to the expression of awareness and values about art in art, a generic hall of mirrors. artistic practice led to a change in the structure of the domain: art assumes a self-referential function and submits the results to the public at large (literate or not). to look at post-modern art and architecture as only illustrative of cultural quotes, and possible self-irony, would mean to miss the nature of the experience projected in making the new artifacts. it is an undoing of the past in order to achieve a new freedom (from norm, ideal, value, morality, even aesthetics). the concept of art, resulting from the theoretic practice focused on accumulated artistic experience in its broadest sense, is subjected to change. artifacts resulting from the practical experience of artists constitute a domain congruent to the aesthetic dimension of human interaction in the social environment. this art is illiterate in the sense that it refuses previous norms and values, comments upon them from within, and projects a very individual language, with many ad hoc rules, and a vocabulary in continuous change. think about how, in the post-modern, the condition and function of drawing change. drawing no longer serves as an underlying element of painting, architecture, or sculpture. rather, drawing ascertains its own aesthetic condition. in a broader sense, it is as though art continuously generates its definition and redefinition, and allows those involved in artistic practice to constitute themselves as entities of change more than as manufacturers of aesthetically relevant objects. in a similar way, harmony is re- evaluated in the experience of music. the specializations within artistic practice (e.g., drawing, harmony, composition) correspond to an incredible diversification of skills and techniques, to the creation and adoption of new tools (digital devices included), and awareness of the market. those who know the language of an artifact, or of a series of relatively similar artifacts, are not necessarily those who will appropriate and interpret the artifact. in this age, aesthetic expression becomes an issue of information processing resulting from the systematic deconstruction of the aesthetic practice of the age dominated by literacy. images and sounds are derived from various experiences (photographic, mechanical, electronic). spontaneity is complemented by elaboration. previous stylistic characteristics- spontaneity is only the most evident-are reified and framed in new settings together with the interpretation. they are also reified in artistic expression as the gesture of making the work and the act of submitting it to the public with the aim of pleasing, provoking, criticizing, ridiculing, confounding, challenging, uplifting, or degrading (intentionally or not). post-modern artistic practice results from the display of broken conventions and rules, or of disparate and sometimes antagonistic characteristics. suffice it to point out how the private (the personal side of art, layout strategies, art of proportions, drawing, symbolism, harmony, and musical or architectural composition) becomes public. real life, an mtv series, is the personal drama of five young people trying to make it in new york city. the script was their day-to-day existence, the attempt to harmonize their conflicting lifestyles in the elegant loft that mtv provided. when the director fell in love with one of the characters, he was brought in front of the camera's merciless eye. likewise, the artist-painter, composer, sculptor, dancer, or film director-submits the secrets of his experience to the viewer, the listener, and the spectator. the artifact comes to the market delivered with its self-criticism, even with a time bomb set for the hour after which the work has become valueless. the making of art made public is at the same time its unmaking. appropriation, one of the preferred methods of the art experience, is based on a notion of aesthetic or cultural complicity. the illiterate public accepts a game of allusions. the alluded must be present in the work, because in the absence of a unifying literacy, there is no shared background one can count on. insinuations, innuendo, and provocation are practiced parallel to the quote around which the work establishes its own identity. art is infinitely fragmented today. no direction dominates, or at least no longer than the minutes of fame that warhol prophesied. there is a real sense of artistic glut and a feeling of ethical confusion: is anything authentic? the public is lured into the work, sometimes in ridiculous forms (a painting with live characters touching the viewers, pinching them, reaching for pocketbooks, or spitting chewing gum); other times in naive ways (through mirrors, interactive dialogue on computer screens, live installations in a zoo, live keyboards in a music hall). art is delivered unfinished, as a point of entry, and as an open challenge to change. to copyright openness and sign it is as absurd, or sublime, as delivering beautiful empty bars of music to serve as a score for symphonic interpretation or a multimedia event. the copy is better than the original within artistic practice, as much as within any other practical form of human projection, we notice the transition from a centralized system of reference and values to a system of parallel values. in the continuum generically qualified in the market as art- and what cannot be declared art today?-there is a noticeable need for intrinsic relations of patterns: what belongs together, and how commonalties are brought about. and there is a need for disparity and distinction: how do we distinguish among the plenty accumulated in a never-ending series of shows when all that changes is the name on the canvas? the same applies to photography, video art, theater, dance, minimalist music, and the architecture of deconstruction. an evident tension results, not different from the one we perceive in the market of stocks and options. the dilemma is obvious: where to invest, if at all, unless someone has insider information (what is hot?). this is not an expression of an ideal, as the values of literacy marked art to be, but of alternatives delivered together with the uncertainty that characterizes the new artistic experience as one of obsession with recognition in an environment of competition that often becomes adversarial. (the umbrellas that the parisians used to attack impressionist canvases at the turn of the century are children's toys in comparison to the means of aesthetic annihilation used in our time.) becoming a practical experience focused on its own condition and history, this kind of art affects the appropriation of its products in the sense of increasing artificiality-the shared phylocultural component-and decreasing naturalness. accordingly, interpretive practice is focused on establishing distinctions (often hair- splitting), more and more within the artistic domain, in disregard of message, form, ethical considerations, and even skill. this is the type of art whose photographic reproduction is always better than the original. this is the music that always sounds crisper on a compact disk. this is the art whose simuli of the show, performance, dance, or concert on television are even better than the production. meaning comes about in an individual experience of relating distinctions, not common experiences. the specialization of art, no less than the specialization of sciences and humanities, results in the formation of numerous networks of recurrent or non-recurrent interaction. examples of this are layering, tracing from photo-projection, expanding the strategies of collage (to include heterogeneous sources), mixing the elaborate and the spontaneous (in dance, performance, video, even architecture). the pencil and brush are replaced by the scanner and by memes of operations favoring minute detail over meaningful wholes. music is generated by means of sampling and synthesizing. we deal with a phenomenon of massive decentralization-each is potentially an artist-and generalized integration through networks of interaction, within which museums, galleries, and auction houses represent major nodes. it is not unusual to see the walls of a museum become the support for a work whose life ends with the end of the show, if not earlier. many musical compositions never make it to paper, forever sentenced to tape or compact disk. composers who do not know how to read or write music rely on the musical knowledge integrated in their digital instruments. with the advent of technological means for the production and dissemination of images, sounds, and performances begins an age of a sui generis artistic environment of life that is easy to adapt to individual preference, easy to change as the preference changes. the new artistic practice results in the demythification of artists and their art. art itself is demythified at the same time. as a consequence of electronic reproducibility and infinite manipulation, art forms a new library of images with memory devices loaded with scanned art, but with no books. sound samples are the library of the composer active in the civilization of illiteracy. using networking as a matter of practicability, people could display, in places of living or work, images from any collection, or listen to music from any ongoing concert around the globe. they could also change the selection without touching the display. they could redo each artwork as they please, painting over its digital double in the act of appropriating it, probably beyond what any artist of the past would ever accept, or any artist of the present would care for. music could be subjected to similar appropriations. as a matter of fact, televised images are already manipulated and r-written. dvd-three letters standing for digital video data- yet to make it into the everyday jargon reflecting our involvement with new media, will probably replace the majority of televised images. with the advent of digital video delivered via the familiar compact disk format, a tool as powerful as any tv production facility will support artistic innovation that we still associate with high budgets and glamorous hollywood events. art, as much as any other form of human interaction in the civilization of illiteracy, involves shorter cycles of exchange and contact at each of its levels: meaning constitution, symbolism, education, merchandise. the eternity and transcendence of art, notions and expectations associated with the literate experience, become nostalgic references of a past pragmatics. viewers consume art almost at the rhythm at which they consume everything else. art consumes itself, exhausting a model even before it can be publicly acknowledged as one. in its new manifestations, not all necessarily in digital format, but many in the transitory existence of networks, it either comes in an abundance, which contradicts the literacy-based ideal of uniqueness, or in short-lived singular modes, which contradicts the ideal of permanency. strategies of over-writing, over-dancing, over-sounding, and over-impression are applied with frenzy. grid structures made visible become containers for very fluid forms of expression, bringing to mind the fluidity of chinese calligraphy. afro-american street dancers, west european ballet groups, and theaters in which the human body is integrated into the more comprehensive body of the show, practice these strategies for different purposes and with different aesthetic goals. there is also a lot of parody, and fervor, in expanding one medium into another: music becomes painting or sculpture; dance becomes image; sculpture lends its volume to theatrical projects or to d renditions, virtual or real events that integrate the natural and the artificial. in this vast effort of exploration, authenticity is rarely secured. photography, especially in its digital forms, would be impossible without the industry it created; nor would painting, sculpture, music, or computer-based interactive art (cyberart, another name for virtual reality) without the industries they stimulated. the legitimate market of fakes and the illegitimate market of originals meet in the illiterate obsession with celebrity, probably the most fleeting of all experiences. the extension of art as practice to art as object, resulting from the aesthetic experience in the space of reproductions better than originals, is challenged by the intensions of the act (process). intensity is accepted more and more as the essence of the artistic practical experience, impossible to emulate in a reproduction, and actually excluded in the perfection of a concert transposed onto a compact disk, for example, or of images on cd-rom and dvd disks. when each of us can turn into a gazelle, a lobster, a stone, a tree, a pianist, a dancer, an oboe, or even an abstract thought by donning gloves and goggles, we are projected in a space of personal fantasy. creativity in virtual reality, including creativity of interaction on the internet, invites play. it can be in someone's private theater, sex parlor, or drug experience. as an interactive medium, virtual reality can be turned into an instrument for knowing others as they unfold their creativity in the virtual space shared. as opposed to art in its conventional form, virtual reality supports real-time interactions. the artist and the work can each have its own life. or the artist can decide to become the work and experience the perception of others. no rembrandt or cézanne, not even the illiterate graffiti artists in the new york subway system could experience such things. surprisingly, this experience is not limited only to non-language based experiences, but also to the art of writing and reading. embodied in avatars, many would-be writers contribute their images or lines to ongoing fictional situations on chat sites on the world wide web. while art is freeing itself from literacy, literature does not seem to have the same possibility. or is this another prejudice we carry with us from the pragmatic framework of literacy-defined self-constitution? the borderline, if any, between art and writing is becoming fuzzier by the hour. a nose by any other name the art of the word, of language, as exemplified in poetry, novels, short stories, plays, and movie scripts, takes place in a very strange domain of our existence. why strange? the languages of poetry and of our routine conversations differ drastically. how they are different is not easy to explain. many a writer and interpreter of poetry, plays, and stories (short or long) used their wisdom to explain that gertrude stein's "a rose is a rose is a rose," (or for that matter, shakespeare's "a rose by any other name...") is not exactly the same as "a nose is a nose is a nose..." (or "a nose by any other name..."). although the similarities between the two are so evident that, without a certain shared experience of poetry, some of us would qualify both as identically silly or identically strange, there is a literary quality that distinguishes them. the art of written words, usually called literature, involves using language for practical purposes other than projecting our common experiences and sharing them on a social level. nabokov once told his students that literature was not born on the day someone cried "wolf! wolf!" out of the neander valley as a wolf ran after him (or her). literature was born when no wolf chased that person. "between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story, there is a shimmering go-between. that go-between, that prism [nabokov qualified proust as a prism] is the art of literature." this is not the place to discuss the definition of literature, or to set one forth. it is clear, nevertheless, that literature is not the mere use of language. by a definition still to be challenged, there is no literature outside written language. (the term oral literature is regarded as a sad oxymoron by linguists who specialize in oral cultures.) furthermore, there is no appropriation of the art of language, of its aesthetic expressiveness, without understanding language, a necessary but still insufficient condition. (it is insufficient because to understand language is not equal to using language creatively). partisans of literacy will say that there is no literature without literacy. however, language use in literature is not the same as language use in daily life, in the self-constitutive experience of living and surviving. when human experience is projected in language and language becomes a medium for new experiences, there is no distinction in the experience. the syncretic character of language as it is formed in a particular pragmatic framework corresponds to the syncretic character of human activity in its very early stages. distinctions in language are introduced once this experience of self-constitution is segmented and various forms of labor division are brought about by expectations of efficiency. the scale of humankind, whatever it might be at a given moment, is reflected in distinctions in the pragmatic framework, which, in turn, determines distinctions in human expression and communication through language. survival becomes a form of human practice, losing its primeval condition when it implies the experience of cooperation, and the realization, though limited, of what transcends immediacy. killing an animal to satisfy hunger does not require awareness of needs and the means to fulfill them, as much as it requires natural qualities such as instinct, speed, and strength. noticing that the flesh of an animal hit by lightening does not rot like the flesh of slaughtered animals requires a different awareness. the first reports about the immediate sequence of cause and effect; the second, about the ability to infer from one practical domain to another. so does the perceived need to share and expand experience. in the oral phase, and in oral cultures still extant, the immediate and the remote (fear, for example, and the magical addressed with the hope of help) are addressed in the same language. the poetry of myths, or what is made of them as examples of poetry, is actually the poetry of the pragmatics pertinent to efficiency expectations of a small scale of humanity conveyed in myth. rules for successful action were conveyed orally from one generation to another. only much later in time, and due to demand for higher efficiency and the expanding scale, do different forms of practical experience separate, but not yet radically. wolf is wolf, whether it is running after someone, or it is only a product of someone's imagination, or it is displayed in a cage in the zoo, or it is in the process of becoming extinct. behind each of these situations lies an experience of conflict, on whose basis symbolism (rooted in zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, geometric, astrologic, or religious forms) is established. the use of language symbols is structurally identical to the use of astronomic, mathematical, or mytho-magical symbols in that it uses the conventional nature of the representation in sign processes (generation of new symbols, associations among symbols, symbolic inferences, etc.). crying wolf started early literature results from the perceived need to transcend the immediate and to make possible an experience in a time and space of choice, or in the space and time of language itself. naming a place florence, brugges, xanadu, bombay, paris, damascus, rio de janeiro, or beijing in a story derives from a motivation different from how names were given to real cities, to rivers, to mountains, even to human beings. names are usually identifiers resulting from the pragmatic context. they become part of our environment, constituting the markers for the context, the stones and barbwire fence of the borders of the experiences from which they result. in each name of a person, place, or animal in what is called real life, as well as in fiction (poetry, plays, novels), the practical experience of human self-constitution creeps in. when readers of a novel, audiences at a play, or listeners at a poetry recitation say that they learn something about the place, characters, or subject, they mean that they learn something (however limited) about the practical experience involved in constituting that novel, performance, or poem. whether they really know about something, or whether they care to know it, is a different question. usually, they do not know or care to know because, being born in a language, moreover being subjected to literacy, they believe that things are real because they are in language. they take the world for granted because words describe it. with such a frame of mind, things become even more real when they are written about. some people are educated to accept some things as more real than others: historical accounts, geographic accounts, biographies, diaries, books, images on a screen. more often than not, people walk through verona in order to see where shakespeare's famous pair of enamored adolescent lovers swore undying love to each other. they wind up in front of some ridiculous plaque identifying the place. and because the incident has gone down in writing, they accept the place as real. a picture taken there seems to extend the reality of romeo and juliet into their lives. the same can be said of bran castle and the fictional dracula; likewise for the so-called holy places in jerusalem, reputed cafés in paris, or sites associated with the name of al capone. real life eventually makes the distinction between fiction, the fiction of fiction, the tourism of the fiction of fiction, and reality. there is a borderline between the practice of writing (fiction or not) and the appropriation of literature by critics, historians of literature, linguists, tourist organizations, and readers. in the experience of writing, authors constitute themselves by projecting, in selected words and sentences, the ability to map between the world they live in and the world of language. in the experience of reading, one projects the ability to understand language and recreate a world in a text, not necessarily the same world in which writers constitute their identity. the process comprises a reduction, from the infinity of situations, words, ideas, characters, stylistic choices, and rhythms, to the uniqueness of the text, and the extension from one text to an infinity of understandings of the many components of a printed book or performed play. in this process, new reductions are made possible. the history of literature and language is well known for the stereotypes of systematic scholarly exposition. literary critics proceed with a different strategy of reduction; book marketers end up summarizing a novel in a catch- phrase. what we learn from this is that there are several ways to encode, decode, and then encode again thoughts, emotions, reactions, and whatever else is involved in the experience of writing and reading. the history of literature is connected to the diversification of language in more ways than traditional historic accounts lead us to believe. even the emergence of genres and subgenres can be better understood if we consider the practice of literature in relation to the many forms of human practice. my intention is not to endorse the convention of realism, one of the weak explanatory models that theoreticians and historians of art and literature have used for a long time. the goal is to explain and document that various relations between spoken and written language and the language of literature lead to various writing conventions. in the syncretic phase of human practice, the relation was based on identity. in other words, the two forms of language were not distinguishable. language was one. distinctions in practical experiences resulted in distinctions in the self-constitution of the human being through a language that captured similarities and differences, and became a medium for conventions. these eventually led to symbols. symbolism was acknowledged in writing, itself an expression of conventions. the language of astronomy, agriculture, and alchemy (to refer here to incipient science, technology, and magic) was only as remote from normal language as normalcy was from observing stars, cultivating soil, or trying to turn lead into gold, conjuring the benevolence of magic forces. reading today whatever survived or was reconstituted from these writings is an experience in poetry and literature. unless the reader has a specific interest in the subject matter (as a scientist, philosopher, historian, or linguist), these writings no longer recall the wolf, but the art of expression in language. they are considered poetry or literature, not because they contain wrong ideas or false scientific hypotheses-their practical experience is in a pragmatic context to which we have difficulty connecting-but because their language testifies to an experience of transcending the borders between human practice and establishing a systematic, encompassing domain which now seems grounded in a fictional world. religious writings (the old testament, tao) are also examples. the same happens to the child who saw a wolf (the child did not really see a wolf, he was bored and wanted attention), started crying wolf, and when finally adults show up, there is no wolf. "oh, he likes to tell stories," or "she has a wild imagination. she will probably become a writer." in some cases, elves, ghosts, or witches are blamed for a sudden wind, changes in weather, or trees creaking in a storm or under the weight of snow, and this is reported as private fiction. artistic writing and appropriation form a domain of recurrences at least as much as painting, dancing, observing stars, solving mathematical equations, or designing new machines do. literature involves a convention of complicity, something along the line of "let us not confuse our lives with descriptions of them," although we may decide to live in the fiction. as with any convention, people do not accept it in the letter, spirit, or both, and wind up crying with the unhappy hero, laughing with the comic character or at somebody. in other words, people live the fiction or derive some lesson from it, or identify with characters, in effect, rewriting them in the ink or blood of their own lives. meta-literature the recurring interaction between a writer (indirectly present) and a reader takes place through writing and reading. it is proof of the practicality of the literary experience and an expression of its degree of necessity. the extent of the interaction is thus the expression of the part of the practical experience that is shared, and for what purpose. this is illustrated by the uses we give to literature: education, indoctrination, moral edification, illustration, or entertainment. becoming who they are, the writer and reader project themselves in the reading through a process of dual reciprocal constitution, changing when circumstances change, objectified in the forms through which literature is acknowledged. it has a definite learned quality, in contrast to the arts of images, sounds, and movements, in which the natural component (as in seeing, hearing, moving) made the art possible. accordingly, artistic writing has an instrumental characteristic and exercises virtual coordination of the experience of assigning meaning. in some ways, this instrumental characteristic begs association to music. to someone watching how the process unfolds, it seems that the recurrent interaction is triggered less by the dynamics of writing and reading, and more decisively by what comprises the act of instilling meaning of the objectified practice of the poem, play, script, novel, or short story. the fact is that language, more than natural systems of signs, pertains to an acquired structure of interactions, as humans progress from one scale to another, within which meaning is conjured. language is influenced by the conditions of existence (human biology), but not entirely reducible to them. it constitutes as many domains of interaction as there are experiences requiring language, a subset of language, or artifacts similar to language. the claim made from the perspective of literacy was, and still goes strong, that the universality of language is reflected in the universality of literature, and thus the universality of conveying meaning. actually, to write literature means to un-write the language of everyday use, to empty it of the reference to behavior, and to structure it as an instrument of a different projection of the human being. it means understanding the process through which meaning is conjured as human self-constitution takes place. while it is true that when someone reads a text for the first time, the only reading is one that refers to the language of that particular reader's experience (what is loosely called knowledge of language); once the convention is uncovered, personal experience takes second place, and a new experience, deriving from the interaction, begins. the acquaintance makes the interaction possible; but it might as well stand in the way of its characteristic unfolding as a literary experience. sometimes, the language of artistic wording establishes a self-contained universe of self-reference and becomes not only the message, but also the context. the practical experience of writing is discovery of universes with such qualities. the practical experience of reading is populating such a universe through personal projection that will test its human validity. both writer and reader create themselves and ascertain their identities in the interaction established through the text. it goes without saying that while literature is not a copy (mimesis) of the world, neither does it literally constitute something in opposition to it. in a larger framework, literature is but one among many means of practical human experiences resulting, like any other form of objectification, in the alienating process of writing, reading, criticizing, interpreting, and rewriting. alienation comes from giving life to entities that, once expressed, start their own existence, no longer under the control of the writer or reader. for as long as language dominated human praxis according to the prescriptions of literacy, we could not understand how writing could be an experience in something other than language, or how it could be performed independent of language-based assumptions. since the turn of the century, this situation has changed. initially, there was a reaction to language: dada was born when a knife was used to select a word from a larousse dictionary. between the action and its successive interpretations, many layers of practical experiences with language accumulated. the literature of the absurd went further and suggested situations only vaguely defined with the aid of language, actually defined in defiance of language conventions. there is more silence in the plays of beckett and ionesco than there are words. before becoming what many readers have regarded as only the expression of the poetics of self-reference, the experience of concrete poetry attempted to make poetry visual, musical, or even tactile. happening was based on structuring a situation, with the implicit assumption that our domains of interactions are not defined only through language. the modern renewal of dance, emancipated from the condition of illustration and narration, and from the stifling conventions of classic ballet; the new conventions of film facilitated by understanding the implicit characteristics of the medium; and the expressive means of electronic performances only add to the list of examples characteristic of a literature trying to free itself from language and its literate rules. or, in order to avoid the animistic connotation (literature as a living entity trying to do something), we should see the phenomena just mentioned as examples of new human experiences: constitution of the literary work as its own language, with the assumption that the process of appropriation would result in the realization of that particular language. a realization, in literature as much as in science, is a description of a system which would behave as though it had this description. accordingly, the day described in joyce's ulysses (thursday, june , ) was not a sequential description, but a mosaic in which rules of language were continuously broken and new rules introduced. there is no character by the name of ulysses in the book. the title and the chapter subtitles were meant to enforce the suggestion of a parallel to homer's odyssey. ("a beautiful title," wrote furetière almost years ago, "is the real pimp of the book.") language-rather, the appearance of language-provided the geometry of the mosaic. for joyce, writing turned out to be a practical experience in segmenting space and time in order to extract relations (hopeless past, ridiculous tragic present, pathetic future), an aesthetic goal for which the common use of language is ill equipped. the allusion to the odyssey is part of the strategy, shared in advance with the critics, a para-text, following the text as a context for interpretation. but before him, kafka and others, following a tradition that claims cervantes' don quixote as a model, seemed no less challenged by the experience of designing their own language, ascertaining characters who transcend the conflict put in words, of using the power of para-text. dos passos, laurence sterne, and hermann hesse are examples from the same tradition. gertrude stein was a milestone in this development. in poetry, designing a language of one's own is strikingly evident, although more difficult to discuss in passing (as i know i am doing with some of the examples i give). many poets-burns comes easily to mind-invented their own language, with new words and new rules for using them. others-and for some reason vladimir brodsky comes first to mind-wrote splendid para-texts (political articles, interviews, memoirs) that very effectively framed their poetry and put it in a perspective otherwise not so evident. the experience of artistic writing does not happen in a vacuum. it takes place in a broader frame. to realize and to understand that there is a connection between the cubist perspective, joyce's writing, and the scientific language of relativity theory will probably not increase reading pleasure. it will change the perspective of interpretation, though. the connection between genetics, computational models, and post-modern architecture, fiction, and political discourse is even more relevant to our current concern for literature. recurrences of interactions come in varieties, and each variety is a projection of the individual at a precise juncture of the human practical experience of self-constitution as a writer or reader. language split, and continues to split, into languages and sub-languages. rap frequently subjects the listener of its rhythmic stanzas to slang. gramsci, the sardinian leftist philosopher, suggested the need for a language of the proletariat. pier paolo pasolini, an admirer of gramsci and a very sophisticated artist, wrote some of his works in the friaul dialect and in the argot used by the poor youngsters of the streets of rome. his argument was aesthetic and moral: corrupted by commercial democracy, language loses its edge, and people living in such a deprived language environment undergo anthropological mutation. art, in particular literature, can become a form of resistance. a new language, reconnected to the authentic being, becomes an instrument for new literacy experiences. tolkien wrote poems in elvish; anthony burgess made up a language by combining exotic languages (gypsy, malay, cockney) and less exotic languages (english, russian, french, dutch). an entire magazine (jatmey) publishes fiction and poetry written in klingon. in a broader perspective, it is clear that in order to effectively create literary domains, people need instruments and media for new experiences. meta-fiction is such an experience. it unites special types of illustrated novels, photographic fiction (which proliferates in south america and the far east), and comic books. in further inquiry, ken kesey offers a documented journey in order to recapture the spirit of the sixties. images (including some from allen ginsberg's collection) make the book almost a collective oeuvre. using similar strategies, a text of meta-fiction first establishes the convention of the text as a distinct human construct made up of words, but which behave differently from informative, descriptive, or normative sentences that we use in interhuman communication. the strategy is to place the domain of the referent in the writings. the writer thus ensures that the potential reader will have no reason to look for references in empirical reality. this act of preempting the practice of reading, based on reflex associations in a different systematic domain, is not necessarily a warranty that such associations will not be made. there are many people who, either due to their cognitive condition, or to their relative illiteracy, take metaphors literally. however, the writer makes the effort to establish new kinds of recurrent, inter-textual, and self-referential relations that signal the convention pursued. when the act of writing becomes, overtly or subvertly, the object of the writing experience, writers, and possible readers with them, move from the object domain to the meta domain. the writer knows that in the space of fiction, as much as in the space of the empirical world, people write on paper, tables are used to set dinner on, flowers have a scent, subways don't fly. but artistic writing is not so much reporting about the state of the world as it is constituting a different world, along with a context for interactions in this world. the validity and coherence of such worlds stems from qualities different from those that result from applying correct grammar, formal structure of arguments, syntactic integrity, and other requirements specific to the practice of language within the convention of literacy. writing as co-writing (painting as co-painting, composing as co-composing...) the post-modern practice of creative writing involves the intention of interaction in ways not experienced in the civilization of literacy. the written is no longer the monument that must not be altered or questioned, continued, or summarized. reading, seen in part as the effort to extract the truth from the text, takes on the function of projecting truth in the context of text interpretation. actually, the assumption of this practical experience of co-creation (literary, musical, or artistic) has to do with different languages in the practice of writing and reading (painting and viewing, composing and listening, etc.), and even of co-writing (co-painting, co-composing, etc.). recent literary work in the medium of hypertext-a structure within which non- linear connections are possible-shows how far this assumption extends. a structure and core of characters are given. the reading involves the determination of events through determination of contexts. in turn, these affect the behavior of characters in the fictional world. this can unfold as a literary work conceived as a game, whose reading is actually the playing: the reader defines the attributes of the characters, inserts herself or himself in the plot, and the simulation starts. neither the writer nor reader needs to know what programs stand behind the ongoing writing, and even less to understand how they work. the product is, in all of these cases, an infinite series of co- writing. the reader changes dialogues, time and space coordinates, names and characteristics of participants in the literary event. no two works are alike. characteristics of self-ordering and self-informing-such as "x knows such and such about y's peculiarities," or "group z is aware of its collective behavior and possible deviations from the expected"-allow for the constitution of an entirely artificial domain of fiction, with rules as interesting to discover as is the mystery behind a suicide, the complexities of a character's philosophy, or the existence of yet unknown universes. this extreme case of the literature of personal language-of languages as they are formed in the practice of creative co-writing-was anticipated in the various forms of fantastic literature. voyages (anticipated in homer's epics), explorations of future worlds, and science fiction have paved the way for the writing of meta-fiction. this probably explains how jorge luis borges constituted a meta-language (of the quotes of quotes of quotes) for allegories whose object are fictions, not realities. there is no need to be literate to effectively appropriate this kind of writing, although at some level of reading the literate allusion awaits the literate reader (at least to tickle his or her fancy). to a certain extent, it is almost better not to have read madame bovary, with its melodramatic account, because the constitution of borges' universe takes place at a different level of human practice, and in a context of disconnected forms of praxis. co-writing also takes the form of using shared code as a strategy of literary expression. the many specialized languages of literary criticism and interpretation- such as comparative studies, phenomenological analysis, structuralism, semiotic interpretation, deconstructionism-as difficult and opaque to the average literate reader as scientific and philosophic languages, are duplicated in the specialized language of creative post-modern writing. reading requires a great deal of preparation for some of those works, or at least the assumed shared understanding of the particular language. the writings of donald barthelme, kurt vonnegut, and john barthe are not casual reading, for sheer enjoyment or excitement. mastery of the language, moreover of the language code, as part of the practical experience it facilitates, does not come from studying english in high school or college, rather from decoding the narrative strategy and understanding that the purpose of this writing is knowledge about writing and reading. the epistemological made into a subject of fiction-how do we know what we know?-makes for very dense prose. this is why in this new stage, it is possible to have readers of a one and only book (i am not referring to the bible or koran), which becomes the language of that reader. alice in wonderland is such a book for quite a few; so is ulysses; so are the two novels of william h. gass. in the civilization of illiteracy, we experience the emergence of micro-readership attracted to non-standard writing. efficiency considerations are such that the non-standard practical experience of writing is met by a non-standard experience of reading books, and other media (including cd-rom) that address a small number of people. the effort to recycle (art or literature) is part of the same co-writing strategy. the co-writers are authors (recycled) and readers whose past readings (real or imaginary) are integrated in the new experience. recycling (names, actions, narratives, etc.) corresponds to, among other things, the attempt to counteract the sequentiality of writing, even the literate expectation of originality. taking a piece from a literary work and using it in its entirety means to almost transform the language sequence into a configuration. that piece resembles a painting hung in the middle of a page, or, to force the image, between the parts of a sonata. it entails its own history and interpretation, and triggers a mechanism of rejection not dissimilar to that triggered by organ transplants. the convention of reading is broken; the text is manipulated like an image and offered as a collage to the reader. the seams of different parts sewn together are not hidden; to the contrary, a spotlight is focused on them. gertrude stein best exemplifies the tendency, and probably how well it synchronized with similar developments in art (cubism foremost). w. h. gass masterfully wrote about words standing for characters, object, and actions; he invented new worlds where the writer can define rules for their behavior. concrete poetry, too, in many ways anticipated this type of writing, which comes from visual experiences and from the experiments in music triggered by the dodecaphonic composers. in concrete poetry, one can even discover the expression of jealousy between those interacting in the systematic domain of abstract phonetic languages, and those in the domain of ideograms. japanese writers of concrete poetry seem equally eager to experience the sequential! the effort to recycle, interpret, visualize, to read and explain for the reader, and to compress (action, description, analysis) corresponds to the ever faster interactions of humans and to the shorter duration of such interactions. the reader is presented with pieces already known, or with easily understandable images that summarize the action or the characters. why imagine, as writers always expected their readers to do, if one can see-this seems to be the temptation. the end of the great novel the ideal of the great novel was an ideal of a monument in literacy. despite the technology for writing, such as word processing machines and the hypertext programs for interactive, collaborative authoring, writing the great novel is not only impossible, but irrelevant. expectations associated with the great novel are expectations of unity, homogeneity, universality. such a novel would address everyone, as the great novels of the civilization of literacy tended to do. the extreme segmentation of the world, its heterogeneity, the new rhythms of change and of human experiences, the continuous decline of the ideal embodied in literacy, education included, are arguments against the possibility of such a novel. an all-encompassing language, which the practical experience of writing such a novel implies, is simply no longer possible. we live in a civilization of partial languages, with their corresponding creative, non-standard writing experiences, in a disembodied domain of expression, communication, and signification. if, ad absurdum, various literary works could talk to each other (as their authors can and do), they would soon conclude that the shared background is so limited that, beyond the phrases of socializing and some political statements (more circumstantial than substantial), little else could be said. furthermore, writing itself has changed. and since there is a consubstantiality among all elements involved in the experience, the change affects the self-constitution of the writer, and subsequently that of the reader. technology takes care of spelling and even syntax; more recently it even prompts semantic choices. this use of technology in creative writing is far from being neutral. different rhythms and patterns of association, as embodied in our practice with interface language-the language mediating between us and the machine-are projected volens-nolens into the realm of literature. moreover, different kinds of reading, corresponding to the new kinds of human interaction, become possible. one can already have a novel delivered on tape, to be listened to while driving to work. the age of the electronic book brings other reading possibilities to the public. an animated host can introduce a short story; a hand- held scanner can pick up words the reader does not know and activate a synthetic voice to read their definitions from the on-line dictionary. and this is not all! language used to be the medium for bridging between generations in the framework of homogeneous practical experiences. edmund carpenter correctly pointed out that for the civilization of literacy, the book-and what, if not the literary book, best embodies the notion of a book?-"became the organizing principle for all existence." yes, the book seemed almost the projection of our own reality: beginning (we are all born), middle, and end (at which moment we become memory, the book itself being a form of memory), followed by new books. carpenter went on to say, "even as written manuscript, the book served as a model for both machine and bureaucracy. it encouraged a habit of thought that divided experience into specialized units and organized these serially and causally. translated into gears and levers, the book became machine. translated into people, it became army, chain of command, assembly line, etc." handwriting, typing, dictation, and word-processing define a context for the practical experience of self-identification as novelist, poet, playwright, screenplay author, and scriptwriter. interaction with word-processing programs produces a fluidity of writing that testifies to endless self-correction, and to rewriting driven by association. word-processing is cognitively a different effort from writing with a pen or typewriter. and no one should be surprised that what is written with the new media cannot be the same as the works of shakespeare, balzac, and tolstoi, entrusted by hand to paper. a distributed narrative effort of many people, via network interaction, is a practical experience above and beyond anything we could have had in the framework of literacy. the first comic strip in america ( ) announced the age of complementary expression (text and drawing). nobody really understood how far the genre would go, or how many literacy-based conventions would be undone in the process. comic-strip characters occupied a large part of the memory of those who grew up with the names of characters from books. the influence of new media (film, in particular) on the narrative of the strip opened avenues of experiments in writing. when classics of literature (even the bible) were presented in comic-strip form, and when comic strips were united under the cover of books, the book itself changed. structural characteristics of the strip (fast, dense, focused, short, expressive) correspond to those of the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy. does the civilization of illiteracy herald the end of the book? as far as the practice of creative writing goes, it might as well, since writing does not necessarily have to take a book format. narrative, as we know from oral tradition, can take forms other than the book. my opinion in regard to books should not be understood as prophecy. pointing to alternatives (such as digital books, electronic publications distributed on networks and stored on disks), some perhaps not thought through as yet, keeps the influence of our own framework of reference at a distance. a video format, as poor and unsatisfying a substitute as it might seem to someone raised with the book, is a candidate everyone can name. after all, the majority of the books studied a generation ago are known to the students of this time mainly through television and movie adaptations. the majority of today's children's books are released together with their video simuli. computer-supported artifacts, endowed or not with literary intelligence, are another candidate for replacing the book. what we know is that paper can be handled only so much and preserved only so long (even if it is non-acid paper). furthermore, it becomes more and more an issue of efficiency whether we can afford transforming our forests into books, which humankind, faced with many challenges, may no longer be able to afford, or which are so disconnected from current pragmatics that they have lost their relevance. today, while still entirely devoted to the ideal of literacy, societies subsidize literary practical experiences which are only peripherally relevant to human experience. a large number of grants go to writers who will probably never be read; many more to contests (themselves anchored in the obsession with hierarchy peculiar to literacy) open to students lost in the labyrinth of an illusion; and even more to schools and seminars of marginal or very narrow interest, or to publications that barely justify the effort and expense of their endeavor. from the perspective of the beneficiaries, awarding such grants is the right thing to do. in the long run, this altruism will not save more of the literacy-based literature than highly specialized contemporary society perceives as necessary in respect to efficiency requirements facing the world at the current scale. in labor division, the literate writer and reader constitute their systematic domain of interaction. the book will no doubt remain in some form or another (words on paper or dots on an electronic page of a portable reading device) as long as people derive pleasure or profit from the printed word. but as opposed to the past, this is only one among many literary and non-literary domains of interaction. it is, for example, very difficult to say whether the artists of the graffiti movement were writers, using an alphabet reminiscent of egyptian hieroglyphs, or painters with words, or both. keith haring, their best known representative, covered every available square inch-horror vacui-with expressions that constituted a new systematic domain of interaction among people, as well as a new space for his own self-constitution as a different type of artist. instead of decrying the end of an ideal, we should celebrate the victory of diversity. those who really feel that their destiny relies on the ideal of literature might choose to give up some of their expectations, stimulated by the literate model, in order to preserve the structure within which literacy is possible and necessary. the demand for more at the lowest price that heralds the multi-headed creature called the civilization of illiteracy affects more than the production of clothes and dishes, or of cars and an insatiable appetite for travel. it affects our ways of writing, reading, painting, singing, dancing, composing, interpreting, and acting-our entire aesthetic experience. libraries, books, readers carlyle believed that "the true university is a collection of books." if books truly represent the spirit and letter of the civilization of literacy, a description of their current condition can be instructive. obviously, one has to accept the possibility that the civilization of literacy will continue in some form, or in more than one, that will extend the experience of the book, as we know it today through its physical form. or the civilization of literacy may continue in a totally new form that responds to the human desire for efficiency. addressing the international publishers association congress in june, , george steiner tried to identify the "interlocking factors" that led to the establishment of book culture. the technology of printing, paper production, and advances in typography that are associated with the "private ownership of space, of silence, and of books themselves" are among factors affecting the process. another important factor is book aesthetics, the underlying formal quality of a medium that had to compete with vivid images, with powerful traditions of orality, and with patterns of behavior established within practical experiences different from those of book culture. near the end of the th century, aldus manutius understood that the new technology of printing could be, and should be, more than the mere continuation of the tradition of manuscripts. the artifact of the book, close to what we know today, is mainly his contribution to the civilization of literacy. manutius applied aesthetic and functional criteria that led to the smaller-sized books we are familiar with. he worked with covers; the hard cover in thicker cardboard replaced the covers of pinewood used to protect manuscripts and early printed texts. the understanding of aesthetics and of the experience of reading led him to define better layouts and a new typography. his concern with portability (a quality obsessing contemporary computer designers), with readability (of no less interest to computer display experts), and with a balanced visual appearance make him the real saint of the order of the book. the book also entails conventions of intellectual ownership. in their effort to stop the dissemination of heretical books through print, philip and mary, in , limited the right of printing to the members of the stationers' company. in , copyright for members was introduced; and in , copyright for authors. from that time on, the book expanded the notion of property, different from the notion of ownership of land, animals, and buildings, especially in view of the desire, implicit in literacy, to literally spread the word. now that desktop capabilities and technologies that facilitate print on demand affordably reproduce print, old notions of property and ownership need to be redefined. our understanding of books and the people who read them, too, needs to be redefined as well. today, books can be stored on media other than sheets of paper, on which words are printed and which are bound between hard or soft covers. one hundred optical disks can store the entire contents of the library of congress. this means, among other things, that works of incredible significance cost five cents per book printed digitally. another result is that the notion of intellectual ownership becomes fuzzy. actually, the word book is not the proper one to use in the case of digital storage. the new pragmatics makes it crisply clear that the book is merely a medium for the storage and transmission of data, knowledge, and wisdom, as well as a lot of stupidity and vulgarity. for people who prefer the book format, high-performance printing presses are able to efficiently provide runs for very precisely defined segments of the population just waiting for the great american novel that is custom written and produced for one reader at a time. "personalized story books starring your child," screams an advertisement. it promises "hard cover, full color illustration, exciting stories with positive image building storylines." all that must be provided is the child's name, age, city of residence, and the names of three friends or relatives. the rest is permutation (and an order form). grandma did a better job with her photo and keepsake album, but the framework of mediation replaced her long ago. paper is available in all imaginable quantities and qualities; the technologies of typesetting, layout, image reproduction, and binding are all in place. nowadays, there is enough private space. the wash of noise is not a serious obstacle to people who want to read, even if they do not wear noise cancellation headphones. and never were books published at more affordable prices than today. some books reside on the shelves of the internet or are integrated in broader hyper- books on the world wide web. a word from one book-let's say a new concept built upon earlier language experiences-connects the interested reader to other books and articles, as well as to voices that read texts, to songs, and to images. the book is no longer a self-sufficient entity, but a medium for possible interaction. at the threshold of the civilization of illiteracy, how many books are printed? in which medium? how many are sold? are they read? how? by whom? these are only some of the questions to be posed when approaching the subject of books. even more important is the "why?"-in particular, "why read books?"-the real test of the book's legitimacy, and ergo, the legitimacy of the civilization which the book emblemizes. the broader issue is actually reading and writing, or to be more precise, the means through which an author can address many readers. the fine balance of factors involved in the publishing and success of a book is extremely difficult to describe. the general trend in publishing can be described as more and more titles in smaller and smaller editions. ideally, a good manuscript (of a novel, book of poetry, plays, essays, scientific or philosophic writings) should become a successful book, i.e., one that sells. in the reality of the book business, many mediating elements determine the destiny of a manuscript. most of these elements are totally unrelated to the quality of writing or to the satisfaction of reading. they reflect market processes of valuation. these elements are symptomatic of the book's condition in the civilization that moves towards the pragmatics of many competing literacies, almost all contradicting the intrinsic characteristics of literacy embodied in the book. the life of books is shorter (despite their being printed on acid-free paper). books have a decreasing degree of universality; more books address limited groups of readers as opposed to a large general market, not to mention the whole of humankind, as was once the book's purpose. books use specialized languages, depending on their topics. the distinct ways these languages convey contents frequently contradict the culturally acknowledged condition of the book, and are a cause of concern to people who are the products of (or adherents to) a civilization based on books. more and more books end up as collections of images with minimal commentary. some are already delivered together with a tape cassette or compact disk, to be heard rather than read, to be seen rather than to engage the reader's mind. road reading is a billboard trademark for recorded books. narrated by voices appropriate to the subject (a southern drawl for a story like to kill a mockingbird; a cultivated voice for charles dickens's a tale of two cities), the books compete with red lights, landscapes, and other signs along the road. many books written in our day contain vulgar language and elevate slang to the qualitative standard of fiction. there are books that promise the excitement of a game (find the object or the criminal). a reward, effectively replacing the satisfaction of reading, will be handed to the lucky finder. the subject of reading has also changed since the time the bible and other religious texts, dramas and poetry, philosophic and scientific writings were entrusted to the printing press. melodramatic fiction, at least years old, paved the way for pulp fiction and today's surefire bestsellers based on gossip and escapism. our goal is to understand the nature of change in the book's condition, why this change is a cause for concern, as well as our own relation to books. to do this, we should examine the transition that defines the identity and role of the writer and reader in the new pragmatic context. why don't people read books? "do you ever read any of the books you burn?" clarisse mcclellan asks in fahrenheit . (this book is also available in video format and as a computer game.) guy montag, the fireman, answers, "that is against the law." this conversation defines a context: the group that still reads is able to pass the benefits of their experience to people who are not allowed to read books. in our days, no fireman is paid to set books ablaze. to the contrary, many people are employed to save deteriorating books printed in the past. but the question of whether people read any of the books they buy or receive, or even save from destruction, cannot be dismissed. the majority of the books changing hands and actually read are reference publications. the home contains an increasing number of radios, television sets, cd players, electronic games, video cassette recorders, and computers. the shelf space for books is being taken up by other media. instead of the personal library, people consecrate space in their homes for media centers that consume a great deal of their free time. instead of the permanence of the printed text, they prefer the variability of continually changing programs, of scanning and sampling, and of surfing the internet. the digital highway supplies an enormous amount of reference material. this material is, moreover, kept up to date, something that is not so easy to accomplish with bound sets of encyclopedias or even with the telephone book. books are not burned, but neither are they read with much commitment. scanning through a story or reading the summary on the flip jacket, filling one's time during a commute or at the airport is all that happens in most cases. a variety of books are written for such purposes. required reading for classes, according to teachers, cannot exceed the attention span of their pupils. growing up under the formative influence of short cycles and the expectation of quick conclusions to their acts, youngsters oppose any reading that is not to the point (as they see it). in most cases, outlines provide whatever knowledge (information is probably a better word) is needed for a class or for a final examination. the real filter of reading is the multiple choice grid, not the satisfaction of immersion in a world brought to life by words. all this is almost the end of the story, not the substance of its arguments. the arguments are manifold and all related to characteristics of literacy. in the first place, publishers simply discard the traditional reverence for books. they realize that a book placed somewhere on the pedestal of adulation, extended from the religious book to books in general, keeps readers away or makes them captive to interpretive prejudices. how can one be involved in the practice of democracy without extending it to books, thus giving cervantes and whitman a place equal to that of the cheap, mass- produced pulp literature and even the videotape? the experience of the book reveals a double-edged sword, deriving mainly from the perception that the book, as a vessel, sanctifies whatever it carries. hitler's mein kampf was such a book in nazi germany, and still is for nazi revivalists. in the former communist countries, the books of marx and engels were sanctified, printed without end (after careful editing), and forced upon readers of all age groups, especially the young. nobody could argue against even trivial factual errors that slipped into their writings, into translations, or into selective editions. mao's little red book was distributed free to everyone in china. in our day, hitler and other authors of the same bent are published. these very few examples follow a long line of books dealing in indoctrination (religious, ideological, economic), misrepresentation, and bigotry. as insidious attempts to seduce for disreputable, if not frankly criminal causes, they have inflicted damage on humanistic expectations and on the practice of human-based values. champions of literacy point to the classics of history and enlightenment and to the great writers of poetry, fiction, and drama as the authentic heritage of the book. how much space do they occupy on the shelves of bookstores, libraries, and homes? in good faith and without exaggerating, one can easily conclude that from all the books stored in homes and places of public access, the majority should probably have never been written, never mind printed or read. if these books and periodicals were only repetitive of what had been said and thought previously, they would not deserve such strong condemnation. the judgment expressed above refers to words and thoughts whose shallowness and deceit are consecrated through the associations that the printed word entails. hard facts about books in the new pragmatic context confirm that people, either due to illiteracy or a-literacy, read less and use books less and less for their practical experiences. titles make it onto the bestseller lists only because they are sold, not read. intrinsic qualities-of writing, aesthetics, the ideas set forth-are rarely taken into consideration, unless they confirm the prejudices of their consumers. books often make it onto the bookshelf as a status symbol. in the early eighties, everyone in italy, germany, and the usa wanted to display the name of the rose. or they become a subject of conversation-"it will be made into a movie." but even such books remain unread to the last page % of the time. today, by virtue of faster writing and printing, books compete with the newspaper in capturing the sensational. the unholy alliance between the film industry, television, and publishing houses is very adept at squeezing the last possible drop of sleaze from an event of public interest in order to catch one more viewer or purchaser of cheaply manufactured books. because of a combination of many factors-long production cycles, high cost of publishing and marketing, low transparency, rapid acquisition of knowledge that makes high quality books obsolete in one or two years, to name a few factors-the book has ceased to be the major instrument for the dissemination of knowledge related to practical experiences. first among the factors affecting the book's role is that the rhythm of renewal and conversion requires a medium that can keep pace with change. prior to the breakdown of the former soviet union and the eastern block, the majority of books on politics, sociology, economics, and culture pertinent to that part of the world became useless from one day to the next as events and whims rendered their content meaningless. once the eastern block started to unravel, even periodicals could not keep pace with events. all around the world, strikes, various forms of social activism, political debates, successive reorganizations, new borders, and new leaders contradicted the image of stability settled in the books of scholars and even in the evaluations issued by intelligence agencies. not only politics required rewriting. books on physics, chemistry, mathematics, computing, genetics, and mind and brain theory have to be rewritten as new discoveries and technologies render obsolete facts associated with past observations published as eternal truth. in some cases, the books were rewritten on tape, as visual presentations impossible to fit in sentences or between book covers, or on cd-rom. more recently, books are being rewritten as internet publications or full-fledged web sites that can easily be kept current. photocopies of selected pages and articles already substitute for the book on the desks of students, professors, scholars, and researchers. college students, who are obliged to buy books, don't like to invest in items that they know will be outdated and useless within a year. the book will appear in a new edition, either because the information has been updated or because the publisher wants to make more money. students prefer the videotape, so much closer to tele-viewing, an experience that ultimately forms cognitive characteristics different from those of reading and writing. or they prefer to find material on-line, again a cognitive experience of a dynamic condition incompatible with the book. the complexity of human practical experiences is as important as the dynamics. the pragmatic framework that made literacy and the book necessary was relatively homogeneous. heterogeneity entails a state of affairs for which books can only serve after the experience, as a repository medium. even in this documentary or historic function, books capture less than what other media, better adapted to sign processes irreducible to literacy, could. for the experience as such, books become irrelevant, whether we like it or not. the facts relating to the consequences of the increased complexity of current pragmatics have yet to be realized, much less recorded. what is available is the accumulated human experience with alternate media, not necessarily cheaper than books, but certainly better adapted to instances of parallelism and distributed activities. books do justice to simultaneous temporal phenomena only at the expense of capturing their essence. the nature of human praxis is so radically disconnected from the nature of literacy embodied in the book that one can no longer rely on it without affecting the outcome. practical experiences in which time is of the essence, and activities that require synchronization or are based on a configurational paradigm are different in nature from writing and reading. to open a book, to look for the appropriate page, and to read and understand the information slows down (or stops) the process. the sequential nature of literacy misses the requirement of synchronism and might not even lead to solutions to questions related to non-sequential connections. in addition to these major factors, there is the broader background: access to knowledge conveyed through literacy implies a shared literate experience. shared experience, especially in open, dynamic societies, can no longer be assumed as a given. there are cultural as well as physical differences to be accounted for among all the human beings in the developed world. there are the visually impaired and physically handicapped who cannot use books. there are people with conditions that do not allow for the deciphering of printed letters and words. these individuals must rely on devices that read for them, on senses other than sight, and on a good memory. the decreased interest in books is indicative of a fundamentally different human practical experience of self-constitution. in line with the shift from manufacturing to service, books perform mainly functions of incidental information (when not replaced by a database), amusement, and filling time. even if the great novel, or great epic poem, or great drama were written, it would go unnoticed in the loud concert of competing messages. it might be that literature today is passionless, or it might be that the seduction of commercial success brings everything to the common denominator of return on an investment, regardless of cultural reward. books written to please, books published to satisfy vanity, and books of impenetrable obscurity did not exactly trigger reader interest. all in all, good and bad considered, the general evolution does not testify to less literary talent. the issue of quality is open to controversy, as it always has been. many books reflect a level of literacy that is not exactly encouraging. still, literature does not fail on its merits (or lack thereof). it fails, rather, on the context of its perception. like anything else in the civilization of illiteracy, the multiplication of choices resulted in the annihilation of a sense of value and of effective criteria for differentiation within the continuum of writing. the overall development towards the civilization of illiteracy suggests that the age of the book is being followed by an age of alternative media. the promoters of literacy are doing their best to resist this change. their motto is "read anything, as long as you read." they effectively discount any and all other means of acquiring knowledge, and totally disenfranchise individuals who cannot read. there are many avenues to self-constitution: all our senses-including common sense-repetition and memory. some of these avenues are more efficient than the medium of the book. if they were not, they would not be succeeding as they do. the champions of literacy also imply that anything acquired through reading is good. the harm that can be transmitted through the book medium can be recorded in volumes. on the collective level, it has led to persecution and violence, even mass destruction. on the individual level, it can lead to imbalance. the child who is forced to read at age three is being deprived of time for developing other skills essential to his or her physical and mental well-being. the cognitive repertory of these children is being stunted by well meaning but misguided parents. it is being stunted, too, by the market that sells literacy as though there were no tomorrow despite the fact that literacy has lost its dominant position in our lives. topos uranikos distributed this book began by contrasting the readers of the past to today's typical literate: zizi the hairdresser and her boyfriend, the taxi driver with the college degree in political science. the underlying structure of human practical experiences through which average persons like zizi and bruno g., as well as the nobel prize winner in genetics, artists, sportsmen and sportswomen, writers, tv producers, and computer hackers (and many other professionals), constitute themselves is characterized by a new type of relations among parts. these relations are in flux. whereas many functions associated with human experiences can be rationalized, levels of efficiency beyond individual capabilities can be achieved. thus, one of the main goals is to harmonize the relation between human experience and the functioning of devices emulating human activities. this raises the issue of the altered human condition. in this context, the relevance of knowledge has changed to the extent that, in order to function in a world of arbitrary bureaucratic rules designed to blindly implement a democracy of mediocrity, one has to know the trivia of prices in the supermarket. someone has to know how to access them when they are stored in a memory device, and how to charge the bill to a credit card number. but no one has to know the history of cultural values. it actually helps to ignore value altogether. the roots of almost everything involved in current practical experiences are no longer effectively anchored in tradition, but in the memory of facts and actions extracted from tradition. at a time when books are merely an interior designer's concept of decoration, beautifully crafted editions fill the necessary bookcase. humanity has reached a new stage: we are less grounded in nature and tradition. this condition takes some of the wind out of the sails of memetics. practical experiences of human self-constitution extended the human phenotype beyond that of any other known species. but this extension is not the sum total of genetic and cultural evolution. it is of a different quality that neither genetic nor memetic replication suggests, let alone explains. our obsession is to surpass the limitations of the past, cultural as well as natural. that makes us like the many things we generated in the attempt to reach levels of efficiency which neither nature nor tradition can support. the hydroponic tomato, the genetically engineered low-fat egg, the digital book, and the human being of the civilization of illiteracy have more in common than one thinks at the mere mention of this opinion. the life of books, good or bad, useful or destructive, entertaining or boring, is the life of those who read them. free to constitute ourselves in a framework of human experiences opened to much more than books, we have the chance of exploring new territories of human expression and communication, and of achieving levels of significance. individual performance in the civilization of literacy could not reach such levels. but this formulation is suspect of cheap rhetoric. it begs the question "why don't we?" (accomplish all these potentialities). we are so many, we are so talented, we are so well informed. the civilization of illiteracy is not a promised land. interactive education centers, distributed tasks, cooperative efforts, and cultivation and use of all senses do not just happen. understanding new necessities, in particular the relation between the new scale of humankind and the levels of efficiency to be reached in order to effectively address higher expectations of well being, does not come through divine inspiration, high-tech proselytizing, or political speeches. it results from the experience of self-constitution itself, in the sense that each experience becomes a locus of interactions, which transcends the individual. the realization of potential is probably less direct than the realization of dangers and risks. we are still singing the sirens' song instead of articulating goals appropriate to our new condition. one area in which goals have been articulated and are being pursued is the transfer of the contents of books from various libraries to new media allowing for storage of information, more access to it, and creative interaction. the library, perceived as a form of trans-human memory, a space of topos uranikos filled with eternal information, was the collection of ideas and forms that one referred to when in need of guidance. robert de sorbon gave his books to the university of paris almost years ago. little did he know what this gesture would mean to the few scholars who had access to this collection. by (only years after his donation), one of the readers would jot down the observation that he would need ten years to read the just under , books in the library. one hundred years later, pembroke college of cambridge university and merton college of oxford obtained their libraries. the charles university in prague, the universities in krakow (poland), coimbra (portugal), salamanca (spain), heidelberg and cologne (the future germany), basle (switzerland), and copenhagen (denmark) followed suit. libraries grew into national cultural monuments. museums grew within them and then became entities in their own right. today, billions of books are housed in libraries all over the world. books are in our homes, in town and city libraries, in research institutions, in religious centers, in national and international organizations. under the guise of literacy, we are happy to be able to access, regardless of the conditions (as borrowers or subscribers), this enormous wealth of knowledge. the library represented the permanent central storehouse of knowledge. but the pragmatic framework of human self-constitution moved beyond the characteristics embodied by both library and book. therefore, a new library, representative of many literacies-visual, aural, and tactile, relying on multimedia, and models and simulations-and able to cope with fast change had to come about. this library, to which we shall return, now resides in a distributed world, accessible from many directions and in many ways, continuously open, and freed from the anxiety that books might catch fire or turn into dust. true, the image of the world limited almost exclusively to reference books does not speak in favor of the enormous investment in time, money, and talent for taking the new routes opened by non-linear means of access to information, rich sensorial content, and interactivity. still, in many ways noah webster's experience in publishing his dictionary-a reference for america as the larousse is for france and the duden for germany-can be retraced in the multimedia encyclopedias of our day, moreover in the emergence of the virtual library. in , vannevar bush wrote his prophetic article in the atlantic monthly. he announced, "wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them." he went on to illustrate how the lawyer will have "at his touch the associated opinions and decision of his whole experience." the patent attorney could call "the millions of issued patents, with familiar trails to every point of his client's interest." the physician, the chemist, the historian will use bush's modestly named memex to retrieve information. the conclusion, in a well subdued tone, was "presumably man's spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shoddy past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems." written immediately after world war ii, bush's article was concerned with applying the benefits of scientific research for warfare in the new context of peace. what he suggested as a rather independent application is now the reality of on-line communities of people working on related topics or complementing each other's work. the benefits of electronic mail, of shared files, of shared computing power are not what interest us here. ted nelson, whose name is connected to project xanadu, acknowledged the benefits deriving from bush's vision, but he is mainly concerned with the power of linking. nelson learned from literacy that one can link text to a footnote (the jump-link), to a quote (the quote-link), and to a marginal note (the correlink, as he calls it). he designed his project as a distributed library of ever new texts and images open to everyone, a medium for authoring thoughts, for linking to others, for altering texts and images. multiplicity of interpretations, open to everyone else, ensures efficiency at the global level, and integrity at the individual level. he called his concept a thinker-toy, an environment that supports dedicated work without taking away the fun. generalized beyond his initial scheme, the medium allows people to make notes, by either writing them, dictating them, or drawing diagrams. text can be heard, images animated. visualization increases expressivity. participation of many readers enlarges the library while simultaneously allowing others to see only what they want to see. privacy can be maintained according to one's wishes; interaction is under the control of each individual. in this generalized medium, videotapes, films, images from museums, and live performances are brought together. the rule is simple: "accessibility and free linking make a two-sided coin." in translation: if someone wants or needs to connect to something, i.e., to use a resource created by someone else, the connection becomes available to all those to whom it might be relevant. relinquishing the right to control links, established in the first place because one needed them, is part of the xanadu agreement. it is part of the living library, without walls and bookshelves, called the world wide web. roads paved with good intentions are notorious for leading where we don't want to wind up. for everyone who has searched for knowledge in the web's virtual library, it becomes clear very soon that no known search engine and no intelligent agent can effectively distinguish between the trivial and the meaningful. we have co-evolved with the results of our practical experiences. selection neither increases the chances of the fittest, nor eliminates the biologically unfit. cultural artifacts, books included, or for that matter, the zeroes and ones that are the making of digital texts of all kinds and all contents, illustrate the thesis no less than the increasing number of people kept alive who, under darwin's law, would have died. these individuals are able to constitute their practical experiences through means, among which books and libraries do not present themselves as alternatives. global networks are not a habitat for the human mind, but they are an effective medium for mind interactions of individuals who are physically far from being equal. custom access to knowledge available in the virtual library is the main characteristic, more so than the wealth of data types and retrieval procedures. the question posed at the beginning of this section, "why don't we?" referring to the creative use of new means, finds one answer here. as more and more people, within their realms of needs and interests, become linked to what is pertinent to their existence and experience, they also enter an agreement of exchange that makes their linking part of the distributed space of human memory and creativity. the naked need to enter the agreement is part of the dynamics of the civilization of illiteracy. reading and enjoying a book implied an eventual return of money to the publisher and the writer. it might also have affected the reader in ways difficult to evaluate: some people believe that good books make better people. distributed environments of knowledge, expression, and information change the relation. from the world of orality-"tell me and i will forget"-to that of literacy-"let me read, but i might not remember"-a cognitive change, still evident today, took place. the next-"involve me and i will understand"-began. the line of thought continues: involvement returns value to others. the sense of design to design means to literally involve oneself in a practical experience with signs. to design means to express, in various signs, thoughts, feelings, and intentions pertinent to human communication, as well as to project oneself in artifacts appropriate to human practical experiences. in the remote age of direct practical experiences, there was no design. the practice of signs entails the possibility to transcend the present. in nature, future means insemination; in culture, future is in-signation: putting into sign, i.e., design. in its broadest definition, design is the self-constitution of the human being as an agent of change. this change covers the environment, conceiving artifacts (tools included), shelter, clothing, rituals, religious ceremonies, events, messages, interpretive contexts, interactions, and more recently, new materials and virtual realities. shakespeare, who would have enjoyed the intense fervor of our age, gave a beautiful description of design: "...imagination bodies forth/the forms of things unknown" (midsummer night's dream). although design contains elements ensuing from experiences involving language, design is essentially a non-verbal human activity. its means of expression and communication are grounded in the visual, but extend to sound, texture, odor, taste, and combinations of these (synaesthesia), including rhythm, color, and movement. to the human being involved in practical experiences of self-constitution, the realm of nature appears as given. in counter-distinction and in retrospect, human nature appears as designed. in some cases, design is an act of selection: something is picked up from the environment-a stick, stone, plant-and assigned an a-natural function through implementation: mark territory, aid an activity, support a structure or the human body, trap animals or humans, attack or defend against attack, color skin or clothing. in other cases, selection is followed by some form of framing, such as the frame of the ritual around a totem pole, animal sacrifice, mourning, and celebrations of fecundity and victory. selection and framing are related to efficiency expectations. they embody the hope for help from magic forces and express willingness to pursue goals that support the individual, family, and community. between the present of any experience and the future, the experience of design bridges in the form of new patterns of interaction (through tools, artifacts, messages), recurrences, and extensions of consequences of human activity from the immediate to the future. the projection of biology into an experience of long-lasting consequences implies elements of planning, no matter how rudimentary, and expectations of outcome. it also leads to new human relations in family-based interactions, education, shared values, and patterns of reciprocal responsibility. random sexual encounters that reflect natural drives are not designs. awareness of reciprocal attraction, shared feelings, and commitments extending well beyond the physical encounter can be identified as a design component present even in sexuality. between the design component of sexual consequence of the evolving human being and the design of offspring by selection of a partner, by selection of genetic traits catalogued in semen banks, by genetic splicing and mutation, and by all that is yet to come upon us, there is a difference that reflects the altered human pragmatic condition. of real interest here is how the future is captured in design. moreover, we want to know how it unfolds in practical experiences of design by which human beings extend their reality from here and now to then and there. in ways different from language, design gives the human being another experience of time and space. this experience is for the most part coherent with that of language. but it can also make individuals constituting themselves through design work aware of aspects of time that the language experience misses altogether or makes impossible. designs are expressed in drawings and eventually complemented by models testifying to the experiences of volume, texture, and motion. the anticipated time dimension is eventually added in simulations. design liberates the human being from total conditioning through language. within the convention of design, signs are endowed with a life of their own, supported by the energy of the persons entering the convention. this is how human symbolism, of confirmed vitality and efficiency, is factually established. symbols integrated in human experience are given the life of the experience. the entire heritage of rituals testifies to this. today the word ritual is used indiscriminately for any habitual preparation, from bathing to watching tv to after-game celebrations. initially, rituals appeared as dynamic designs centered around episodes of life and death. their motivation lay in the practical experience; their unfolding in connected interactions acquired an aesthetic quality from the underlying design. from the earliest known experiences, the implicit aesthetic component is the optimizing element of the experience. this aesthetic component extends perceived formal qualities found in nature to the aesthetics of objects and activities in the realm of human nature. the language of design expresses awareness of these formal characteristics. practical experiences display a repetitive pattern: the optimal choice (of shapes, colors, rhythms, sounds, movement) is always pleasing. the quality through which pleasure is experienced is not reducible to the elements involved, but it is impossible without them. selection is motivated by practical expectations, but guided by formal criteria. individuals involved in the earliest pragmatic framework were aware of this. other formal criteria make up a generic background. one of the recurrent patterns of the practical experience of design is to appropriate the formal quality associated with what is pleasing in nature and to integrate it in the optimal shaping of the future. this is how the aesthetic dimension of human practical experiences resulted within such experiences. notation systems (e.g., the quipu, representational drawings on stone or on the ground, or hieroglyphics) that eventually became writing can be classified as design, not lastly in view of their aesthetic coherence. only when rules and expectations defined by verbal language take over notation does writing separate from design and become part of the broader experience of language. we can now understand why changes in verbal language, as it constituted a framework for time and spatial experiences, were not necessarily reflected in changes in design. by the time literacy became possible, the underlying structure that led to it was embodied in the use of language. this is not true, to the same extent, in the practice of design. it is at this juncture that design is ascertained as a profession, i.e., as a practical domain with its own dynamics and goals. by no coincidence, engineering design emerged in the context of the pragmatics that began with building pyramids, ziggurats, and temples, and culminated in the industrial revolution in the design of machines. the broad premise of the industrial age is that everything is a machine: the house, the carriage, stoves, the contraptions used in literate education, schools, colleges, institutions, art studios, even nature. from a relatively focused and homogeneous field of practical experiences within industrial society, design evolved, in the civilization of illiteracy, as an overriding concern that extended to many specialized applications: tool design, building and interior design (architecture), jewelry design, apparel design, textile design, product design, graphic design, and to the many fields of engineering (including computer-aided design), interactive media and virtual reality, as well as genetic engineering, new materials design, event design (applied to politics and various commodities), networking, and education. technologies, from primitive to sophisticated, supporting visual languages made possible complexities for which the intuitive use of visual expression is not the most effective. consequently, the scope of design-oriented practical experiences changed. design now affords more integrative projects of higher levels of synaesthesia, as well as experiences involving variable designs-that is, designs that grow together with the human being self-constituted in practical interactions with the designed world. in the pragmatic framework based on the digital, design replaced literacy more than any other practical experience has. the results of design are different in nature from those of literacy. as optimistic as one can become about a future not bound to the constraints of literacy, it takes more to comprehend the sense of design at a time when evolutionary progress is paralleled by revolutionary change. drawing the future drawing starts with seeing and leads to a way of envisioning and understanding the world different from the understanding filtered through language. from a cognitive viewpoint, drawing implies that persons constituting their identity in the act of drawing know the inside and the outside of what they render. to draw requires that things grow from their inside and take shape as active entities. visible and invisible parts interact in drawing, surface and volume intersect, voids and fills extend in the visual expression, dynamically complementing each other. each line of a drawing makes sense only in relation to the others. in contrast to words and sentences, elements of a drawing conjure understanding only through the drawing. visual representation, as opposed to language expression, attains coherence as a whole, and the whole is configurational. one can write the word table without ever experiencing the object denominated. extracted from direct or mediated experiences, knowledge about the object and its functions is a prerequisite for drawing an old table or conceiving a new one. to design means to express in a language that involves rendering. it also involves understanding that practical expectations are connected to the projected object. consequently, to design means to experience the table in advance of its physical embodiment. thus designing is the virtual practical experience, at the borderline between what is and what new experiences of self-constitution require. in designing, people virtually project their own biological and cultural characteristics in whatever they conceive. this corresponds to the reality that design is derived from practical experiences, extending what is possible to what is desirable. functionality expresses this condition, though only partially. with the emergence of conditions embodied in the underlying structure reflected in literacy, image and literate renditions-statements of goal and purpose, descriptions of means, procedures for evaluation-met. literacy then effected changes in the condition of design. these are reflected as general expectations of permanence, universality, dualism, centralism, and hierarchy. international style-an expression that really covers more than the name of a style-reflects these literate expectations from design. is drawing natural? the meaning of such a question can be conjured only if articulated with its pendant: is literacy unnatural or artificial? everything already stated about drawing implies that it is not natural, though it is closer to what it represents than words are. except for metaphoric qualifications, there is no such thing as drawing an abstraction of drawing, although there is abstract drawing. through drawing, persons constitute themselves as having the ability to see, to understand (for instance, the invisible part of objects, how light affects an image, how color or texture makes an object seem lighter or rounder), to relate to the pragmatic context as definitory of the meaning of both the object-real or imagined-and the drawing. different contexts make different ways of drawing possible. disconnected from the context, drawing is almost like the babble of a child, or like a fragmented, unfinished expression. vitruvius had a culture of drawing very different from that of the many architects who followed him. critics who compared him to le corbusier and his architectural renditions, to the architects of post-structuralism, and to the deconstructivists and deconstructivist designers declared the drawings of these architects to be ugly, bad, or inappropriate (tom wolfe went on record with this). at this instance, drawing ceases to be an adjunct to art; it petitions its own legitimacy. if we ignore the pragmatic context and the major transition from a design initially influenced by language-vitruvius wrote a monumental work on architecture-the statement stands. but what we face here is a process in time: from design influenced by the pragmatics embodied in vitruvius' work, to design subordinated to literacy, and finally to design struggling for emancipation as a new language, in which the critical component is as present as the constructive impulse to change the world. design carries over many formal requirements from practical experiences subordinated to literacy. but there is also an underlying conflict between design and language, moreover between design and literacy. this conflict was never resolved inside the experience of designing. in society, literacy imposed its formative structure on education, and what resulted was design education with a strong liberal arts component. needless to say, designers, whether professionals in the field or students (designers-to-be), resented and resent the assumption that their trade needs to be elevated to the pedestal of the eternal values embodied in literacy. instead of being stimulated to discover the need for literacy-based values in concrete contexts, design and design education are subjected to the traditional smorgasbord of history, language, philosophy, a little science, and many free choices. its own theoretic level, or at least the quest for a theory, is discarded as frivolous. moreover, the elements grouped under intuition are systematically explained away, instead of being stimulated. whereas the context of education allows for the artificial maintenance of literacy- based training programs in design, the broader context of pragmatic experiences confirms the dynamic changes design brought about since the profession ascertained its identity. the conflict between training and engaging prompted efforts to free design from constraints that affect its very nature: how do we get rid of the mechanical components of design (paste-up, rendering, model making)? these efforts came from outside the educational framework and were stimulated by the general dynamics of change from the pragmatics of literacy to the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy. the change brought about the emergence of new design tools that open fresh perspectives for the expression of design: animation, interactivity, and simulation. it also encouraged designers to research within the realm of their domain, to inquire into the many aspects of their concern, and to express their findings in new designs. the computer desktop and various rapid prototyping tools brought execution closer to designers. it also introduced new mediating layers in the design process. breakaway the majority of all artifacts in use today are either the result of the design revolution at the beginning of the th century, or of efforts to redesign everyday objects for use in new contexts of practical experiences. from the telephone to the television set, from the automobile to the airplane and helicopter, from the lead pencil to the fountain pen and disposable ball-point pen, from the typewriter to the word processor, from cash registers to laser readers, from stoves to microwave ovens-the list can go on and on-a new world has been designed and manufactured. the next world is already knocking at the door with robots, voice commanded machines, and even interconnected intelligent systems that we might use, or that might use us, in some form. the steam and pneumatic engines fired by coal, oil, or gas are being replaced by highly efficient, compact, electric or magneto-electric engines integrated in the machines they drive, controlled by sophisticated electronic devices. there is almost nothing stemming from the age that made literacy necessary that will not be replaced by higher efficiency alternatives, by structurally different means. what about the technology of literacy? one can only repeat what once was a good advertisement line: "the typewriter is to the pen what the sewing machine (remember the machine driven by foot power?) is to the needle." remington produced the beautiful sholes and glidden typewriter in the 's. it was difficult to decide whether the ornate object, displaying hand-stenciled polychrome flowers, belonged in the office or in a victorian study. now it is a museum piece. compare it to the word processor of today. its casing might survive the renewal cycle of two to three years that hardware goes through. the chip's processing abilities will double every eighteen months, in accordance with moore's law. the software, the heart and mind of the machine, is improved almost continuously. now it provides for checking spelling, contains dictionaries, checks syntax and suggests stylistic changes. soon it will take dictation. then it will probably disappear; first, because the computer can reside on the network and be used as needed, and second, the written message will no longer be appropriate in the new context. those who question this rather pedestrian prediction might want to ask themselves some other questions: where is the ornamental ink stand, the beautiful designs by fabergé and tiffany? where are the fountain pens, the gestetner machines? carbon paper? are they replaced by miniature tape recorders or pocket computers, by integrated miniature machines that themselves integrate the wireless telephone? are they replaced by the computer, the internet browser, and digital television? edward bulwer-lytton gave us the slogan "the pen is mightier than the sword." today, the function of each is different from what it was when he referred to them. they became collectibles. the disposable pen is symptomatic of a civilization that discards not only the pen, but also writing. the breakaway of design occurs first of all at structural levels. it is one thing to write a letter, manuscript, or business plan with a pencil, quite another to do the same on a typewriter, and even more different to use a word processor for these purposes, or to rely on the internet. the cognitive implications of the experience-what kinds of processes take place in the mind-cause the output to be different in each case. no medium is passive. in each medium, previous experiences and patterns of interaction are accumulated. the more interaction there is to a process, and sometimes to a collaborative effort, the more the condition of writing itself changes. we can think of messages addressed to many people at once. think of the mullah chanting evening prayers at the top of a minaret; or of the priest addressing a congregation; of the president of a nation using the powerful means of television, or of a spammer on the internet, distributing messages to millions of e-mail addresses. each communication is framed in a context constituting its parameters of pre-understanding. to the majority, spam means no more than chopped meat in a can. even today, over % of the world's people have never used a telephone. and with some million people on the internet, netizenship is more vision than reality. design as a semiotic integrative practical experience is a matter of both communication and context. the possibility to customize a message so that it is addressed not to an anonymous group (the believers gathered for the occasion, or members of society eager to learn about political decisions affecting their lives), but to each individual, reflecting concern for each one's individual condition and respect for his or her contribution in a system of distributed tasks, was opened by design. the semiosis of group and mass communication is very different from the semiosis of pointcasting. technologically, everything is available for this individualized communication. however, it does not occur because of the implicit literate expectation in the functioning of church, state, education, commerce and other institutions. design experiences submit the centrality of the writer to reassessment. one relates to the literate model of one-to-many communication. this model is based on the assumption of hierarchy, within a context of sequential interaction (the word is uttered, the listener understands it, reacts, etc.). in the industrial pragmatic framework, this was an efficient model. perfected through the experience of television, it reached globality. but scale is not only sheer numbers. more important are interactions, intensities, the efficient matching of each individual's needs and expectations. thus, efficiency no longer means how many individuals are at the receiving end of the communication channel, but how many channels are necessary to effectively reach everyone. a different design can change the structure of communication and introduce participatory elements. for those still captive to literacy, the alternative is the ubiquitous word-processed letter matched to a list in a database. for those able to re-think and reformulate their goals, effectiveness means transcending the literate structure. the challenge begins at knowing the language of the individuals, mapping their characteristics (cognitive, emotional, physical), and addressing them specifically. the result of this effort is represented by individualized messages, addressing in parallel people who are concerned about similar issues (environment, education, the role of the family). moreover, it is possible to have many people write together, or to combine one person's text with someone else's image, with animation, spoken words, or music. in the design effort that takes the lead here, hierarchies are abolished, and new interactions among people are stimulated. the design that leads to such patterns of human experiences must free itself from the constraints of sequentiality. such design can no longer be subject to the duality of good or bad, as frequently related to form (in particular, typography, layout, coherence). rather, it covers a continuum between less appropriate to very well adapted to the scope of the activity. no longer cast in metal, wood, or stone, but left in a soft condition (as software or as a variable, self-adaptive set of rules), the design can improve, change, and reach its optimum through many contributions from those who effectively constitute their identity interacting with it. the user can effectively finish the design by choosing identifiers and modifying, within given limits, the shape, color, texture, feel, and even function of the artifact. there is also a deeper level of knowing the language of the individuals addressed. at this level, to know the language means to know the experience. henceforth, the new design no longer takes place at a syntactic or a semantic level, but is pragmatically driven. to reach every individual means to constitute a context for a significant practical experience: learning, participation in political decisions, making art, and many others. but let us be realistic as we experience the urge to convey a sense of optimism: the common practical experience involves partaking in the distribution of the wealth and prosperity generated in this extremely efficient pragmatic framework. as discouraging as this might sound, in the last analysis, consumption, extremely individualized, constitutes the most engaging opportunity for efficient pointcasting. the questions entertained today by visionaries, innovators, and venture capitalists placing their bets on the internet might not always make this conclusion clear. convergence and divergence telecommunications, media, and computation converge. what makes the convergence possible and necessary is a combination of factors united in the necessity to reach efficiency appropriate to human practical experiences at the global scale of existence and work. it is within this broad dynamics and inner dynamics that design ascertains itself as a force for change from the civilization of literacy to the civilization of many, sometimes contradictory, literacies. a shirt used to be mere clothing; the t-shirt became, in view of many concurrent forces, a new icon, a sui generis medium of communication. the commercial aspect is obvious. for example, each university of certain renown has licensing arrangements with some manufacturer who advertises the name on the walking billboards of chests, backs, and bellies. the t-shirt effectively replaces wordy press statements and becomes an instance of live news. before operation desert storm got into full swing, the t-shirt already signaled love for the troops or, alternatively, anti-war sentiment. magic johnson's admission that he had tested hiv positive was followed, less than two days later, by the "we still love you" t- shirts in los angeles. the quasi-instantaneous annotation of events is in keeping with the fast change of attitudes and expectations. institutions have inertia; they cannot keep up with the rhythm of the times. the news, formed and conveyed outside the institution of media, reads as a manifesto of immediacy, but also as a testimony to ephemerality. we actually lose our shirts on the immediate, not on the permanent. design projects this sense of immediacy and ephemerality not only through t-shirts or the internet. the house, clothes, cars, the walkman, everything is part of this cycle. is design the cause of this, or is it something else, expressed through design, or to which designers become accomplice? the shorter fashion cycles, the permanent renewal of design forms, the -second drama or comedy of advertisement-more appropriate to the rhythms of existence than never-ending soap-operas-the new vlsi board, the craze for designer non-alcoholic beer or low-fat pork-all testify to a renewal speed met by what seems an inexhaustible appetite on the side of our current commercial democracy. the refresh rate of images on our tv sets and computer monitors, predicated by the intrinsic characteristics of technology and human biology, is probably the extreme at which cycles of change can settle. to take all this with enthusiasm or trepidation, without understanding why and how it happens, would contradict the basic assumption pursued in this book. the pragmatic context of high efficiency is also one of generalized democracy, extended from production to consumption. the ubiquitous engine driving the process is the possibility, indeed necessity, of human emancipation from all possible constraints. the experience of design acknowledges that emancipation from constraints does not ultimately result in some kind of anarchic paradise. the right to partake in what human experiences generate often takes the form of taste that is equalized and rendered uniform, and of ever-expanding choices that ultimately turn out be mediocre. as a reaction to the implicit system of values of literacy, related to limited choices, illiterate design expression does not impose upon the user in design, but involves the user in choices to be made. in this way, design becomes an indicator of the state of public intelligence, taste, and interest. it also points to a new condition of values. the indicator might not always show a pretty picture of who we are, and what our priorities are. the honest interpretation of such an indicator can open avenues to understanding why the walkman-which seems to seduce people by an ideal of insulation from others-has the success it has, why some fashion designs catch on and others don't, why some car models find acceptance, why movies on significant themes fail, and why, on a more general level, quality does not necessarily improve under circumstances of expectations in continuous expansion. new thresholds are set by each new design attempt. the wearable computer is yet another gadget in the open- ended development that unites evolution and revolution. the need to achieve high levels of efficiency corresponding to the current human scale is probably the aspect most ignored. efficiency, pre-programmed through design, confirms that human involvement is expensive (do-it-yourself dominates at all levels of design), and service more profitable than manufacturing in developed countries. none of these solutions can be taken lightheartedly. after all, design bridges to the future, and to bridge to a world of depleted resources, destroyed ecology, and a mediocre human condition is not necessarily a good reason for optimism. the goal of reducing human involvement, especially when the human is forced into exhausting and dangerous experiences, is very attractive, but also misleading. to reduce human involvement, energies different from those of an individual involved in experiences of self-constitution as a user need to be provided. faced with the challenge posed by the dualistic choice expectations vs. resources, designers often fail to free themselves from the literate ideology of dominating nature. fortunately, design based on co-evolution with nature is gaining momentum. so is the design of materials endowed with characteristics usually associated with human intelligence. the inherent opposition between means and goals explains the dynamics of design in our time. extremely efficient methods of communication lead to information saturation. new methods for designing result in an apparent overabundance of artifacts and other products of design. it seems that the driving force is the possibility to practically meet individual expectations at levels of productivity higher than those of literacy-based mass production, and at costs well below those of mass production. the challenge-how to maintain quality and integrity-is real and involves more than professional standards. market-specific processes, probably well reflected in the notion of profit, affect design decisions to the extent that often human practical experiences in the market result in under-designing or over-designing negotiated items. changing expectations, as a consequence of rapidly changing contexts of human experiences, affect the design cycle even more than the production cycle. the ability to meet such changes by a built-in design variability is, however, not only a test of design, but also of its implicit economic equation. enormous segments of the world population are addressed by design. this fact gives the design experience, taken in its entirety, a new social dimension. against the background of the opportunity to fine-tune designs to each individual without the need to build on expected literacy, the responsibility of such an activity is probably unprecedented. whether designers are aware of it, and able to work within the boundaries of such an experience, is a different question. the new designer designs mediate between requirements resulting from human practical experiences and possibilities (gibson defined them as affordances) in nature and society. they embody expectations and plans for change; and they need to interface between the given and the desired or the expected. the language of design has an implicit set of anticipations and a projected endurance. aesthetic structuring, culturally rooted and technologically supported, affects the efficiency of designed items. the explicit set of expectations is measured against this implicit set of anticipations. it translates from the many languages of human practical experiences to the language of design, and from here to the ways and means of embodying design in a product, event, message, material, or interaction. it is interesting to consider the process of designing from as many perspectives as possible. from the thumbnail sketch to the many variations of a conceptual scheme, one eliminating the other, many decisions are arrived at. design resembles a natural selection process: one solution eliminates the other, and so on until a relatively appropriate design emerges. this is the memetic scheme, successfully translated into design software programs based on genetic algorithms. in the absence of rules, such as those guiding literacy, and freed from dualistic thinking (the clear-cut good vs. bad), the designer explores a continuum of answers to questions that arise during the design process. the fact that various solutions compete with each other confers a certain drama on design. its open-endedness projects a sense of change. its mediating nature explains much of its engaging aspect. there is an obvious difference between the design experience within a context of assuming identity between the body and machines, and the new context of digital cloning of the human being. designs in the area of neurobionics, robotic prosthetics, and even the cyber-body could not have emerged from any other pragmatic context but the one on which the civilization of illiteracy is established. still, if someone had to choose between the greek temple typewriter of and today's word processor, thoughtlessly designed and encased in cheap plastic, the choice would be difficult. one is an object of distinct beauty, reflecting an ideal we can no longer support. its distinction made it unavailable to many people who needed such an instrument. behind or inside the word processor, as behind any digital processing machine, are standardized components. the entire machine is a highly modular ensemble. one program is the archetype for all the word processing that ever existed. the rest is bells and whistles. here is indeed the crux of the matter: the ability to achieve maximum efficiency based on the recognition that raw materials and energy mean nothing unless the creative mind, applied to tasks relevant to human experiences of self-constitution, makes something out of them. in the line of the argument followed, design sometimes seems demonized for what we all experience as waste and disdain for the environment, or lack of commitment to the people replaced by new machines. that people eventually become addicted to the products of design-television sets, electronic gadgets, designer fashion, designer drugs-is an irony soon forgotten. at other times, design seems idealized for finding a way to maximize the efficiency of human practical experiences, or for projecting a challenging sense of quality against the background of our obsession with more at the lowest price. but it is not so much the activity as the people who are the activity that make either the criticism or glorification of design meaningful. this brings up the identity of the designer in the civilization of illiteracy. designers master certain parts of the vast realm of the visual. some are exquisite in visualizing language: type designers, graphic artists, bookmakers; others, in realizing -dimensional space either as product designers, architects, or engineers. some see design dynamically-clothes live the life of the wearer; gardens change from season to season, year to year; toys are played with; and animation is design with its own heart (anima). the variety of design experiences is only marginally controlled by design principles. there is integrity to design, consistence and pertinence, and there are aesthetic qualities. but if anyone would like to study design in its generality, the first lesson would be that there is no alphabet or rule for correct design, and no generally accepted criteria for evaluation. literacy operates from top (vocabulary, grammar rules, and phonetics are given in advance) to bottom. design operates the opposite way, from the particular context to new answers, continuously adding to a body of experience that seems inexhaustible. people expect their environment to be designed (clothes, shoes, furniture, jewelry, perfume, home interiors, games, landscape) in order to harmonize with their own design. there are models, just as in the design process, mainly celebrities, themselves designed for public consumption. and there is the attempt to live life as a continuum of designed events: birth, baptism, communion, graduations (at different moments in the cycle of designed education), engagement, marriage, anniversaries, promotions, retirement, estate planning, funerals, estate execution, and wars. as a designed practical experience involving a variety of mediations, life can be very efficient, but probably not rewarding (in terms of quality) at the same time. the conclusion applies to the result of all design activities-products, materials, events. they make possible new levels of convenience, but they also remove some of the challenges people face and through which human personality emerges. the relation between challenges-of satisfying needs or meeting higher and higher expectations-and the emergence of personality is quite intricate. every practical experience expresses new aspects of the individual. personality integrates these aspects over time and is projected, together with biological and cultural characteristics, in the never-ending succession of encounters of new situations, and consequently new people. the civilization of illiteracy shifts focus from the exceptional to the average, generating expectations affordable to everyone. the space of choices thus opened is appropriate to the endless quest for novelty, but not necessarily for the affirmation of the extraordinary. in most cases, the designer disappears (including his or her name) in the designed product, material, or event. nobody ever cared to know who designed the walkman, computers, earth stations, or new materials, or who designs designer jeans, dresses, glasses, and sneakers, tour packages, and olympic games. no one even cares who designs web sites, regardless of whether they attract many interactions or turn out to be only ego trips. names are sold and applied on labels for their recognition value alone. no one cares whether there is a real person behind the name as long as the name trades well on the market in which the very same bag, watch, sneakers, or frame for glasses, sells under different identifiers. this has to be seen in the broader picture of the general disconnectedness among people. very few care to know who their neighbors or colleagues are, even less who the other people are who namelessly participate in expected abundance or in ecological self-destruction. illiteracy indeed does away with the opaqueness of literacy- based human relations. all the means through which new practical experiences take place make each of us subject to the transparency of illiteracy. the result is even deeper integration of the individual in the shared databank of information through which our profile of commercial democracy is drawn. design endlessly interprets information. each time we step out of the private sphere-to visit a doctor or lawyer, to buy a pair of shoes, to build a house, to take a trip, to search for information on the internet-we become more and more transparent, more and more part of the public domain. but transparency, sometimes savage in competitive life (economy, politics, intelligence), does not bring people closer. as we celebrate new opportunities, we should not lose sight of what is lost in the process. designing the virtual the experience of design is one of signs and their infinite manipulation. it takes place in an experiential context that moved away from the object, away from immediacy and from co-presence. some people would say it moved from the real, without thinking that signs are as real as anything else. when pushing this experience to its limits, the designer lands in imaginary territories of extreme richness. one can imagine a city built underwater, or a spherical house that can be rolled from location to location, devices of all kinds, clothing as thin as someone's thought, or as thick as tree bark or a rubber tire. one can imagine the wearable computer, new intelligent materials, even new human beings. once the imagination is opened to fresh human endeavors-live in an underwater city, wear the lightest or heaviest clothing, interconnect with the world through what you wear, interact with new, genetically engineered humans-virtual space is opened for investigation. regardless of how a virtual experience is made possible-drawings, diagrams, combinations of images and sounds, triggered dreams, happenings, or the digital embodiment of virtual reality-it escapes literacy-based constraints and embodies new languages, especially synaesthetic languages. in fact, if design is a sign focused on the practical experience, the design of virtual space is one level beyond, i.e., it is in the meta-sign domain. this observation defines a realm where the person frees himself from the structures characteristic of literacy. in virtuality, the sequentiality of written language is overwritten by the very configurational nature of the context. reciprocal relations among objects are not necessarily linear because their descriptions are no longer based on the reductionist approach. this is a universe designed as vague and allowing for the logic of vagueness. within virtual space, self-constitution, hence identification, no longer regards cultural reference, which is literacy-based, but a changing self-reference. all attempts to see how a human being would develop in the absence of language could finally be embodied in the individual experience of a being whose mind reaches a state of tabula rasa (clean slate) in the virtual. that such an experience turns out to be a design experience, not a biological accident (e.g., a child who grew up among animals, whose language fails to develop and whose behavior is uncouth), is relevant insofar as freedom from language can be investigated only in relation to its consequences pertaining to human practical experiences. virtuality is actually the generic reality of all and any design practical experience. from among the very many designs in a state of virtuality, only a small number will become real. what gives one or another design a chance to transcend virtuality are contextual dependencies within any defined pragmatic framework. designers do not simply look at birds flying and come up with airplanes, or at fish swimming and come up with boats or submarines. there are many design experiences that are based on knowledge resulting from our interaction with nature. but there are many more that originate in the realm of humanity. there is nothing to imitate in nature that will lead to the computer, and even less that will lead to designing molecules, materials, and machines endowed with characteristics that allow for self-repair and virtual environments for learning difficult skills. design in the civilization of illiteracy relies foremost on human cognitive resources. experience, like most of the practical endeavors of this pragmatic framework, becomes predominantly computational and disseminates computational means. design human praxis, as the dominant factor of change from the pragmatics embodied in manufacturing to the new experiences of service economy, effected differentiations in respect to means of expression and communication, in respect to the role of representation, and to our position in regard to values. the electronic data storage and retrieval that complements the role of print, and progressively replaces it, results from the experience of design supported by fast and versatile digital data processing. when, at the social level, representation is replaced by individual activism, and by the militancy of interest groups, we also experience a diffusion of politics into the private, and to a certain extent, its appropriation by interest groups assembled around causes of short-term impact that keep changing. this change effects a shift from the expectation of authority, connected to literacy-based human experiences, to the slippery authority of individual choice. the designed world of artifacts, environments, materials, messages, and images (including the image of the individual) is a world of many choices, but of little concern for value. its life results from the exercise of freedom to choose and freedom to re- design ad infinitum. almost everything designed under these new pragmatic conditions embodies expectations associated with illiteracy. the object no longer dominates. the impressive mechanical contraptions, the engines, the shift systems, articulations, precious finish-they all belong among the collectibles. quite to the contrary, the new object is designed to be idiot-proof (the gentler name is user friendly), reflecting a generalized notion of permissiveness that replaces discipline and self-control in our interaction with artifacts. design also affects change in our conception of fact and reality, stimulating the exploration of the imaginary, the virtual, and the meta-sign. facts are replaced by their representations and by representations of representations, and so on until the reference fades into oblivion. henceforth, the positivist expectations ingrained in the experiences of the civilization of literacy are reconstituted as a frame of relativist interactions, dominated by images, seconded by sounds (noise included). imaging technologies make drawing available to everyone, exactly as writing was available to those processed as literates. the photographic camera-drawing with light on film-the electronic camera, the television camera, the scanner, and the digitizer are, effectively, means for drawing and for processing the image in full control of all its components. a sound level can easily be added, and indeed sound augments the expressive power of images. interactivity, involved in the design process, adds the dimension of change. that literacy, as one of the many languages of the civilization of illiteracy, uses design in its various forms to further its own program is clear. probably less clear is that the literate experience is itself changed through such instances. after all, literacy is the civilization that started with the conventions of writing and grew to the one book open to all possible interpretations, as these were generated in the attempt to effectively conjure its meaning in new pragmatic contexts. literacy subjected to all the means that become possible in the civilization of illiteracy, in particular to those that design affords, results in the infinity of books, printed for the potential individual reader (or the very limited readership that a title or journal tends to have) who might finally give it one interpretation (equal to none) by placing it, unopened and unread, on a bookshelf. the radical description given above might still be far away from today's reality, but the dynamics of change points in this direction. on the internet, we come closer to what emerges as a qualitatively new form of human interaction. design is integrated in the networked world in a number of ways: communication protocols, hypertext, document and image layout, structure of interactive multimedia. but no one designer, and no one company (not even the institution of defense, which supports networking) can claim that it designed this new medium of human practical experiences. many individuals contributed, mostly unaware that their particular designs would fit in an evolving whole whose appearance and function (or breakdown) no one could predict. these kept changing by the year and hour, and will continue to change for the foreseeable and unforeseeable future. consider the design of communication protocols. this defies all there is to literacy. a word spelled correctly is disassembled, turned into packages that carry one letter at a time (or a portion of a letter), and given indications where they should arrive, but not through which route. eventually, they are reassembled, after each package travels its own path. but in order to become a word again, they are further processed according to their condition. such communication protocols negate the centrality and sequentiality of literacy and treat all that is information in the same way: images, sounds, movements. many other characteristics of literacy-dominated pragmatics are overridden in the dynamic world of interconnections: formal rules of language, determinism, dualistic distinctions. distributed resources support distributed activities. tremendous parallelism ensures the vitality of the exponentially increasing number and types of transactions. design itself, in line with almost any conceivable form of practical experience, becomes global. enthusiasm aside, all this is still very much a beginning. networks, for transportation (trains, buses, airplanes, highways), for communication (telephone, telegraph, television), for energy distribution (electric wires, gas pipelines) were designed long before we knew of computers and digital processing. in the context in which human cognitive resources take precedence over any other resources, as we face efficiency requirements of the global scale of humankind, connecting minds is not an evolutionary aspect of design, but a revolutionary step. all the networks mentioned above can participate in the emergence of humankind's integrated network. their potential as more than carriers of voice messages, electricity, gas, or railway passengers is far from being used in the ways it can and should be. design experiences of integration will make the slogan of convergence, applied to the integration of telecommunication, media, and computing, a reality that extends beyond these components. in some curious ways, the netizen-the citizen of the digitally integrated world-is a consequence of our self-identification in practical activities based on a qualitatively new understanding of design. politics: there was never so much beginning hölderlin's verse, "there was never so much beginning" (so viel anfang war noch nie) captures the spirit of our time. it applies to many beginnings: of new paradigms in science, of technological directions, of art and literature. it is probably most applicable to the beginnings in political life. the political map of the world has changed more rapidly than we can remember from anything that books have told us. it is dangerous to generalize from events not really settled. but it is impossible to ignore them, especially when they appear to confirm the transition from the civilization of literacy to the civilization of illiteracy. people who deal with the development and behavior of the human species believe that cooperative effort explains the development of language, if not its emergence. cooperative effort is also the root of human self-constitution as political animals. the social dimension, starting with awareness of kinship and followed by commitments to non-kin is, in addition to tool-making, the driving force of human intellectual growth. simply put, the qualifiers political animal (zoon politikon) and speaking animal (zoon phonanta) are tightly connected. but this relationship does not fully address the nature of political human experiences. different types of animals also develop patterns of interaction that could be qualified as social, without reaching the cognitive sophistication of the species homo habilis. they also exchange information, mainly through gestures, noises, and biochemical signals. tracking food, signaling danger, and entrance into cooperative effort are documented aspects of animal life. none of these qualifies them as political animals; neither do the means involved qualify as language. politics, in its incipient forms or in today's sophisticated manifestations, is a distinct set of interhuman relationships made necessary by the conscious need to optimize practical experiences of human self-constitution. politics is not equivalent to the formation of a pack of wolves, to the herding tendency of deer, nor to the complex relations within a beehive. moreover, politics is not reducible to sheer survival strategies, no matter how sophisticated, which are characteristic of some primates, and probably other animals. the underlying structure of the activities through which humans identify themselves is embodied in human acts, be they of the nature of tool-making, sharing immediate or remote goals, and establishing reciprocal obligations of a material or spiritual nature. changes in the circumstances of practical experiences effect changes in the way humans relate to each other. that the scale of human worlds, and thus the scale of human practical experience, is changing corresponds to the dynamics of the species' constitution. incipient agricultural activity and the formation of the many families of languages correspond to a time when a critical mass was reached. at this threshold, syncretic human interaction was already rooted in well defined patterns of practical experience. the pragmatic framework shaped the incipient political life, and was in turn stimulated by it. politics emerged once the complexity of human interactions increased. political practical experiences are related to work, to beliefs, to natural and cultural distinctions, even to geography, to the extent to which the environment makes some forms of human experiences possible. this is why, from a historic perspective, politics is never disassociated from economic life, religion, racial or ethnic identity, geography, art, or science. the underlying structure of human praxis that determined the need for literacy also determined the need for appropriate means of expression, communication, and signification. this becomes even more obvious in politics, which is embedded in literacy-based pragmatics. consequently, once the particular pragmatic circumstances change, the nature, the means, and the goals of politics should change as well. the commercial democracy of permissiveness the condition of politics in a pragmatic framework of non-sequentiality, non- linear functional dependencies, non-determinism, decentralized, non-hierarchic modes of interaction or accelerated dynamics, extreme competitive pressure-that is, in the framework of the civilization of illiteracy-currently escapes definition. state of flux appropriately describes what such a political experience can be. what we have today, however, is a conflict between politics anchored in the pragmatics that is still based on literacy and politics shaped by forces representing the pragmatic need to transcend literacy. the conflict affects the condition of politics and the nature of contemporary political action. it affects everything related to the social contract and its implementation: education, exercise of democracy, practice of law, defense, social policies, and international affairs. changes affecting current political experiences are part of a sweeping dynamics. these changes range from the acknowledged transition from an industrially based national economy to an information processing global economy focused on service. part of the change is reflected in the transition from national economies of scarcity (usually complemented by patterns of preserving and saving) to large, integrated commercial economies of access, even right, to consumption and affluence. established in the context of political movements that focused on individuality, these integrated economies affect, in turn, the condition of the individual, who no longer sees the need for self-restraint or self-denial, and indulges in the commercial democracy of permissiveness. consequently, political trials are met, or avoided, with an epicurean response: withdrawal from public life for the pleasures of buying, entertainment, travel, and sport, which in a not-so-distant past only the rich and powerful could enjoy. politics itself, as huxley prophesied in his description of the brave, new world, becomes a form of entertainment, or yet another competitive instant, not far from the spirit and letter of the stock market, of the auction house, or the gambling casino. political involvement in a democracy of permissiveness is channeled into various forms of activism, all expressions of the shift from the politics of authority to that of expanding freedom of choice. the new experience of increasingly interactive electronic media is probably correlated to the shift from the positivist test of facts, as it originated in science and expanded into social and political life, to the rather relativist expectation of successful representations, in public opinion polls, in staged political ceremonies, in the image we have of ourselves and others. albeit, the power of the media has already surpassed that of politics. all these considerations do not exhaust the process under discussion. they explain how particular types of activism-from emancipatory movements (feminist, racial, sexual) to the new action of groups identified through ethnic origin, lifestyle, concern for nature-use politics in its newer and older forms to further their own programs. openness, tolerance, the right to experiment, individualism, relativism, as well as attitudinally motivated movements are all illiterate in nature in the sense that they defy the structural characteristics of literacy and became possible only in post- literate contexts. some of these movements are still vaguely defined, but have become part of the political agenda of this period of fervor and upheaval. literacy, in search of arguments for its own survival, frequently embraces causes stemming from experiences that negate it. the impact of new self-constitutive practical experiences and definition on digital networks already qualifies these experiences as alternatives, regardless of how limited an individual's involvement with them is. within the realm of human interaction in the only uncensored medium known, a different political experience is taking shape. what counts in this new experience are not anonymous voters lumped into ineffective majorities, but individuals willing to partake in concrete decisions that affect their lives in the virtual communities of choice that they establish. while the mass media, still connected to the literate nest in which they were hatched, partake in the functioning of political machines that produce the next meaningless president, a different political dynamics, focused on the individual, is leading to more efficient forms of political practical experiences. there is nothing miraculous to report in this respect. notwithstanding, the internet can be credited for the defeat of the attempt in to turn back the political clock in russia, as well as for the way it is influencing events in china, east europe, and south america. how did we get here? human relations can be characterized, in retrospect, by recurrences. distinctions within self-constitutive experiences occur under the pressure of the realized need to achieve higher levels of efficiency. relations, which include a political component pertinent to cooperative efforts and the need to share the outcome, have been evinced since the syncretic phase of human activity. there is no distinct political dimension in the syncretic pragmatics of immediacy. incipient political identity, as any other kind of human self-identification, is foremostly natural: the strongest, the swiftest, those with the most acute senses are acknowledged as leaders. the most powerful are successful on their own account. and this success translates into survival: more food, more offspring, resilience, ability to escape danger. once the natural is humanized, the qualities that make some individuals better than others were acknowledged in the realms of nature and human nature. whether as tribal leaders, spiritual animators, or priests, they all accomplished political functions and continuously reaffirmed the reasons for their perceived authority. over time, natural qualities lost their determinant role. characteristics based on human nature, in particular intellectual qualities such as communication skills and management and planning abilities, progressively tipped the balance. current textbooks defining politics do not even mention natural abilities, focusing instead on the art or science of governing, shrewdness in promoting a policy, and contrivance. from participatory forms of political life, in which solidarity is more important than differences among people, to the forms characteristic of our time of personal and political shift away from each other, changes have taken place because human practice made them necessary. politics was not and is not a passive result of these changes, some of which it stimulated, others of which it opposed. the survival drive behind participatory forms was continuously redefined and became a different kind of assertion: not just better than other species, but better than those before us, better than others. competition shifted from the realm of nature-man against nature-to the realm of humanity. once the element of comparison to the other, or judgment by others, was introduced, hierarchy was established. hierarchy put on record became, with the advent of notation, and more so with the advent of writing, a component of experience, one of its structuring elements. it is no longer a here-and-now defined action of immediacy, but action expanded as progression over generations and societies, and among various societies. accordingly, while solidarity, though permanently subject to redefinition, was still in the background, the driving forces were quite different. they resulted from the need to establish a political practice of efficiency pertinent to the pragmatic framework, henceforth to the needs of the community. for as long as human activity was relatively homogeneous, there was no need for political delegation or for reifying political goals into rules or organizations. once diversification became possible, the task of integration, to which rituals, myths, religion, assignment distribution, and leadership contributed, changed. not only did people involve more of their past in new practical experiences, but they also started to keep records and to measure the adequacy of effort, and thus the appropriateness of their own policies. attention to their past, present, and future also allowed them to become aware of the means that distinguished political practical experiences from all other experiences (magic, myth, religion). it was a difficult undertaking, especially under the provisions of centralized, syncretic authority. the natural, the magical, the religious, the logical, the economical, and the political mingled. the critical element proved to be represented by practical expectations. to implore unknown forces for rain, a successful hunt, or fertility was very different from articulating expectations related to what needs to be done to maintain the integrity of work and life. initially, these expectations were mixed. they progressively became more focused, and a sense of accountability, based on tangible results, embodied in comparisons, was introduced. while self-constitution is the projection of individual characteristics (biological, cultural) in a given practical experience, political practice is to a great extent a projection of expectations. at each juncture in humankind's practical experience, the previous expectation is carried over as new expectations appear. accordingly, it is expected that a political leader will embody, in fact or through the symbolism of authority, natural qualities, cognitive abilities, and communication skills (rhetoric included), among other attributes. when these expectations are embodied in specific functions (tribal chief, judge, army commander, elected legislator, or selected member of the executive body) and in political institutions, the projection is no longer that of individuals, but of the society committed to the goals and means expressed, to its acknowledged values. whether indeed each tribal leader was the fastest, or each judge the most impartial in ascertaining the damage done by a person who defied rules of life and work, whether the military leader was the bravest, or the legislator the wisest, became almost irrelevant after their political recognition. expectation overcame reality. this aspect becomes very significant in the context of literacy. moreover, it becomes critical in the transition from the pragmatics on which literacy is based to a pragmatic framework in respect to which literacy requirements only hinder. political institutions firmly grounded in the assumptions of literacy still debate whether tele-communting is acceptable, tele-commerce secure, or tele-banking in the national interest. while the debates are going on, these new practical experiences are taking hold in the global economy. networks, in full expansion, are altering the nature of human transactions to the extent that fewer and fewer people participate in elections because they know that the function of these elections-to present choice-is no longer politically relevant. there is a need to bring politics closer to individuals; and this need can be acknowledged only within structures of individual empowerment, as opposed to empty representation. political activity resulted in norms, institutions, values, and a consciousness of belonging to society. not by any stretch of the imagination is politics a harmonizing activity, because to live with others, to enter a contract and pursue one's individual goals within its limitations, means to accept a condition of a sui generis trade-off. political experiences involve, in various degrees, skills and knowledge for giving life and legitimacy to trade-offs. language is the blood that flows through the arteries of the political animal. when tamed by literacy, this language defines a very precise realm of political life. the heartbeat of the literate political animal corresponds to a rhythm of life and work controlled by literacy. the accelerated rhythm that became necessary under a new scale of experiences requires the liberation of political language from the control of literacy, and the participation of many languages in political experiences. it should come as no surprise that the expectation of language skills, even when language changes, in people involved in the practical experience of politics is carried over from one generation to another. regardless of the level of sophistication reached by a particular language, and of the specific form of political practice, effective use of powerful means of expression and communication is required. even when they did not know how to write, kings and emperors were regarded as being better writers than those who could. they would dictate to the scribe, who created the perception that they probably translated what higher authorities whispered into their ears. even when their rhetoric was weak, the masters of persuasion they used were seen as only agents of power. books were attributed to political leaders; victory in war was credited to them, as well as to military commanders. law codes were associated with their names, and even miracles, when politics joined the forces of magic and religion (often playing one against the other). all this and more represent the projection of expectations. the particular expectations of literacy confirm values associated with its characteristics. politics and the ideals embodied in the enlightenment-it carried into action political aspirations originating in religion-and the industrial revolution cannot be separated. expectations of permanency, universality, reason, democracy, and stability were all embodied in the political experience. new forms of political activism were encouraged by literacy and new institutions emerged. awareness of boundaries among cultures and languages increased. centralism was instituted, and hierarchies, some very subtle, others insidious, were promoted with the help of the very powerful instrument of language. within this context, the practical experience of politics established its own domain and its own criteria for effectiveness, very different from those in the ancient city-state or in the pragmatics of feudalism. identification of the professional politician, different from the heir to power, was part of this process. politics opened to the public and affirmed tolerance, respect for the individual, and equality of all people before the law. political functions were defined and political institutions formed. rules for their proper operation were encoded through literate means. the alliance between politics and literacy would eventually turn into an incestuous love, but before that happened, emancipation of human political experiences would reach a historic climax in the revolutions that took place during this time. to celebrate all these accomplishments, while remaining aware of the many shadows cast upon them by prejudices carried over from previous political experiences (in regard to sex, race, religion, ownership), was a task of monumental dimensions. we can and must acknowledge that human political experiences played a more important role than in previous social contexts in maximizing efficiency in the pragmatic framework that made literacy necessary. it was at this time that the role of education, and especially the significance of access to it, were politically defined and pursued according to the efficiency expectations that led to the industrial revolution. the process was far from being universal. the western part of the world took the lead. its political institutions encouraged investment, and education was such an investment. political institutions reflect the pragmatic condition of the citizen and, in turn, effect changes in the experience of people's life and work. while the word illiteracy probably first appeared print in in an english publication, in illiteracy in germany was only one per cent of the population: "heil dem könig, heil dem staat/ wo man gute schulen hat!" went the slogan hailing the king and state where good schools were the rule. this was the time when thomas alva edison invented the incandescent light bulb ( ); alexander graham bell, the telephone (patented in ); nicklaus otto, the four-stroke gas engine ( ); nikola tesla, the electric alternator ( ). nevertheless, before leo tolstoy wrote war and peace, he learned that only one per cent of all russians were literate. in many other parts of the world, the situation was not much better. in addition, this was also a time when literacy was literally an instrument of political discrimination. those not literate were looked down on, as were women (some held back from literacy and study), as were nations considered ignorant and of inferior morals (russia being one of them). reflected in the ability to dominate nature, the growth of science and the use of effective technological means influenced the political nature of states, as well as the relation among nations. rationality formed the foundation of legality; the state ascertained priority over individuals-a very direct reflection of its literate nature. rules were applied to everyone equally (which later translated into an effective "all are equal," quite different from the empty slogans of populist movements). the rationality in place derived from literacy. to be effective meant to dominate those who were less effective (citizens, communities, nations). far from being a historic account, these observations suggest that the literate political animal pursues political goals in line with the sequential nature of literacy in a context of centralized power, acknowledged hierarchies, and deterministic expectations. the political institution is a machine, one among many of the pragmatics of the industrial revolution. it did one thing at a time, and one part of the machine did not have to know what the other was doing. energy was used between input and output, and what resulted-political decisions, social policies, regulations-was mass production of whatever the society could negotiate: lubrication diminished friction. parties were formed, political programs articulated, and access to power opened to many. two premises were implicit in the literate discourse: people should be able to express opinions on issues of public interest; and they should be able to oversee the political process, assuming responsibility for the way they exercise their political rights. these two premises introduced an operational definition of democracy and freedom, eventually encoded in the doctrine of liberal democracy. they also confirmed the literate expectation that democracy and freedom, like literacy, are universal and eternal. the failure of literacy-based politics takes place on its own terms. dictatorships (left-wing and right-wing), nationalism, racism, colonialism, and the politics of disastrous wars and of the leveling of aspirations that leads to the mediocrity embodied in bureaucracy have brought the high hopes, raised during the climax of literate political action, to the low of indifference and cynicism we face in our day. instead of the people's broader participation in the political process, a hope raised by progress in making equality and freedom effectively possible, society faces the effects of the ubiquitous dedication to enjoyment in corrupted welfare states unable to meet the obligations they assumed, rightly or not. at times, it seems that the complexity of political experience prevents even the people's symbolic participation in government. volunteering and voting, a right for which people fought with a passion matched only by their current indifference, have lost their meaning. there is no proper feedback to reinforce the will and dedication to participate. it also seems that in advocating equality and freedom, a common denominator so low was established that politics can only administer mediocrity, but not stimulate excellence. from among all its functions, nationhood, as the embodiment of the experience of political self-constitution, seems to maintain only the function of redistribution. individual liberty, hard fought for under the many signs of literacy, appears to be conformistic at best, and opportunistic. to many citizens, it is questionable whether the lost sense of community is a fair trade-off for the acquired right to individualism. the hundreds of millions again and again seduced by the political discourse of hatred (in fascism, communism, nationalism, racism, fanaticism) wasted their hard-won rights in order to take away from others property, freedom of expression and religion, liberty, dignity, and eventually life. politics after auschwitz was not meant to become yet another instance of pettifogging. but it did, and we all are aware of the opportunistic appropriation of tragedy (hunger, oppression, disease, ecological disaster) in current political entertainment. the efficiency expected from political action under the assumptions of literacy is characteristic of the scale at which people constitute themselves. the nation is the world, or the only thing that counts in this world of opportunity and risk. the rest is, relatively speaking, superfluous. nations, even those that acknowledge the need to integrate, try to secure functioning as autonomous entities. national borders may be less guarded, but they are maintained as borders of literacy translated into economic opportunity. when the goal of autonomous existence is no longer attainable, expansion is the answer. ideological, racial, economic and other types of arguments are articulated in order to justify the extension of politics in the experience of battle. the two world wars brought literate politics to its climax, and the cold war (the first global battle) to its final crisis, but not yet to its end, even though the enemy vanished like a humorless ghost. a closer look at the systematic aspects of the political experience of human self- constitution should prepare us for approaching the current political condition. this should at least provide elements for understanding all those accumulated expectations that people have with respect to politics, politicians, and the institutions through which political goals are pursued. political goals are always practical goals, regardless of the language in which they are expressed or the rituals attached. as recurrent patterns of human relationships, political experiences appear to have a life of their own. this creates the impression that agreements dictated by practical reasons originate outside the experience, at the initiative of politicians, due to a certain event, or as the result of random choice. political tongues language is the instrument through which political practical experience takes place. to reconstitute past succeeding political experiences therefore means to reconstitute their language(s). the task is overwhelming because politics is mingled with every aspect of human life: work, property, family, sex, religion, education, ethics, and art. it is present even in the interrelations of these aspects because politics is also self-reflective. that is, the identity of one entity is related to the identity of others in relation to which self-identification takes place. the variety of political experiences corresponds to the variety of pragmatic circumstances within which humans project their identity. individual existence resulting from interaction with others extends to the realm of politics and is embodied in the recurrent patterns that make up expectations, goals, institutions, norms, conflicts, and power relations. the individual is concealed in all these. in some ways, politics is a social-educational practice resulting in the integration of instinctive actions (a-political) and learned modes of practice with social impact. what constitutes politics is the dynamics of relations as they become possible and as they unfold as openings towards new relations. one of the concrete forms of such relations is the propensity to coalition building. politics is contingent upon subjects interacting. their past (ontogeny) and present (pragmatics) are involved in these interactions. to a certain extent, it is a learned form of practice requiring means for interaction, among which language has been the most important. it is also a practice of investigation, discovery, and social testing. the manifold of political languages corresponds to the manifold of practical experiences. there are probably as many political tongues as there are circumstances of self-identification within a society. but against the background of this variety is the expectation that word and deed coincide, or at least that they do not stray too far from each other. the advent of writing changed politics because it attached written testimony to it, which became a referential element. as socrates and plato noticed, this was a blessing in disguise. since the time writing entered the political sphere, the practical argument shifted from the fact, argued and eventually settled, to the record. it became itself a practical experience of records (of property, law, order, agreements, negotiations, and allocations for the good of society). the institutions that emerged after the practical experience of writing operated within the structure of and in accordance with the expectations brought about by writing. and soon, as relative as soon can be, political self-consciousness was established parallel to political action and pursued as yet another practical experience. the many languages of political experience multiply once more in the new languages of political awareness. where values were the final goal of politics, the value of the political experience itself became a subject of concern. many political projects were pursued at this self-reflective level: conceiving new forms of human cooperation and political organization, advancement of ideas concerning education, prejudices, emancipation, and law. this explains, too, why in the sequence of political practical experiences, expectations did not nullify each other. they accumulated as an expression of an ideal, forever moving away from the last goal attained. without a good understanding of the process, nobody could account for the inner dynamics of political change. the same applies to accounting for the role played by political leaders, philosophers, and political organizations involved, by virtue of their own goals and functions, in political life. politics in the civilization of illiteracy is not politics out of the blue sky. along the continuum of political practical experiences, it entails expectations generated under different pragmatic circumstances. and it faces challenges-the major challenge being the efficiency expected in the new scale of human experience-for which its traditional means and its inherited structure are simply not adequate. political discontinuity is always more difficult to accept, even understand. revolutions are celebrated only after they take place, and especially after they successfully establish a semblance of stability. can literacy lead politics to failure? in our time, much is said regarding the perception that the language of politics and the political practice it seems to coordinate are very far apart. people's mistrust of politics appears to reach new heights. the role and importance of political leaders and institutions apparently have changed. the most able are not necessarily involved in politics. their self-constitution takes place in practical experiences more rewarding and more challenging than political activism. political institutions no longer represent the participants in the political contract, but pursue their own goals, survival included. law takes on a life of its own, more concerned, so the public perceives, with protecting the criminal, in the name of preserving civil rights, than upholding justice. taxes support extravagant governments and forms of social redistribution of wealth, more often reflecting a guilt complex over past inequities than authentic social solidarity. instead of promoting meaningful human relationships and addressing the future, they keep fixing the past. everyone complains, probably a phenomenon as old as any relation among people involved in a sui generis give-and-take interaction. but fewer and fewer are willing to do something because individual participation and effort appear useless in the given political structure. the majority of people look back to some prior political experience and interpret the past in the light of books they have read. they fail to realize that the complexity of today's human experience cannot be met by yesterday's solutions. they are convinced that if we are faithful to our political heritage, all problems, credibility and corruption included, will be solved. they also believe religious systems and their great books contain all that is needed to meet all imaginable present and future challenges. even the very honorable conviction that the founders of modern democracies prepared citizens to cope with this unprecedented present cannot go unchallenged. the constitution of the united states ( ) as well as the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen in france ( ) reflect the thinking and the prose of the civilization of literacy. similar documents are on record in latin america, europe, india, and japan. they are as useless as history can be when new circumstances of human self- constitution are totally different from the experiences that gave birth to these documents. revisionism will not do. the new context requires not a static collection of admirable principles, but dynamic political structures and procedures of the same nature as the pragmatics of shorter cycles of change, non-determinism, high efficiency, decentralization, and non-hierarchical modes of operation. as the world reinvents itself as interwoven, it breaks loose from prescriptions of local significance and traditional import. although the number of emerging nations has increased-and nobody knows how many more will emerge-we know of no political documents similar to those articulated in , , , or even . nothing comparable to the declaration of independence, the declaration of the rights of man and citizen, even the communist manifesto (no matter how discredited it is at present), whether in substance or style, has accompanied current political movements. the reason why no such document can emerge can be connected to the inadequacies of literacy-based politics. this civilization is no longer one of ideas, religious or secular. it is characterized by processes, methodologies, and inventions expressed in various sign systems that have a dynamics different from that of language and literacy. the ideas of the civilization of literacy address the mind, soul, and spirit. the most one can expect in our time of upheaval and change are provisions for establishing conditions for unhampered human interactions in the market and in other domains of human self-constitution (religion, education, family). steady globalization means that the health of national economies, education, sports, or art matters just as little as national borders and the theatrics of diplomacy and international relations. one can hear dostoyevsky's prophetic line: "if it's otherwise not possible, make us your servants, but make us full." it hurts to repeat it, but it will hurt more to ignore it at a time when nothing grows faster than the urge of millions of people to emigrate to any developed country willing to take them, even as second-class citizens, so long as they escape their current abysmal condition. the dynamics of change in the world is characterized by the acknowledged need of many countries to be integrated in the global economy while preserving or requiring a token of national identity. state sovereignty is self-delusive in the context of commercial, financial, or industrial autonomy that is impossible to achieve. self- determination, always to the detriment of some other ethnic group, echoes those tribal instincts that make the ideal of constitutional government an exercise in futility. the underlying structure of literacy is reflected in national movements and their dualistic system of values. the logic of the good and the bad, more difficult to define in a context of vagueness, but still pursued blindly, controls the way coalitions are established, migration of populations is handled, and national interests defended, while these very nations argue for integration and free market. nevertheless, the language of today's politics is, in the final analysis, shaped by the pragmatic framework. its sentences are written in the language of ledgers; the freedom it purports to establish is that of commercial democracy, of equal access to consumption, which happens to be the main political achievement of recent history. the fact that the nations forming the european community gave up sovereignty with respect to the market proves the point. that they still preserve diplomatic representation, defense functions, and immigration policies only attests to the conflict between the politics of the civilization of literacy and the politics of the civilization of illiteracy. the great documents of the literate past perpetuate the rhetoric of the time of their writing. all the structural characteristics of literacy, valid for the pragmatic framework that justifies them, deeply mark the letter and spirit of these documents. they ascertain politics as sequential, linear, and deterministic. they rejoice in promulgating ideals that correspond to the scale of humankind in which they guarantee the means that result in the efficiency of industrial and productive society. liberté, egalité, fraternité are shorthand for rights of conscience, ownership, and individual legal status. they are an expression of accepted hierarchy and centralism to the degree that these could be rendered relative as need required. expectations of permanency and universality were carried over from earlier political experiences, or from religion, even though separation of church and state was emphatically proclaimed during the french revolution, and in revolutions that took place afterwards. amendments required by altered circumstances of human self-constitution in practical experiences not anticipated in the documents render their spirit relative and solve some of the problems caused by the limitations mentioned. political documents, such as the ones mentioned above, are still perceived as sacrosanct, regardless of their obvious inadequacy in the pragmatic context of the civilization of illiteracy. it is one thing to establish the sanctity of property in a framework of agricultural praxis, whose politics was inspired by a shared expectation of cycles parallel to natural cycles. jefferson envisioned the land as a vast agrarian state. "we are a people of farmers. those who work the fields are the chosen people of god, if he had a chosen people. in their heart he planted the real virtue." it is quite another thing to live in a pragmatic context of new forms of property, some reflecting a notion of sequential accumulation, others an experience of work with machines, of humans seen as commodity. it is a new reality to live in today's integrated world of property as elusive as new designs, software, information, and ways to process it. to apply to this context political principles inspired by a movement that sought independence from england while using slaves brought from africa is questionable, at least. equality of natural rights, deriving from nature-based cycles, is quite different from equality of political rights and responsibilities deriving from a machine-inspired model for progress. both of these sources are different from the political status of people involved in a pragmatics of global networking and extreme task distribution. one can cautiously make the case that the major political documents of the past were conceived in reaction to an intolerable state of affairs and events, not proactively, in anticipation of new situations and expectations. these documents are the expression of the need to unify, homogenize, and integrate forces in a world of relatively autonomous entities-national states-competing more for resources and productive forces than for markets. the values reflected therein correspond to the values on which literacy is founded and for which literacy-inspired ideologies fought. but maybe these political documents are exemplary in another way, let's say as an expression of moral standards that we apparently lost in the course of years; or of cultural standards for both society and politicians, standards that can only rarely be acknowledged today, if at all. if this is the case, which is difficult to prove, what this seems to suggest is that the price paid for higher political efficiency is the lost ethics of politics, or its current deplorable intellectual condition. the lack of correlation between political practice and language results from the pragmatic context reflected in the condition of language itself. while in real life, many literacies are at work, literacy (with a capital l) still dominates the structure of politics. its rules are applied to forms of human interaction and evaluation that are not reducible to self-constitution in language. political activity by and large follows patterns characteristic of the civilization of literacy, despite its own indulgence in non-linguistic semioses: the use of images, film, and video, or the adoption of new networking technologies focused on information exchange. former expectations that politicians adhere to standards of the civilization of literacy are carried over in new political and practical experiences. the expectation that their literacy should match that of political documents belonging to the political tradition (the constitution of the united states of america, for instance) is paradoxical, though, since the majority of americans cannot recall what these political documents state. and they see no reason to find out. their own practical experience takes place in domains for which the past is of little consequence to their well-being. as things stand now, the political principles required by the dynamics of industrial society are embodied in institutions and laws dedicated to their own preservation. free of concern for their own freedom, politically rooted in a prior pragmatic framework, citizens take freedom for granted in their new practical experiences and end up evading the associated civic responsibility. they expect their politicians to be literate for them. we deal here with a strange mixture of assumptions: on the one hand, a notion of political life corresponding to a context of homogeneity and a deterministic view of the social world; on the other, a realization that today's world requires specialized political practical experience, means and methods characteristic of heterogeneous and non-deterministic political processes. the simmering conflict is met with the type of thinking that will not solve the problem because it is the problem. the coordination of political action through literacy-based language and methods and the dynamics of a new political practice, based on the characteristics of the civilization of illiteracy, simply diverge. as in many other domains of literate condition, it is as though institutions, norms, and regulations take on lives of their own, as literate language does, perpetuating their own values and expectations. they develop as networks of interaction with an autonomous dynamics, uncoupled from the dynamics of political life, even from the new pragmatic context. the tremendous amount of written language (speeches, articles, forms, contracts, regulations, laws, treatises) stands in contrast to the very fast changes that make almost every political text superfluous even before it is cast in the fast eroding medium of print or in the elusive bits and bytes of electronic processing. many economies have undergone, or realize they must undergo, profound restructuring. massive down-sizing, paralleled by flatter hierarchies and smoother quality control, have affected economic performance. but very little of this has touched the sacrosanct centralized state institutions. in the usa alone, departments, federal agencies employing more than . million civilians and . million military personnel account for $ . trillion in yearly expenditure. if the economy were as inefficient as political activity is, we would face a crisis of global proportion and consequences that are impossible to anticipate. this is why today, some citizens would write a declaration of independence that begins with the following line: "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore." but this would not mean that they would vote. when five times more people watch married with children than vote in primaries, one understands that the morality and intellectual quality of the politician and citizen correspond closely. cynical or not, this observation simply states that in the civilization of illiteracy, political action and criteria for evaluating politics do not follow the patterns of political practical experiences peculiar to the civilization of literacy. multiplied to infinity, choices no longer undergird values, but options that are equally mediocre. the issue of literacy from the perspective of politics is the issue of the means through which political practice takes place. a democracy resting solely upon the contribution to political life in and through literate language is at the same time captive to language. the experience of language resulted from developments not necessarily democratic in nature. embedded in literacy, past practical experiences pertinent to a pragmatic context appropriate to a different scale of humankind are often an obstacle to new experiences. so are our distinctions of sex, race, social status, space, time, religion, art, and sport. once in language, such distinctions simply live off the body of any new design for political action. language is not politically neutral, and even less so is the literate practice of language. various minority groups made a very valid point in stating this. power relations, established in political practice, often become relations in the literate use of language and of other means, as long as they are used according to literacy expectations. it is not that literacy prevents change; literacy allows for change within the systematic domain of practices relying on the literate practical experiences of language. but when literacy itself is challenged, as it is more and more in our day, it ends up opposing change. discrepancies between the language and actions of politics, politicians, and political institutions and programs result from the conflict between the horizon of literacy and the dynamics for which the literate use of language is ill equipped. if the formula deterioration of moral standards corresponds to the failure of politics to meet its constituency's expectations, the most pessimistic views about the future would be justified, because politicians are not better or worse than their constituency. but as with everything else in the new pragmatic context, it is no longer individual performance that ensures the success or failure of an activity. integrating procedures ascertain a different form of cooperation and competition. such processes are made possible by means characteristic of high efficiency pragmatics, that is, task distribution, parallelism and reciprocal testing, cooperation through networking, and automated procedures for planning and management. they are meaningful only in conjunction with motivations characteristic of this age. if, on the other hand, the romantic notion that the best become leaders were true of today's political experience, we would have cause to wonder at our own stupidity. in fact, it does not matter which person leads. political processes are so complex that the industrial model of successful stewardship no longer makes sense. political life in society does not depend on political competence, people's generosity, or self-motivation that escapes institutional, religious, or ideological coercion. the degree of efficiency, along with the right ascribed to people to partake in affluence, speaks in favor of political experiences driven by pragmatic forces. such forces are at work locally and make sense only within a context of direct effectiveness. but short of taking these forces for granted, we cannot escape the need to understand how they work and how their course can be controlled. crabs learned how to whistle some of today's political systems are identified as democracies, and others claim to be. some are identified as dictatorships of some sort, which almost none would accept as a qualifier. but no matter which label is applied, there is an obsession with literacy in all these systems. "we need literacy for democracy to survive," says the literacy special interest group. but how do dictatorships come about in literate populations? the biggest dictatorship (the soviet block) was proud of its high literacy rate, acknowledged by the western world as an accomplishment impossible to overlook. it fell because the underlying structural characteristics reflected in literacy collided with other requirements, mainly pragmatic. an empire, the fourth in the modern historic succession that started with the turkish empire and continued with the austro-hungarian and british empires, crumbled. what makes the fall of the soviet empire significant is its own underlying structure. the former members of comecon, those east european countries that, along with the soviet union, once formed the communist block, represent a good case study for the forces involved in the dynamics of illiteracy. while writing this book, i benefited from an experiment probably impossible to duplicate. a rigid structure of human activity, basically captive to a slightly amended paradigm of the industrial revolution, hailing itself as the workers' paradise, and laboring under the illusion of messianic collectivism, maintained literacy as its cultural foundation. even the harshest and blindest critics of the system had to agree that if anything of historic significance could be attributed to communism, it was its literacy program. large segments of the population, illiterate prior to communism, were taught to read and write. the school system, deficient in many ways, provided free and obligatory education, much better than its free medical system. this effort at education was intended to prepare the new generations for productive tasks, but also to subject each person to a program of indoctrination channeled through the powerful medium of literacy. questioned about his own ideas for the reform of the orthodox communist system, nikita kruschchev, the maverick leader of the post-stalin era, declared: "he who believes that we will give up the teachings of marx, engels, and lenin deludes himself tremendously. those who are waiting for this to happen will have to wait until crabs learn how to whistle." when, throughout russia, statues of lenin started falling and marx's name became synonymous with the failure of communism, people probably started hearing strange sounds from crustaceans. the abrupt and unexpected failure of the communist system-an event hailed as victory in a war as cold as the market can be-makes for unexpected proof of this book's major thesis. the breakdown of the soviet system can be seen as the failure of a structure that kept literacy as its major educational and instrumental medium, and relied on it for the dissemination of its ideological goals inside and outside the block. literacy, as such, did not fail, but the structures that literacy entails: limited efficiency, sequential practical experiences of human self-constitution in a hierarchic and centralized economy; deterministic (thus implicitly dualistic) working relations, a level of efficiency based on the industrial model of labor division, mediation subjected to central planning without choice as to the mediating elements; opaqueness expressed in an obsession with secrecy, and last but not least, failure to acknowledge the new scale of humankind-in short, a pragmatic framework whose characteristics are reflected in literacy-all led to the final result. indeed, the system acted to counter integration and globality. it maintained rigid national and political boundaries under the false assumption that insularity would allow a controlled and orderly exchange of goods and ideas, perpetuation and dissemination of an ideology of proletarian dictatorship, and eventually coexistence with the rest of the world under the assumption of its progressive conversion to communist values. in the doctrine of marx and engels, the proletariat appears endowed with all the qualities associated with divinity in the prototypic book (the old testament): omniscience, omnipotence, and right almost all the time. there is a self-creative moment in the historic process they described, resulting from political activism and commitment to change in the world. no one should lightly discard the utopian core or the ideal embodied in the doctrine. after all, nobody could argue against a world of freedom where each person participates with the best one has to offer, and is rewarded with everything one needs. free education, free medical care, access to art and liberty in a context of limitless unfolding of talent and harmony with nature, of shared wealth and emancipation from all prejudices-all this is paradise on earth (minus religion). it should be pointed out that, within the system, the entire practical human experience related to literacy-and the accomplishments listed above are literacy- based-was subsidized. in no other part of the world, and under no other regime, were so many people subjected to literacy. that the system failed should not lead anyone to ignore some of the achievements of the people regimented under a flag they did not care for: fascinating art, interesting poetry and music, the massive collection and preservation of folklore, spectacular mathematics, physics, and chemistry arose from beneath terror and censorship. to survive as an artist, writer, or scientist meant to force creativity where almost no room for it was left. under no other regime on earth did people read so much, listen to music more intensely, visit museums with more passion, and care for each other as family, friends, or as human beings, episodes of brutality notwithstanding. it is too simplistic to accept the line that people read more in east europe and the soviet union because they had nothing else to do. the pragmatic framework was set up under the assumption of permanence, stability, centrality, and universality founded on literacy. it goes without saying that the misuse of language (in political discourse and in social life) played its role in the quasi-unanimous silent rejection of the system, even more in silent, cowardly complicity with it. when the literate machine of spying on the individual fell apart, people saw themselves in the merciless mirror of opportunistic self- betrayal. the records will stand as a testimony that writing does not lead only to solzhenitsyn's novels, yevtushenko's poetry, shoshtakovich's music, and the romantic samizdat, but also to putrid words about others, kin included. the opaqueness of literacy partially explains why this is possible. something other than the opaqueness granted by literacy (i.e., complicity established in society) explains how it became a necessary aspect of that society. germans were not better, exceptions granted, than their fascist leaders; the peoples in the soviet block were not better, exceptions granted again, than the leaders they accepted for such a long time. but what went relatively unnoticed by experts in east european and soviet studies, as well as by governments fighting the cold war, is the dynamics of change. the system was economically broke, but still militarily viable (though overrated) and over-engaged in security activities-tight control of the population, economic and political espionage, active attempts to export its ideology. the structure within which people were to realize their potential-one of the ideals of communism-had few incentives. but all this, despite the impact of the yet unfinished revolution, is only the tip of the iceberg, the visible side when one looks from the riverbank of the free world where incentives lead to self-sufficiency and complacency. the major aspect is that the dynamics of the system was severely affected by artificially maintaining a pragmatic framework and a system of values not suited to change. this applies especially to the major shift-from the industrial model to post-industrial society, to a context of practical experiences of human self-constitution freed from the restrictions carried over from the politics of mind and body control-experienced by the rest of the western world. levels of expectation beyond the satisfaction of immediate needs (food, clothing, shelter), and of literacy-associated expectations (education, access to art and literature, travel), could not be satisfied unless and until levels of efficiency impossible to reach in the pragmatic context of industrial societies were made possible by a new pragmatics. despite the fact that more writers, more publishing houses, more libraries, as well as more artists, theaters, opera houses, symphonic orchestras, research institutes, and more museums than in the rest of the world were politically and economically supported in the eastern block (almost to the extent that the secret police was), activities related to literacy had only a short-term impact on the individuals subjected to or taking advantage of them. this was proven dramatically by the proliferation of commercially motivated newspapers and publications (pornography among them) following the breakdown of the power structure in various countries of the block, and followed by an even faster focus on entertainment television and obsession with consumption. the main events leading to the breakdown-each country had its own drama, once the major puppeteer was caught off-guard by events in the soviet union-took place with the nation staring at the tv screens, seduced by the dynamics of the live transmission for which literacy and prior literate use of the medium were never well equipped. the live drama of the hunt for ceausescu in romania, the climax of the fall of the berlin wall, the events in prague, sofia, and tirana continued the spirit of the polish tele-drama in the shipyards. it then took another turn, during the attempted coup in the soviet union, practically denying the literate media any role but that of late chroniclers. the initial lessons in democracy took place via videotape. various networks, from wtn (world-wide television news) to cnn, but primarily the backward technology of the fax machine, which absorbed essential literacy into a focused distribution of individual messages, provided the rest. as primitive as digital networks were, and still are in that part of the world, they played an important role. not political manifestos or sophisticated ideological documents were disseminated, but images, diagrams, and live sequences. in the meanwhile, entertainment took over almost all available bandwidth. what the rest of the world consumed in the last fifteen years (along with fashion, fast food chains, soft drinks, and consumer electronics) penetrated the lives of those whose revolt took place under the banner of the right to consume. here, as in the rest of the world, the spiritual and the political split for good. the spiritual gets alimony; the political becomes the executor of the trust. what failed the system was the lack of understanding of all the factors leading to new productive experiences: the framework for optimal interaction of people, circumstances of progressive mediation and further specialized human self-constitution, a practical context of networking and coordination based on individual freedom and constraints assumed by individuals as they define their expectations. parallel to the literate structure of a politics that failed is the experience of churches in the soviet block. in a show of defiance towards the political dictatorship, people attended church, itself a mainstay of literate praxis (independent of the book or books they adopt for their basic program). once religion was able to assert its literate characteristics through the imposition of constraints-so like those of the political system just overthrown- churches began to experience the low attendance that the rest of the world is already familiar with. no matter how much more quickly events take place in our age, it is probably still too early to understand all the implications of the major political event represented by the fall of the soviet empire. for instance, in a context of global economy, how can one correctly evaluate the emergence of new national states and forceful national movements when the post-national state and the trans-national world are already a reality? the question is political in nature. its focus is on identity. identity reflects all the relations through which people constituted themselves as part of a larger entity-tribe, city, region, nation-defined by biological and cultural characteristics, shared values, religion, a sense of common space and time, and a sense of future. a world of worlds "we have made italy, now we have to make italians," declared massimo d'azeglio during the first meeting of the italian parliament. a little over years old, the nation-state was the most tangible product of the political practical experience in the pragmatic context whose underlying structure is so well reflected in literacy. together with the nation-state, the modern notion of nationality was defined and became a major force of political life. as part of the political consciousness in the age of industrial production, national consciousness played a very precise role, ultimately expressed in all forms of nationalism. it unified all those whose similarities in biological characteristics, language, lore, and practical experiences were constituted in a framework of shared resources and political goals. germany came into existence through a unifying language (hoch deutsch) and was consolidated through its literacy. italy went through a similar process. in other instances, nations were born as a result of voluntary political acts: the united states, the nations declared independent after the fall of the soviet union, croatia, macedonia, some of the arab countries, and a number of african nation-states, once colonial powers could no longer afford to resist the force of change. as with everything pertaining to politics, national politics entails expectations corresponding to past phases (the basic passions that once made up tribal solidarity), to instances of human interaction well overhauled by the new realities of the integrated world. what, if any, explanation can one find in the dissolution of yugoslavia? against the background of conflict in bosnia-herzegovina, this question has divided many well intentioned intellectuals (not only in france) inclined to solve an absurd situation of genocide. intellectuals questioned what appeared to be irreducible religious contradictions between catholic and orthodox christians, or between christians and moslems. the old conflict between the pro-fascist croatian ustash and the serbian chetniks dedicated to the vain goal of a greater serbia was also on their minds. they also wondered what the chances of the new nation-states of estonia, lithuania, and latvia, and many of the autonomous regions and republics of the former soviet union were. how will the commonwealth of independent states function once goals and purposes of nation-states take over those assumed in a nebulously defined commonwealth? and how can one explain the enormous discrepancy between the attempt to constitute a broad european community (actually, the united markets of europe), while other parts of europe break into small nation-states? how much of the underlying tribalism, or provincialism, or religious adherence, or how much of the functions of literacy at work can be read in the political fervor of nationalistic activism of our day? one answer, no matter how encouraging, cannot address a full paragraph of questions. these questions suggest that the politics of nations is so multifaceted that understanding it requires not so much rehashing the past but focusing on the broad picture of its dynamics. between the old city-state, the early empire (roman, byzantine), the medieval world of local attachments (pertaining to shared space used mainly for agriculture, and under the firm grip of the papacy), and today's world of mass immigration and human displacement (for political, economic, religious, or psychological reasons), we find inserted the settled universe of nation-states and their respective literacies. in this universe, literacy and religion undergird the legal system. politics defines national identity, subsuming language, ethnicity, ways of working, culture, superstitions, prejudice, art, and science. within the nation-state's borders, citizens are subjected to a political practical experience of homogeneity, centralism, and uniformity, required by the efficiency expectations of the industrial revolution. the ideal of cosmopolis, the all- embracing empire of reason declared by the stoics, runs counter to the ideal of the nation-state, which celebrates national reason and willingness to compete with others. when the pragmatic circumstances leading to today's global economy started exercising their action, an all-embracing empire of a different nature resulted. the new statement says that christians, moslems, jews, buddhists, animists, even atheists, although bearing a national identity, are part of the global economy. not surprisingly, political action and economic integration each run its own course. commerce, with all its imbalances and unfairness, the almost uncontrollable financial dynamics, and migration of industries take more and more frequently what appears as the necessary path of globality. politics, even when it acknowledges globality, focuses on national definitions. to an outside observer, a nation's politics appears insignificant, powerless in comparison to economic forces, although it claims to control these forces through monetary policies, labor laws, and trade regulations. the trans-national world has its own impetus. it continues to evade political constraints, ascertaining its own life. it was described from the perspective of its financial and economic condition as the borderless world (the title of kenichi ohmae's book), within which nationality counts only marginally. this is yet another reason for the low interest in public life on the part of the wealthy in our days. when the new southern republics freed by the breakdown of the soviet union debate which form of writing they should adopt-arabic, cyrillic, or roman-and how to define their respective nations, they still look for national identifiers. turkmanis and uzbekistanis, latvians and estonians, ukrainians and georgians, hungarians and romanians, and enterprising poles comb their territories in search of business opportunities. the same takes place in many other countries, whose citizens are obsessed more with prosperity than with sovereignty, with access to financial means more than with self-determination, and with cooperative effort, even involving traditional enemies, more than with a constitutional foundation or universal protection of human rights. interestingly enough, while national identity is more and more superseded by people's a-nationality, many new countries, emerging as a result of the asserted right to self-determination, face as their first task not the future but the past: definition of their national identity. nevertheless, the civilization of illiteracy does not promise that italians can be made for all these new countries. rather, these nations will become, in not necessarily satisfying ways, a-nationals, citizens of the world economy. many of them will make up the new immigrant populations settled in ethnic neighborhoods where access to consumption will arouse a nostalgia for some remote homeland. no one can or should generalize. many prejudices still heat the furnaces of hatred and intolerance. enough citadels from the past pragmatic framework maintain hopes for expansion and cultivate a politics appropriate to ages long passed. but regardless of such unsettling developments, the nation-state enters an age of denationalization, absorbed into a world of economic globality, less and less dependent on the individual and thus less and less subject to political dogma. of tribal chiefs, kings, and presidents changes in the condition of human practical experiences effect changes in the self-identification of the individual and of groups of people. emphasis is less and less on nature and shared living space, and more on connections free of arbitrary borders, even of elements pertaining to culture and history. new political experiences, still subjected to expectations carried over from the past, do not actually continue the past. accordingly, the nature of political experiences changes. assumptions regarding leadership, organization, planning, and legality are redefined. tribal chiefs might well have turned, through the centuries, into the kings of the middle ages, and, with the advent of a new society, into presidents. there is, nevertheless, no reason to believe that in a universe of distributed tasks and massive parallelism, a need for political centralism and hierarchy will remain. the president, for instance, is the king of the civilization of literacy; and his wife becomes the queen, in defiance of all the literate documents that justify presidency. executive power, in conjunction with the legislative and judicial branches, implements ideals of liberal political democracy as these became essential to the pragmatics of industrial society. but once new circumstances emerge, the underlying structure reflected in the power structure undergoes change as well. in the spirit of the dynamics of change, one should notice that, in a framework of non-hierarchic structures, there is no legitimate need for the presidency. theoretic arguments, no matter how rigorous, are after all irrelevant if not based on related facts. new circumstances already made the function of president strictly ceremonial in many countries. in other countries, a president's ability to exercise power is impeded by laws that make this power irrelevant. economic cycles, affecting integrated economies, turn even the most visionary heads of states (when they happen to be visionary) into witnesses to events beyond their control. politics does not happen at levels so remote from the individual that individuals disconnect themselves from the political ceremonial. it happens closer and closer to where ideals and interest crystallize in the form of new human interactions. who would represent the country if the function of head of state were abolished? how can a country have a consistent political system? who would be responsible for implementing laws? such questions originate, without exception, within literacy's system of expectations. the extreme decentralization that is made possible by the new means of the civilization of illiteracy requires, and indeed stimulates, different political structures. instead of the self-delusion and demagoguery triggered by an idealized image of the politically concerned citizen, we should see the reality of citizens pursuing goals that integrate political elements. literacy resulted in a politics of representation that ended up in effectively excluding the citizen from political decision-making. rationalized in the structures of democracy, political ideals are now a matter of efficient human interaction. a president's performance is totally irrelevant to the exchange of information on networks of human cooperative effort. agreements relevant to the people involved, executed in view of reciprocal needs and future developments, result more and more outside political institutions, for reasons having little to do with them. the majority of political functions, as they apply to presidents, congresses, or other political institutions, still originate in forms characteristic of past political experiences. they are based on allegiances and commitments contradicted by the pragmatics of today's world. the fact that heads of states are also heads of the military (commander-in-chief) comes from the time when the strongest man became the leader. but in the modern world of growing emancipation, women are valid candidates as heads-of-state all over the world. however, sexual bias has kept women from gaining the military competence that a commander-in-chief is expected to have. another example: what is the reason for a president to be at the funeral of a deceased head-of- state? blood ties used to bond kings and nobility more strongly than political arguments, long before fast transportation could carry a monarch to the deceased in less time than it took for decay to set in. a farewell wished today at the funeral of a japanese emperor, a moslem ruler, or an atheistic president belongs to the spectacle of politics, not to its substance. the expensive, and delusive, literate performance of state funerals, oath-taking, inauguration, parades, and state visits is more often than not an exercise in hypocrisy. these spectacles please only through their cynical pandering to the people's desire for circus. pragmatically relevant commitments are no longer the privilege of state bureaucracies. when the historic necessity of states winds up to be no more than the expression of remote tribal instincts, the literate institution of state becomes superfluous. political idolatry, commercial nationalism, and ethnic vanity affect politics at many levels. nationalism, emerging as a form of collective pride and psychological compensation for repressed instincts, celebrates gold medals at olympic games, the number of nobel prize laureates, and achievements in the arts and sciences with a fervor worth a better cause. borders of pride and prejudice are maintained even where they have de facto ceased to exist. no scientist who achieved results in his or her field worked in isolation from colleagues living all over the world. the internet supports the integration of creative effort and ideas, beyond borders and beyond national fixations, often expressed as military priorities rather than as cooperation and integration. art is internationally nurtured and exchanged. rhetoric and politics political programs, very much like hamburgers, cars, alcohol, sports events, artworks, and financial services, are marketed. success in politics is valued in market terms rather than in the increasingly elusive political impact. the expression "people vote their pocketbooks" bluntly expresses this fact. but are they voting? poll after poll reveals that they are not. illiterates used to be excluded from voting, along with women, blacks in america and south africa, and foreigners in a large number of european countries. in an ideal world, the best qualified would compete for a political position, all would vote, and the result would make everyone happy. how would such an ideal world function? words would correspond to facts. the reward of political practical experience would be the experience itself, satisfying the need to best serve others, and thus oneself as a member of the larger social family. this is a utopian world of perfect citizens whose reason, expressed in the language of literacy, i.e., made available to everyone and implicitly guaranteed to be a permanent medium for interaction, is the guardian of politics. we see here how authority, of the thinking human being, is established and almost automatically equated with freedom. indeed, the doctrine of individual conformity to rational necessity was expressed in many pragmatic contexts, but never as forcefully as in the context that appropriated literacy as one of its guiding forces. in the horizon of literacy, the expectation is that the experience of self- constitution as literate makes people submit their own nature to the rationale of literacy and thereby find fulfillment. in short, the belief that to be literate makes one respect his word, respect others, understand political expectations, and articulate one's ideas is more of an illusion. moreover, if political action could result in having everyone accept the values of literacy and embody them as their second nature, conflicts would vanish, people would all share in wealth and, moreover, would be able to abide by the standards of democracy. it even follows that the literate need to feel the obligation of inculcating literacy in others, thus creating the possibility of changing patterns of human experiences so that they reflect the demands of reason associated with literacy. isaiah berlin, among others, noted that the belief in a single encompassing answer to all social questions is indefensible. rather, conflict is an overriding feature of the human condition. this conflict develops between the propensity to diversity (all the ends pursued) and the almost irrational expectation that there is one answer-a good way of life-worth pursuing and which can be attained if the political animal acknowledges the primacy of reason over passion, and freely chooses conformity to widely shared values over chaotic individualism. under the pragmatic circumstances of the civilization of illiteracy, the literate expectation of unanimous or even majority vote is less than significant. voting results are as good an indicator of a society's condition as seismographs are of the danger of an earthquake. on election days, the results are known after the first representative sample makes it through the voting mechanism. actually, the results are already at hand days before the election takes place. the means within our reach are such that it would suffice to commit a short interval of telephone time so that people who want to vote-and who know why they vote- can, and without having to go our of their way. any other connection, such as the generalized cable infrastructure, connected to a central data processing unit outfitted for the event, would do as well. such a strategy would answer only one part of the question: making it easy for people to vote. the second part regards what they are asked to vote for. the political process is removed from the exciting practice of offering authentic choice. literacy-based political action is opaque, almost inscrutable. accordingly, the citizen has no motivation for commitment and no need to express it through voting. there is a third part: the assumption that voting is a form of particpating in the power of democracy. no one aware of the dynamics of work and life today can equate the notion of majority with democracy. more often than not, efficiency is achieved through procedures of exception. under the circumstances of a global economy of fast change and parallel practical experiences, no president of a country, no matter how powerful, and no central political power can effectively influence events significant to the citizen. the civilization of illiteracy requires alternatives to centralism, hierarchy, sequentiality, and determinism in politics. it especially entails alternatives to dualism, whether embodied in the two- party system, the legislative and executive opposition, and lawfulness vs. illegality, for example. this implies a broad distribution of political tasks, in conjunction with a politics that takes advantage of parallel modes of activism, networking, open-ended policies, and self-determination at meaningful levels of political life. political fear of vagueness can only be compared to the fear of a vacuum that once upon a time branded physics and political doctrines. faster rhythms of existence and the acknowledged need to adapt to circumstances of action never before experienced-scale of politics, globality, scale of humankind-speak against many of the literate expectations of politics as a stabilizing form of human practice. politics, if true to its call, should contribute to speeding up processes and creating circumstances for better negotiations among people who have lost their sense of political adherence, or even lost their faith in law and order. in this global world, where scale is of major importance, politics is supposed to mediate among the many levels at which people involved in parallel, extremely distributed activities, partake in globality. apportionment of goods, as much as the apportionment of rights pertaining to creative aspects of human practical experiences, on a scheme similar to auctioning, follow the dynamics of the market more closely than rigid regulations. awareness of this apportionment is a political matter and can be submitted to the concerned parties in forms of evolving opinions. politics has also to address the new forms of property and their impact on political values in the new pragmatic framework. for instance, the real power of information processing is in the interaction of those able to access it. one should not be forced to apply rules originating from the feudal ownership of language, or from the industrial ownership of machines, to the free access to information, or to networks facilitating creative cooperative efforts. the challenge is to provide the most transparent environment, without affecting the integrity of interaction. a specific example in this regard is legislation against computer hackers. such legislation, as well as the much publicized communication decency act, only shifts attention from the new pragmatic context-unprecedented challenges arising from very powerful technologies-to one of routine law enforcement. administrative reaction is the consequence of the built-in dualism, based on the clear-cut distinction between good and bad, characteristic of literacy-based politics. a positive course of events can originate only from political experiences of individual empowerment. wider choice and broader possibilities involve specific risks. hacking is by no means an experience without precedent in past pragmatics. the german war code was hacked, and nations are very eager to confer honor upon other hackers of distinction: scientists who break the secrets of genetic codes, or spies who discover the secrets of the enemy. examined from a literate political perspective, hacking, as a peculiar form of individual self-constitution, can appear as criminal. in a political experience coherent with the pragmatics leading to the civilization of illiteracy, hacking appears on a continuum joining creativity, protest, invention, and non- conformity, as well as criminal intention. the answer to hackers is not a code of punishment of medieval or industrial inspiration, but transparency that will, in the long run, undermine possible criminal motivations. a society that punishes creativity, even when relatively misdirected, through its policies and laws punishes itself in the long run. someone who works at his terminal for a company producing goods all over the world, and pursuing social and economic programs that effectively touch citizens of many cultures, different faiths, race, political creed, sexual preference, different history and different expectations, participates in the politics of the world more than the institutions and the bureaucrats paid for functions that they cannot effectively fulfill. it is again pragmatics that makes us citizens of our small village or town, that integrates all of us, netizens included, in the global world. judging justice this short parenthesis in the discussion of politics can be justified by the fact that justice is the object of both politics and law. the practice of law is the practice of politics on a smaller stage. political action, involving a new concept of law and justice, closer to the environment of industrial work, established not only that all (or almost all) were equal in respect to the law, but also that justice would take its own course. in the course of history, the various moments of change in the pragmatic framework were also moments of change in regard to the justice system. in incipient political praxis, rulers administered the law. even today, a governor or president is the court of last resort in some legal cases. and law, like politics, relies on rhetoric, on language as the mediating mechanism of concepts. in the course of history, the various moments of change in the pragmatic framework were also moments of change in regard to what today we call justice. the more powerful applied their own ideas of law under circumstances of incipient human practical experiences. it was the role of the appointed leader, whether in the magic of ritual, in tribes, in religion, in forms of settlement, to judge matters under dispute. law focused on agreements, commitments, and integrity of the human body, of property, of goods, and of exchange. in time, the distance between what was done, affecting the balance of people's rights and obligation, and the reaction to it increased. a whole body of mediating elements, religion included, governed action and reaction. just as myth and ritual did in their ways, major religious texts testify to how rules of living together and preserving life were established and implemented. the scale of society, reflected in the nature of the pragmatic context, played a crucial role in the process in respect to what was considered a crime, the type of punishment, and the swiftness of punishment. what is of concern here is the change from the legal code elaborated in the framework of literacy and legal experience in the civilization of illiteracy. the institution of law and the professions involved in it embody expectations of justice under assumptions of efficiency pertinent to human practical experiences. new lands were discovered, new property was created, and machines and people made higher productivity possible. rights were fought for, access to education opened, and the world became a place of new transactions for which the law of the land, inspired by natural right, no longer sufficed. it was in this context that literacy stimulated both the practice of legality and the inquiry into the nature of human rights and obligations. but it is also in this context that the language of legal practical experiences commenced its journey into today's legalese that no ordinary person can understand. raskolnikov, in dostoyevsky's crime and punishment, criticized the "legal style" of those educated as lawyers. "they still write legal papers that way." though he remarks that the writing had "a kind of flourish to it..., yet look how illiterate his writing is." the criticism could be glossed over, due to its context, if it were not for an interesting remark: "it's expressed in legal language and if you use legal language, you can't write any other way." trying to cope with ambiguity in language forces the lawyer to look for precision. the equivocal condition of the practice of justice is that law originates in the realm of political experiences, but needs to be implemented free of politics, i.e., regardless of who is in power. the blindfolded goddess holding the scales of justice is expected to be objective and fair. the separation between judicial and governing entities is probably the highest achievement of the political system based on literacy. but it is also the area where, under circumstances of practical experiences different from those based on the underlying structure of literacy, the need to change is critical. this applies to new means of maintaining a just system for people less affected by the subjectivity of those holding the balance of power, and more by the ability to process information relevant to any object of dispute. the blindfolded goddess already uses x- ray vision in order to substantiate claims and counterclaims. modeling, simulation, expert genetic testimony, and much more became part of the justice routine. each party in a trial knows in advance what type of jury best serves its interests. the context for all these changes sheds light on their political meaning. if the practical experience of politics and justice are disconnected, the effectiveness of both suffers. politics stimulated change in respect to the perception of democracy, civil rights, political authority, and welfare. it demystified the origin, function, and role of property, and introduced a generalized level of relativity and uniform value. law, on the other hand, supposed to protect the individual, should therefore be less inclined to trade off fairness for the lowest common denominator. comparing this ideal to real legal practice is an exercise in masochism. the ever increasing, and fast increasing, human interaction via market mechanisms was followed by instances of conflict and expectations of negotiation. without any doubt, the most pervasive mediating role is played in our day by legal professionals. due to its own self-interested dynamics, the legal profession insinuates itself in every type of practical experience, from multinational business to relations between individuals. lately, it is involved in finding a place for itself in the world of new media, involving copyright laws and private rights versus public access. so one cannot say that law, as opposed to politics, is not proactive. the problem is that it is so in a context bound to literacy, and in such a way that style transcends substance. latin, reflecting the origin of the western legal experience, used to be the language of law. today, few lawyers know latin. but they are well versed in their own language. legalese is justified by the attempt to avoid ambiguity in a given situation. there is nothing wrong with this. what is wrong is when legal language and the procedures encoded in legal language do not meet the pragmatic expectation, which is justice. law and justice are not the same thing. a good case in point is the recent case of the state of california vs. o. j. simpson. the spectacle of the legal procedure showed how a literate practice ended up convoluting justice. in fact, literate law is not meant to serve justice. its purpose is to use the law to acquit a client. allan derschowitz claimed that the lawyer's duty is to his or her client, not to justice. this statement is far from the expectation that each member of society has. therefore law loses its credibility because it undermines the notion of the social contract. some might say that this state of affairs is nothing new. even shakespeare criticized lawyers. far from being a wholesale attack on the profession, the description i have given deserves to be contrasted to the possibility of effective judicial mediations in the civilization of illiteracy. since changes occur so rapidly, the law of yesterday rarely applies to new circumstances created today. it used to be, people often find themselves reminiscing, that laws and rules (the ten commandments, at least) were expected to last and be respected, in their letter-which was carved in stone-and spirit, forever. no one will argue that justice is not an eternal desideratum. but achieving it does not necessarily mean that laws and the methods of lawyers are eternal. some actions that society once accepted-child abuse, sexual harassment, racial discrimination-are now considered illegal, as well as unjust. other crimes (whistling on sundays, kissing one's spouse in public, working or operating a business on sunday) might still be in some legal books and locally observed, but they are no longer considered instances of law- breaking. the result of changes brought about by changing pragmatics is the realization people have that there is no stable frame of reference, either for morality (as it is subject to law and law enforcement) or for legality. did lawyers create this situation? are they a product of new human relations required by the new pragmatics? who judges the legal system in order to determine that its activity meets expectations? there is no simple answer to any of these questions. if justice is to affect human practical experiences, it has to reflect their nature and participate in defining its own perspective in respect to the rights that people integrate in new practical experiences of self-definition. it is all well and good for the legal system to use non-literate means, such as dna evidence, videotapes, and access to legal information from around the world via internet. but if they are then subjected to literate pettifogging, all this effort is to no avail. the programmed parliament politics in action means not elections but the daily routine of hard work on matters of interest to the people represented. party affiliation aside, in the end the common good is supposed to be maintained or improved. legislative political work continues a tradition that goes well beyond literacy. nevertheless, effective legislation became possible only within the pragmatic framework that made literacy necessary. once literacy itself reached its potential, new means for the political legislative practical experience became necessary. the driving force is the expectation that the legislative process should reflect practical needs emerging in a context of rapid change over shorter patterns of recurrence. as within the entire political practical experience, forces at work continuously collide. although literacy-based perspectives and methods for political legislation are no longer appropriate in handling issues and concerns stemming from a pragmatics that invalidates the literate model, politicians seem to be unwilling to realize the need for change. they find it more useful, and easier to defend, to legislate improved literacy- based education, for example, instead of rethinking education in the context of its necessity. they accept the mediating power of specialized knowledge, the generalized network of information, use all means for disseminating their own programs, but work within constraints originating in the literate practice of politics. it is hard to believe that in an age of limitless communication, speakers, mainly in the usa, arguing for the most intricate programs, will perform before an empty room in congress. it is also hard to believe that a language rooted in experiences established a long time ago, and many times proved ineffective, is maintained. procedures, testifying more to the past than the present, govern the activity of many legislative bodies (not only in great britain, where this legacy translates into a dress code as outmoded as the british monarchy). as with the executive political experience and the infatuation of justice, symbolism overtakes substance. nevertheless, under the pressure for higher efficiency, major changes are taking place. legislative practical experiences, as disconnected as they are from new human practical experiences, are less and less an exercise in convincing writing or in formal logic. they increasingly reflect the expectations of globality and often apply mediation, task distribution, and interactivity. electronic modeling is applied, simulation methods are tried out. the new methods of accessing information free the legislative politician from the time-consuming task of accumulating data. consultants and staff members make use of powerful knowledge filters in order to involve in the political process only information pertinent to the subject. politicians know that knowledge, at the right time and in the right context, is power. their new experience, as members of computerized parliaments of many countries can testify, is that everyone has the data, but only few know how to process it effectively. in fact, political parties develop competitive processing programs that will give politicians pursuing their goals more convincing arguments in a public debate, or in discussions leading to legislative vote. the transparency brought about by means in the civilization of illiteracy ensures public access to the debate. the competitive edge is provided by the intelligent use of data. power, that elusive aspect of any political activity, comes from the ability to process, not from the amount of information stored. all this, kept at a minimum in this presentation, might sound like anticipation, or dreams for the politician of the future. it is not. the process is probably still at the beginning, but unavoidable. it will sooner or later affect such components as time in office-permanence of a representative reflects literacy-based expectations- procedures for public evaluation, candidacy, and voting. it will also require a rethinking of the relation between politicians and constituents. rethinking the motivations and methods of legislation, even its legitimacy, are goals worthy of being pursued. increased mediation affects the connection between facts and political action. unless balanced by the use of the new means of communication that allow personal interaction with each voter, it will continue to alienate politics from the public. mass-media politics is already a thing of the past-not because television is overridden by the internet, but because of the need to create a framework for individual motivation for political action. political efficiency is based on human interaction. what counts is not the medium, as this will continue to change, but what is accomplished through the medium. to create a legislative framework that reflects the new nature of human relations and is appropriate to the pragmatic context means to understand the nature of the processes leading to the civilization of illiteracy. consolidation of bureaucracy is as counter-indicative of this understanding as is the continuation of the monarchy and the house of lords in great britain. both these phenomena are as convincing as the mass generation of electoral letters that report on how the political representative best served his or her constituency. a sense of the process, as it involves the need to overcome models based on sequentiality, dualism, and deterministic reaction, can be realized only when the political process itself is synchronized with the prevalent pragmatics. a battle to be won as a practice of building, changing, and destroying coalitions, politics today is a summation of human practice. professional politicians design strategies for coalition implementation and identify the most effective interactions for a certain policy. they develop their own language and criteria for evaluating the efficiency of their specialized practice and of their mediating function in a society of many and varied forms of mediation. the obsession with efficiency, whether applied to politics or not, is not imposed by forces outside ourselves. the tendency to transfer responsibility does not result in some curse spoken by a disappointed politician, philosopher, or educator. the shorter political cycles that we encounter correspond to the dynamics of a human practical experience focused on the immediate within the framework of a global existence. it seems that the transition is from the small communal life striving for continuity and permanence, to a global community of interacting individuals, whose identity itself is variable, prepared to experience discontinuity and change. coordinations of actions in this universe are no longer possible through large integrative mechanisms, such as language and bureaucratic institutions. small differentiating operations, in the nature of coalitions tested through polling or electronic balloting, and modified in accordance with the rapid change of political roles, represent an alternative. monarchies embodied the eternity of rule; treaties among monarchs were supposed to outlast the monarch. the -minute access to political power, far from being a metaphor in some parts of the world, is as relevant as any other form of celebrity (warhol's included), since political processes and power relations are more and more uncoupled from each other and disconnected from the obsession with universality and timelessness. a -minute coalition is as critical as access to power, and as useful as the new principles accepted by the people involved. instead of the top- down model of politics, we can experience a combination of bottom-up and top-down procedures. under these circumstances, the making and unmaking of coalitions remains one among very few valid political functions. the centers of political power- economics, law, interest groups-constitute poles around which such coalitions are established or abandoned. one should ask whether such coalitions do not come into being in the universal language of literacy. literacy is defended with the argument that it is some kind of common denominator. what is not accounted for is the fact that coalitions are not independent of the medium of their expression. literacy-based coalitions pursue and further goals and actions consistent with the pragmatic framework that requires them. needs characteristic of a pragmatic context incompatible with the structures imposed by literacy-based practical experiences require other means for establishing coalitions. when the leaders of the most advanced industrial states agree on indexing the value of their currency, or when friend and foe establish a political coalition against an invasion that could set a precedent and trigger consequences for the global economy, the means in place might take the appearance of literacy. in fact, these means are freed from words and literate articulations. they emerge from data processing and simulation of behavior in financial markets, virtual reality scenarios turned into actions for which no script could provide a description in advance. while politicians might still perform their script in a literate manner, the centers of power choose the most efficient means for evaluating each new coalition. as a consequence, and this is a distinguishing element, there is little connection between the authority of political institutions, as it results from their literate premise, and the dynamics of coalitions, reflecting the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy. the sense of beginning experienced in our day goes well beyond the new states, new political means, beyond the science (or art) of coalition making. it is basically a beginning for the new zoon politikon, for a political animal that has lost most of its natural roots and whose human nature is probably better defined in terms of political instincts than cultural accomplishments. culture is by and large discarded. people simply cannot carry culture with them, but neither can they negotiate their existence without political means appropriate to a social condition structurally different from that experienced in the past. the self-centered individual cannot escape relating to others and defining himself in reference to them. "we am a virtual community" is not merely a suggestive title (conceived by earl babble) for an article on internet interaction, but a good description of today's political world. the specific forms of relations, the we am faction among them, are subject to many factors, not least to the biological and cognitive redefinition of the human being. when everything, literally everything, is possible and indeed acceptable, the political animal has to find new ways to make choices and pursue goals without facing the risk of losing identity. this is probably the decisive political battle that the humans have yet to win. "theirs not to reason why" high precision electronic eyes placed on orbiting satellites picked up the firing of the rocket and the launch parameters. data was transmitted to a computer center for information processing. the computed information, specifying angles, firing time, and trajectory, was relayed to antirocket missiles programmed to intercept enemy attack. the system-consisting of a vast, distributed, highly interconnected configuration- incorporates expertise from electronic vision devices, knowledge encoded in software designed to calculate rocket orbits (based on launch time, position, angle, speed, weight, meteorological conditions), fast transmission networks, and automated positioning and triggering devices. this integrated system has replaced literacy-based modes of practical experiences pertinent to war. instead of manuals describing the many parameters and operations that military personnel need to consider, information is contained in computer programs. these also eliminate the need for long training cycles, expensive practical exercises, and the continuous revision of manuals containing the latest information. distributed knowledge and interconnectedness have replaced the structure of top-down command. the system described above contains many mediating components that allow for highly efficient wars. examples similar to the relative annihilation of the infamous (and ineffective) scud missiles can be given from other episodes of the gulf war, including the hours of the so-called ground battle. this battle displayed the deadly force of artillery and tanks, the power of modeling and simulation, and major planning and testing methods independent of literacy-based military strategy and tactics. the enemy consisted of an army structured on the principles derived from the pragmatic framework of literacy: centralized line of command, rigid hierarchy, modern military equipment integrated in a war plan that was essentially sequential and deterministic, and based on a logic of long-term encounters. the first war of the civilization of illiteracy an earlier draft of this chapter-introductory lines excepted-was written when no one anticipated a conflict involving american troops in the arabian gulf. during this war, theoretic arguments regarding the institution of the military in the civilization of illiteracy were tested in the flesh and blood of confrontation, probably well beyond my, or anybody's, expectations or wishes. the gulf war reported by the media resembled a computer game or a television show. as i watched, i felt as though someone had lifted part of my text and sent it through the news wires. the story made for great headlines; but out of context, or in the context of a reality reduced to the tv screen, its overall meaning was obscured. in many ways, the armed conflict ended up trivialized, another soap opera or spectator sport. other reports related the frustration of the troops with the limited number of phone lines. the reports also commented on the replacement of the traditional letter by videotape as the preferred method of communication. we also heard about an almost magical device, called cnx, used to help orient each person involved in the vast desert theater of war. and we saw or heard about the exotically named preprocessed and prepackaged food, about the pastimes of the troops. the context started coming into focus. this was to become the first war of the civilization of illiteracy: a highly efficient (the word takes on an unintended cynical connotation here) activity that involved non-sequential, massively parallel practical experiences. these required precise synchronization (each failure resulted in victims to what was euphemistically called "friendly fire"), distributed decision-making, intense mediation, advanced specialization, and task distribution. these characteristics embodied an ideology of relative value disengaged from political discourse, and even more from moral precepts. nobody expected this war to reinvent the bow and arrow (documented shortly after human self-constitutive experiences in language), or even the wheel (originating in the practical experience of populations whose home was the territory where the fighting took place). it is possible that some of the military personnel had heard about the book entitled the art of war (written by sun tzu in bce or earlier), or about the books, some of undisputed notoriety, filling the libraries of military academies and the better research libraries. but this was not a war fought for the book, in the spirit of the book (koran or bible), or in the way books describe wars. in a way, the gulf war was truly the "mother of all battles" in that it rewrote the rules on war-or did away with them. all the characteristics of the civilization of illiteracy are retraceable in the practical experience of today's military: highly mediated praxis through electronic information storage and retrieval; transition from an economy of wartime scarcity to a war of affluent means of defense and destruction; shift from war based on the positivist notion of facts (many requiring incursions into enemy territory) to a relativistic notion of image, and the corresponding technology of image processing; shift from a hierarchical structure of rigid lines of authority and command to a relatively loose line of context dependent on freedom of choice extended almost to the individual soldier; a discipline of austerity and isolation from the non-military (conditions accepted in the past as part of a military career) replaced by expectations of relaxation and enjoyment, derived from the permissiveness and drive for self-satisfaction of society at large. that some of these expectations could not be fulfilled was criticized, but not really understood. the hosts of the american army live by different standards. muslim law prohibits alcohol consumption and certain forms of entertainment, as well as burial of dead infidels in a land claiming to be holy. the gulf war, on its various fronts, was not a conflict of irreducible or irreconcilable religions, morals, or cultures. it was a conflict between an artificially maintained civilization of literacy, in which rich reserves of oil serve as a buffer from efficiency requirements in all aspects of life, and another civilization, one that entails the illiteracy of a society and an energy-hungry, global economy that reflects a dynamics of high efficiency. it might well be that the final attack reminded experts in war history, military strategy, or evolution of tactics of the surprising maneuver tried by epaminondas, the theban commander ( bce) in the battle of leuctra: instead of a frontal assault, an attack on one flank. general schwartzkopf is not epaminondas. he succeeded in his mission by allowing for task distribution in an international army-more of a pain than a blessing-that resulted in many flanks. helmuth von moltke, in the exhausting franco- prussian war ( - ), changed the relation to his subordinate commanders by letting them operate under broad directives. the generals and commanders of the many armies involved in the gulf war took advantage of the power of networking in order to orchestrate an attack that tested extremely efficient, and costly, annihilation technology under a plan that today's computers have simulated many a time over. but once i confessed that i wrote much of this chapter three years before the gulf war, the reader might question whether i looked at the war through the spectacles of my hypothesis, seeing what i wanted to see, understanding events as they fit my explanatory model. i asked myself the same questions and concluded that presenting the argument as it stood before the war would shed light on the question and ultimately qualify the answer. war as practical experience "war is a sheer continuation of politics with other means," wrote carl von clausewitz (on war, ). it is difficult to argue against this; but a paraphrase, intended to put the line in historic perspective, might be appropriate: war is the continuation of the practical experience of survival in the context of a society trying to control and adjudicate resources. accordingly, combat follows the line of other practical experiences. the practical experience of hunting-formerly combat with non-human adversaries-required the weapons eventually associated with war. these were the tools that primitive humans used to wrest food for their survival and the survival of their community. future aspects of these activities, and the associated moral values, make us sometimes forget that the syncretic nature of human beings, i.e., projection of their natural endowment in the practical act, is expressed in the syncretism of the tools used. this syncretic condition evolved under the need for labor division, and one of the main early demands of labor division resulted in the establishment of the semi-professional and professional warrior. as the tools of the martial profession diversified more and more from working tools, a conceptual component (tactics and strategy) became part of the praxis. the conceptual component set forth a sequence to be followed, a logic to be used, and a method for counteracting enemy maneuvers in order to achieve victory. von clausewitz was the first to explicitly point out that war continues politics, while other writers on the subject, living centuries before he did, perceived war as a practical effort. two byzantine emperors, maurice ( - ) and leo, called the wise ( - ), tried to formulate military strategy and tactics based on the pragmatic premise. they stipulated that the pragmatic framework defined the nature of the conflict and the actual condition of the battle, weapons included. indeed, every known change in military materiel in a society has been synchronized to changes in the status of its practical experience. the invention of the stirrup by the chinese ( ) improved the ability of men riding horseback. it opened the avenue to wars where the backbone of battle formation was no longer composed of foot soldiers but of warriors on horses. mechanical contraptions (e.g., the trebuchet, acknowledged at , based on releasing a heavy counterweight) for throwing large stones or missiles, opened the way to what would shift superior defensive capabilities (through fortifications, city walls, castles built before the th century) to superior offensive power. this was also the case with the cannons that the turks used to conquer constantinople ( ). but it is not military practice per se that concerns us here, but rather the implications of language, in particular literacy. at a very small scale of human activity, with many autarchic groups composed of few people, there was little need for organized combat or specially trained warriors. incipient, rudimentary military practical experience, in its basic functions of aggression and defense, became desirable at a larger scale of human activity. this experience was simultaneous with the establishment of language, especially writing. sun tzu's book, as well as many earlier testimonies to battles (mythology, religious writings, epic poetry, and philosophy), can be mentioned here. this military practice integrated the means and skills of survival, such as hunting and safeguarding the territory from which food was obtained. awareness of resources corresponded to awareness of scale. the scale of human activity in which the constitution of community member-warrior took place corresponded to increased settlement of populations, increased demand for resources, higher productivity, and accumulation of property-all reflected in the need to expand the practical experience of language beyond the immediate characteristic of orality. the efficiency of work and combat was at about an equal level. in a sense, wars lasted forever; peace was merely respite between conflicts. the notion of prisoner (usually sold into slavery) confirmed the importance of human labor and skill for consolidating a community, producing wealth for those in power, and subsistence for everyone else. the social constitution of the military was not excepted from pragmatic requirements of efficiency and mediation, i.e., of ensuring the highest efficiency within the given scale of human experience, as needs and expectations corresponding to this scale were manifested. while it is true that combat efficiency was spelled out in units of intentional destruction or preservation (of life and various artifacts relevant to human self- constitution), combat efficiency also referred to defenders whose goal was to make destruction by the enemy less possible (even impossible). while individual conflicts did not require the intervention of language more than orality could provide, conflicts between larger groups made the need for a coordinating instrument clear. human language, through new words and constructs, testified to the experience of conflicts and the associated mytho-magical manifestations. through language, this experience was projected against the background of many different forms of human praxis. as a general rule, armies of all types, under every type of government, acquired a special status in society due to the function they fulfilled. written language did not generate armies; but it served as a prerequisite (even in its most rudimentary notation forms) for the institution of the military. writing introduced many elements that influenced the combat experience: a record of means and people, a record of actions, an instrument for planning, a record of consequences. all the components of the military institution objectify the purpose of war at a particular time. they also objectify the relations between a society at war and, during times of peace, between society and its warriors. language is the medium through which objectification takes place. the sequentiality of writing and the need to express sequences pertinent to conflicts are consubstantial. von clausewitz's line encompasses the extension in language of the many aspects of wars. "did gideon know how to read hebrew? did deborah?" some people might ask, referring to leaders of decisive battles documented in the old testament. others would refer to examples from the same time that are accounted for in greek epics and the chronicles of the middle east. roman mythology and the testimony of islam do not tell us whether all their warriors wrote or read. these documents do inform us of the pragmatic circumstances that led to the institution of the army as a body constituted in continuation of syncretic practical experiences, progressively constituting its own domain of existence and its own reason for being. from face-to-face conflicts that required almost no language, and which resulted in the victory of the stronger, to the conflicts between humans in which much technology-requiring little language-was also involved, changes parallel to the levels of literacy occurred. under the circumstances of wars fought by armies facing each other, language was the medium for constituting armies and coordinating action. in order to define goals, to share plans for achieving victory, and to modify plans in response to changing conditions, language was as important as the number of horses, quality of swords and shields, and quality of ammunition. the profession of warrior, as much as the profession of hunter, was based on the ability to attack and defend, and on the skills needed to adapt means to goals within a changing balance of power. the first wars, and probably the majority of them, were fought before generalized literacy. the major warriors-the egyptian pharaohs tuthmose iii in the battle for meggido ( bce), ramses ii battling the hittites at kadesh ( bce), nebuchadnezzar and darius, the spartans under leonidas ( bce), alexander the great (conquering babylon in bce), julius caesar ( - bce) and octavian ( bce), and the many chinese warriors of this period and later-did not need literacy for their battles as much as for their politics. their strategies resulted from the same expectations and pragmatic requirements that gave rise to the experience of written language. wars were fought on terrain well chosen, by armies composed of men who carried out orders selected from a limited set of possibilities. to paraphrase the terminology of generative grammars, it was a limited war language, with not too many possible war sentences. once improved means of work and production became the means of carrying on war, those in command could write more war texts, more scripts. as war efficiency increased, so did the possibility of a breakdown of the effort due to lack of integration and coordination. the military structure reflected the characteristics of the human praxis that fostered written language and, much later, literacy: relatively limited dynamics, centralized, hierarchical organization, low level of adaptability, a strictly sequential course of action, a deterministic mentality. david oliver convincingly described the process: "mechanics is the vehicle of all physical theory. mechanics is the vehicle of war. the two have been inseparable." he refers to the practical demands of warfare in the context that led to the science of mechanics and eventually to the beginnings of projectile ballistics. by , nicolo tartaglia of brescia overcame his disdain for war and devised the gunner's square, which was perfected years later by none other than galileo. in , the french introduced the socket bayonet on their muskets, which occurred simultaneous to changes in tools used at the time, i.e., the tools that allowed for manufacturing the bayonet. the framework that created conditions for the ideal of literacy affected the pursuit of war not only in technology, but also in the way wars were played out. the advancing line of exposed troops were involved in a dynamics of confrontation that reflected linearity, a phenomenon prevalent in the practical experience of civilian life. destructive power was added until the enemy was destroyed. row by row, soldiers stopped to fire platoon volleys, then continued onto the decisive bayonet charge. the structure of writing (sequences, hierarchy, accumulation, closure) and the structure of this particular military engagement were similar. literacy as such was registered rather late as a qualifier of the warrior. but once integrated in the practical experience of military self-constitution, literacy changed the nature of making war and enabling higher levels of efficiency corresponding to the new scale of war. these were no longer skirmishes among feudal warlords, but major conflicts between nations. these conflicts diminished in number but grew in intensity. their duration corresponded to the relatively long cycles of production, distribution, and consumption characteristic of literacy-based practical experiences. under the pressure of many types of necessity embodied in human pragmatics, war was submitted to rules. it was civilized, at least in some of its aspects. the catholic church, preserver of literacy during the dark ages, when many little wars between feudal lords were carried on, took the lead in this direction. in order to avoid destruction of crops and lives in the barbarian societies of europe after the fall of the roman empire, the only viable hierarchy tried to tame warriors with the literate rules that the church preserved. with their own pragmatic considerations in mind, rulers accepted these prescriptions. it took a millennium for people to discover that wars never have final results. but they also learned that the experience of war creates knowledge-for example, of means used, weather patterns, territory, characteristics of the enemy-and creativity-what is called the art of war. resulting in death and destruction, wars are also instances of self-education in one of life's most unforgiving schools. the institution of the military "the draft is the legitimate child of democracy," as theodor heuss defined it. obligatory military service was introduced during one of the first modern revolutions- the french levée en masse (conscription) of . the citizen-soldier replaced mercenaries and professional soldiers. the call "aux armes, mes citoyens" that became a stanza of the french national anthem, glorified the expectations of the moment. prussia followed suit almost immediately, motivated by economic reasons: cheap manpower for war. during the prolonged process of becoming an institution, the military enlisted the support of the state it defended or of those private establishments (church, landowners, merchants) that needed its services. feeding off the means generated by society, the military institution integrated the practical experience of the people in its structure and actively pursued courses of action meant to increase its efficiency. at every juncture of humankind's continuous change, the military had to prove levels of efficiency that justified its own existence as a factor in the active defense of resources. when it was no longer efficient and weighed too heavily on the socio-economic foundation, it was eventually overthrown, or the society supporting it stagnated, as we see happening time and again in military dictatorships. as one of the many highly structured environments for human interaction, the military identified itself, as did all other social mechanisms, through repetitive actions. each action could be further seen as a set of tasks, or orders, connected to motivations or justifications, which anticipate or follow practical experiences specific to the military. some were connected to life within the organization, such as the possibility to advance in the hierarchy and affect future activity. these were internal in the sense that they were affected by the implicit rules adopted by the institution. others were external, expressed in the nature of the relation between the military and society: symbolic status, participation in power, expectations of recognition. evolution of the military resulted in changes in the language involved in defining and modifying the interactions characteristic of military practical experience. this language became progressively more adapted to the goal-win the war-and less coordinated with civilian language, in which the discourse of motivations leading to the conflict occurred. correspondingly, relations with the outside world-future members of the military, social and political institutions, cultural establishments, the church-took place in what appeared to be a different language. changes in the structure of the practical experience of human self-constitution, as well as changes resulting from a growing scale, had an influence both inside and outside the military. when the individuals making up the world constituted themselves as literate, the functioning of the military assumed the expectations and characteristics of literacy. what would emerge as military academies were probably established at this time. von moltke's ideas of changing the nature of relations with subordinates just predated the many modern advances in war technology: the use of steam-powered warships (by the japanese in their war against the russians in ); the introduction of radio, telephone, and automotive transportation (all tested in word war ); and even the articulation of the concept of total war (by erich lindendorf). all these correspond to a pragmatic framework within which literacy was necessary, and literacy's characteristic reflected upon new practical experiences. the total war is of the same nature as the expectation of universal literacy: one literacy replaces all others. there is to the military institution of the civilization of literacy an expectation of permanency, embodied in rules and regulations, in hierarchies, and centralized structure, similar to that of state, industry, religion, education, science, art, and literature. there is also an expectation of centralism, and thus hierarchy and discipline. these characteristics explain why almost all armies adopt similar literacy-based structures. guerrilla wars, in their early manifestations (skirmishes during the american revolution) and in their current forms in south america, for example, are illiterate in that they are not based on the conventions of literacy. they unfold in a decentralized manner, and are based on the dynamics of self-organizing nucleii. this is why military strategists consider them so dangerous today. patterns of military action and the language recurrences associated with these patterns express attitudes and values pertinent to the pragmatic framework. england, at the height of its literate experience, had a highly structured, almost ritualized way of carrying out war. one of the main complaints during the american revolution was that the colonials did not fight according to the rules that literate west europe had established over the centuries. under circumstances of change, as those leading to the end of the need for a generalized, all-encompassing literacy, these attitudes and values, expressed in language and in patterns of military activity, are exhausted, except where they are carried over to other forms of praxis, especially to politics and sports. as is the case with many literacy-based institutions, the military became a goal in itself, imposing rules on social and political circumstances, instead of adapting to them. following world wars i and ii, the military took control of many countries under the guise of various political and ideological justifications. military, or military-supported, dictatorships, displaying the same characteristics of centralized rule as monarchy and democracy under presidents, sprang up where other modes of government proved ineffective. this happens today in many parts of the world that are still dedicated to economic and political models of the past, such as in south america, the middle east, and africa, for example. from the literate to the illiterate war the last war fought under the sign of literacy was probably world war ii. the very fact that the last world war came to its final end after the atomic bomb was deployed is indicative of the fact that once one aspect of human practical experience is affected by a change of scale, others are affected as well. while the millions of victims (the majority of whom were raised in the expectations of the civilization of literacy) might make us reluctant to mention literacy, in fact, war's systematic cruelty and extermination power are the result of literacy characteristics implicit in the effective functioning of the war machine and in the articulation of war goals. in the history of world war ii, the chapter about language is probably as enlightening as the chapters devoted to the new weapons it brought about: the precursors of modern rocket systems, in addition to the atomic bomb. each of the powers involved in this large-scale war understood that without the integrating force of literacy, exercised in and around the conflict, the enemy could not succeed. many books were written about the escalation of hostility through the language of political and ideological discourse. many prejudices associated with this war were expressed in exquisitely literate works, supported by formally perfect, logical arguments. on the other hand, some writers pointed out the weaknesses of literacy. roland barthes, for example, studied its fascist nature. others mentioned the inadequacy of a medium bound to fail because it was so opaque that it covered thoughts instead of revealing them, validated false values instead of exposing them for what they were. the language of politics extended truly into the language of the conflict. thanks to radio and newspapers, as well as the rhetoric of rallies, it was able to address entire nations. the industrial establishment, upon which the war machine was built, still embodied the characteristics of the pragmatic framework of literacy. it was based on the industrial model of intense manufacturing. millions of people had to be moved, fed, and logistically supported on many fronts. the war involved elements of an economy in crisis, affording much less than abundance. germany and its allies, having planned for a blitzkrieg, threw all their limited resources into the preparation and execution of the war. europe was coming out of the depression resulting from world war i. the people were promised that victory would bring the well deserved recompense that had eluded them the first time around. against this background, literacy was mobilized in all the areas where it could make a difference: education, propaganda, religious and national indoctrination, in the racist discourse of justifications and in articulating war goals. ideological purposes and military goals, expressed in literate discourse, addressed equally those on the front lines and their families. literacy actively supported self- discipline and restraint, the acceptance of centralism and hierarchy, as well as the understanding of extended production cycles of intense labor and relatively stable, although not necessarily fair, working relations. all these characteristics, as well as a self-induced sense of superiority, were reflected in the war. advanced levels of labor division and improved forms of coordination of the parties involved in the large scale experience of factory labor marked the military experience. the war entailed confrontations of huge armies that practically engaged entire societies. it combined strategies of exhaustion (blockades, crop destruction, interruption of any vital activities) and annihilation. millions of people were exterminated. the structure of the army embodied the structure of the pragmatic framework. its functioning was reflective of industrial systems designed to process huge quantities of raw material in order to mass-manufacture products of uniform quality. what made literate language use essential in work and market transactions made it essential, in forms appropriate to the goal, to the prosecution of the war. from this perspective, it should become clear why major efforts were made to understand this language. efforts were also made to get information about tactics and strategy embodied in it, as much ahead of time as possible, and to use this literate knowledge to devise surprise or counter-strategies. this is why language became a main field of operation. enemies went after military code (not a different language, but a means of maintaining secrecy) and did not spare money, intelligence, or human life in their efforts to understand how the opposing forces encoded their plans. the brightest minds were used, and strategies of deceit were developed and applied, because knowing the language of the enemy was almost like reading the enemy's mind. at the risk of dealing with the obvious, i should state here clearly that the language of war is not the same as everyday language; but it originates in this language and is conceived and communicated in it. both are structurally equivalent and embodied in literacy. to dispose of the enemy's use of language means to know what the enemy wants to do and how and when. in short, it means to be able to understand the pragmatics of the enemy as defined under the circumstances of war, as these extended the circumstances of life and work. since language projects our time and space experience, and since wars are related to our universe of existence, understanding the language of the enemy is actually integrated in the combat plan and in a society's general war effort. climbing hills to establish a good offensive position, crossing rivers in a defensive move, parachuting troops behind enemy lines in a surprise maneuver are human experiences characteristic of the pragmatic context of literacy, impossible to relate to the goal pursued without the shared conventions implicit in language. some people still believe that the master coup of world war ii was the breaking of the ciphers of the enigma machines used by the germans, thus making the function of language, in such an effort of millions of people, the center of the war effort. polish cryptoanalysts and the british operation, in which alan turing (the father of modern computing) participated, succeeded in deciphering, reconstructing, and translating messages that, re-enciphered in allied codes (the ultra material), decisively aided the war effort. by the end of the war, the world was already a different place. but within the framework of war, and in direct connection to the changes in practical human self- constitution, a structural shift to a different dynamics of life and work had started. various aspects related to the determinism that eventually resulted in the war started to be questioned through new practical experiences: the need to overcome national interests; the need to transcend boundaries, those boundaries of hate and destruction expressed in the war; the need to share and exchange resources. visionaries also realized that the incremental increase in world population, despite the enormous number of deaths, would result in a new scale of human experiences that could not be handled within a rigid system with few degrees of liberty. the recent illiterate war in the arabian gulf, and the never-ending terrorist attacks all over the world, can be seen, in retrospect, as the progeny of the war that brought down the civilization of literacy. the concept of blitzkrieg and the dropping of the a-bomb at hiroshima and nagasaki were a foretaste of the quick, efficient, illiterate war. the nintendo war (a cliché revisited) military all over the world disposes of the highest technology. even countries that can afford to maintain outmoded large armies-because of population density, relatively low salaries, and the ability to draft the entire population-seek the latest weapons that scientific discovery and technological progress can offer. the weapons market is probably the most pervasive of all markets. among the numerous implications of this state of affairs, none is more disconcerting than the fact that human genius serves the cause of death and destruction. in some countries, food reserves barely cover needs beyond a season or two; but the military has supplies to cover years of engagement. today the military is in control of the most sophisticated technology ever created. it is also becoming an institution of a rather low level of literacy, publicly deplored and politically questioned. this assertion applies less (but it still applies) to the command level, and more to its enlisted men and women. addressing the topic of language proficiency, darell bott provides an interesting portrait of a person who joins the military intelligence unit of the national guard as a linguist. after training in the defense language institute, the individual loses percent of his language skills and fails to meet language proficiency standards. every effort is made to change this situation, even before understanding it. darell bott's description does not refer to an accidental, individual failure, but to the implicit dynamics of military practical experiences in the civilization of illiteracy. a linguist, of all professionals, does not choose to lose literate language proficiency. this proficiency is just not necessary for attaining the efficiency called for in the military. not really understanding this structural condition, armies introduce their recruits to weaponry-the majority designed for the illiterate warrior- and to the skills of reading and writing. these skills dispense ideology, religion, history, geography, psychology, and sex education in concentrated doses. the situation is paradoxical: what defines the practical experience of the military today-high technology, division of tasks, networking, distributed responsibilities-conflicts with the traditional expectations of clear lines of command, hierarchy, authority, and discipline. the means that render useless the characteristics stemming from literacy-based pragmatics are welcome, but the human condition associated with them is frightening. yes, a literate soldier can be better indoctrinated, subjected to the inherent arguments of literacy, of rules and authorities to be obeyed. but the nature of the pragmatics of war has changed: faster action makes reading-of instructions, commands, messages-inappropriate, if not dangerous. for focusing on targets moving at a speed far higher than that afforded by literacy-based training, one needs the mediation of the digital eye. conflicts are as segmented as the world itself, since clear- cut distinctions between good and bad no longer function effectively. centralized military experiences based on structures of authority and hierarchy are counterproductive in actual conflicts of complex dynamics. the war in vietnam is a good example of this. during this war, instructions were transmitted from the top of the hierarchy down to the platoons through commanders not adept at the type of war vietnam represented. even the president of the usa was effectively involved, more often than not through decisions that proved detrimental to the war effort. the usa forgot the lesson of its own pragmatic foundation in imitating, as it did in vietnam, the literate wars of europe in a context of confrontation characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy. memoirs, published too late (robert macnamara's is but one example), reveal how the literate paradigm embodied in the government and the military kept from the public essential information that, in retrospect, rendered the loss of so many human lives meaningless. the luxury of a standing army and the cost of subjecting soldiers to long cycles of training, literacy included, belong to the previous pragmatic framework. the time of the life-long warrior is over. the experience of war changes as quickly as new weapons are invented. the new scale of humankind requires global levels of efficiency impossible to attain if productive forces are withdrawn from productive experiences. once upon a time, the military distinguished itself as a separate body in the social texture. the civilization of illiteracy reintegrated the military in the network of assignments and purposeful functions of the pragmatics of high efficiency. from the complete suit of armor worn in medieval europe (before firearms rendered it ineffective) to the plain-clothes military of today, not only have over years gone by, but, more important, new forms of self-constitution, and hence identification, became necessary and real. sulfur fumes used over , years ago in the battle at delium and the threat of chemical and biological weapons in the gulf war are superficially related. the same knowledge that goes into producing new chemical and biological means used in high efficiency agriculture and in food preparation goes into chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. this is not a discourse in favor of efficient armies which are of great help during natural disasters, nor is it a discourse in favor of destructive wars, no matter who justifies them. if it sounds like one, it is because the literate description of the structural background against which, whether we like it or not, the practical experience of the military takes place, bears the stamp of literate praxis. in the civilization of illiteracy, the military has come to acknowledge that there is little that can, or should, be done to restore literacy as its coordinating mechanism. literacy is not necessarily the best system for achieving optimal military performance at the level facilitated by new technologies. neither is it, as some would like to believe, a means of avoiding war. the literate human being proved to be a war beast equal, if not superior, to the illiterate who was subjected to impression and conscription, or who enlisted as a mercenary. current military research attempts to remove human beings from the direct confrontation that war used to entail. nothing affects public support for military action more than body-bags. these spoil the fun and games that expensive missiles provide, the reason for which the gulf war was nicknamed "the nintendo war." and missiles fare better among the netizens, despite their reluctance to embrace belligerence for settling disputes. highly efficient, sophisticated digitally programmed systems do not relate to space and time the way humans do. this aspect gives the machines an edge in respect to the implicit coordination expected in war. the kinds of interaction that military praxis requires makes literacy inadequate for coordinating the humans who constitute today's armies. time is segmented beyond human perception and control; space expands beyond what a person can conceive and control. major components of a war machine are placed in outer space and synchronized by extremely time-sensitive devices. the strategic defense initiative (dubbed star wars) was the most advertised example. more trivial systems, like those used in orienting troops in the desert, are a matter of routine. the expressive power required for increasing motivation, and for projecting a rational image of irrationality, collides with the requirement for speed and precision essential to accomplishing complex tactical and strategic plans. coordination of sophisticated information systems machines does not have to rely on a language frequently not precise enough, or fast enough, to accommodate very dynamic processes. at speeds beyond that of sound at which battles are fought with airplanes, rockets, satellites, and missiles, a soldier observing a target would be late in pressing a trigger, not to mention waiting for the command to fire. the complexity of war machines is such that even their maintenance and repair requires means independent of the language that functions according to the rules of literacy. it should come as no surprise that the electronic book has already appeared in the military sphere of human experience. this book is the digitally stored description of a device, not the printed book that was once the manual describing it. if the device is an airplane, or gun system on the airplane, or equipment on a ship, the weight of manuals needed to explain its functioning, or to support maintenance and troubleshooting, would keep the airplane grounded. any change in such a complex system would require reprinting of thousands of pages. in its electronic version, the book is a collection of data manipulated by a computer, displayed in visual form when necessary, and programmed to make recognition of the problem and its solution as simple as possible-idiot-proof, in fact. it is not a sequential collection of pages indexed in a table of contents and requiring a linear reading strategy. the electronic book opens to the appropriate page, and every page is generated only as necessary, according to the maintenance or repair requirements of the case. obviously, the readers addressed by the electronic book are different from the literate. they are at least partially visual literates who know how to look at an image and follow pictographic prompts. instead of reading, the human operators carry out the required operation, supervised by the system, counting only on the feedback from the machine. under these circumstances, efficiency expectations make the use of the human being almost a luxury. the paradigm of self-servicing machines, of circuits that can fix themselves (von neumann's genius at work) is already a reality. the electronic book-here presented in an application of military relevance, although there is more to it than that-is one example from the many that can be given regarding how our good old verbal literacy is becoming obsolete. electronic books constituted over networks (wired or wireless) support a wide range of collaborative activities. by their nature, military experiences utilize such activities. access to resources and to an unlimited array of possible interactions is essential to collaboration. literate expression cannot fulfill these requirements. digital formats used in electronic books serve as a medium for sharing and understanding goals. the subsumation of individuality to the goal is probably the only specifically military component that carries over from previous experiences of war. nevertheless, this subsumation does not follow the patterns of centralism and the hierarchy of literacy. the methods are different in that more initiative than ever before is required from the soldiers. this initiative is embodied in alternate means of expression and communication. in electronically synchronized instruments, programs of distributed tasks and massive parallel computation replace literacy and literacy-based actions. today's technology permits flying at low altitude and high speed, but limitations of the human biological system make this dangerous for the pilot. when reaching a certain speed, the human can no longer coordinate movements without which low altitude flying becomes suicidal. but suicide is no alternative to avoiding enemy radar, since there are no words capable of alerting a pilot to the heat detector guided missile. accordingly, languages addressing machines and vision systems with detection capabilities change the nature of human involvement in military situations. again, these languages make the participation of literate language less and less significant. literacy-based means cannot provide for the expected coordination. mediation takes place among many distributed, loosely interconnected devices; efficiency increases due to the many resources integrated in such powerful and ubiquitous systems. i give these examples-rudimentary in comparison to the nintendo war we watched on our television screens a few years ago-from the viewpoint of someone who believes in life, peace, and human understanding, but also as one who sees a progressive discarding of literacy from one of the most language-dependent forms of human interaction and coordination. as with everything liberated from language and literacy, military practice was dehumanized. this consequence is likely to be welcomed in its more general significance-let machines kill machines. just as in factories and offices, the human being is replaced by programs endowed with knowledge mediated by something other than literacy. what changes the structure of military activity, and language's participation in it, are the new languages embodied in the technology. that computer-game simulations of flight or target-shooting are basically equivalent to the systems of precision and destruction used in the gulf war need not be repeated. but that players of computer games grow up with skills expected from jet pilots and from operators of extremely productive technology deserves attention and thought. do weapons speak and write and read? do they understand the language of the officer who decides when they are to be fired? is an intelligent weapon system capable of interpreting whether a legitimate target should indeed be wiped out, even if at the time of its use, circumstances would speak against destroying it on moral grounds? i ask these questions-which can only be answered with a "no"-on purpose. the literate attitude, according to which military praxis is one of command and execution requiring language, presents us with a contradiction. non-military practical experience is more and more mediated by many languages and synchronized in a vast network of distributed assignments. if military experiences were to remain literacy-based, this would be equal to maintaining different pragmatic structures and pursuing goals of disparate efficiency. it is true that the literacy still involved in the military is reflected in structures of hierarchy, a relative expectation of centralism (in the usa, as in many other countries, the president is the commander-in-chief), and dependency on deterministic models. nevertheless, the expectation of efficiency makes critical the need to adopt essentially non-hierarchic, self-management structures promoting coordination and cooperative efforts within a distributed network of different assignments. in the partial literacy of the military, a redefinition of the process of goal- setting and the pursuit of assignments other than destruction, such as relocation of refugees or aiding vast populations subjected to natural disasters, continuously takes place. security is another area of self-constitution that derives benefits from military praxis. the smaller and more distributed wars through which terrorism seeks to accomplish its goals have resulted in small armies of highly trained security personnel to protect the civilian public. combat is truly global. but as opposed to the small war of the middle ages, the illiterate terrorist respects no rules and no higher authority. no army could have changed the world more than the new system of human relations geared toward achieving levels of efficiency corresponding to numbers of people in pursuit of satisfying their needs, and of others achieving levels of prosperity never before experienced. armies, as much as schools and universities, as much as the nations they are supposed to defend, as much as the nuclear family, and all the activities related to them and all the products they generate, correspond to the structure of praxis of a loosely connected world with patterns of human practical experiences marked by individual success and dependent on personal performance. the look that kills smaller, more deployable, as efficient as possible-this description sums up the characteristics of new weapons on the wish-list of almost any army in the world. on a more specific basis, defense officials have sketched some research and development objectives. here are some, obviously all subject to obsolescence: worldwide all-weather forces for limited warfare, which do not require main operating bases, including a force that is logistically independent for days tracking of strategically relocatable targets global command control, communications, and intelligence (c i) capabilities to include on-demand surveillance of selected geographical areas and real-time information transfer to command authorities weapon systems that deny enemy targeting and allow penetration of enemy defenses by managing signatures and electronic warfare air defense systems to overmatch threat systems weapons that autonomously acquire, classify, track, and destroy targets reduction of operations and support resources requirement by % without impairing combat capability expected are a force powered by electricity (ecological concerns), robotic tanks and aerial vehicles, and-this is not science fiction-bionically enhanced soldiers with embedded chips, able to sleep when commanded, and an exoskeleton system allowing individuals to carry pounds around the battlefield (compared to the mere they carry now). general jerry c. harrison even formulated the following order: "okay guys, let's shoot number . tune in your goggles to see but not be seen." the look that kills (the proud accomplishment of university-based research) becomes reality. the only comment that can follow such a description is that all the characteristics of the civilization of illiteracy are embodied in the expectations of military efficiency. globality, interconnectedness, open-ended goals and motivations, reduced human involvement, and many partial literacies are all here, presented in specific expectations. the questionable aspect is the implicit theme of the permanence of the institution of the military, probably the most resilient legacy of the civilization of literacy. what the technology of the civilization of illiteracy requires is the command of the abstractions (the language) driving it, the partial literacy associated with this language, pertinent to military or any other use. as one of the partial literacies of this time, military literacy defines the domain of action and the interpretation of such actions. it is relevant, for instance, that disarmament treaties not be formulated without military language, i.e., without the military experts, the ones we want to release from their functions. each such treaty either discards a part of the language of weapons and associated technologies, or makes it less relevant, as it opens new avenues for increased military efficiency. the new organization of the military is one of confronting technologies and associated military literacy. accordingly, to talk about orders given by an officer, whether a weapon understands such orders, and all similar logocentric examples, means to still look at the military from the perspective of a civilization from which it continuously distances itself. artificial eyes (radar, vision systems), odor detectors, touch-sensitive devices, speed sensors, and many other digital devices free the human being from confrontation and progressively eliminate death from the equation of war. those who compare the photographic images of previous wars to animation on computer game terminals compare a condition of direct confrontation, of our own nature, and of the realization of the limited condition of life to that of mediated experiences. the night sky lit up by tracers, the eerie video-game-like actions, the targets seen through remote cameras are of a realm different from that of destruction and blood, where moral concern is triggered. the expectation is pragmatic, the test is efficiency. the survival of the military institution in its literate structure and the lack of understanding of just what makes literacy unnecessary in the pragmatic framework of today's global world are not the same thing. the first aspect refers to the immense inertia of a huge mechanism; the second involves the difficult task of freeing ourselves, as products of literate education, from ourselves. recognition of such a fundamental change does not come easy. universities, bastions of literacy, producing the illiterate technology of war, are caught in the dilemma of negating their own identity, or becoming agents of illiterate action. we hang on to the ideal of literacy, as well as to the so-called necessity of strong defense-which reflects literacy-based values such as national borders in a global world-because we are not yet ready to cope with a new dynamics of change that is not militarily determined, but which results from structural necessities of a socio-economic nature. the political map of the world changed drastically in recent years because factors affecting the pragmatic framework of human practical experience, at the scale we reached today, are at work. globality is not a dream, a political goal, a utopian project, but a necessity resulting from this new scale. book five the interactive future: individual, community, and society in the age of the web collapse and catastrophe as opposed to hope and unprecedented possibilities- these are the party lines in the heated discussions centered on the dynamics of ongoing changes in which the whole world is involved. paul virilio is quite expressive in his formulation of the problem: "an accompanying evil...is the end of writing, as it unfolds through image technology, cinema/film, and television screen. [...] we don't read anymore, we hardly write each other, since we can call each other on the phone. next, we will no longer speak! i'd really like to say: this will indeed be the silence of the lambs!" no less powerful in their assertions are those who see chances for social renewal in interactions not embodied in the rules of literacy. the electronic forum of the european commission, involved in project information society, lists ten bones of contention from which i chose the following: "the system we are stuck with and frantically trying to fix comes from another time and an entirely different set of circumstances. it is changing massively in front of our noses and needs to be completely rethought and radically overhauled." the statement is less expressive than virilio's, but no less intolerant. as discussions continue to bring up extremely important aspects of the conflict marking this time of discontinuity, the billions of people populating our world today constitute themselves through a broad variety of practical experiences. a list of these experiences-from primitive patterns of hunting and gathering food to eye movement command of remote systems and applications driven by voice recognition in the world of nanotechnological synthesis-would only augment the confusion. given this broad pragmatic spectrum, no one could seriously project the future as one of virtual communities, or of an electronic democracy, without sounding overly naive or directly stupid. we know how far we have come, but we do not really know where we are. in advancing a comprehensive pragmatic perspective, i chose to undertake an elaboration well beyond the short-breathed argumentation peculiar to this moment in time. the advantage of this approach deserves to be shared. endorsing one perspective or another, such as the california ideology-defined by its critics as "global orthodoxy concerning the relation between society, technology, and politics"-or alternatives-the so-called european model, or the transactional structure, or neo- marxian solutions, to name a few-is not an option. indeed, the argument of this book is that answers cannot result from infatuation with technology, cultural self-replication, models based on biological mechanisms, unfocused bionomic elaborations, or incessant criticism of capitalism. affirmations of a deep nature, above and beyond the rhetoric of intellectual controversy and political discourse, must originate from those affirmative actions through which our identity as individuals, communities, and society are established. the metaphor of the interactive future is the expression of a simple thesis: at the global scale, human interaction, as the concrete form of engaging infinitely diverse cognitive resources, is the last available resource on which the future of the species can depend. transcending literacy transcending literacy takes place in the practical experiences of the pragmatics of high efficiency corresponding to the global scale of humankind. this scale affects the constitution of human communities and the interaction between individuals and community. as has already been mentioned, bedouins in the sahara desert and indians in the andes mountains are no less hooked up to television than people living in technologically highly developed countries. more important, the identities of peoples in less developed societies on the global map of economic and political interdependencies are already subject to the most advanced processing techniques. in the ledgers of the global economy, their existence is meticulously entered with respect to what they can contribute and through what they need and can afford. people constituting virtual communities, in silicon valley, japan, france, israel, and any other place on this globe, are subject to integration in the global scale through different means and methods. the expansion of non-literacy based human practical experiences of self- constitution raises legitimate concern regarding the social status of the individual and the nature of community interdependencies. children, for example, are subjected to more images than language. they have the tendency to perceive time as a continuous present and expect gratification to be as instantaneous as it appears on television, or as easy to achieve as connecting to exciting web sites. they wind up experts in interactive games and in controlling extremely fast processes. disconnected from culture and tradition, they are extremely adaptable to new circumstances and in a hurry to ascertain their version of independence. sex, drugs, rap music, and membership in cults or gangs are part of their contradictory profile. these adolescents are the pilots of the nintendo wars, but also the future explorers of outer space, the physicists, biologists, and geneticists who create new materials and subject machines of breathtaking complexity to tasks in which every millionth of a second is essential to the outcome. they are also the future artists and record-breaking athletes; they are computer programmers and designers of the future. and they will be the service providers in an economy where change, predicated by the need to swiftly match outcome to ever-increasing demand, cannot be met by means burdened by the inertia and heavy-handedness of literacy. as data make clear, such individuals are bound to be less involved in community life and less committed to the ethics of the past. moral absolutes and concern for others do not play a major role in their lives, which are shaped by practical experiences tending towards self-sufficiency, sometimes confused with independence. in view of all these characteristics, which reflect the decreasing role of literacy-based human experiences, the question often asked is how will the relation between the community and extremely efficient individuals, constituted in relatively insular experience, be shaped? moreover, what will the status of community be? in this respect, it is important to know what forces are at work, and to what extent our own awareness can become a factor in the process. in our day, many people and organizations deplore the state of urban life (in the usa and around the world), high unemployment, the feeling of disenfranchisement that individuals, and sometimes whole communities, have. immigrants of all the countries they landed in; guest workers in the european community; the young generation in asia, africa, and the countries that once made up the eastern block; the minorities in the usa; the unemployed around the world-each of these groups faces problems reflecting the relation between them as a different entity and the society as a whole. immigrants are not necessarily welcome, and when accepted, they are expected to integrate. guest workers are required to work at tasks with which citizens of the host country do not want to dirty their hands. the young generation is expected to follow in their parents' footsteps. one minority group will have problems with another, and with society at large, in which they are supposed to integrate. the unemployed are expected to earn their benefits and eventually to accept whatever job is available. literacy implied expectations of homogeneity. immigrants were taught the language of their new homeland so they could become like any other citizen. guest workers, defined by their status in the labor market, were expected to gradually become unnecessary and to peacefully return to their native countries. young people, processed through education, and the unemployed, after being offered some short retraining, would be absorbed in the machine called national economy. in respect to community, the historic sequence can be summarized as follows: individuals loosely connected to their peers; individuals constituting viable entities for survival; transfer of individual attributes (self-determination, choice) to the community; integration in centralized community; distribution of tasks; decentralization. each step is defined by the extent of an individual's optimal performance: from very high individual performance, essential to survival, to distributed responsibility, until society takes over individual responsibility. liberal democracy celebrates the paradox of socialized individualism. in this respect, it ends the age of political battles (and, as we hear, the age of history), but opens the age of increased access to abundance. commercial democracy is neither the result of political action nor the expression of any ideology. within its sphere of action, the boundaries between the individual and the very unsettled community represent the territory of conflict. moral individualism succeeds or fails within a framework of adversarial human relations. since moral individualism is actually the underpinning of liberalism-"do what's best for yourself"-the liberty it advances is that of competitive access to abundance. socialized individualism accepts the state only as purveyor of rights and possibilities (when the hegelian notion of the priority of the state over the individual is accepted de facto), not as moral instance. the transition to a pragmatics in which individual performance becomes marginal, in view of the many coordinating mechanisms ensuring redundancies that obliterate personal participation, is definitive of this process. the relative significance of malfunctions-breakdown in the legal and social system, for example-as instances of self-awareness and new beginnings, prompted by the need to remedy past practices, is different in each of the stages mentioned. so is the possibility of change and renewal. creativity in current pragmatics is less and less an issue of the individual and more the result of orchestrated efforts in a large network of interactions. the underlying structure of the civilization of illiteracy supports a pragmatics of heterogeneity, distributed tasks, and networking. human practical experiences of self-constitution no longer generate uniformity, but diversity. there is no promise of permanency, even less of stable hierarchies and centralism. we face new problems. their formulation in literate form is deceptive; their challenge in the context of illiteracy, in which they emerge, is unprecedented. this is what prompts concerns about the civilization of illiteracy. being in language the two aspects of human self-constitution through language-individual and community (society)-derive from the basic issue of social interrelationships. one's language is not independent of the language of the society, despite the fact that, in a given society, people identify themselves through noticeable peculiarities in the way they speak, write, read, and carry on dialogue. elements pertaining to language are integrated in the human's biological structure. still, language does not emerge, as the senses do, but is progressively acquired. the process of language acquisition is at the same time a process of projecting human abilities related to language's emerging characteristics. regardless of the level of language acquired, language overwrites the senses. it projects integrated human beings-a unity of nature and language-prone to identify themselves in the culture that they continuously shape. while nature is a relatively stable system of reference, culture changes as humans change in the process of their various activities. to be within a language, as all human beings are, and in a community means to participate in processes of individual integration and social coordination. individual language use and social use of language are not identical. individuals constitute themselves differently than communities do. that in each community there are elements common to the individuals constituting it only says that the sum total of individual practical experiences of language is different from the language characteristic of the social experience. the difference between the language of the individual and the language of a community is indicative of social relationships. a more general thesis deserves to be entertained: the nature and variety of human interactions, within and without practical experiences of self-constitution in language, describe the complexity of the pragmatic framework. these interactions are part of the continuous process of identification as individuals and groups in the course of ascertaining their identity as a particular species. acknowledged forms of relationships in work, family life, magic, ritual, myth, religion, art, science, or education are evinced through their respective patterns. such patterns, circumscribed by human self-constitution in the natural and cultural context, are significant only retroactively. they testify to the human being's social condition and express what part of nature and what part of culture is involved in this condition. the primordial significance of these two phenomena lies in the expression of practical experiences followed, not preceded, by cognition. active participation of individuals in practical experiences of language acknowledges their need to identify themselves in the patterns of interrelation mentioned. people do not get involved with other people because either party may be nice. involvement is part of the continuous definition of the individual in contexts of conflict and cooperation, of acknowledging similarity and difference. any dynamics, in biology or in culture, is due to differences. people take language for granted and never question its conventions. as a natural, inherited (in chomsky's view) attribute, rather like the human senses, language is not reinvented each time practical experiences of constitution through language take place. neither is its usefulness questioned-as happens with artifacts (tools in particular)-each time our practical experience reaches the limits of language. the breakdown of an artifact-i.e., its inappropriateness to the task at hand-suggests the possible experience of crafting another. the breakdown of language points to limits in the human experience, not in its accessories. malfunctioning of language points to the biological endowment and the ways this is projected in reality through everything people do. this is not true in respect to other, less natural, sign systems: symbols, artificial languages, meta-languages. what changes from one scale of humankind, i.e., from one situation of matching needs to means for satisfying them, to another is the coefficient of the linear equation, not the linearity as such. a small group of people can survive by combining hunting, fruit gathering, and farming. the effort to satisfy a relatively bigger group increases only in proportion to the size of the group. in the known moments when a critical mass, or threshold, was reached (language acquisition, agriculture, writing, industrial production, and now the post-industrial), the expectation of higher efficiency corresponding to each scale of human experiences triggered changes in the pragmatic framework. the awareness of language's failure derives from practical experiences for which new languages become necessary. miscommunication is an instance of language not suitable to the experience. lack of communication points to limitations of the humans involved in an activity. miscommunication makes people question (themselves, others) about what went wrong, why, and what, if anything, can be done to avoid practical consequences affecting the efficiency of their activity. other forms of language malfunction can affect people as individuals or as members of a community in ways different from those peculiar to communication. the failure of political systems, ideologies, religion(s), markets, ethics, or family is expressed in the breakdown of patterns of human relations. we keep alive the language of those political systems, ideologies, religions, and markets even after noticing their failure, not by accident or through oversight but because all those languages are us, as we constitute ourselves as participants in a political process, subjects of ideological indoctrination, religious believers, commodities in the market, family members, and ethical citizens. the inefficiency of these experiences reflects our own inefficiency, more difficult to overcome than poor spelling, etymological ignorance, or phonetic deafness. the wall behind the wall an appropriate example of the solidarity between language experience and the individual constituted in language is provided by the breakdown of the east european block, and even more pointedly by the breakdown of the soviet union. nobody really suspected that once the infamous berlin wall came down, the people who lived to the east of it, trained and educated in and for a pragmatic framework whose underlying structure was reflected in their high degree of literacy, would remain captive to it as their legal, social, and economic conditions changed. despite the common language- german is the language through which national unity was ascertained-east germans are prisoners of the structural characteristics of the society projected on them through literacy: centralism, clear-cut distinctions, determinism, strong hierarchical structures, and limited choice. the invisible but powerful inner conditioning of the east germans' literacy-categorically superior to that of their western brothers and sisters-is not adequate to the new pragmatics attained in west germany and raises obstacles to east germany's integration in a dynamic society. the illiterate pragmatics of high efficiency, associated with high expectations that seem to outpace actual performance, was foisted on east germans by the well intentioned, though politically opportunistic, government from across a border that should never have existed. things are not different in other parts of the world-korea, hungary, romania, the czech republic, slovakia, poland, croatia, serbia, etc., where the rhythms of pragmatic developments and social, political, economic, national, and cultural developments are totally desynchronized. the best poetry was written in east europe; most of the books ever written were read by its people. it is impossible to ignore that the best theater in the world, the most elaborate cinematography, the best choirs and dance ensembles, and even the highest level of mathematical theory, physics, and biology became possible in a context of restriction, oppression, and disregard of individuals and their creativity. it is also impossible not to finally realize that the strength built on literacy-based structures was deceiving and self-deceiving. in the not-too-distant past, the people of these countries read books, attended concerts and operas, and visited museums. now, if they are not in misery, they are as obsessed with indulging in everything they could not have before, even if this means giving up their spiritual achievements. consumption is the new language, even before a basis for efficient practical experiences is put in place, and sometimes instead of it. the old relation between the language of the individual and the language of society displayed patterns of deception and cowardice. the new emergent relation expresses patterns of expectation well beyond the efficiency achieved, or hoped for, in this integrated world of extreme competitive impact. the wall behind the wall is embodied in extremely resistant patterns of human interaction originating in the context of literacy- based pragmatics. with this example in mind, it is critical to question whether there are alternatives to the means of expression people use and to the social program they are committed to-democracy. the experience of language today is very different from that of the time when the jacobins asserted a notion of democracy as the general will ( ), under the assumption of a literate background shared by all people. the message is the medium language is a form of social memory. when saying something or listening to some utterance, we assume a uniform use of words and of higher level linguistic entities. as stored testimony to similar practical experiences, language, stabilized in literacy, became a medium for averaging them. the patterns of human relations captured in language make people aware, in retrospect, of the relevance of these patterns to human efficiency. so it seems that we constitute ourselves as our own observations about how we interact. these observations are identified as cognition, because it is through interaction that we know each other and know how, what, and when our immediate and less immediate needs are satisfied. the paradigm of literacy asserts that human self-constitution takes place in language, moreover that it could effectively happen only in language, expressed in written forms and made available through reading. indeed, knowledge was derived from praxis implying human interaction that integrated language-based exchanges of information. this knowledge shaped political, ideological, religious, and economic experiences, as well as efforts to improve the technology used, and even broaden the scientific perspective. the dimension of future is intrinsic to life, from where it extends to language and literacy, as it extends to artifacts, work, and pragmatic expectations. the practical experience of language, as any other semiotic practical experience, embodies agreements regarding the nature and condition of whatever is constituted in language, human identity included. the projection of the biological and cultural characteristics on the world of our life and action establishes elements of reference. the ability to see, hear, and smell, and the ability to use tools are acknowledged as humans interact. ability and performance differ widely. self-evaluation and evaluation by others in the process of defining and achieving goals of common interest are quite distinct. language mediates, hence it makes commitments part of the experience. when these are not carried through, language can become a substitute medium for confrontation. experiences of agreement and experiences of confrontation are part of the patterns of interrelationship that define how the language of individuals and the language of the community are related. socialization of language leads to paradoxical situations: humans self-constituted in the language experience perceive their own language as though confrontation is not among themselves, but among their languages. only a few years ago, we heard about how much americans and russians liked each other, although the language of politics and ideology was one of conflict. now we hear how ossies (east germans) and wessies (west germans) have strong feelings about each other (one side is described as lazy, the other as arrogant; one side as cultivated, the other as ignoramuses; some as honest, the others as corrupt) although the language they both share is the same (though not quite). iranians and arabs, armenians and georgians, and serbs and croats could add to this subject more than we want to know about the language of prejudice. shortly before malthus issued his equation of population growth in relation to the growth of subsistence means, rousseau stated a law of the inverse proportion between size of population and political freedom. rousseau ascertained that the strength of those exercising power over others increases as the number of those subjected to power increases. the inverse proportion has to do with the influence each individual has in the political process-the more people, the weaker each voice. scale is critical, but so is understanding the relation between the underlying structure of the pragmatics that defines the role of language and how this role is carried out. practical experiences of power concentration are supported by literacy, whose implicit structure and expectation is centralism and representation. literacy generates instances of conflict as well as institutions that regulate the nature of agreements and disagreements. bureaucracy, the expression of these institutions, is the offspring of the incestuous relation between literacy and democracy. a new scale of humankind, for which literacy-based practical experiences are not adequate, and within which democracy-the power of the people-can no longer be exercised (as rousseau pointed out), poses many challenges. among them: what, if anything, should replace literacy? what could replace democracy? how do we free ourselves from the choking grip of bureaucracy? even before attempting an answer, the notion that the cultural experience of literacy and the social experience of democracy have reached their potential and are due for replacements has to be understood. in a different vein, the understanding that literacy participates in power, of which people become aware in a given cultural and social context, triggers another reaction: means of expression and communication different from those originating under the aegis of literacy participate in pragmatic processes that result in access to power. it is not what a political leader says, but how. powerful images, sophisticated directing, and inspired stage design or selection of backdrops become the message itself. this is why "the message is the medium," a not irreverent reversal of mcluhan's famous formula, phrases the altered nature of the relation between language and the world. interactions in the networked world exemplify this rephrasing even better. the redefined relationship between the many languages of our new practical experiences and reality is expressed in the means and values of the civilization of illiteracy. written into the pompous architecture of mitterand's palaces and monuments in paris, and into the "new" berlin reflecting the medieval notion of centralized power-to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars-the message of literacy is turned into the medium of brick-and-mortar. in an age of task distribution and decentralization, the appropriate alternative is virtual environments and an advanced infrastructure for access to cognition. "the message is the medium" translates into the requirement of overcoming infatuation with the past, never mind trying to reinvent it. the statement demands that we create alternative media that support the empowerment of individuals, not the further consolidation of power structures that were relevant in the past but which prevent the unfolding of the future. from democracy to media-ocracy democracy is a domain of expectations. humans constitute themselves as members of a democracy to the extent that their practical experiences acknowledge equality, freedom, and self-determination. the concept of democracy has varied enormously over time. in ancient societies, it acknowledged equality of the demos, and that free men-not slaves, not women-were entitled to vote. subject to many emancipations, democracy denotes the right of people to elect their government (based on the general will set forth by the jacobins, as mentioned above). how this self- government actually works-through direct or indirect representation, in forms of government based on the division of power between the executive and legislative, or under monarchies-is itself a matter of practical experiences pertinent to democracy. the democracy of human misery and neglect is quite different from the democracy of affluence. equal access to work, education, health care, and art, and equal access to drugs, murder, joblessness, ignorance, and disease are far from being similar. a small town-meeting in vermont or one in a swiss canton, effectively governing life in town, is quite different from the forms of political self-governance in countries where the central power effectively overrides any self-governance. the same can be said of the overriding power of other factors-the economy, for instance. democracy is a major form of social and political experience. the power of the majority, expressed in votes, is only one of its possible manifestations. when only a minority of the population votes, the so-called majority ceases to be representative, no matter what the formal rules say. we live by democratic practices of delusion, and multiply, enthusiastically, their effect through the literate discourse of democracy. as a domain of expectations, mirroring hope implicit in literacy, democracy conjures meaning only if it is paralleled by democratic participation in social and political experiences. when one of the two terms of this critical equation diminishes-as is the case with participation-democracy diminishes in the same proportion. there are many reasons for decreasing participation. in countries where effective democracy was replaced by democratic demagoguery, changes, such as those brought about by revolutions, revolts, and reforms, initially mobilize the people, almost to the last citizen. we are still observing a phenomenon symptomatic of democracy in east europe and the republics of the former soviet union. from the almost unanimous enthusiasm over renewal, leading to formal conditions for democracy, individual participation in government is slowly diminishing. what are the causes of this phenomenon, which is paralleled by diminishing interest in religion, art, and solidarity? many answers are given, and even more hypotheses are advanced: psychological fatigue, lack of democratic tradition, egotism, desire to catch up with affluent societies. from the perspective of the relationships characteristic of an individual's literate language and literacy programs of societies claiming to be democratic, the answer should be sought in the conflict between literacy-based values and the expectations of efficiency characteristic of the new scale of humankind. efficiency made possible by a pragmatics emancipated from the structural characteristics reified in literacy converted democracy into commercial democracy. people can buy and sell whatever they want. their equality is one of access to the market of affluence; their freedom is sealed in the mutually acknowledged right to plenty. democratization, which people believe is taking place all over the world, is a process of absorbing newer and newer groups of people into prosperity, into the superficial culture of entertainment (including sports competition), and into a government that guarantees the right to wealth and consumption. this description can easily become suspect of moralizing instead of tight analysis. literacy embodies certain expectations from democratic institutions. like other institutions, this type is also subjected to the test of efficiency. when the institutions of democracy fail this test, they are, in the language of democracy, diverted to consolidating not democracy, as a practical experience of the people, but the institution. bureaucracies are generated as a diversion of democracy from its social and political focus in an incestuous love with the language in which its principles are enunciated. mediation insinuates itself between the people and the institutions of democracy. media generalize the role of the literate system of checks and balances and, as mass-media, becomes a participant in the equation of power. taking full advantage of means that characterize the civilization of illiteracy-the power of images, instantaneous access to events, the power of networking, communicative resources of new technologies-the media play a double role: representative of the people and representative of power. since their own domain of experiences is representation, the media depend on the efficiency of the practical experiences of people's self-constitution in productive activities. mass media activity is carried not by its own motivations, but by those of the market, whose locus it becomes. consequently, the equation of democracy becomes the equation of competition and economic success. the media select and endorse causes and personalities appropriate to the process of marketing democracy. instead of government, and the responsibilities associated with it, democracy becomes the people's right to buy, among other things, their government and the luxury of transferring their democratic responsibilities to its institutions. media bashing is a favorite sport of politicians whenever things don't work the way they expect. it is also practiced by the public, especially in times of economic uncertainty or during political developments that seem out of control (wars, violent mass demonstrations, elections). bashing or not, criticism of the media reflects the fact that media expanded their participation in power. the practical experience of public relations, an outgrowth of media participation in power, uses the methods of the media to promote causes and personalities as products best suited for a certain need: support hungry children, elect a sheriff, endorse a tax hike or reduction, etc., etc. the domains of competence and ability are effectively disconnected from the domain of representation. literacy-based methods of establishing hierarchies and influencing choices are enforced by new technologies for reaching targets, even in the most saturated contexts of information dissemination. advisers committed only to the success of their endeavors use the discriminating tools of the market in order to adapt the message to all those who care to play the muddled game of democracy. information brokerage, feedback strategies, symbolic social engineering, mass media, psychology, and event design form an eclectic practical experience. calling it by a certain name-media-ocracy-is probably tendentious. but the shoe seems to fit. from all we know, the effort of this activity does not go towards promoting excellence or persuading communities that democracy entails quality and defending self-government from corruption. it rather focuses on what it takes to convince that mediocrity adequately reflects the quest for equality, and is the most people can expect if they are not dedicated to the exercise of their rights. the literate and illiterate means used to defend democracy, and the entire political system built on the democratic premise, make it only more evident that democracy, an offspring of language-based practical experiences, is far from being the eternal and universal answer, the climax of history. indeed, the scale of humankind renders impossible participation in power through the definition of ideals and goals, as well as awareness of the consequences of human actions. alternative forms of participating in democracy need to be found in the characteristics of the pragmatics corresponding to the new scale. such alternatives have to embody the distributed nature of work, better understanding of the connection (or lack thereof) between the individual and the community, awareness of change as the only permanence, and strategies of co-evolution, regarding equally all other people and the nature to which humans still belong. democracy is the offspring of human experiences based on the postulate of sameness. the alternatives derive from the dynamics of difference. self-organization time, energy, equipment, and intellect have been invested in the research of artificial life. knowledge derived from this research can be used to advance models of individual and social life. this knowledge tells us that diversity and self-organization, for instance, prompted by structural characteristics and externalized through emerging functions, maintain the impetus of evolution in a living system. obviously, humans belong to such a system. in the past, we used to focus on social forms of variable organization. within such forms, iterative optimization and learning take place as an expression of internal necessities, not as a result of adopted or imposed rules of functioning. the entire dynamics of reproduction that marks today's states and organizations in the business of population control, needs to be reconnected to the pragmatic context. as a result, we can expect that communities structured on such principles are endowed with the equivalent of social immune systems, able to recognize themselves and to counteract social disease. reconnection to the pragmatic context needs to be understood primarily as a change of strategy from telling people what has to be done to engaging them in the action. all the promises connected to the fast-growing network of networks are based on this fundamental assumption. a social immune system ought to be understood as a mechanism for preventing actions detrimental to the effective functioning of each and every member of the community. social disease entails connotations characteristic of a system of good and bad, right and wrong. what is meant here is the possibility that individual effort and pragmatic focus become disconnected. reconnection mechanisms are based on recognition of diversity and definition of unity, means, goals, and ideals. adaptability results from diversity; so does the ability to allocate resources within the dynamic community. more than in the past, and more than today, individuals will partake in more than one community. this is made possible by means of interaction and by shared resources. today's telecommuting is only a beginning when we think of the numbers of people involved and the still limited scope of their involvement. the old notion of community, associated mainly with location, will continue to give way to communities of interests and goals. virtual communities on the internet already exemplify such possibilities. the major characteristic of such self-organizing social and cultural cells is their pattern of improvement in the course of co-evolution, which reflects the understanding that political and social aspects of human interaction change as each person changes. the model described, inspired by the effort to understand life and simulate properties pertinent to life through simulations, applies just as much to the natural as to the artificial. global economy, global political concerns, global responsibility for the support system, global vested interests in communication and transportation networks, and global concern for the meaningful use of energy should not lead to a world state- not even boorstin's republic of technology will do-but to a state of many worlds. complexities resulting from such a scale of political practical experiences are such that self-destruction, through social implosion, is probably what might happen if we continue to play the game of world institutions. the alternative corresponds to decentralization, powerful networking associated with extreme distributions of tasks, and effective integrating procedures. in more concrete terms, this means that individuals will constitute their identity in experiences through which their particular contribution might be integrated in different actions or products. they will share resources and use communication means to optimize their work. access to one another's knowledge through means that are simultaneously open to many inquiries is part of the global contract that individuals will enter, once they acknowledge the benefits of accessing the shared body of information and the tools residing on networks. self-organizing human nuclei of diverse practical experiences will allow for the multiplicity of languages of the civilization of illiteracy, freedom from bureaucracy, and more direct co-participation in the life of each social cell thus constituted. advanced specialized knowledge, empowering people to pursue their practical goals with the help of new languages (mathematical notation, visualization, diagramming, etc.), usually insulates the expert from the world. if circumstances are created to meaningfully connect practical experiences that are relevant to each other, fragmentation and synthesis can be pursued together. we are very good at fragmentation-it defines our narrow specialties. but we are far less successful in pursuing synthesis. the challenge lies in the domain of integration. since human activity reflects the human being's multi-dimensionality, it is clear that nuclei of overlapping experiences, involving different perspectives, will develop in environments where resources are shared and results constitute the starting point for new experiences. the identity of people constituting themselves in the framework of a pragmatics that ensures efficiency and diversity reflects experiences through many literacies, and survival skills geared towards co-evolution, not domination. co-evolving technology is only an example. from the relatively simple bulletin boards of the early 's to the internet and web of our day, co-evolution has been a concrete practical instance of the constitution of the netizen. michael hauben, who coined the term, wanted to describe the individuals working towards building a cooperative and collective activity that would benefit the world at large. conflicts are not erased. the net community is not one of perfection but of anticipated and desired diversity, in which imperfection is not a handicap. its dynamics is based on differences in quantity and quality, and its efficiency is expressed in how much more diversity it can generate. the solution is the problem. or is the problem the solution? the inadequacy of literacy and natural language, undoubtedly the main sign system of the human species, is brought more forcefully to light against the background of new forms of practical experiences leading to human self-constitution through many sign systems. extremely complex pragmatic circumstances, predicated by needs that long ago surpassed those of survival, make the limits of literacy-based language experiences stand out. this new pragmatics demands that literacy be complemented with alternative means of expression, communication, and signification. the analysis of various forms of human activity and creativity can lead to only one conclusion: the patterns of human relationships and the tools created on the foundation of literacy no longer optimally respond to the requirements of a higher dynamics of human existence. misled by the hope that once we capture extensions in language-everything people do in the act of their practical self-identification-we could infer from these to intensions-how a particular component unfolds-we have failed to perceive the intensional aspects of human actions themselves. for instance, we know of the diverse components of the practical experience of mathematics-analytic effort, rationality, symbolism, intuition, aesthetics. but we know almost nothing about each component. some simply cannot be expressed in language; others are only reduced to stereotype through literate discourse. does the power of a mathematical expression rely on mathematical notation, or on aesthetic quality? how are these two aspects integrated? where and how does intuition affect mathematical thinking? the same criteria apply, but more critically, to social activities. interactions among people involve their physical presence; their appearance as beautiful, or fit, or appropriate; their capability to articulate thoughts; their power of persuasion; and much more. each component is important, but we know very little about the specific impact each one has. surprised at how dictators come to power, and even more by mass delusion, with or without television as part of the political performance, we still fail to focus on what motivates people in their manifestations as racists, warmongers, hypocrites, or, for that matter, as honest participants in the well-being of their fellow humans. when the argument is rotten but the mass follows, there is more at work than words, appearance, and psychology. language has projected the experience involved in our cultural practice, but has failed to project anything particularly relevant to our natural existence. thus patterns of cultural behavior expressed in language seem quite independent of the patterns of our biological life, or at least appear to have acquired a strange, or difficult to explain, independence. we must give serious thought to our obsession with invulnerability, easy to conceptualize and express in language. it is, for instance, embodied in the medicine of the civilization of literacy. the abrupt revelation of aids, marking the end of the paranoia of invulnerability, might help us understand the ramifications of the uncoupling of our life in the domain of culture-where human sexuality belongs-and our life in the domain of nature-where reproduction belongs. magic reflected the attempt to maintain a harmonious relation with the outside world. it has not yet been decided whether it is medicine-the reified experience of determinism applied in the realm of individual well being-or a parent's embrace that calms a baby's colic; or whether the psychosomatic nature of modern disease is addressed by the technology of healthcare in our days. what we already know is that populations were decimated once new patterns of nourishment and hygiene were imposed on them. when an attained balance was expelled by a foreign form of balance, life patterns were affected. this happened not only to populations in asia, africa, australia, and new zealand, but also in the native populations of the american continents. medical concepts resulting from analytic practical experiences of self-constitution-many reified in the medicine of the civilization of literacy-defy the variety of possible balances and embody the suspicion that "the solution is the problem." literacy, when applicable, works very well, but it is not the universal answer to humankind's increasingly complex pragmatics. in the fortunate position of not having totally abandoned experiences with sign systems other than language, people have been able to change the patterns of training, instruction, industrial production, modern farming, and healthcare. patterns of practical understanding of domains which for a very long time were concealed by literacy are also affected: pattern recognition, image manipulation, design. as a result, new methods for tackling new areas of human experience are becoming possible. instead of describing images through words, and defining a course of action or a goal through a text, and then having the text control the use of visual elements, people use the mediating power of design systems with integrated planning and management facilities. a new product, a new building, and concepts in urban planning are generated while the pertinent computer program computes data pertinent to cost, ecological impact, social implications, and interpersonal communication. the practice of transcending literacy, while still involving literacy, also resulted in the development of new skills: visual awareness, information processing, networking, and new forms of human integration, far less rigid than those characteristic of integration exclusively through verbal language. there is no need to eliminate literacy, as there is no need to reduce everything to literacy. where it is still applicable, literacy is alive and well. on the internet and world wide web, it complements the repertory of means of human interaction characteristic of computer-mediated communication. television holds a large audience captive in one-way communication. the ambition of the world wide web is to enable meaningful one-to-one and one-to-many interactions. the civilization of illiteracy is one of diversity and relies on the dynamics of self- organization. but in order to succeed, several conditions need to be met. for instance, we have not yet developed in appropriate practical experiences of human self- constitution the ability to think in media other than natural language. like many beginners in a new language, people still translate from one language to another. when this does not work, they look for help in the language they know, instead of formulating questions in the alternative language in which they suspect they can be answered. after intuition was eliminated by rationality and system, only minor effort is made towards understanding how intuition comes about, whether in mathematics, medicine, sports, the arts, market transactions, war skills, food preparation, and social activities. in the civilization of literacy, people were, and to a great extent still are, able to ignore some forms of human relationships without affecting the general outcome of human practice. within the new scale and dynamics, human civilization relies on the interplay of more elements. the timing involved in integrating this diversity is much more difficult to accomplish through literacy-based methods, even though timing is critical to the outcome. literacy captures the rough and linear level of relations. new practical experiences of higher efficiency require finer levels and tools adequate to non- linear phenomena for dealing with the parallel processes involved in the self- constitution of individuals and of society. from possibilities to choices if the multiplication of possibilities were not to be met by effective ways of making choices, we would be sucked into the whirlwind of entropy. in practice, this translates into an obvious course of events: allowing for new possibilities, which sometimes take the appearance of alternatives, means to disallow certain known and practiced options of confirmed output. for example, where democracy is taken over by bureaucracy, the town meeting fulfills only a decorative function. there is nothing of consequence in the american president's state of the union address, or in the conventions where political parties nominate candidates for the presidency. with the choice of local and national political representation, the possibility to directly participate in power is precluded. the possibility of using sign systems other than language is far from being a novelty. even the possibility of achieving some form of syncretism is not new by any means. what is new is the awareness of their potential malfunctioning and of the potential for losing control over forms of praxis that become highly complex. from among the many ways the relation between the individual and the community is manifested, the condition of the legal system is probably the best example. whether independent, constituting a domain of regulations and checks with its own motivations, or part of other components of social and political life, the institution of justice encodes its typologies, classifications, and rules in laws. this domain parallels one of human interactions where expected values are permanently subjected to the scrutiny of the pragmatic activity. integrity of the individual and his lawfully acquired goods, the binding nature of commitments, and prohibition of misrepresentation or of rules essential to the well being of the community are rules on which legal experience developed. right and wrong, once identified under circumstances of direct practical experience through consequences for the community's well being, are now constituted in a domain with a life and rules of its own. killing, stealing, and misrepresentation are actions well defined in the written texts of the law. but the law itself, anchored in literacy, consequently detached itself from the real world and now constitutes its own reality and motivations. since this is the case, it is no surprise that legal practice turns out to be nothing more than interpretations of texts and attempts to use language to bring about an outcome based on chimera, not reality. the legal system reacts to innovation by forcing rules originating in other pragmatic frameworks-the strong evidence of dna analysis is only one example-to fit its own criteria of evaluation. instead of constituting a proactive context for the unfolding of the human genius, legal praxis ends up defending only its own interests. the jury system in the usa might appear to many people as an expression of democracy. in the pragmatic context in which the jury system originated, even the notion of peer made sense, since it applied to a reduced and relatively homogeneous community. today, the jury has become part of the odious equation of the dispute between lawyers. the jury is selected to reflect the lowest common denominator so that its members, mostly incompetent, can be manipulated in the adversarial game of the performance produced under the generic label of justice. as an extension of literate language, the experience of legal language builds on its own rules for efficient functioning and establishes criteria for success that corrupt the process of justice. it is a typical example of malfunctioning, probably as vivid as the language of politics. judicial and political praxes document, from another angle, how democracy fails once it reaches the symbolic phase manifested in the bureaucracy of the legal system and of reified power relations. coping with choice self-definition implies the ability to establish a domain of possibilities. but possibilities do not present themselves alone. in the transition from the civilization of literacy to the new civilization of illiteracy, the global domain of possibilities expands dramatically, but the local, individual domains probably narrow in the same proportion. this happens because what at the global level looks like a multiplication of choices, at the level of the individual appears as a matter of effective selection procedures. as long as there is little to choose from, selection is not a problem. the primitive family had few choices regarding nourishment, self-reproduction, and health. choices increased as the practical experiences of self-constitution diversified. migrating populations chose from among selections different from those available to settled human beings. the first known cities embodied a structure of relations for which written language was appropriate. the megalopolis of our day embodies a universe of choices on a different scale. within such a domain of possibilities, there are no effective selection procedures. reduction from practically infinite choices to a finite number of realizations is at best a matter of randomness and exposure. inversely, the slogan "act locally, think globally" can easily lead to failure. many accomplishments that are successful on a local scale would fail if applied globally if they do not integrate awareness of globality from the beginning. within literacy, the expectation that literate people receive, by virtue of knowledge of language, good selection procedures-considered as universal and permanent as literacy itself-was part of its multi-layered self-motivation. in the civilization of illiteracy, this expectation gives way to pursuing consecutive choices, all short-term, all of limited scope and value-free, which even seem to eliminate one's own decision. it appears that choices grab individuals. this explains why one of the main drives in the world today is towards greater numbers of people seeking to live in cities. once a choice is exhausted, the next follows as a consequence of the scale, not as a result of searching for an alternative. this applies as well to professional life, itself subject to the shorter cycles of renewal and change. the powerful mechanism of social segmentation, the result of the many mediating mechanisms in place, makes the problem of coping with choice look like another instance of democracy at work. let's consider some of these choices: to distribute, or not to distribute, condoms to high school and junior high school students; to confirm or deny the right to end one's life (pro-choice or pro-life); to expand heterosexual family privileges to homosexual cohabitation; to introduce uniform standards of testing in education. these examples are removed from the broader context of human self-constitution and submitted, through the mechanism of media- ocracy, more to market validation than to a responsible exercise of civic responsibility. mediation mechanisms characteristic of the civilization of illiteracy cause the choices that a community faces to become almost irrelevant on the individual level. in the new universe of possibilities, expanding as we speak, human beings are giving up autonomy and self-determination, as they participate in several different communities. they share in the apparent choices of society insofar as these match their own possibilities and expectations. but they often have the means to live outside a society when their choices (regarding peace, war, individual freedom, lifestyle, etc.) are different from those pursued by states. citizens of the trans-national world partake in the dynamics of change to a much higher degree than do people dedicated to the literate ideals of nationalism and ethnicity. we can fly to the moon (and people will, either as participants in the space program or as paying passengers). we can afford partaking in unique events- concerts, contests, auctions-some in person, others through the electronic means they can afford. each individual can become president or member of some legislative body; but only some can afford applying for these positions. whether through wealth, intelligence, sensitivity, race, gender, age, or religion, we are not equal in our possibilities, although we are equal in our rights. coping with choice involves matching goals and means of achieving them. literacy is a poor medium for this operation, which takes place between individuals and the many communities to which they belong. the various languages of the pragmatic identification of all those involved in coping with choice operate more effectively. the network of interrelations that constitute our practical existence and the patterns of these relations will continue to change and become globally more complex and locally more confined. while we gain global freedom, we lose local dynamics. at the particular level at which we input our mediating performance, we are in almost total control of our own efficiency. each of the many service providers for industry, physicians, lawyers, or writers is an example of local choices reflected in the increased productivity of those they service and of their own output. at higher levels, where these services are integrated-regardless of whether they provide rust control, x-ray processing, graphic design, or accounting-choices become more limited. consequently, coordination becomes critical. the strategy of outsourcing is based on the notion that maximum efficiency requires specialization that companies cannot achieve. if the process continues in the same direction, coordination will soon be the most difficult problem of practical experience. this is due to the complexity that integration entails, and to the fact that there are no effective procedures for simplifying it. the simpler each task, the more complex the integration. short of submitting a law that reflects this situation, another thesis can be formulated: overall complexity is preserved regardless of how systems are subdivided, or tasks distributed. complexity is transferred from the task to the integration. trade-off awareness of possibilities is more direct than that of complexities. trading choice and self-determination for less concern and higher rewards in terms of satisfying needs and desires is not an exciting alternative. language has not brought the promised awareness of the world, but has made possible a strategy of confinement. the loss of language seems to trouble mainly people who work at language dissemination, maintenance, and awareness. however, after taking language for granted for a long time, people notice those instances when, in need of a word or trying to function in a world of language conventions, language is not up to the task. faced with unprecedented experiences in scientific experimentation, large-scale communication, radical political change, and terrorism, people observe that they do not have the language for these phenomena. they look for words and ultimately realize that those words, assumed to exist, cannot be found because the pragmatic framework requires something other than language. in contrast to tools, like the ones we keep around the house or see mechanics and plumbers using, language is not taken away or lost because we are our language. what is lost from language is a certain dimension of human being and acting, of appropriating reality and producing and exchanging goods, of acknowledging our experience and sharing it with others. cultural, historical, economic, social, and other developments contribute to our notion of literacy. its crisis is symptomatic of everything that made literacy necessary and is based on the particular ways in which literate societies function. this statement does not suggest that the crisis of literacy implies a cultural or economic crisis. for instance, women's emancipation did not start with the emancipation of language. in japanese, in which the man-woman distinction goes so far as to require that women use a different vocabulary than men, women's emancipation could hardly be considered. as an expression of a specific type of social relations, this distinction in language maintains a status against which women might feel entitled to react. many other patterns of human interaction, which prompt practical action for change, are deeply seated in language. watching our children, upon whom we impose literacy, grow, we almost always count the words they learn and evaluate their progress in articulating desires, opinions, and questions. what we neglect to ask is what kind of world does language bring to them in the process of learning language? what kind of practical experiences does language make possible? when children break loose of our language, it is almost too late to understand the problem. language use seems so natural that its syntactic and value-loaded conventions are not questioned. we accept language as it is projected on us. it comes with gods or god, goodness, right, truth, beauty, and other values, as well as distinctions (sexual, racial, generational) that are held to be as eternal as we were taught that language itself is. we project language on our children only in order to be challenged by them through their own language, pretty much attuned to their different pragmatic frame of reference. as a framework within which parents, and ultimately society, want children to think, communicate, and act, language appears to have two contradictory characteristics: liberty and constraint. the all-encompassing change we are witnessing concerns both. in order to function effectively in a society of very specialized patterns of interaction, people realize that a trade-off between liberties and constraints is inescapable. on the level of social and cultural life, people realize that constraints, represented by accepted prejudices and ideologies, impinge upon their limited space of decision-making and infringe upon individual integrity. language turned out to be not only the medium for expressing liberating ideals, but also a stubborn embodiment of old and new prejudices. it is also the instrument of deception, and bears in its ideal of literacy the most evident deception of all-literacy as a panacea for every problem the human species faces, from poverty, inequity, and ignorance to military conflict, disease, starvation, and even the inability to cope with new developments in science and technology. interestingly enough, netizens believe the same thing regarding the internet! in their campaign for free choice of literacy, they are just as dogmatic about their type of literacy as the modern language association, for example, is about the old-fashioned kind. we can accept that this world of enormously diversified forms of human practice (corresponding to the diversity of human beings) requires more than one type of literacy. but this is not yet sufficient condition for changing the current premise of education if the avenues of gaining knowledge are not developed. the assumption that language is a higher level system of signs is probably correct, but not necessarily significant for the inference that in order to function in a society, each member has to master this language. to free ourselves of this inference will take more than the argument founded on the efficiency of illiterate and aliterate individuals who constitute their identity in realms where literacy does not dominate, or ceased being entirely necessary. learning from the experience of interface the exciting adventure of artificially replicating human characteristics and functions is probably as old as the awareness of self and others. harnessing tools and machines in order to maximize the efficiency of praxis was always an experience in language use and craftsmanship. so far, the most challenging experience has been the use of computers to replicate the ability to calculate, process words and images, control production lines, interpret very complex data, and even to simulate aspects of human thinking. programming languages serve as mediating entities. using a limited vocabulary and very precise logic, they translate sequences of operations that programmers assume need to be executed in order to successfully compute numbers, process words, operate on images, and even carry out the logical operations for playing chess and beating a human opponent at the game. a programming language is a translation of a goal into a description of the logical processes through which the goal can be achieved. computer users do not deal with the programming language; they address the computer through the language of interface: words in plain english (or any other language for which interface is designed), or images standing for desired goals or operations. the entire machine does not speak or understand an interface's high-level language. the interaction of the user with the machine is translated by interface programs into whatever a machine can process. providing efficient interfaces is probably as important as designing high level abstract programming languages and writing programs in those languages. without such interfaces, only a limited number of people could involve themselves in computing. the experience of interface design can help us understand the direction of change to which the new pragmatics commits us. at the end of the road, the computer should physically disappear from our desks. all that will be needed is access to digital processing, not to the digital engine. the same was true of electricity. once upon a time it was generated at the homes or workplaces where the people who needed it could use it. now it is made available through distribution networks. natural language accomplished the function of interface long before the notion came into existence. literacy was to be the permanent interface of human practical experiences, a unifying factor in the relation between the individual and society. ideally, interface should not affect the way people constitute themselves; that is, it should be neutral in respect to their identity. this means that people can change and tasks can vary. the interface would account for the change and would accommodate new goals. even in their wildest dreams, computer scientists and researchers in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, who work with intelligent interfaces, do not anticipate such a living interface. interfaces affect the nature of practical experiences in computing. as these become more complex, a breakdown occurs because interfaces do not scale up. instead of supporting better interactions, an interface can hamper them and affect the outcome of computing. language has performed quite well under the pressure of scaling up. it grows with each new human practical experience and can adapt to a variety of tasks because the people constituted in language adapt. in the intimate relation between humans and their language, language limits new experiences by subjecting them to expectations of coherence. language's expressive and communicative potential reaches its climax as the pragmatics that made it possible and necessary exhausts its own potential for efficiency. literate language no longer enhances human abilities in practical experiences outside its pragmatic domain. literacy only ends up limiting the scope of the experience to its own, and limits human growth. many impressive human accomplishments, probably the majority of them, are testimony to the powerful interface that literate language is. but these accomplishments are equal testimony to what occurs when the interface constitutes its own domain of motivations, or is applied as an instrument for pursuing goals that result in a forced uniformity of experiences. if literacy had been a neutral mediating entity, it would have scaled up to the new scale of humankind and the corresponding efficiency expectations, once the threshold was reached. successive forms of religious, scientific, ideological, political, and economic domination are examples of powerful interface mechanisms. to understand this predicament, we can compare the sequence of interfaces connected to the experience of religion to the sequence of computer-user interfaces. notwithstanding the fundamental differences between these two domains of practical experience, a striking similarity has to be acknowledged. both start as limited experiences, open to the initiated few, and expand from a reduced sign system on interactions to very rich multimedia environments. from a limited secretive domain to the wide opening afforded by a trivial vocabulary, both evolve as double-headed entities: the language of the initiated individuals interfaced with the language of the individuals progressively integrated in the experience. no one should misconstrue this comparison, meant only to illustrate the constitutive nature of the experience of interfacing. we could as well focus on the experiences of economics, politics, ideology, science, fashion, or, even better, art. the experience of literacy resulted in some consistency, but also in lost variety. every language of interaction (interface) that disappeared took with it into oblivion experiences impossible to resuscitate. the relation between the individual and community, once very rich at various levels, grew weaker the more literacy took over. literacy norms this relation, shaping it into a multiple-choice quiz. information processing techniques applied on literacy-controlled forms of social interaction require even further standardization in order to be efficient. as a result, the individual is rationalized away, and the community becomes a locus for data management instead of a place for human interaction. the process exemplifies what happens when interface takes over and interacts with itself. the various concerns raised so far only reiterate how important it is to understand the nature of interface processes. but experience gained in computational research of knowledge points to other aspects critical to the relation between the individual and society. humans constitute themselves in a variety of practical experiences that require alternatives to language. powerful mathematical notations, diagrams, visualization techniques, acoustics, holography, and virtual space are such alternative means. non-linear association and cognitive paths, until now embodied in hypertext structures that we experience on the world wide web, belong to this category, too. processing language is not equivalent to integrating these alternative means. cognitive requirements put severe restrictions on experiences grounded in means different from language, on account of the intensity and nature of cognitive processes, as well as of memory requirements. the genetic endowment formed in language-based practical experiences of self-constitution is not necessarily adapted to fundamentally different means of expression. communication requires a shared substratum, which is established in an acculturation process that takes many generations. enhanced by the new media, communication does not become more precise. programs are conceived to enable the understanding of language. everything ever written is scanned and stored for character recognition. images are translated into short descriptions. a semantic component is attached to everything people compute. hopes are high for using such means on a routine basis, though the compass might be set on some elusive direction. even when machines will understand what we ask them to do-that is, when they integrate speech and handwriting recognition functions in the operating system-we will still have to articulate our goals. a technology capable of automating many operations that human beings still perform will increase output, and thus the efficiency of the effort applied. but the real challenge is to figure out ways to optimize the relation between what is possible and what is necessary. procedures that will associate the output to the many criteria by which humans or the machine determine how meaningful that output is, are more important than raw technological performance. until now, literacy has not proven to be the suitable instrument for this goal. people and language change together. individuals are formed in language; their practical experiences reshape language and lead to the need for new languages. if we cannot uncouple language and the human being, especially in view of the parallel evolution of genetic endowment and linguistic ability, we will continue to move in the vicious cycle of expression and representation. the issue is not language per se, but the claim that representation is the dominant, one might say exclusive, paradigm of human activity. neither science nor philosophy has produced an alternative to representation. there is more to physical reality than what language can lay claim to. and there is much more to the dynamics of our existence in a world whose own dynamics integrates it while extending far beyond it. skills needed to function in the physical world-skills which children and newborn animals display-are only partially represented in language. the entire realm of instinctive behavior belongs here. this includes coordination and the very rich forms of relating to space, time, and other living beings. advanced biological and cognitive research (maturana's work leads in this area) shows that various organisms survive without the benefits of representation. very personal human experiences-among them, pain, love, hate, and joy-happen without the benefits and constraints of language representation. there are skills for which we have no representation in language. various tags are used to name them under the heading of parapsychology, magic, and non-verbal communication. once these are described through their results only, they cause reactions ranging from doubt to ridicule. the unusual and inexplicable performances of individuals called idiots savants belong to this category. an idiot savant hears a piano concerto and replays it masterfully, although he or she cannot add two and two. a matchbox falls and the idiot savant can state, without looking at the box, the exact number of matches that fell out. these are feats that are on record. some idiots savants are able to go through long sequences of phone numbers, produce complete listings of prime numbers, and execute incredible multiplication and division. researchers can only observe and record such accomplishments. for other inexplicable phenomena, we simply have no concept available: the amazing last moments before death, the power of illusion, and the visualization aptitudes of some individuals. researchers have accumulated data on the power of prayer and faith, and on paranormal manifestations. it is not the intention of this book to venture explanations of these phenomena, but to point out the great variety of experiences which could be integrated into human praxis but are not, merely because they still defy explanation in language. functioning in a world that we read through the glasses of literacy makes us often blind to what is different, to what literacy does not encompass. a realm of fact and possible abstraction, difficult to compare with the world of existence that language reports about, remains to be explored. when the nobel prize winning physicist richard feynman reported on a difference in machine and human computation, this report pointed to aspects for which language was not prepared to serve as a useful interface, and to a realm different from representation. crises, catastrophes, and breakdowns testify to the borders of a given pragmatic context. they are references as to how far such a context can extend. beyond the context begins the universe of fundamental change and revolution, constitutive of a new framework. the really interesting level of language, and of any other sign system, is not the referential level but the level of constituting new worlds. these worlds do not necessarily extend the old one. telecommuting is an extension of the previous pattern of work. cooperative real-time practical experiences are more than the sum of individual contributions. they are constitutive of non-linear forms of complementarity. the virtual office is but another form of office. virtual community is a constitutive experience. nothing of what we have learned in experiences of broadcasting is pertinent to the participatory aspect of human self-constitution in an environment of fluidity and unsettled patterns of interaction. the goal is not to inform, but to enable and empower. the elaborate combinations of chemicals concocted to increase the effectiveness of medicine, of construction materials, or of electronic components continues earlier patterns. atomic manipulation, intended to synthesize intelligent materials and self-repairing substances and devices, constitutes a new domain of practical experiences. each of these examples belongs to a pragmatic framework different in nature from the one that defined literacy and which literacy embodies and forces upon our experience. centrism-euro-, ethno-, techno- or any other kind-as well as dualism- good and bad, right and wrong, just and unjust, beautiful and ugly-and hierarchy have exhausted their potential. the attempt to measure the emergent pragmatics against ideals that do not originate from within them can only result in empty slogans firmly entrenched in the avatars of machine-age ideologies. as we experience it at the juncture between literacy and illiteracy, the legacy of language is not only accomplishments but also the diversion from what the world is to descriptions that stand for it in our minds, books, and social concerns. the networks of objects and their properties (qualifiers of objects) exist in the civilization of literacy only through language: things are real insofar as they are in language. to overcome this perception is a challenge well beyond the power of most individuals. what emerges in the new pragmatic framework of distributed practical experience and of cooperative, parallel human interactions is a human being self-constituted in a plurality of interconditioning means of expression, communication, and signification. we might just be on the verge of a new age. a sense of the future beyond literacy begins a realm which for many is still science fiction. the name civilization of illiteracy is used to define direction and to point out markers. the richness and diversity of this realm is indicative of the nature of our own practical experiences of self-constitution. the landscape mapped out by these experiences is simultaneously its own borgesian map. one marker along the road from present to future leaves no room for doubt: the digital foundation of the pragmatic framework. but this does not mean that the current dynamics of change can be reduced to the victorious march of the digital or of technology, in general. having challenged the model of a dominant sign system-language and in its literate experience-we suggested that a multitude of various sign processes effectively override the need for and justification of literacy in a context of higher efficiency expectations. we could alternatively define the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy as semiotic in the sense that human practical experiences become more and more subject to sign processes. the digital engine is, in final analysis, a semiotic machine, churning out a variety of signs. nevertheless, the semiotization of human practical experiences extends beyond computers and symbolic processing. as we have seen, in all human endeavors, semiotic awareness is expressed in choices (of means of expression and communication) and patterns of interaction. successive fashion trends, no less than the new media, global interaction through networks, cooperative work, and distributive configurations are semiotic identifiers. interfaces are semiotic entities through which difficult aspects of the relation between individuals and society are addressed. more precisely, to interface means to advance methods and notions of a new form of cultural engineering, that has the same condition as genetic engineering, although not necessarily based on its mechanism, as the proponents of memetics would like us to believe. no matter how spectacular new technologies are, and how fast the rate of their adoption, pragmatic characteristics that make the quantum leap of efficiency possible within the new scale of humankind remain the defining element of the dynamics of change. to make this point clear no argument is superfluous, and no stone of doubt or suspicion should be left unturned. our concern is not with the malignant rhetoric against technology of a probably insane unabomber, for example. it is with a false sense of optimism focused on fleeting embodiments of human creativity, not on its integration in meaningful experiences. whether a spectacular multimedia program, a virtual reality environment, genetically based medicine, broadband human interaction, or cooperative endeavors, what counts are the human cognitive resources, in the form of semiotic processes irreducible to language and literacy, at work under circumstances of globality. cognitive energy it is impossible to tire of acknowledging applications from which many will people benefit, but which many resent even before these applications become available. they all become possible once they transcend the pragmatic framework of the civilization of literacy because they are based on structurally different means of expression, communication, and signification. we have all witnessed some of these applications: sensors connected to unharmed nervous terminals allow the quadriplegic to move. a child in a wheelchair who exercises in virtual reality can be helped to function independently in the world that qualifies his condition as a handicap. important skills can be acquired by interpolating patterns of behavior developed in the physical world in the rough draft of the simulated world. people are helped to recover after accidents and illness, and are supported in acquiring skills in an environment where the individual sets the goals. in japan, virtual reality helps people prepare for earthquakes and tests their ability to cope with the demand for fast response. interconnected virtual worlds support human interactions in the space of their scientific, poetic, or artistic interest, or combinations thereof, stimulating the hope, as naive as it may sound, for a new renaissance. not everything need be virtual. active badges t transmit data pertinent to an individual's identification in his or her world. not only is it easier to locate a person, but the memory of human interaction, in the form of digital traces, allows people and machines to remember. you step into a room, and your presence is automatically acknowledged. the computer lets you know how many messages are waiting for you, and from whom. it evaluates how far you are from the monitor and displays the information so you can see it from that distance. it reminds you of things you want to do at a certain time. details relevant to our continuous self-constitution through extremely complex practical experiences play an important role in making such interactions more efficient. a personal diary of actions, dialogues, and thinking out loud can be automatically recorded. storing data from the active badge and from images captured during a certain activity is less obtrusive than having someone keep track of us. this is a new form of personal diary, protected, to the extent desired, from intrusion or misuse. this diary collects routine happenings that might seem irrelevant-patterns of movement, dialogue, eating, reading, drawing, building models, and analyzing data. the record can be completed by documenting patterns of behavior of emotional or cognitive significance, such as fishing, mountain climbing, wasting time, or dancing- according to one's wish. at the end of the day, or whenever requested, this diary of our living can be e-mailed to the writer. one can review the events of a day or search for a certain moment, for those details that make one's time meaningful. in the world beyond literacy and literacy-based practical experiences, we can search for artistic events. a play by shakespeare can be projected onto the screen of our eyes, where the boundary between reality and fiction starts. the play will feature the actors of one's choosing. the viewer can even intercalate any person in the cast, even himself or herself, and deliver a character's lines. sports events and games can be viewed in the same way. in another vein, we can initiate dialogues with the persons we care for, or get involved in the community we choose to belong to. belonging, in this new sense, means going beyond the powerless viewing of political events that seem as alien as almost all the mass-media performances they are fed with. belonging itself is redefined, becoming a matter of choice, not accident. belonging goes beyond watching the news and political events on tv, beyond the impotence we feel with respect to the huge political machine. all these can happen as a private, very intense experience, or as interaction with others, physically present or not. to see the world differently can lead to taking another person's, or creature's, viewpoint. how does a recent immigrant, or a visitor from abroad, perceive the people of the country he has landed in? what do human beings look like to a whale, a bee, an ant, a shark? we can enter the bodies of the handicapped to find out how a blind person negotiates the merciless world of speeding cars and people in a hurry. the empathy game has been played with words and theatrics in many schools. but once a person assumes the handicapped body in a simulated universe, the insight gained is no longer based on how convincing a description is, but on the limits of self-constitution as handicapped. people can learn more about each other by sharing their conditions and limitations. and, hopefully, they will ascertain a sense of solidarity beyond empty expressions of sympathy. that all these semiotic means-expression in very complex dynamic sign systems-change the nature of individual practical experiences and of social life cannot be emphasized enough. everything we conceive of can be viewed, criticized, felt, sensed, experienced, and evaluated before it is actually produced. the active badge can be attached to a simulated person- an avatar-let loose to walk through the plans for a new building, or on the paths of an expedition through mountains. the diary of space discovery is at least as important as the personal diary of a person working in a real factory, research facility, or at home. before another tree is cut, before another riverbed is moved, before a new housing development is constructed, before a new trail is opened, people can find out what changes of immediate and long-term impact might result. it is possible to go even a step beyond the integrated world of digital processing and to entrust extremely complicated processes to neural networks trained to perform functions of command, control, and evaluation. unexpected situations can be turned into learning experiences. where individuals sometimes fail-for instance under emotional stress-neural networks can easily perform as well as humans do, without the risks associated with the unpredictability of human behavior. the active badge can be connected, through a local area network of wall-mounted sensors that collect information, to a neural network-based procedure designed to process the many bits and pieces of knowledge that are most of the time wasted. people could learn about their own creativity and about cognitive processes associated with it. they can derive knowledge from the immense amount of their aborted thoughts and actions. ubiquity and unobtrusiveness qualify such means for the field of medical care, for the support of child development, and for the growing elderly population. with the advent of optical computers, and even biological data processing devices, chances will increase for a complete restructuring of our relation to data, information processing, and interhuman relationships. individuals will ascertain their characteristics more and more, thus increasing their role in the socio-political network of human interaction. some people still decide for others on certain matters: how should children play? how should they study? what are acceptable rules of behavior in family and society? how should we care for the elderly? when is medical intervention justified? where does life end and biological survival become meaningless? these people exercise power within the set of inherited values that originated in a pragmatic context of hierarchy associated with literacy. this does not need to be so, especially in view of the many complexities hidden in questions like the ones posed above. our relation to life and death, to universality, permanence, non-hierarchical forms of life and work, to religion and science, and last but not least to all the people who make up our world of experiences, is bound to change. once individuality is redefined as a locus of interaction through rich sign systems, not just as an identity to be explained away in the generality that gnoseologically replaces the individual, politics itself will be redefined. literacy is not all it's made out to be enthusiasm over technology is not an argument; and semiotics, obfuscated by semiologues, is not a panacea. george steiner pointed out that scientists, who "have been tempted to assert that their own methods and vision are now at the center of civilization, that the ancient primacy of poetic statement and metaphysical image is over." this is not an issue of criteria based on empirical verification, or the recent tradition of collaborative achievement, correctly contrasted to the apparent idiosyncrasy and egotism of literacy. the pragmatic framework reflects the challenge of efficiency in our world of increased population, limited resources, and the domination of nature. this framework is critical to the human effort to assess its own possibilities and articulate its goals. let us accept steiner's idea-although the predicament is clearly unacceptable-that sciences "have added little to our knowledge or governance of human possibility." let us further accept that "there is demonstratably more insight into the matter of man in homer, shakespeare, or dostoevsky than in the entire neurology of statistics." this, if it were true, would only mean that such an insight is less important to the practical experience of human self-constitution than literacy-based humanities would like us to believe. literary taste or preference aside, it is hard to understand the epistemological consequence of a statement like "no discovery of genetics impairs or surpasses what proust knew of the spell or burden of lineage." all this says is that in steiner's practical experience of self-constitution, a pragmatics other than genetics proves more consequential. nobody can argue with this. but from the particular affinity to proust, one cannot infer that consequences for a broader number of people, the majority of whom will probably never know anything about genetics, are not connected to its discoveries. we may be touched by the elegant argument that "each time othello reminds us of the rust of dew on the bright blade, we experience more of the sensual, transient reality in which our lives must pass than it is the business or ambition of physics to impart." after all the rhetoric that has reverberated in the castle of literacy, the physics of the first three minutes or seconds of the universe proves to be no less metaphysical, and no less touching, than any example from the arts, literature, or philosophy that steiner or anyone else can produce. science only has different motivations and is expressed in a different language. it challenges human cognition and sentiment, and awareness of self and others, of space and time, and even of literature, which seems to have stagnated once the potential of literacy was exhausted. the very possibility of writing as significantly as the writers of the past did diminishes, as the practical experience of literate writing is less and less appropriate to the new experiences of self-constitution in the civilization of illiteracy. the argument can go on and on, until and unless we settle on a rather simple premise: the degree of significance of anything connected to human identity-art, work, science, politics, sex, family-is established in the act of human self-constitution and cannot be dictated from outside it, not even by our humanistic tradition. the air, clean or polluted, is significant insofar as it contributes to the maintenance of life. homer, proust, van gogh, beethoven, and the anonymous artist of an african tribe are significant insofar as human self-constitution integrates each or every one of them, in the act of individual identification. projecting their biological constitution into the world- we all breathe, see, hear, exercise physical power, and perceive the world-humans ascertain their natural reality. the experience of making oneself can be as simple as securing food, water, and shelter, or as complex as composing or enjoying a symphony, painting, writing, or meditating about one's condition. if in this practical experience one has to integrate a stick or a stone, or a noise, or rhythm in order to obtain nourishment, or to project the individual in a sculpture or musical piece, the significance of the stick or stone or the noise is determined in the pragmatic context of the self-constitutive moment. many contexts confirm the significance of literacy-based practical experiences. history, even in its computational form or in genetic shape, is an example. literacy made quite a number of practical experiences possible: education, mass media, political activism, industrial manufacture. this does not imply that these domains are forever wed to literacy. a few contexts, such as crafts, predated literacy. information processing, visualization, non-algorithmic computation, genetics, and simulation emerged from the pragmatics that ascertained literacy. but they are also relatively independent of it. steiner was correct in stating that "we must countenance the possibility that the study and transmission of literature may be of only marginal significance, a passionate luxury like the preservation of the antique." his assertion needs to be extended from literature to literacy. the realization that we must go beyond literacy does not come easy and does not follow the logic of the current modus operandi of the scholars and educators who have a stake in literacy and tradition. their logic is itself so deeply rooted in the experience of written language that it is only natural to extend it to the inference that without literacy the human being loses a fundamental dimension. the sophistry is easy to catch, however. the conclusion implies that the practical experience of language is identical to literacy. as we know, this is not the case. orality, of more consequence in our day than the majority are aware of, and in more languages that do not have a writing system, supports human existence in a universe of extreme expressive richness and variety. many arguments, starting with those against writing enunciated in ancient times and furthered in various criticisms of literacy, point to the many dimensions of language that were lost once it started to be tamed and its regulated use enforced upon people. again, steiner convincingly articulates a pluralistic view: "...we should not assume that a verbal matrix is the only one in which articulations and conduct of the mind are conceivable. there are modes of intellectual and sensuous reality founded not on language, but on other communicative energies, such as the icon or the musical note." he correctly describes how mathematics, especially under the influence of leibniz and newton, became a dynamic language: "i have watched topologists, knowing no syllable of each other's language, working effectively together at a blackboard in the silent speech common to their craft." networks of cognitive energy chemistry, physics, biology, and recently a great number of other practical experiences of human self-constitution, formed their own languages. indeed, the medium in which experiences take place is not a passive component of the experience. it is imprinted with the degree of necessity that made such a medium a constitutive part of the experience. it has its own life in the sense that the experience involves a dynamics of exchange and awareness of its many components. the cuneiform tablets could not hold the depth of thinking of the formulas in which the theory of relativity is expressed. they probably had a better expressive potential for a more spontaneous testimony to the process of self-identification of the people who projected themselves in the act of shaping damp tablets, inscribing them, and baking them to hardness. ideographic writing may well explain, better than orality, the role of silence in taoism and buddhism, the tension of the act of withdrawal from speech and writing, or the phonetic subtleties at work when more than ideographs were reduced to the standard signs now in use. the historic articulation of the torah, its mixture of poetry and pragmatic rules, is different in nature from the writings, in different alphabets and different pragmatic structures, reflected in the language of the new testament or of the koran. writing under the pragmatics of limited human experiences, and writing after the enlightenment, not to mention today's automated writing and reading, are fundamentally different. gombrich recalls that gutenberg earned a living by making amulet mirrors used by people in crowds to catch the image of sacred objects displayed during certain ceremonies. the animistic thought marks this experience. it is continued in the moving type that gutenberg invented, yet another mirror to duplicate the life of handwriting, which type imitated. printed religious texts began their lives as talismans. after powerful printing presses were invented, writing extends a different thought- machines at work-in the sequence of operations that transform raw materials into products. all the characteristics associated with literacy are characteristics of the underlying structure of practical experiences, values, and aspirations embodied in the printing machines. the linear function, replicated in the use of the lever, was generalized in machines made of many levers. it was also generalized in literacy, the language machine that renders language use uniform. writing originated in a context of the limited sequences of human self-constitutive practical experiences embodied in the functioning of mechanical machines. the continuation of the sequential mode in more elaborate experiences, as in automated production lines, will be with us for quite a while. nevertheless, sequentiality is increasingly complemented by parallel functioning. similar or different activities carried through at the same time, at one location or at several, are qualitatively different from sequential activities. self-constitution in such parallel experiences results in new cognitive characteristics, and thus in new resources supporting higher efficiency. the deterministic component carried over from literacy- based practical experiences reflects awareness of action and reaction. its dualistic nature is preserved in the right/wrong operational distinctions of the literate use of language, and thus in the logic attached to it. pragmatic expectations of efficiency no longer met by conceptual or material experiences based on the model embodied in literacy have led to attempts to transcend determinism, as well as linear functions, sequentiality, and dualism. a new underlying structure prompts a pragmatics of non-linear relations, of a different dynamics, of configurations, and of multi-valued systems. a wide array of methods and technologies facilitates emancipation from the centralism and hierarchy embodied in literacy-based pragmatics. the pragmatic framework of the civilization of illiteracy requires that the centralism of literacy be replaced through massive distribution of tasks, and non- hierarchic forms of human interactions. augmented by worldwide networking, this pragmatics has become global in scope. probably just as significant is the role mediation plays in the process. as a specific form of human experience, mediation increases the effectiveness of praxis by affording the benefits of integration to human acts of self-constitution. mediation replaces the analytic strategy inherited through literacy, opening avenues for reaching a sense of the whole in an experience of building hypotheses and performing effective synthesis. in order to realize what all this means, we can think of everything involved in the conception, design, manufacturing, distribution, and integration of computers in applications ranging from trivial data management to sophisticated simulations. the effort is, for all practical purposes, global. the brightest minds, from many countries, contribute ideas to new concepts of computation. the design of computers involves a large number of creative professionals from fields as varied as mechanical engineering, chip design, operating systems, telecommunications, ergonomy, interface design, product design, and communication. the scale of the effort is totally different from anything we know of from previous practical experiences. before such a new computer will become the hardware and software that eventually will land on our desks, it is modeled and simulated, and subjected to a vast array of tests that are all the expression of the hypothesis and goals to be synthesized in the new product. some people might have looked at the first personal computers as a scaled- down version of the mainframes of the time. within the pragmatics associated with literacy, this is a very good representation. in the pragmatics we are concerned with, this linear model does not work, and it does not explain how new experiences come about. chances are that the mass-produced machines increasingly present in a great number of households reach a performance well above those mainframes with which the pc might have been compared. representing the underlying structure of the pragmatics of the civilization of illiteracy, the digital becomes a resource, not unlike electricity, and not unlike other resources tapped in the past for increasing the efficiency of human activity. in the years to come, this aspect will dominate the entire effort of the acculturation of the digital. today, as in the industrial age of cars and other machines, the industry still wants to put a computer on every desk. the priority, however, should be to make computation resources, not machines, available to everyone. those still unsure about the internet and the world wide web should understand that what makes them so promising is not the potential for surfing, or its impressive publication capabilities, but the access to the cognitive energy that is transported through networks. bumps and potholes expectations stemming from the civilization of literacy differ in their condition from those of the cognitive age. infinitely more chances open continuously, but the risks associated with them are at least of the same order of magnitude as the changes. walking along a road is less risky than riding a horse, bicycling, or driving a car. flying puts the farthest point from us on the globe within our reach, but the risks involved in flight are also greater. cognitive resources integrated in our endeavors contribute to an efficiency higher than that provided by hydropower, steam engines, and electric energy. with each new step in the direction of their increased participation in our praxis, we take a chance. there is no reason to compare simulations of the most complex and daring projects to successful or failed attempts to build new cities, modify nature, or create artifacts conceived under cognitive assumptions of lesser complexity than that achieved in our time. a failed connection on today's internet, or a major scam on the web, should be expected in these early stages of the pragmatic framework to which they belong. but we should at no moment ignore the fact that cognitive breakdowns are much more than the crash of an operating system or the breakdown of a network application. we learn more about ourselves in the practical experiences of constituting the post-literate languages of science, art, and the humanities than we have learned during the entire history of humankind. these languages-very complex sign systems indeed- integrate knowledge accumulated in a great variety of experiences, as well as genetically inherited and rationally and emotionally based cognitive procedures. changes in the very fabric of the human being involved in these practical experiences are reflected in the increased ability to handle abstraction, refocus from the immediate to the mediated, and enter interhuman commitments that result from the practice of unprecedented means of expression, communication, and signification. during the process, we have reached some of our most critical limitations. knowledge is deeper, but more segmented. to use steiner's words once again, there is a "gap of silence" between many groups of people. our own efficiency made us increasingly vulnerable to drives that recall more of the primitive stages of humankind than all that we believed we accumulated through the humanities. the new means are changing politics and economic activity, but first of all they are changing the nature of human transactions. and they are changing our sense of future. let us not forget big brother, not to be brushed away just because the year has come and gone, but to be understood from a viewpoint orwell could not have had. if the means in question are used to monitor us, too bad. in the emerging structures of human interaction, to exercise control, as done in previous societies, is simply not possible. it is not for the love of the internet that this constitutes a non-regulated domain of human experiences. rather it is because by its nature, the internet cannot be controlled in the same way our driving, drinking, and social behavior are controlled. the opportunity for transparency afforded by systems that replace the domination of literacy is probably too important to be missed or misused. the dynamics of the civilization of illiteracy results from its implicit condition. we can affect some of its parameters, but not its global behavior. for instance, the integration required by parallelism and the massive distribution of tasks cannot take place successfully if the network of interactions is mined by gates, filters, and veils of secrecy, by hierarchic control mechanisms, and by authorization procedures. imagine if a person's arms, eyes, ears, or nostrils had to obtain permission to participate in the self-constitution of the whole human being. individuals in the new pragmatic context are the eyes, arms, brains, and nostrils of the complex human entity involved in an experience that integrates everyone's participation. it is an intense effort, not always as rewarding as we expect it to be, a self-testing endeavor whose complexity escapes individual realization. feedback loops are the visible part of the broader system, but not its essential part. the authenticity of each and every act of our self-making contributes to the integrity of the overall process-our ascertainment through what we do. relative insularity and a definite alienation from the overall of the system's goals-meeting higher demands by higher performance-are part of the picture described. complemented by a sense of empowerment-the ability to self-determine-and a variety of new forms of human interaction, the resulting human pragmatics can be more humane than the pragmatics of the huge factories of industrial society-commuters rushing from home to job to shopping mall, to entertainment. it is not big brother who will be watching. each and every individual is part of the effort, entitled to know everything about it, indeed wanting to know and caring. without transparency that we can influence, the effort will not succeed. we are our own active badge. the record is of interest in order to justify the use of our time and energy, but foremost to learn about those instances when we are less faithful to ourselves than our newly acquired liberty affords. it is much easier to submit to outside authority, as literacy educates us to do. but once self-control and self-evaluation, as feedback mechanisms under our own control become the means of optimization, the burden is shifted from big brother, bureaucracies, and regulations to the individual. it is probably useful at this point to suggest a framework for action in at least some of the basic activities affected by the change brought about in the civilization of illiteracy. the reason for these suggestions is at hand. we know that literate education is not appropriate, but this observation remains a critical remark. what we need is a guide for action. this has to translate into positive attitudes, and into real attempts to meet the challenge of present and shape the future in full awareness of forces at work. the university of doubt literacy-based education, as all other literacy experiences, assumes that people are the same. it presumes that each human being can and must be literate. just as the goal of industry was to turn out standardized products, education assumes the same task through the mold of literacy. diplomas and certificates testify how like the mold the product is. to those who have problems with writing or reading, the labels legasthenic and dyslexic are applied. dyscalculus is the name given to the inability to cope with numbers. the question of why we should expect uniform cognitive structures covering the literate use of language or numbers, but not the use of sounds, colors, shapes, and volume, is never raised. tremendous effort is made to help individuals who simply cannot execute the sequentiality of writing or the meaning of successive numbers. nothing similar is done to address cognitive characteristics of persons inclined to means different from literacy. in order to respond to the needs of the pragmatics of high efficiency leading to the civilization of many literacies, education needs first of all to rediscover the individual, and his or her extensive gamut of cognitive characteristics. i use the word rediscover having in mind incipient forms of education and training, which were more on a one-to- one or one-to-few basis. education also needs to reconsider its expectation of a universal common denominator, based on the industrial model of standardization. rather than taming and sanitizing the minds of students, education has not only to acknowledge differences in aptitudes and interests, but also to stimulate them. every known form of energy is the expression of difference and not the result of leveling. during this process of re-evaluation, the goals of education will have to be redefined, methods of education rethought, and content reassessed. a new philosophy, embodied in a dynamic notion of education, has to crystallize as we work towards educational alternatives that integrate the visual, the kinetic, the aural, and the synesthetic. in the spirit of the pragmatic context, education ought to become an environment for interaction and discovery. time taken with reiterations of the past deserves to be committed to inferences for the present, and, to the extent possible, for the future. some of the suggestions to be made in the coming lines might sound utopian or have the ring of techno-babble. their purpose is to present possibilities, not to conjure up miraculous solutions. the path from present to future is the path of human practical experiences of self-constitution. to achieve goals corresponding to the requirements and expectations of the civilization of no dominant literacy, education needs to give up the reductionist perspective that has marked it since generalized education became the norm. education has to recognize its students as the individuals they are, not as some abstract or theoretic entity. basic education should be centered around the major forms of expression and communication: language, visual, aural, kinetic, and symbolic. differences among these systems need to be explored as students familiarize themselves with each of them, as well as combinations. concrete forms of acculturation should be geared towards using these elements, not dispensing instructions and assigning exercises. each student will discover from within how to apply these systems. most important, students will share their experiences among themselves. there will be no right or wrong answer that is not proven so by the pragmatic instance. fundamental to the educational endeavor is the process of heuristic inquiry, to be expressed through programs for further investigation. these programs require many languages: literate inquiry, mathematics, chemistry, computation, and so on. by virtue of the fact that people from different backgrounds enter the process, they bear the experience of their respective languages. relevance to the problem at hand will justify one approach or another. frequently, the wheel will be re-invented. other times, new wheels will emerge as contributions of authentic ingenuity and inventiveness. in their interaction, those involved in the process share in the experience through which they constitute themselves at many levels. one is to provide access to the variety of perspectives reflecting the variety of people. interactive learning education has to become a living process. it should involve access to all kinds of information sources, not only to those stored in literate formats. these resources have their specific epistemological condition-a printed encyclopedia is different from a database. to access a book is different from accessing a multimedia knowledge platform. retrieval is part of the practice of knowledge and defines a horizon for human interaction. all these differences will become clear through use, not through mere assertion or imitation. the goal of education cannot be the dissemination of imitative behavior, but of procedures. in this model of education, classes are groups of people pursuing connected goals, not compartments based on age or subject, even less bureaucratic units. a class is an expression of interest, not the product of statistical distribution based on birth and zoning. the physical environment of the class is the world, and not the brick and mortar confined room of stereotyped roles and interactions. this might sound hollow, or too grandiose, but the means to make this happen are progressively becoming available. here is one possible scenario: students approach centers of interactive education after the initial phase of acculturation. perhaps the word center recalls one of the characteristics of the civilization of illiteracy. by their own nature, though, these centers are distributed repositories of knowledge stored in a variety of forms- databases, programs pertinent to various human practical experiences, examples, and evaluation procedures. with such a condition, such centers lend themselves to making refreshable knowledge available in all imaginable formats. on request, its own programs (known as intelligent agents) search for appropriate sources through the guidance of those in need, independent of them, or parallel to them. requests are articulated in voice command: "i would like to know ...." or the requests can be handwritten, typed, or diagrammed. such interactive education centers are simultaneously libraries of knowledge, heuristic environments, laboratories, testing grounds, and research media. the hybrid human-machine machine that constitutes their nucleus alters as the individual involved in the interaction changes. as we all know, the best way to learn is to teach. students should be able to teach their neural network partners subjects of interest to their own practical experiences. in many cases, the neural networks, themselves networked with others, will become partners in pursuing practical goals of higher and higher complexity. the fact that students interact not based on their address and school district, not based on homogeneity criteria of age or cultural background, but on shared interests and different perspectives gives this type of education a broader social significance: there is nothing we do that does not affect the world in its entirety. repeating these words ad nauseam will not affect the understanding of what this means, as one practical endeavor of global consequential nature can. in the model suggested, interests are identified and pursued, and results are compared. questions are widely circulated. what students appropriate in the process are ways of thinking, procedures for testing hypotheses, and means and methods for ascertaining progress in the process. professional educators, aware of cognitive processes and freed from the burden of administrative work, no longer rehash the past but design interactive environments for students to learn in. teachers involve themselves in this interaction, and continue to evolve as knowledge itself evolves. instead of inculcating the discipline of one dominant language, they leave open choices for short and long-term commitments, their own included. not having to force themselves to think in an imposed language, students are freed from the constraints of assigned tasks. they are challenged by the responsibility to make their own choices and carry them through. in the process, differences among students will become apparent, but so will the ability to understand how being different, in a context of cooperative interactions, is an asset and not a liability. motivation is seeded in the satisfaction of discovery and the ability to easily integrate in a framework of practical experiences that are no longer mimicked in education, but practiced in discovery. footing the bill instead of an education financed by the always controversial redistribution of social resources, interactive learning will be supported by its real beneficiaries. that a biogenetics company, for instance, can do this better than an organization engaged in bureaucratic self-perpetuation is a fair assumption. freed from the costs associated with buildings and high administrative overhead, education should take place in the environment of interactions characteristic of the pragmatic framework. as extensions of industries and services, of institutions and individual operations, education would cease to be training for a hypothetical employer. like the practical experience for which it is constituted, education points to the precise reward and fulfillment, not to vague ideals that prove hollow after the student has paid tens of thousands of dollars to learn them. vested in the benefits of a company whose potential depends on their future performance, students can be better motivated. will business cooperate? as things stand now, business is in the paradoxical situation of criticizing the inadequacies of an education that has many of the same characteristics as outmoded ways of doing business. once students reach a level of confidence that entitles them to attempt to continue on their own or to associate with the company, the alumni of such educational experiences have better control over their destinies and can follow the cognitive path of their choosing. there will be analytically oriented and synthetically oriented individuals, many embracing the experience of articulating hypotheses and testing them. some will follow cognitive inclinations to induction, to making observations and drawing generalizations. others will follow the path of deduction, noticing general patterns and seeing how they apply in concrete cases. others will follow abductions, i.e., applying knowledge about a representative sample in order to infer for a broader collection of facts or processes. no cognitive path should be forbidden or excluded, as long as human integrity, in all aspects, is maintained and human interaction supported in the many possible forms it can assume. motivation reflected in integrity is the element that will bring individual direction into focus. as it is practiced today, education cultivates motivations that exclude integrity and the development of skills appropriate to understanding that you can cheat your teacher but not yourself without affecting the outcome. in the current system of education, integrity appears as something incidental to the experience. collaboration on a project of common interest introduces elements of reciprocal responsibility in respect to the outcome. since outcome affects everyone's future, education is no longer a matter of grades, but of successful collaboration in pursuing a goal. in order to accomplish these goals-obviously in a greater number of manifestations than the ones just described-we need to free education from its many inherited assumptions. progress can no longer be understood as exclusively linear. neither can we continue to apply a deterministic sequence of cause and effect in domains of non-deterministic interdependencies, characteristic of distributed cooperative efforts. neither hierarchy nor dualism can be cultivated in the educational environment because the dynamics of association and interaction is based on patterns of changing roles within a universe focused on optimal parameters, not threatened by the radical disjunction of success vs. failure. complexity must be acknowledged, not done away with through methods that worked in the industrial age but which fail in the new pragmatic context. unless and until one discovers through practical experience the need for a different viewpoint, for values outside the immediate object of interest, nothing should be imposed on the individual. shakespeare and boole are neither loved, nor understood, nor respected more by those who were forced to learn how to spell their names, learn dates by heart, or learn titles of works, fragments of plays or logical rules. the very presence of art and science, sport and entertainment, politics and religion, ethics and the legal system in educational forms of interactive media, books, artworks, databases, and programs for human interaction opens the possibility for discoveries. as serious as all these matters are, no education will ever succeed without making its students happy, without satisfaction. in each instance of education, good or bad, the human being, as a natural entity, is broken in. tension will always be part of education, but instead of rewarding those more adept at acculturation, education should integrate complementary moments. no, i do not advocate interactive study from the beach or from a remote mountain ski resort; and i am not for extending human integration in the world of practical experiences around the clock. but as education frees itself from the industrial model-factory-like buildings, classes that correspond to shifts, holidays and vacation time-it should also let students make choices that are closer to their natural rhythms. instead of physical co-presence, there should be interactive and cooperative creativity that does not exclude the playful, the natural, and the accidental. if all this sounds too far-fetched to bring about, that is because it is. even if the computer giants of the world were to open interactive learning centers tomorrow, it would be to little avail. students will bring with them attitudes rooted in traditional expectations. there is more consensus in our world for what is right with the current system of education than for what can or should be done to change it. but with each nucleus of self-organization, such as on-line classes on subjects pertinent to working on the network, seeds are sown for future development. in our time, when the need for qualified people surges in one field or another-computational genetics, nanotechnology, non-linear electronic publishing-the model i presented is the answer. waiting for the educational system to process students and to deliver them, at no cost to the corporations that will employ them, is no longer an acceptable strategy. instead of endowing university chairs dedicated to the study of the no longer meaningful, corporations should invest in training and post-academic life-long learning. to preach that in order to be a good architect one has to know history and biology and mathematics, and to know who vitruvius was, equals preaching the rules of literacy in a world that effectively does not need them. to create an environment for the revelation of such a need, if indeed it is acknowledged as humans discover new ways to deal with their questions, is a very different task. how much reading, how much writing, mathematics, drawing, foreign language, or chemistry an architect needs is the wrong question. it assumes that someone knows, well in advance of the changing pragmatic context, what is the right mixture and how future human practical experiences will unfold. the ingredients change, the proportions change, and the context changes first of all. as opposed to the current hierarchy, which proclaims drawing or singing as extraneous but orthography and reading as necessary, education needs to finally acknowledge complementarity. it has to encourage self-definition in and through skills best suited to practical experiences of self-constitution in a world that has escaped the cycle of repetition, and pursues goals unrelated to previous experiences. instead of doing away with or rationalizing intuition, or being suspicious of irrationality, education will have to allow the individual to pursue a search path that integrates them. students should be able to define goals where intuition, and even irrationality and the subconscious, are applicable. they should be freed from the constraints and limitations of the paradigm of problem solving, and engaged in generating alternatives. a wake-up call all this relies heavily on the maturity of the student and the ability of educators to design environments that stimulate responsibility and self-discipline. the broad-stroke educational project sketched up to here will have to address the precise concerns connected to how and when education actually starts, what the role of the family should be-if the family remains a valid entity-and how variety and multiplicity will be addressed. in today's words and expectations, even in today's prejudices, education is of national interest in one main respect: to equip students with skills so they can contribute to the national coffers in the future. but the arena of economic viability is the global economy, not an economy defined by national boundaries. the trans-national marketplace is the real arena of competition. re-engineering, far from being finished, made it quite clear that for the sake of efficiency, productive activities are relocated without any consideration for patriotism or national pride, never mind human solidarity and ethics. in today's world, and to some extent in the model described so far, the unfolding of the individual through cultivation of the mind and spirit is somehow lost in the process of inculcating facts. it is its own reward to enjoy subtleties, or to generate them, to partake in art, or be part of it, to challenge the mind, or indulge in the rich world of emotions. prepared for work that is usually different from what educators, economists, and politicians anticipate, people face the reality of work that becomes more and more fragmented and mediated. on the assembly line, or in the "analysis of symbols" (to use robert reich's term), work is, in the final analysis, a job, not a vocation. physicians, professors, businessmen, carpenters, and burger flippers perform a job that can be automated to some degree. depriving work of its highest but often neglected motivation-the unfolding of individual abilities, becoming an identity in the act- negates this motivation. replaced by external rationale-the substance of commercial democracy-the decline of inner motivation leads to lack of interest, reduced commitment, and declining creativity. education that processes humans for jobs promises access to abundance, but not to self-fulfillment. the decline of family, and new patterns of sexuality and reproduction, tell us that expectations, sublime on their own merit, of improved family involvement will be the exception, not the rule. accordingly, the challenge is to understand the nature of change and to suggest alternatives, instead of hoping that, miraculously or by divine intervention of the almighty dollar (or yen, franc, mark, pound, or combinations thereof), families will again become what literacy intended they should be. if the challenge is not faced, education will only become a better machine for processing each new generation. many scholars of education have set forth various plans for saving education. they do not ignore the new pragmatic requirements. they are unaware of them. therefore, their recommendations can be classified as more of the same. the sense of globality will not result from taking rhymes from mother goose (with its implicit reference and culturally determined rhythm) and adding to them the mother goose of other countries. the victorian and post-victorian vision transferred upon children, the expectation of "everything will be fine if you just do as you're told," reflects past ideals handed down through the moralizing fiction of the industrial age. the most ubiquitous presence in modern society is the television set. it replaced the book long ago. notwithstanding, tv is a passive medium, of low informative impact, but of high informative ability. digital television, which extends the presence of computers, will make a difference, whether it is implemented in high resolution or not. television in digitally scalable formats is an active medium, and interactivity is its characteristic. education centers will integrate digital television, and open ways to involve individuals regardless of age, background and interests. we can all learn that there are several ways of seeing things, that the physics of time and music report on different aspects of temporal characteristics of our experience in the world. the movement of a robot, though different from the elegant dance of a ballerina, can benefit from a sense and experience of choreography, considered by many incompatible with engineering. the new media of interaction that are embodied in educational centers should be less obsessed with conveying information, and more with allowing human understanding of instances of change. but these are only examples. what i have in mind is the creation of an environment for exploration in which knowledge of aesthetic aspects is learned parallel to scientific knowledge. the formats are not those of classes in the theory or history of art, or of similar art oriented subjects. as exploration takes place, aesthetic considerations are pursued as a means of optimizing the effort. it is quite clear that as classes dynamically take shape, they will integrate people of different ages and different backgrounds. taking place in the public domain of networked resources, this education will benefit from a sense of creative competition. at each moment in time, projects will be accessible, and feedback can be provided. this ensures not only high performance from a scientific or technological viewpoint, but also aesthetic relevance. the literacy-based educational establishment will probably dismiss the proposals set forth as pie-in-the-sky, as futuristic at best. its representatives will claim that the problem at hand needs solutions, not a futuristic model based on some illusory self- organizing nuclei supported by the economy. they will argue that the suggested model of education is less credible than perfecting a practice that at least has some history and achievements to report. the public, no matter how critical of education, will ask: is it permissible, indeed responsible, to assume that a new philosophy of education will generate new student attitudes, especially in view of the reality of metal detectors installed in schools to prevent students from carrying weapons? is it credible to describe experiences in discovery involving high aesthetic quality, while mediocrity makes the school system appear hopelessly damned? self-motivation is described as though teenage pregnancy and classes where students bring their babies are the concern of underpaid teachers but not of visionaries. more questions in the same vein are in the air. to propose an analogy, selling water in the desert is not as simple as it sounds. we can, indeed, dream of educational tools hooked up to the terminals at the kennedy space center, or to the supercomputers of the european center for research of the future. we can dream of using digital television for exploring the unknown, and of on-line education in a world where everyone envisions high accomplishments through the use of resources that until now were open to very few. but unless society gives up the expectation of a homogeneous, obligatory education that forces individuals who want-or do not want-to prepare themselves for a life of practical experiences into the same mold, education will not produce the desired results. good intentions, based on social, ethnic, or racial criteria, on love of children, and humanistic ideals, will not help either. while all over the world real spending per student in public education and private institutions increased well above the levels of inflation, fewer students do homework, and very few study beyond the daily assignment. this is true not only in the usa but also in countries with high admission standards for college, such as france, germany, and japan. translated into the language of our considerations, all this means that education cannot be changed independent of change in society. education is not an autonomous system. its connections to the rest of the pragmatic context are through students, teachers, parents, political institutions, economic realities, racial attitudes, culture, and patterns of behavior in our commercial democracy. in today's education, parochial considerations take precedence over global concerns. bureaucratic rules of accumulated imbecility literally annihilate the changes for a better future of millions of students. what appears as the cultivation of the mind and spirit is actually no more than the attempt to polish a store window while the store itself lost its usefulness long ago. it makes no sense to require millions of students to drive daily to schools that can no longer be maintained, or to pass tests when standards are continuously lowered in order to somehow justify them. consumption and interaction in view of the fundamental changes in patterns of human activity, not only students need education, but practically everyone, and probably educators first of all. connection to education centers needs to be different from the expectation of children sitting in a class dominated by a teacher. on the interactive education networks, age no longer serves as a criterion. learning is self-paced, motivated by individual interests and priorities and by the perspectives that learning opens. a sense of common interest is expressed through interaction, unfolding through a diversity of perspectives and ways of thinking and doing. nothing can help generations that are more different and more antagonistic than ours to find a common ground than an experience of education emancipated from hierarchies, freed of authoritarian expectations, challenging and engaging at the same time. education will be part of the continuous self-definition of the human being throughout one's entire life. whether we like it or not, the economy is driven by consumer spending. this does not automatically mean that we can or should let the feedback loop follow a course that will eventually lead to losing the stability of the system to which we belong. if consumption were to remain the driving force, however, we would all end up enjoying ourselves to death. but the solution to this state of affairs is not to be found in political or educational sermonizing. to blame consumption, expectations of abundance, or entertainment will not help in finding answers to educational worries. education will have to integrate the human experience of consumption and facilitate the acquisition of common sense. a sense of quality can be instilled by pursuing cooperative projects involving not only the production of artifacts, but also self-improvement. generations that grow up with television as their window to reality cannot be blamed for lack of interest in reading, or for viewing reality as a show interrupted by thirty-second messages. young minds acquire different skills, and education ought to provide a context for their integration in captivating practical experiences, instead of trying to neutralize them. television is here for good, although changes that will alter the relation between viewers and originators of messages will change television as well. the cognitive characteristics and motor patterns of couch potatoes and moderate viewers in the age of generalized tv and interactive networking are very different from those of people educated as literate. these characteristics will be further reshaped as digital television becomes part of the networked world. where reading about history, or another country, is marginally relevant to praxis in the new context of life and work, the ability to view, understand images, perceive and effect changes, and the ability to edit them and reuse, to complete them, moreover to generate one's own images, is essential to the outcome of the effort. without engaging the student, education heads into oblivion. as difficult as it is to realize that there are no absolute values, unless this realization is shared by all generations, we will face more inter- generational conflicts than we already face. television is not the panacea for such conflicts, but a broad ground for reaching reciprocal awareness of what it takes to meet an increasingly critical challenge. sure, we are focused here on a television that transcended its mass communication industrial society status, and reached the condition of individual interaction. understanding differences cannot be limited to education, or reduced to a generalized practice of viewing tv (digital or not). it has to effectively become the substance of political life. while all are equal with respect to the law, while all are free and encouraged to become the best they can be, society has to effectively abandon expectations of homogeneity and uniformity, and to dedicate energies to enhancing the significance of what makes its members different. this translates into an education freed from expectations that are not rooted in the process of self-affirmation as scientists, dancers, thinkers, skilled workers, farmers, sportspeople, and many other pragmatically sanctioned professionals. the direction is clear: to become less obsessed with a job, and more concerned with a work that satisfies them, and thus their friends and relatives. the means and methods for moving in this direction will not be disbursed by states or other organizations. we have to discover them, test, and refine, aware of the fact that what replaces the institution of education is the open-ended process through which we emerge as educated individuals. does education henceforth become a generic trade school? for those who so choose, yes. for others, it will become what they themselves make of it through their involvement. remaining an open enterprise, education will allow as many adjustments as each individual is willing to take upon oneself for the length of one's life. the education of interactive skills, of visualization technologies, of methods of search and retrieval, of thinking in images, sounds, colors, odors, textures, and haptic perception requires contexts for their discovery, use, and evaluation which no school or university in the world can provide. but if all available educational resources are used to establish learning centers based on the paradigms of interactivity, data processing, multimedia, virtual reality, neural networks, and genetic engineering, using powerful carriers such as digital tv or high-speed and broadband networks, we will stop managing a bankrupt enterprise and open avenues for successful alternatives. as humanity ages, and societies have to cope with a new age structure, education will have to focus also on how to constitute one's identity past the biological optimum. among the fastest growing segments on the internet, the elderly represent a very distinct group, of high motivation, and of abilities that can better benefit society. access to knowledge in the form of interactive projects, pursued by classes constituted of individuals as different as the world is, is not trivial, and obviously not cheap. the networked world, the many challenges of new means of communication already in place, the new medium of digital tv-closer to reality than many realize- and computers, are already widely available. a major effort to provide support to many who are not yet connected to this world, at the expense of the current bureaucracy of education, will provide the rest. instead of investing in buildings, bureaucracies, norms, and regulations, instead of rebuilding crumbling schools, and recycling teachers who intellectually died long ago in the absence of any real challenge, we can, and should, design a global education system. such a system will effect change not only in one country, not only in a group of rich countries, but all over the world. the practice of networking and the competence in integrating work produced independently in functional modules can be attained by tackling real problems, as these are encountered by each person, not invented assignments by teachers or writers of manuals. education can succeed or fail only on the terms of efficiency expected in our pragmatic framework. scores, religiously accounted for in literacy-based political life, are irrelevant. practical experiences of self-constitution are not multiple-choice examinations. they involve the person in his entirety, and result in instances of personal growth and increased social awareness. a global world requires a live global system of education that embodies the best we can afford, and is driven by the immense energy of variety. unexpected opportunities we have heard the declaration over and over: this is the age of knowledge. the statement describes a context of human practical experiences in which the major resources are cognitive in nature. in the civilization of literacy, knowledge acquisition could take place at a slow pace, over long periods of time. the interlocking factors that defined the pragmatic context were such that no other gnoseological pattern was possible. knowledge arising from practical experiences of industrial society progressively contributed to making life easier for human beings. eventually, everything that had been done through the power of human muscle and dexterity-using mainly hands, arms, and legs-was assigned to machines and executed using energy resources found in the environment. cognition supported the incremental evolution of machines through a vast array of applications. human knowledge allowed for the efficient use of energy to move machines which executed tasks that might have taken tens, even hundreds of men to perform. to make this more clear, let us compare some of the tasks of the machine age with those of the age of cognition we live in. within industrial pragmatics, the machine supplanted the muscle and the limited mechanical skills needed for processing raw materials, manufacturing cars, washing clothes, or typing. discoveries of more sources of coal, gas, and oil kept the machine working and led to its extension from the factory to the home. literacy, embodying characteristics of industrial pragmatics, kept pace with the demands and possibilities of the machine age. in our age, computer programs supplant our thinking and the limited knowledge involved in supervising complex production and assembly lines that process raw materials or synthesize new material. computer programs are behind the manufacture of automobiles; they integrate household functions-heating, washing clothes, preparing meals, guarding our homes. publishing on the world wide web relies on computers. the scale of all these efforts is global. many languages, bearing the data needed by each specific sub-task, go into the final product or outcome. older dependencies on natural resources and on a social model shaped to optimally support industrial praxis are partially overcome as the focus changes from permanence to transitory communities of interest and to the individual- the locus of the cognitive age. cognitive resources arise from experiences qualitatively different from those of the machine age. digital engines do not burn coal or gas. digital engines burn cognition. the source of cognition lies in the mind of each human being. the resources of the machine age are being slowly depleted. alternative resources will be found in what was typically discarded. recycling and the discovery of processes that extract more from what is available depend more on human cognition than on brute force processing methods. the sources of cognition are, in principle, unlimited. but if the cognitive component of human practical experiences were to stagnate or break down for some unimaginable reason, the pragmatics based on the underlying digital process of the age of cognition would break down. to understand this, one need only think of being stuck in a car on an untravelled road, all because the gasoline ran out. compare this situation with what would happen if the most complex machine, more complicated than anything science fiction could describe, came to a halt because there was no human thought to keep it going. in the current context, the dynamics of cognition, distributed between processing information and acquiring and disseminating knowledge, stands for the dynamics of the entire system of our existence. embodied in technologies and processing procedures, cognition contributes to the fundamental separation of the individual human from the productive task, and from a wide variety of non-productive activities. it is not necessary that an individual possess all knowledge that a pragmatic experience requires. this means, simply, that operators in nuclear power plants need not be eminent physicists or mathematicians. neither do all workers in a space research program need to be rocket scientists. a programmer might be ignorant of how a disk drive works. a brain surgeon does not know how the tools he or she uses are made. each facet of a pragmatic instance entails specific requirements. the whole pragmatic experience requires knowledge above and beyond what the individuals directly involved can or should master. instead of limited knowledge uniformly dispensed through literate methods, knowledge is distributed and embodied in tools and methods, not in persons. the advantage is that programs and procedures are made uniform, not human beings. for example, data management does not substitute for advanced knowledge, but a data management system as such can be endowed with knowledge in the form of routines, procedures, operation schemes, management, and self-evaluation. just as everyone kept the mechanical engine going, everyone, layperson or expert, contributes to the functioning of the digital engine. the only source of cognition that we can count on is within people self-constituted through practical experiences involving the digital. this does not mean that everyone will become a thinker and everyone will produce knowledge. two sources of knowledge are relevant in the age of cognition within which the civilization of illiteracy unfolds. one source is the advanced work of experts and researchers, in areas of higher abstraction, way beyond what literacy can handle. the other, much more critical, source is to be found in common- sense human interaction, in day-to-day human experience. we know that the knowledge of experts will continue to be integrated in the pragmatics of this age. the specific motivations of human practical experiences resulting in knowledge have to be recognized and stimulated. and we must also be aware of circumstances that could have a negative effect on these experiences. we know less about the second source of knowledge because in previous pragmatic contexts it was less critical, and widely ignored. in particular, we do not know how to tap into the infinite reservoir of cognitive resources that are manifested through the routine work and everyday life of the overwhelming portion of the world's population. taken individually, each person can contribute cognitive resources to the broader dynamics of the world. but these individual contributions are random, difficult to identify, and do not necessarily justify the effort of mining them. in our lives, many decisions and choices are made on the basis of extremely powerful procedures of which we, as individuals, are almost never aware. there is a grain of genius in some of the most mundane ways of doing things. here the nodal points of integration in the multi-dimensional array that constitutes the globality of humankind are what counts. delving into the dynamic collective persona makes such an effort worthwhile. years ago, in a dialogue with a prominent researcher in education, who used to maintain interactive simulations for youngsters who logged in at his institute, i discussed the then fashionable game of life (developed by john horton conway). as an open-ended simulation of the rules of birth and death, and based on the theory of cellular automata, the game required quite a bit of thinking. there is no winner or loser in the game of life. although the rules of the game are relatively simple, highly complex forms of artificial life arise on the matrix: a cell going from empty to full describes birth, from full to empty, death. satisfaction in playing is derived from reaching complex forms of life. the idea we discussed was to make the game widely available on the network. the hundreds of thousands of players would leave traces of cognitive decisions that, over time, would add up to an expression of the intelligence of the collective body who shared an interest in the game. the cognitive sum total is of a gestalt nature-much higher than the sum of its parts. that is, the sum has a different qualitative condition, probably comparable to that of the experts and geniuses, or even much higher! considering all the instances of human application to tasks that range from being frankly useless to highly productive, one can surmise that the second source of knowledge and intelligence is much more interesting than that of the dedicated thinkers. there is more to what we do and how we choose than rationality and thinking, never mind literate rationality. this collective persona need not comprise the entire population of the world (minus the knowledge professionals). it would help to start with groups formed ad hoc, groups which share an interest in a certain activity, such as playing games, or surfing for a particular piece of information, from the trivial "how do i get from here to there?" to whatever people are looking for-football scores, pornography, crossword puzzles, recipes, investment information, support in facing a certain problem, love, inter- generational conflicts, religion-anything. the challenge comes in capturing the cognitive resources at work, making inferences from the small or vast collective bodies of common focus, and coming up with viable procedures that can be utilized to enhance individual performance-all this without shaping future individual performance into grotesque repetitive patterns, no matter how successful they might be. if there is validity to the notion that we are in the age of knowledge, we cannot afford to limit ourselves to the knowledge of a few, no matter how exceptional these few are. the civilization of illiteracy transcends the literate model of individual performance considered a guarantee of the performance of society at large. as practical experiences become more complex, breakdowns can be avoided only at the expense of more cognitive resources. we know that it took millennia before primitive notation progressed to writing and then to generalized literacy. in the age of cognition, we cannot afford such a long cycle for integrating human cognitive resources. marvin minsky once pointed out how much mind activity is lost in the leisure of watching football games on tv. while relaxation is essential to human existence, nobody can claim, in good faith, that what has resulted from the enormously increased efficiency of cognition-based practical experiences is not wasted to a great extent. short of giving up, one has to entertain alternatives. but alternatives to this situation cannot be legislated. it is clear that within the motivations of the global economy, the need to identify and tap more sources of cognition will result in ways to stimulate human interaction. watching tv probably generates thoughts that only die on the ever larger screens in our homes. surfing the web, where millions of hits are counted on the pornography sites-not on mathematics or literature sites-is also a waste and a source of mediocrity. mouse potatoes are not necessarily better than the couch variety. if we could derive cognition even from the many experiences of human self- constitution in computer games, we could not only further the success of the industry that changed the way humans play, but gain some insight into motivations, cognitive and emotional aspects of this elementary form of human identity. above and beyond the speculation on playful man (homo ludens), there are quantifiable aspects of competition, satisfaction, and pleasure. and as the internet effectively maps our journey through a maze of data, information, and sources of knowledge, we can ask whether such cognitive maps are not too valuable to be abandoned to marketing experts, instead being utilized for understanding what makes us tick as we search for a word, an image, an experience. data regarding how and what we buy is not always representative of what we are. for many people, buying a book or a work of art, a fashionable shirt, a home, or a car is only an experience in mediation performed by the agents of these objects. but there are authentic experiences in which no one can replace us human beings. games belong to this domain, and so do joking and interactions with friends. no agent can replace us. within such authentic moments of self-constitution, cognitive resources of exceptional value are at work. many people from very different locations and of different backgrounds might simultaneously be present on a certain web site, without ever knowing it. the server's performance could suggest that there is quite a crowd at a web site, but it cannot say who the others are, what they are looking for, what kind of cognition drives the digital engine of their particular experiences. while the medium of networking is more transparent than literacy experiences, it still maintains a certain opaqueness, enhanced by the firewalls meant to protect us from ourselves. many individuals present at the same time on a web site is not a situation one can duplicate in literacy, in which the ratio was one reader to one book, or one magazine, or even one videotape (although more than one can watch it on the family tv set, in a class, or on an airplane). thousands of viewers simultaneously landing on a web site is a chance and a challenge. we should accordingly think of methods for identifying ourselves, to the extent desired, and declare willingness to interact. this next level of self-constitution and identification is where the potential of rich interactions and further generation of cognition becomes possible. tapping into cognitive resources in such situations is an opportunity we should not postpone. burning cognition, digital engines allow us to reach efficiency that is higher by many orders of magnitude in comparison to the efficiency attained by engines burning coal and oil. but the experience introduces the pressure of accelerated accumulation of data, information processing, and knowledge utilization. to understand the intimate relation between the performance of the digital engine and our own performance, one has only to think of a coal-burning steam engine driving a locomotive uphill. the civilization of illiteracy is a rather steep ascent, facing many obstacles-our physical abilities, limited natural resources, ecological concerns, ability to handle social complexity. to pull the brake will only make the effort of the engine more difficult, unless we want to tumble downhill, head first. feeding the furnace faster is the answer that every sensible engineer knows. this would sound like a curse, were it not for the excitement of discovery, including that of our own cognitive resources. analogy aside, what drives the digital engine is not abstract computing cycles of faster chips, but human cognition embodied in experiences that support further diversification of experiences. it has yet to be the case that we had enough computing cycles to burn and we did not know what to do with the extra computing power available. on the contrary, human practical experiences are always ahead of technology, as we challenge ourselves with new tasks for which the chips of yesterday and the memory available are as inappropriate as the methods and means of literacy. bio-electric signals associated with the activity of our minds have been measured for quite a number of years. we learned from such measurements that minds are constituted in anticipation of our practical experience of self-identification as human beings. the idea seemed far-fetched, despite the strong scientific evidence on which it was ultimately founded. cognition is process, and bio-electric signals are indicative of cognitive processes in our minds. sensors attached to the skin, such as through a simple finger glove, can read such signals. in effect, they read unfolding mind processes based on our cognitive resources. feeding digital engines hungry to burn cognition, we arrive not only at mind-controlled prosthetic devices for people with disabilities, but also at a mind-driven painter's brush, or desktop film directing, allowing us to get involved with cinematographic projects of scripting and affecting variations of the plot. from pinball games to tennis and skiing, from virtual bowling to virtual football, our thoughts make new experiences possible. for those affected by disabilities, this is a qualitatively new horizon. einstein, but many others as well, was quite convinced that only percent of our cognitive abilities are effectively engaged in what we do. as the digital engine burns more and more cognition, this number will change, as probably our physical condition, already marked by forms of degeneration, will change too. if, by using only one-tenth of our cognitive resources, we reach the level of possibilities open to us, it is not too hard to imagine what only one more tenth might bring. the civilization of illiteracy, with all the dangers and inequities it has to address, is only at its beginning. that its duration will be shorter than the one preceding it is another subject. - : providence ri; rochester ny; bexley oh; new york ny; little compton ri; wuppertal, germany. *** literacy in a changing world during the writing of this book, several articles were published and lectures presented on themes pertinent to the subject. none was taken over in this work. among these are: j. deely and m. lenhard, editors. the civilization of illiteracy, in semiotics . new york: plenum, . h. stachowiak, editor. pragmatics in the semiotic framework, in pragmatik, vol. ii. hamburg: felix meiner verlag, . la civilization de l'analphabetisme, in gazette de beaux-arts, vol. iii, no. , march , pp. - . writing is rewriting, in the american journal of semiotics, vol. , no. , , pp. - . sign and value. (lecture)third congress of the international association of semiotic studies, palermo, italy, june - , . the civilization of illiteracy. (lecture) sixth annual meeting of the semiotic society of america, vanderbilt university, nashville, october - , . philosophy in the civilization of illiteracy. (lecture) xvii world congress of philosophy, montreal, august, . values in the post-modern era: the civilization of illiteracy. (lecture) institute forum, rochester institute of technology, november , . a case for the hacker. (lecture) university of oregon, oct. , . communication in a time of integration and awareness. (lecture) new york university, april, . de plus ça change... creativity in the context of scientific and technological change. (lecture) university of michigan, january, . the bearable impertinence of rationality. (lecture) multimediale, the st international festival of multimedia, february, . from a very broad literature on literacy, including the emergence of writing and early written documents, the following proved useful in defining the position stated in this book: john hladczuk, william eller, and sharon hladczuk. literacy/illiteracy in the world. a bibliography. new york: greenwood press, . david r. olson, nancy torrance, and angela hildyard, editors. literacy, language, and learning: the nature and consequences of reading and writing. new york: cambridge university press, . robert pattison. on literacy: the politics of the word from homer to the age of rock. new york: oxford university press, . gerd baumann, editor. the written word: literacy in transition. new york: oxford university press, . national advisory council on adult education. literacy committee. illiteracy in america: extent, causes and suggested solutions, . susan b. neuman. literacy in the television age. the myth of the tv effect. norwood, nj: ablex, . edward m. jennings and alan c. purves, editors. literate systems and individual lives. perspectives on literacy and schooling. albany: suny press, . harald haarman. universalgeschichte der schrift. frankfurt/main: campus verlag, . david diringer. the alphabet. a key to the history of mankind ( rd edition). new york: funk & wagnalls, . colin h. roberts. the birth of the codex. london: oxford university press, . martin koblo. die entwicklung der schrift. wiesbaden: brandsetter, . r. hooker. reading the past. ancient writing from cuneiform to the alphabet. berkeley: university of california press, . donald jackson. the story of writing. new york: taplinger publishing co., . hannsferdinand dobler. von der keilschrift zum computer. schrift, buch, wissenschaften. munich: bertelsmann, . colin clair. a history of european printing. new york: academic press, . lucien paul victor febre. the coming of the book. the impact of printing - . trans. david gerard. london: n.l.b., . karlen mooradian. the dawn of printing. lexington, ky: association for education in journalism, . warren chappel. a short history of the printed word. new york: knopf, . peter s. bellwood. prehistory in the indo-malaysian archipelago. orlando, fl: academic press, . andrew sherrat, editor. the cambridge encyclopedia of archaeology. new york: crown publishers, . peirce's pragmatic perspective was extracted from his writings. in the absence of a finished text on the subject, various scholars chose what best suited their own viewpoint. a selection from an unusually rich legacy of manuscripts and published articles was made available in the collected papers of charles sanders peirce (eight volumes). volumes - edited by charles hartshorne and paul weiss; volumes - edited by a. burks. cambridge: the belknap press of harvard university press, - . the standard procedure in citing this work is "volume.paragraph" (e.g., . refers to volume , paragraph ). important references to peirce's semiotics are found in his correspondence with victoria, lady welby. this was published by charles hardwick as semiotics and significs. the correspondence between charles s. peirce and victoria lady welby, bloomington and london: indiana university press, . peirce's manuscripts are currently being published in a new edition, the writings of charles s. peirce. a chronological edition (e. moore, founding editor; max a. fisch, general editor; c. kloesel, director), bloomington: indiana university press, -present. peirce's pragmaticism was defined in a text dated , during his return journey from europe aboard a steamer, "...a day or two before reaching plymouth, nothing remaining to be done except to translate it into english," ( . ): "considerer quels sont les effets pratiques que nous pensons pouvoir être produits par l'objet de notre conception. la conception de tous ces effets est la conception complète de l'objet." in respect to peirce, his friends william james and john dewey wrote words of appreciation, placing him "in the forefront of the great seminal minds of recent times," (cf. morris r. cohen, chance, love, and logic, glencoe il: , p. iii). c. j. keyser stated, "that this man, who immeasurably increased the intellectual wealth of the world, was nevertheless almost permitted to starve in what in his time was the richest and vainest of lands is enough to make the blood of any decent american boil with chagrin, indignation, and vicarious shame," (cf. portraits of famous philosophers who were also mathematicians, in scripta mathematica, vol. iii, ). c.p. snow. the two cultures and a second look (an expanded version of the two cultures and the scientific revolution). cambridge: at the university press, (first printed in ). gottfried wilhelm leibniz ( - ). from the few works published during his lifetime, reference is made to dissertatio de arte combinatoria (leipzig, ). g.h. parkinson translated some works in leibniz logical papers (london, ). another edition considered for this book is by gaston grua, leibniz. textes inédits (paris, ), which offers some of the many manuscripts in which important ideas remained hidden for a long time. humberto r. maturana. the neurophysiology of cognition, in cognition: a multiple view (p. garvin, editor). new york: spartan books, . humberto r. maturana and francisco j. varela. el árbol del conocimiento, . the work was translated as the tree of knowledge. the biological roots of human understanding. boston/london: shambala new science library, . terry winograd. understanding natural language. new york: academic press, . -. language as cognitive process. reading ma: addison-wesley, . terry winograd and fernando flores. understanding computers and cognition. a new foundation for design. norwood nj: ablex publishing corporation, . george lakoff and mark johnson. metaphors we live by. chicago: chicago university press, . george lakoff. women, fire, and dangerous things. (what categories reveal about the mind). chicago/london: the university of chicago press, . "the point is that the level of categorization is not independent of who is doing the categorizing and on what basis" (p. ). with his seminal work on fuzzy sets, lotfi zadeh opened a new perspective relevant not only to technological progress, but also to a new philosophic perspective. fuzzy sets, in information and control, ( ), pp. - . fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning (in memory of grigore moisil), in synthèse ( ), pp. - . coping with the impression of the real world, in communications of the association for computing machinery, ( ), pp. - . george steiner. language and silence. new york: atheneum, . -. after babel. aspects of language and translation. london: oxford university press, . -. real presence: is there anything in what we say? london/boston: faber & faber, . -. the end of bookishness? in the times literary supplement, july - , , p. . marshall mcluhan. the gutenberg galaxy: the making of typographic man. toronto: toronto university press, . ivan illich. deschooling society. new york: harper & row, . illich states bluntly: "universal education through schooling is not feasible" (introduction, p. ix). ivan illich and barry sanders. the alphabetization of the popular mind. san francisco: north point press, . y. m. lotman. kul'tura kak kollektvinji intellekt i problemy iskusstuennovo razuma (culture as collective intellect and problems of artificial intelligence). predvaritel'naya publicacija, moskva: akademija nauk sssr (nauchinyi soviet po kompleksnoi problemi kibernetika), . jean baudrillard. simulations. trans. paul foss, paul patton, philip beitchman. new york: semiotext(e), . the chasm between yesterday and tomorrow hans magnus enzensberger. mittelmaß und wahn. gesammelte zerstreuungen. frankfurt am main: . norbert wiener. the human use of human beings. cybernetics and society. st ed. new york: avon books, . wiener was very concerned with the consequences of human involvement with machines and the consequences of the unreflecting use of technology. "once before in history the machine had impinged upon human culture with an effect of the greatest moment. this previous impact is known as the industrial revolution, and it concerned the machine purely as an alternative to human muscle" (p. ). "it is fair to say, however, that except for a considerable number of isolated examples, this industrial revolution up to present [ca. ] has displaced man and beast as a source of power, without making any great impression on other human functions" (p. ). wiener goes on to describe a new stage, what he calls the second industrial revolution, dominated by computing machines driving all kinds of industrial processes. he notes: "let us remember that the automatic machine, whatever we think of any feelings it may have or may not have, is the precise economic equivalent of slave labor. any labor which competes with slave labor must accept the economic conditions of slave labor" (p. ). "what can we expect of its economic and social consequences? in the first place, we can expect an abrupt and final cessation of the demand for the type of factory labor performing purely repetitive tasks. in the long run, the deadly uninteresting nature of the repetitive task may make this a good thing and the source of leisure necessary for a man's full cultural development. it may also produce cultural results as trivial and wasteful as the greater part of those so far obtained from the radio and the movies" (p. ). nick thimmesch, editor. aliteracy. people who can read but won't. washington, dc: american enterprise institute for policy research, . proceedings of a conference held on september , in washington, dc. according to william a. baroody, jr., president of the american enterprise institute, the aliterate person scans magazines, reads headlines, "never reads novels or poetry for the pleasures they offer." he goes on to state that aliteracy is more dangerous because it "reflects a change in cultural values and a loss of skills" and "leads to knowing without understanding." marsha levine, a participant in the conference noted that although educators are concerned with universal literacy, many people read less or not at all: "a revolution in technology is having an impact on education...they [technological means] increase the level of literacy, but they might undermine the practice of what they teach." at the same conference, an anonymous participant posed a sequence of questions: "exactly what advantage do reading and literacy hold in terms of helping us to process information? what does reading give us that is of some social advantage that cannot be obtained through other media? is it entirely certain that we cannot have a functioning society with an oral-aural method of communication, where we use television and its still unexploited resources of communication? [...] is it impossible to conceive of a generation that has received its knowledge of the world and itself through television?" (p. ). john searle. the storm over the university, in the new york review of books, : , december , , pp. - . plato. phaedrus, and the seventh and eighth letters. trans. walter hamilton. harmondsworth: penguin press, . in phaedrus, socrates, portrayed by plato, articulates arguments against writing: "it will implant forgetfulness in their souls [of people, m.n.]: they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling these things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks; what you have discovered is a recipe [pharmakon, a potion; some translate it as recipe, m.n.] not for memory, but for reminder" ( - e. p. ). (references to plato include the stephanus numbers. this makes them independent of the particular edition used by the reader.) claude lévi-strauss. tristes tropiques. paris: plon, . the author continues socrates' thought: "it [writing] seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment" (p. ). from a very broad literature on literacy, including the emergence of writing and early written documents, the following proved useful in defining the position stated in this book: john hladczuk, william eller, and sharon hladczuk. literacy/illiteracy in the world. a bibliography. new york: greenwood press, . david r. olson, nancy torrance, and angela hildyard, editors. literacy, language, and learning: the nature and consequences of reading and writing. new york: cambridge university press, . robert pattison. on literacy: the politics of the word from homer to the age of rock. new york: oxford university press, . gerd baumann, editor. the written word: literacy in transition. new york: oxford university press, . national advisory council on adult education. literacy committee. illiteracy in america: extent, causes and suggested solutions, . susan b. neuman. literacy in the television age. the myth of the tv effect. norwood, nj: ablex, . edward m. jennings and alan c. purves, editors. literate systems and individual lives. perspectives on literacy and schooling. albany: suny press, . dr. harald haarman. universalgeschichte der schrift. frankfurt/main: campus verlag, . david diringer. the alphabet. a key to the history of mankind. rd edition. new york: funk & wagnalls, . colin h. roberts. the birth of the codex. london: oxford university press, . martin koblo. die entwicklung der schrift. wiesbaden: brandsetter, . donald jackson. the story of writing. new york: taplinger publishing co., . hannsferdinand dobler. von der keilschrift zum computer. schrift, buch, wissenschaften. munich: bertelsmann, . colin clair. a history of european printing. new york: academic press, . lucien paul victor febre. the coming of the book. the impact of printing - . trans. david gerard. london: n.l.b., . karlen mooradian. the dawn of printing. lexington, ky: association for education in journalism, . warren chappel. a short history of the printed word. new york: knopf, . c.p. snow. the two cultures and a second look. an expanded version of the two cultures and the scientific revolution. cambridge: at the university press, . john brockman. the third culture: beyond the scientific revolution. new york: simon & schuster, . a recent criticism of the book, by phillip e. johnson, on the world wide web, states that the scientists contributing to the book "tend to replace the literary intellectuals rather than cooperate with them." alan bloom. the closing of the american mind. new york: simon and schuster, . antoine de st. exupéry. the little prince. trans. katherine woods. new york: harcourt, brace & world, . helmut schmidt, ex-chancellor of west germany, marion gräfin dönhoff, editor-in-chief of die zeit, edzard reuter, ex-ceo of daimler-benz, along with several prominent german intellectuals and politicians, met during the summer of to discuss issues facing their country after reunification. in their manifesto, they insisted that any concept for a sensible future needs to integrate the notion of renouncing (verzicht) and sharing as opposed to growing expectations and their export through economic aid to third world countries. see ein manifest: weil das land sich ändern muß (a manifesto. because the country needs to change), reinbeck: rowohlt verlag, jean-marie guéhenno. la fin de la démocratie. paris: flammarion, . edmund carpenter. they became what they beheld. new york: outerbridge and dienstfrey/ballantine, . nathaniel hawthorne. earth's holocaust, in the complete short stories of nathaniel hawthorne. garden city ny: doubleday & co., . george steiner. the end of bookishness? in times literary supplement, july - , . "to read classically means to own the means of that reading. we are dealing no longer with the medieval chained library or with books held as treasures in certain monastic and princely institutions. the book became a domestic object owned by its user, accessible at his will for re-reading. this access in turn comprised private space, of which the personal libraries of erasmus and of montaigne are emblematic. even more crucial, though difficult to define, was the acquisition of periods of private silence" (p. ). thomas robert malthus. an essay on the principle of population, , in the works of thomas robert malthus. e.a. wrigley and david souden, editors. london: w. pickering, . mark twain (samuel langhorn clemens). the annotated huckleberry finn: the adventures of huckleberry finn. with introduction, notes, and bibliography by michael p. hearn. new york: c.n. potter and crown publishers, . "twain drives home just how strongly we are chained to our own literacy through huck's illiterate silence" (p. ). "thus twain brings into focus the trap of literacy. there is a whole world in huck finn that is closed to those without literacy. they can't, for ironic example, read this marvelous work, the adventures of huckleberry finn. and yet we must recognize a world rich with superstition and folklore, with adventure and beauty, that remains closed to those who are too tightly chained to letters" (p. ). george gilder. life after television: the coming transformation of media and american life. new york: norton, . neil postman. technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology. new york: knopf, . america-the epitome of the civilization of illiteracy john adams. letters from a distinguished american: twelve essays by john adams on american foreign policy, . compiled and edited by james h. hutson. washington, dc: library of congress, . -. the adams-jefferson: the complete correspondence between thomas jefferson and abigail and john adams (lester j. cappon, editor). chapel hill: university of north carolina press, . jean-jacques servan-schreiber. the american challenge. trans. robert steel. with a foreword by arthur schlesinger, jr. new york: atheneum, . neil postman. rising tide of illiteracy in the usa, in the washington post, . "whatever else may be said of the immigrants who settled in new england in the th century, it is a paramount fact that they were dedicated and skillful readers.... it is to be understood that the bible was the central reading matter in all households, for these people were protestants who shared luther's belief that printing was 'god's highest and extremest act of grace, whereby the business of the gospel is driven forward.' but reading for god's sake was not their sole motivation in bringing books into their homes." lauran paine. captain john smith and the jamestown story. london: r. hale, . henry steele commager. the american mind. new haven: yale university press, . charles dickens. american notes. new york: st. martin's press, . the book is a journal of dickens's travels from boston to st. louis, from january through june, . alexis de toqueville. democracy in america, vol. (henry reeve text as revised by francis bowen). new york: vintage books, . several other writers have attempted to characterize the usa, or at least some of its aspects: jean baudrillard. amérique. paris: grasset, . -. america. chris turner, london/new york: verso, . gerald messadie. requiem pour superman. la crise du mythe américain. paris: r. laffont, . rodó, josé enrique. ariel. liberalismo y jacobinismo. buenos aires: ediciones depalma, . in practically all her novels, jane austen extols the improvement of the mind (especially the female mind) through reading; see especially pride and prejudice, vol. , chapter . (new york: the new american library, , p. ). thomas jefferson. autobiography, in writings. new york: the library of america/literary classics of the united states, . jefferson's father placed him in the english school when thomas was five years old, and at age nine in the latin school, where he learned latin, greek, and french until . in , jefferson continued two years of the same program of study with a reverend maury. in , he attended the college of william and mary (for two years), where he was taught by a dr. william small of scotland (a mathematician). his education consisted of ethics, rhetoric, and belles lettres. in , he began to study law. joel spring. the american school - . nd ed. new york/london: longman, . benjamin franklin's model academy embodied his own education. " '...it would be well if [students] could be taught every thing that is useful, and every thing that is ornamental. but art is long, and their time is short. it is therefore propos'd that they learn those things that are likely to be most useful and most ornamental.' [...] franklin's early life was a model for getting ahead in the new world [...] the 'useful' elements in franklin's education were the skills learned in apprenticeship and through his reading. the 'ornamental? elements,... were the knowledge and social skills learned through reading, writing, and debating" (p. ). theodore sizer, editor. the age of the academics, new york: teachers college press, . "the academy movement in north america was primarily a result of the desire to provide a more utilitarian education as compared with the education provided in classical grammar schools" (p. ). lester frank ward. the psychic factors of civilization. nd ed. new york: johnson reprint corp, . "the highest duty of society is to see that every member receives a sound education" (p. ). transcendentalism: "a th century new england movement of writers and philosophers who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of deepest truths." the main figures were ralph waldo emerson, henry david thoreau, and margaret fuller (cf. encyclopedia britannica, micropedia. ed. paul f. boller. american transcendentalism, - . an intellectual inquiry. new york: putnam, . major philosophers of pragmatics: charles sanders peirce ( - ). although no finished work deals explicitly with his pragmatic conception, this conception permeates his entire activity. his semiotics is the result of the fundamental pragmatic philosophy he developed. john dewey ( - ). dewey bases his pragmatic conception on the proven useful. this explains why this conception was labeled instrumentalism or pragmatics of verification. among the works where this is expressed are how we think ( ), logic, the theory of inquiry ( ), knowing and known ( ). william james ( - ). james expressed his pragmatic conception from a psychological perspective. his main works dedicated to pragmatism are principles of psychology ( ), pragmatism ( ), and the meaning of truth ( ). josiah royce ( - ). he is the originator of a conception he called absolute pragmatics. john sculley, ex-ceo of apple computer, inc took the bully pulpit for literacy (at president-elect clinton's economic summit in december, ), stating that the american economy is built on ideas. he and other business leaders confuse ideas with invention, which is their main interest, and for which literacy is not really necessary. sidney lanier. the symphony, , in the poems of sidney lanier. (mary day lanier, editor). athens: university of georgia press, . thorstein veblen ( - ). american economist and social scientist who sought to apply evolutionary dynamic approach to the study of economic constructions. best known for his work the theory of the leisure class ( ), in which he coined the term conspicuous consumption. theodore dreiser. american diaries, - . (thomas p. riggio, editor). philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, . -. sister carrie (the pennsylvania edition). philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, . -. essays. selected magazine articles of theodore dreiser: life and art in the american 's. (yoshinobu hakutani, editor). volumes. rutherford: fairleigh dickinson university press, - . henry james. the american scene. london: chapman and hall, . -. the bostonians. london: john lehmann ltd. . "i wished to write a very american tale," james wrote in his notebook (two years prior to the publication of the novel in ). he also stated, "i asked myself what was the most salient and peculiar point of our social life. the answer was: the situation of women, the decline of the sentiment of sex...." henry steele commager. the american mind. new haven: yale university press, . in the section aptly entitled "the literature of revolt," commager noticed that the tradition of protest and revolt (dominant in american literature since emerson and thoreau) turned, at the beginning of the th century (that is, with the new economics), into an almost unanimous repudiation of the economic order. "...most authors portrayed an economic system disorderly and ruthless, wasteful and inhumane, unjust alike to working men, investors, and consumers, politically corrupt and morally corrupting," (p. ). he goes on to name william dean howell (with his novels), sinclair lewis, theodore dreiser, f. scott fitzgerald, john dos passos, and others. in the same vein, denis brogan (the american character), j.t. adams (our business civilization), harold stearns (america: a reappraisal), mary a. hamilton (in america today), andré siegfried (america comes of age) are also mentioned. howard gardner. frames of mind: theory of multiple intelligences. new york: basic books, . diane ravitch. the schools we deserve. new york: doubleday, . peter cooper ( - ). self-taught entrepreneur and inventor. as head of north american telegraph works, he made a fortune manufacturing glue and establishing iron works. in , his experimental locomotive made its first -mile run. the corcoran case. the incredible secret of john corcoran, / , abc news, april , . (text by bytranscripts: journal graphics, inc. pp. - .) noah webster. the american spelling book: containing an easy standard of pronunciation. being the first part of a grammatical institute of the english language. boston: isaiah thomas and ebenezer t. andrews, . william holmes mcguffey. mcguffey's newly revised eclectic first reader: containing progressive lessons in reading and spelling (revised and improved by wm. h. mcguffey). cincinnati: winthrop b. smith, . it is doubtful that all the clever remarks attributed to yogi berra came from him. what matters is the dry sense of humor and logical irreverence that make these remarks another form of americana. akiro morita, et al. made in japan. new york: dutton, . united we stand, the political interest group founded by h. ross perot, is probably another example of how difficult it is, even for those who take an active stand (no matter how controversial), to break the dualistic pattern of political life in the usa. this group became the reform party. gottfried benn. sämtliche werke. (gerhard schuster, editor). vols. - (prosa). stuttgart: klett cotta, . benn maintains that the language crisis is actually the expression of the crisis of the white man. andrei toom. a russian teacher in america, in focus, : , august , pp. - (reprint of the same article appearing in the june issue of the journal of mathematical behavior and then in the fall issue of american educator). among the many articles dealing with american students' attitudes towards required subject matter, this is one of the most poignant. it involves not literature, philosophy, or history, but mathematics. the author points out not only the expectations of students and educational administrators, but also the methods in which the subject matter is treated in textbooks. interestingly enough, he recounts his experience with students in a state university, where generalized, democratic access to mediocrity is equated with education. from orality to writing peter s. bellwood. prehistory in the indo-malaysian archipelago. orlando, fl: academic press, . andrew sherrat, editor. the cambridge encyclopedia of archaeology. new york: crown publishers, . eric a. havelock. schriftlichkeit. das griechische alphabet als kulturelle revolution. weinheim: verlag vch, . ishwar chandra rahi. world alphabets, their origin and development. allahabad: bhargava printing press, . current alphabets vary in number of letters from letters of the hawaiian alphabet (transliterated to the roman alphabet by an american missionary) to letters in modern indian (devnagari). most modern alphabets vary from to letters: modern greek, ; italian, ; spanish, ; modern cambodian, ; modern russian cyrillic, . modern ethiopian has letters representing consonants, each letter modified for the six vowels in the language, making a total of letters. walter j. ong. orality and literacy. the technologizing of the world. london and new york: methuen, . the comparison between orality and writing has had a very long history. it is clear that plato's remarks are made in a different pragmatic framework than that of the present. ong noticed that: "...language is so overwhelmingly oral that of all the many thousands of languages-possibly tens of thousands-spoken in the course of human history, only around have even been committed to writing to a degree sufficient to have produced literature, and most have never been written at all" (p. ). ong also refers to pictographic systems, noticing that "chinese is the largest, most complex, and richest: the k'anglisi dictionary of chinese in ad lists , characters" (p. ). recently, the assumption that chinese writing is pictographic came under scrutiny. john defrancis (visible speech. the diverse oneness of writing systems. honolulu: university of hawaii press, , p. ) categorizes the chinese system as morphosyllabic. harald haarman. universalgeschichte der schrift. frankfurt: campus verlag, . david diringer. the alphabet: a key to the history of mankind. nd ed. new york: philosophical library, . -. the story of aleph beth. new york/london: yoseloff, . -. writing. ancient peoples and places. london: thames of hudson, . ignace j. gelb. a study of writing. chicago: chicago university press, . gelb, as well as ong, assumes that writing developed only around bce among the sumerians in mesopotamia. many scripts are on record: mesopotamian cuneiform, egyptian hieroglyphs, minoan or mycenean linear b, indus valley script, chinese, mayan, aztec, and others. ritual: a set form or system of rites, religious or otherwise. ralph merrifield. the archaeology of ritual and magic. london: b. t. ratsford, . catherine bell. ritual theory, ritual practice. new york: oxford university press, . rite: a ceremonial or formal, solemn act, observance, or procedure in accordance with prescribed rule or custom, as in religious use (cf. webster's unabridged dictionary). roger grainger. the language of the rite. london: darton, longman & todd, . mythe-rite-symbole: essais d'anthropologie littéraire sur des textes de homère. angers: presses de l'université d'angers, . weltanschauung: one's philosophy or conception of the universe and of life (cf. webster's unabridged dictionary). a particular philosophy or view of life; a conception of the world (cf. the concise oxford dictionary of current english). francesco d'errico. paleolithic human calendars: a case of wishful thinking? in current anthropology, , , pp. - . he regards petroglyphs were looked at as a possible mathematical conception of the cosmos, a numbering or even a calculation system, a rhythmical support for traditional recitation, a generic system of notation. b.a. frolov. numbers in paleolithic graphic art and the initial stages in the development of mathematics, in soviet anthropology and archaeology, ( - ), , pp. - . a. marshack. upper paleolithic notation and symbol, in science, : - , . e.k.a. tratman. late upper paleolithic calculator? gough's cave, cheddar, somerset, in proceedings, university of bristol, speleological society, ( ), , pp. - . iwar werlen. ritual und sprache: zum verhältnis von sprechen und handeln in ritualen. tübingen: narr verlag, . inner clock, or biological clock, defines the relation between a biological entity and the time-based phenomena in the environment. as with the so-called circadian cycles (circadian meaning almost the day and night cycle, circa diem), rhythms of existence persist even in the absence of external stimuli. the appearance, at least, is that of an inner clock. the notion of genetic code describes a system by which dna and rna molecules carry genetic information. particular sequences of genes in these molecules represent particular sequences of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and thereby embody instructions for making of different types of proteins. on the same subject, but obviously at a deeper level than a dictionary definition, is james d. watson's celebrated book, the double helix: a personal account of the discovery of the structure of dna. (a new critical edition, including text, commentary, reviews, original papers, edited by gunther s. stent). london: weidenfeld and nicolson, . homeostasis: the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements of the human body. physiological processes leading to body equilibrium are interlocked in dynamic processes. references to the oral phase of language in claude lévi-strauss: la pensée sauvage ( ). translated as the savage mind. chicago: university of chicago press, . le cru et le cuit ( ) the raw and the cooked. trans. john and doreen weightman. new york: harper and row, . andrew and susan sherrat (quoted by peter s. bellwood, op.cit): a distinction accepted is that between unvocalized (hebrew, arabic) and vocalized alphabets (starting with the greek, in which the vowels are no longer omitted). some languages use syllabaries, reuniting a consonant and a following vowel (such as in the japanese katakana: ka, ke, ki, ko, ku). when two different conventions are applied, the writing system is hybrid: the korean language has a very powerful alphabet, hangul, but also uses chinese characters, but pronouned in korean. the hangul system ( th century) expressed, for koreans, a desire for self- identity. plato. phaedrus, and the seventh and eighth letters (translated from the greek), with an introduction by walter hamilton. harmondsworth: penguin press, . in phaedrus, socrates, portrayed by plato, articulates arguments against writing: "it will implant forgetfulness in their souls [of people, m.n.]; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling these things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks; what you have discovered is a recipe [pharmakon, a potion; some translate it as recipe] not for memory, but for reminder" ( - e). oraltity and language today: what do people understand when they understand language? ludwig wittgenstein. tractatus logico-philosophicus. translated by d.f. pears and b.f. guinness. london: routledge & kegan paul, . amos oz refers to self-constitution in language as follows: "...a language is never a 'means' or a 'framework' or a 'vehicle' for culture. it is culture. if you live in hebrew, if you think, dream, make love in hebrew, sing in hebrew in the shower, tell lies in hebrew, you are 'inside'. [...] if a writer writes in hebrew, even if he rewrites dostoevksy or writes about a tartar invasion of south america, hebrew things will always happen in his stories. things which are ours and which can only happen with us: certain rhythms, moods, combinations, associations, longings, connotations, atavistic attitudes towards the whole of creation, and so forth," (under this blazing light, cambridge, england: university press, , p. ). j. lyons. semantics. cambridge: cambridge university press, . semantics requires that one "abstract from the user of the language and analyze only the expressions and their designata" (vol. ., p. ). noam chomsky. the distinction between competence and performance in aspects of the theory of syntax. cambridge, ma: mit press, . many scholars noticed the dualism inherent in the chomskyan theory. competence is "the speaker- hearer's knowledge of his language;" performance is "the actual use of language in concrete situations" (p. ). noam chomsky started to formulate the idea of the innate constitution of a speaker's competence in the famous article a review of b.k. skinner's verbal behavior in language, ( ), an idea he has developed through all his scholarly work. in the review, he considered the alternatives: language is learned (within skinner's scheme of stimulus-response), or it is somehow innate. in aspects of the theory of syntax (cambridge ma: mit press, ), reflections on language (london: fontana, ), and rules and representations (oxford: blackwell, ), the thought is constantly refined, though not necessarily more convincing (as his critics noticed). roman jakobson. essais de linguistique générale, paris: editions de minuit, . jakobson refused to ascertain any "private property" in the praxis of language. everything in the domain of language "is socialized" (p. ). feedback: "the property of being able to adjust future conduct by past performance" (norbert wiener, the human use of human beings, p. ). in , martin gardner and douglas hoffstaedter shared a column in scientific american, which hoffstaedter called metamagical themes. in his first article, he defined self-reference: "it happens every time anyone says 'i' or 'me' or 'word' or 'speak' or 'mouth.' it happens every time a newspaper prints a story about reporters, every time someone writes a book about writing, designs a book about design, makes a movie about movies, or writes an article about self-reference. many systems have the capability to represent or refer to themselves, or elements of themselves, within the system of their own symbolism" (scientific american, january, , vol. : , pp. - ). hofstaedter finds that self-reference is ubiquitous. para-linguistic elements are discussed in detail in eduard ataian's book jazyk i vneiazykovaia deistvitelnost: opyt ontologicheskovo sravnenia (language and paralinguistic activity, an attempt towards an ontological comparison). erevan: izd. erevanskovo universiteta, . luciano canepari. l'internazione linguistica e paralinguistica, napoli: liguori, . canepari insists on prosodic elements. the pragmatic aspect of arithmetic is very complex. many more examples relating to the use of numbers and their place in language can be found in crump (the examples given are referenced in the anthropology of numbers, cambridge/new york: cambridge university press, , pp. and ). face-to-face communication, or iteration, attracted the attention of semioticians because codes other than those of language are at work. adam kendon, among others, thought that non-verbal communication captures only a small part of the face-to-face situation. the need to integrate non-verbal semiotic entities in the broader context of a communicative situation finally leads to the discovery of non-verbal codes, but also to the question of how much of the language experience is continued where language is not directly used. useful reading can be found in aspects of non-verbal communication (walburga raffler-engel, editor), lisse: swets & zeitlinger, . steven pinker. the language instinct: how the mind creates language. new york: william morrow & co, . (his book appeared eight years after this chapter was written.) as opposed to pictograms, which are iconic representations (based on likeness) of concrete objects, ideograms are composites (sometimes diagrams) of more abstract representations of the same. chao yuen ren (in language and symbolic systems, cambridge: at the university press, ) shows how chinese ideograms for the sequence , , are built up: yi, represented as -; ér as - ; san as - . françois cheng. chinese poetic writing, bloomington: indiana university press, . (translation by d.a. riggs and j.p. seaton of l'écriture poétique chinoise, paris: editions du seuil, ). "the ideogram for one, consisting of a single horizontal stroke, separates (and simultaneously unites) heaven and earth" (p. ). he goes on to exemplify how, "by combining the basic strokes,...one obtains other ideograms." the example given is that of combining [one] and [man, house] to obtain [large, big] and further on [sky, heaven]. on protolanguage: thomas v. gamkredlidze and v.v. ivanov, the early history of indo-european languages, in scientific american, march , pp. - . reading by machines, i.e., scanning and full text processing (through the use of optical character recognition programs) led some companies to advertise a new literacy. caere and hewlett-packard, sponsors of project literacy us and reading is fundamental came up with the headline "we'd like to teach the world to read" to introduce optical character recognition technology (a scanner and software), which makes machine reading (of texts, numbers, and graphics) possible. in another ad, que software depicts english grammar, punctuation and style books, and the dictionary opposite a red key. the ad states: "rightwriter improves your writing with the touch of a hot key." the program is supposed to check punctuation and grammar. it can also be customized for specific writing styles (inquiry to your insurance agent, answer to the irs, complaints to city hall or a consumer protection agency). as a matter of fact, the phenomena referred to are not a matter of advertisement slogans but of a new means for reading and even writing. a program such as voiceworks (also known as voicerad) was designed for radiologists who routinely review x-rays and generate written reports on their findings. based on patterns recognized by the physician, the program accepts dictation (from a subset of natural language) and generates the ca. -word report without misspelling difficult technical terms. voiceem (for emergency room doctors) is activated by voice clues (e.g., "auto accident"), displaying a report from which the physician chooses the appropriate words: "(belted/non-belted,) (driver/passenger) in (low/moderate/high) velocity accident struck from (rear/head-on/broadside) and (claims/denies) rolling vehicle." canned medical and legal phrases summarize situations that correspond to circumstances on record. when the doctor states "normal throat," the machine spells out a text that reproduces stereotype descriptions: "throat clear, tongue, pharynx without injections, exudate tonsilar hypertrophy, teeth normal variant." the , -word lexicon can handle the vast majority of emergencies. those beyond the lexicon usually surpass the competence of the doctor. the subject of visual mnemonic devices used in the interpretation of shakespeare's plays is marvelously treated in frances a. yates's book the art of memory (harmondsworth: penguin press, ). she discusses robert fludd's memory system of theater, from his ars memoriae ( ), based on the shakespearean globe theater. in ancient greece, orators constructed complex spatial and temporal schemata as aids in rehearsing and properly presenting their speeches. functioning of language research on memory and language functions in the brain is being carried out at the university of minnesota, institute of child development. work is focused on individuals who are about to undergo partial lobotomies to treat intractable epilepsy. the goal is to provide a functional map of the brain. "history remains a strict discipline only when it stops short, in its description, of the nonverbal past." (ivan illich and barry sanders, the alphabetization of the popular mind, p. ). derrick de kerkhove, charles j. lumsden, editors. the alphabet and the brain. the lateralization of writing. berlin/heidelberg: springer verlag, . in this book, edward jones and chizato aoki report on the different cognitive processing of phonetic (kana) and logographic (kanji) characters in japanese (p. ). andré martinet. le langage. paris: encyclopédie de la pléiade, . maurice merleau-ponty. phénoménologie de la perception. paris: gallimard, bibliothèque des idées, . andré leroi-gourhan. moyens d'expression graphique, in bulletin du centre de formation aux recherches ethnologiques, paris, no. , , pp. - . -. le geste et la parole, vol. i and ii. paris: albin michel, - . -. les racines du monde, in entretiens avec claude-henri rocquet. paris: pierre belfond, . gordon v. childe. the bronze age. new york: biblio and tannen, . john defrances. the chinese language: fact and fantasy. . marshall mcluhan. understanding media: the extensions of man. new york: mcgraw hill . in many of his writings, roland barthes suggested characteristics of the oral and visual culture. the distinction between the two preoccupied him. klingon is a language crafted by marc okrand, a linguist, for use by fictional characters. the popularity of star trek explains how klingon spread around the world. by eliminating sources of ambiguity and prescribing stylistic rules, controlled languages aim for improved readability. they are easier to maintain and they support computational processing, such as machine translation (cf. willem-olaf huijsen, introduction to controlled languages, a webtext of ). an example of an artificial language of controlled functions and logic is logics workbench (lwb), developed at the university of berne, in switzerland. the language is available through the www. drawing: the trace left by a tool drawn along a surface particularly for the purpose of preparing a representation or pattern. drawing forms the basis of all the arts. edward laning, the act of drawing, new york: mcgraw hill, . design: balducinni defined design as "a visible demonstration by means of those things which man has first conceived in his mind and pictured in the imagination and which the practised hand can make appear." "before balducinni, its primary sense was drawing." (cf. oxford companion to art). more information is given in the references for the chapter devoted to design. alan pipes, drawing for -dimensional design: concepts, illustration, presentation, london: thames and hudson, . thomas crump. the anthropology of numbers, cambridge/new york: cambridge university press, . referring to yoshio yano's article of , in japanese, entitled communication life of the family, crump writes: "...age, in the absence of other overreaching criteria, determines hierarchy: this rule applies, for instance, in japan, and is based on the antithesis of semmai-kohai, whose actual meaning is simply senior-junior. the moral basis of the precedence of the elder over the younger (cho-yo-no-jo) originated in china, and is reflected in the first instance in the precedence of siblings of the same sex, which is an important structural principle within the family" (p. ). on the issue of context affecting language functions, see george carpenter barker, social functions of language in a mexican-american community. phoenix: the university of arizona press, . arthur m. schlesinger, jr. the disuniting of america. reflections on a multicultural society. new york: w.w. norton, . sneja gunew and jan mahyuddin, editors. beyond the echo. multicultural women's writing . st. lucia: university of queensland press, . stephen j. rimmer. the cost of multiculturalism. belconnen, act: s.j.rimmer, . language and logic a.e. van vogt. the world of null-a. . the novel was inspired by a work of alfred korzybski, science and sanity. an introduction to non-aristotelian systems and general semantics ( ). walter j. ong seems convinced that "...formal logic is the invention of greek culture after it had interiorized the technology of alphabetic writing, and so made a permanent part of its noetic resources the kind of thinking that alphabetic writing made possible" (op. cit., p. ). he reports on a.r. luria's book, cognitive development: its cultural and social foundations ( ). after experiments designed to define how illiterate subjects react to formal logical procedures (in particular, deductive reasoning), luria seems to conclude that no one actually operates in formally stated syllogisms. lucien lévy-bruhl. les fonctions mentales dans les sociétés inférieures. paris: alcan, . (translated as how natives think by lilian a. clave, london: allen & unwin, .) lévy-bruhl reconnects to the notion of participation that originates in plato's philosophy and applies it to fit the so-called pre-logic mentality. anton dumitru. history of logic. vols. turnbridge wells, kent: abacus press, . in exemplifying the law of participation, dumitru gives the following example: "in central brazil there lives an indian tribe called bororó. in the same region we also find a species of parrots called arara. the explorers were surprised to find that the indians claimed to be arara themselves. [...] put differently, a member of the bororó tribe claims to be what he actually is and also something else just as real, namely an arara parrot" (vol. , pp. - ). rené descartes ( - ), under his latinized name renatus cartesius, sees logic as "teaching us to conduct well our reason in order to discover the truths we ignore" ("qui apprend à bien conduire sa raison pour découvrir les vérités qu'on ignore"). for descartes, mathematics is the general method of science. oeuvres de descartes. publiées par charles adam and paul tannery, eds. vols. nouvelle présentation en co-édition avec le centre national de la recherche scientifique. paris: vrin. - (reprint of the - edition). in english, the rendition by elizabeth s. haldane and george r.t. ross was published in london, cambridge university press, . "logic is the art of directing reason aright, in obtaining the knowledge of things, for the instruction both of ourselves and of others. it consists of the reflections which have been made on the four principal operations of the mind: conceiving, judging, reasoning, and disposing" (port royal logic, introduction). john locke ( - ) was looking for simple logical elements and rules to compound them. certainty is not the result of syllogistic inference. "syllogism is at best nothing but the art of bringing to light, in debate, the little knowledge we have, without adding any other to it." an essay concerning human understanding (london, ) sets an empirical, psychologically based perspective of logic. george boole ( - ) conceived of a logical calculus, in an investigation of the laws of thought on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities (london, ), which eventually became the basis for digital computation. fung-yu-lan. précis d'histoire de la philosophie chinoise. paris: plon, . "it is very difficult for somebody to understand fully chinese philosophical works, if he is not able to read the original text. the language is indeed a barrier. due to the suggestive character of chinese philosophical writings, this barrier gets more daunting, these writings being almost untranslatable. in translation, they lose their power of suggestion. in fact, a translation is nothing but an interpretation" (p. ). chang-tzu. cf. anton dumitru, op.cit., p. . kung-fu-tzu ( - , bce), whose latinized name is confucius, expressed the logical requirement to "rectify the names." this translates as the need to put things in agreement with one another by correct designations. "the main thing is the rectification of names (cheng ming) [...] if the names are not rectified, the words cannot fit; if the words do not fit, the affairs [in the world] will not be successful. if these affairs are not successful, neither rites nor music can flourish. if rites and music do not flourish, punishments cannot be just. if they are not just, people do not know how to act." the conclusion is, "the wise man should never show levity in using words;" (lun-yu, cf. wing-tsit-chan, a source book in chinese philosophy, princeton: princeton university press, ). aristotle ( - bce). logic in his view is thinking about thinking. the whole logical theory of the syllogism is presented in the analytica priora. the analytica posteriora gives the structure of deductive sciences. the notion of political animal is part of the aristotelian political system (cf. politics). takeo doi. amae no kozo. tokyo: kobundo. . (translated as the anatomy of dependence by john bester, tokyo/new york: kodansho international and harper & row, .) vedic texts, the collective name for veda, defined as the science (the root of the word seems to be similar to the greek for idea, or the latin videre, to see) of direct intuition, convey the experience of the rsis, ancient sages who had a direct perception of things. the writings that make up veda are: rig veda, invocatory science; yajur veda, sacrificial; sama veda, melody; atharva veda, of incantation. in each veda, there is a section on the origin of the ritual, on the meaning, and on the esoteric aspect. mircea eliade. yoga. paris: gallimard, . "india has endeavoured...to analyze the various conditioning factors of the human being. ...this was done not in order to reach a precise and coherent explanation of the human being, as did, for instance, europe of the th century,... but in order to know how far the zones of the human being go and see whether there is anything else beyond these conditionings" (p. ). the logic of action, as part of logical theory, deals with various aspects of defining what leads to reaching a goal and what are the factors involved in defining the goal and testing the result. raymond bondon, in logique du social (translated by david and gillian silverman as the logic of social action: an introduction to sociological analysis, london/boston: routledge & kegan paul, ), gives the subject a sociological perspective. cornel popa, in praxiologie si logica (praxiology and logic, bucharest: editura academiei, ) deals with social action. authors such as d. lewis, a. salomaa, b.f. chelas, r.c. jeffrey, and jaako hintikka, whose contributions were reunited in a volume celebrating stig kanger, pay attention to semantic aspects and conditional values in many-valued propositional logics (cf. logical theory and semantic analysis, edited by soren stenlund, dordrecht/boston: reidel, ). the term culture originates in human practical experiences related to nature: cultivating land, breeding and rearing animals. by extension, culture (i.e., cultivating and breeding the mind) leads to the noun describing a way of life. in the late th century, herder used the plural cultures to distinguish what was to become civilization. in , dilthey made the distinction between cultural sciences (geisteswissenschaften, addressing the mind) and natural sciences. the objects of cultural sciences are man-made and the goal is understanding (verstehen). for more information on the emergence and use of the term culture, see a.l. kroeber and c. kluckholm, culture: a critical review of concepts and definitions, in peabody museum papers, xlvii, harvard university press, . ramon lull (raymundus lullus, - ) suggested a mechanical system of combining ideas, an alphabet (or repertory) and a calculus for generating all possible judgments. called ars magna (the great art), his work attracted both ironic remarks and enthusiastic followers. athanasius kircher, in polygraphia nova et universalis ex combinatoria arte detecta (new and universal polygraphy discovered from the arts of combination, rome, ), tried to introduce an arithmetic of logic. george delgarus, in ars signorum (the art of signs, london, ), suggested a universal language of signs. john wilkins dealt with it as a secret language ( , mercury, or the secret and swift messenger, and , an essay towards a real character and a philosophical language). lotfi zadeh introduced fuzzy logic: a logic of vague though quantified relations among entities and of non- clear-cut definitions (what is young? tall? bold? good?). felix hausdorf/paul mongré. sant 'ilario. gedanken aus der landschaft zarathustras. . p. w.b. gallie (peirce's pragmatism, in peirce and pragmatism, harmondsworth: penguin books, ) noticed that peirce, "in the pragmaticism papers, approaches the subject of vagueness from a number of different sides. he claims, for instance, that all our most deeply grounded and in practice indubitable beliefs are essentially vague" (cf. peirce, . ). according to peirce, vagueness is a question of representation, not a peculiarity of the object of the representation. he goes on to specify that the source of vagueness is the relation between the sign and the interpretant ("indefiniteness in depth may be termed vagueness," cf. mss , , - ). additional commentary in nadin, the logic of vagueness and the category of synechism, in the monist, special issue: the relevance of charles peirce, : , july, , pp. - . richard dawkins. the selfish gene. new york: oxford university press, . -. the extended phenotype. new york: oxford university press, . elan moritz, of the institute for memetic research, provides the historic and methodological background to the subject in introduction to memetic science. e.o. wilson. sociobiology: the new synthesis. cambridge: belknap/harvard university press, . mihai nadin. mind-anticipation and chaos (from the series milestones in thought and discovery). stuttgart/zurich: belser presse. . "minds exist only in relation to other minds" p. . the book was based on a lecture delivered in january, at ohio state university. language as mediating mechanism richard dawkins. the selfish gene. new york: oxford university press, . -. the extended phenotype. new york: oxford university press, . elan moritz, of the institute for memetic research, provides the historic and methodological background to the subject in introduction to memetic science., a webtext. e.o. wilson. sociobiology: the new synthesis. cambridge: belknap/harvard university press, . mediation: a powerful philosophic notion reflecting interest in the many ways in which something different from what we want to know, understand, do, or act upon intercedes between the object of our interest, action, or thought. g.w. hegel. hegels werke, vollständige ausgabe durch einen verein von freunden des verewigten, vols. i-xix. berlin. - , the dialectics of mediation includes a non-mediated mode, generated by the suppression of mediation, leading to the thing-in-itself: "dieses sein ist daher eine sache, die an und für sich ist die objektivität" (vol. v, p. ) (this being is, henceforth, a thing in itself and for itself, it is objectivity.) everything else is mediated. in all post-hegelian developments-right wing (hinrichs, goeschel, gabler), left-wing (ruge, feuerback, strauss), center (bauer, köstlin, erdmann)-mediation is a major concept. emile durkheim. de la division du travail sociale. th ed. paris: presses univérsitaires de france, . (translated as the division of labor in society by w.d. halls. new york: free press, ). michel freyssenet. la division capitaliste du travail. paris: savelli, . elliot a. krause. division of labor, a political perspective. westport ct: greenwood press, . gunnar tornqvist, editor. division of labour, specialization, and technical change: global, regional, and workplace level. malmo, sweden: liber, . marcella corsi. division of labour, technical change, and economic growth. aldershot, hants, u.k.: avebury/brookfield vt: gower publishing co., . leonard bloomfield. language. . rpt. new york: holt, rinehart & winston. . in this work, the author maintains that the division of labor, and with it the whole working of human society, is due to language. charles sanders peirce. "anything that determines something else (its interpretant) to refer to an object to which itself refers (its object) in the same way, the interpretant becoming in turn a sign, and so on ad infinitum" ( . ). "something which stands to somebody in some respect or capacity" ( . ). other sign definitions have been given: "in the language, reciprocal presuppositions are established between the expression (signifier) and the expressed (signified). the sign is the manifestation of these presuppositions," (a. j. greimas and j. courtés, semiotics and language. an analytical dictionary, bloomington: indiana university press, , p. ; translation of sémiotique. dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage, paris: classique hachette, ). according to l. hjelmslev, the sign is the result of semiosis taking place at the time of the language act. benveniste considers that the sign is representative of another thing, which it evokes as a substitute. herbert marcuse. the one-dimensional man. studies in the ideology of advanced industrial society. boston: beacon press, . plato. phaedrus, and the seventh and eighth letters (translated from the greek), with an introduction by walter hamilton. harmondsworth: penguin press, . regarding cave paintings, see: mihai nadin. understanding prehistoric images in the post-historic age: a cognitive project, in semiotica, : - , . berlin, new york: mouton de gruyter. pp. - b. campbell. humankind emerging. toronto: little, brown & co., . w. davis. the origins of image making, in current anthropology, ( ). pp. - . luigi bottin. contributi della tradizione greco-latina e arabo-latina al testo della rhetorica di aristotele. padova: antenore, . marc fumaroli. l'age de l'Éloquence: rhétorique et 'res literaria' de la renaissance au seuil de l'Époque classique. geneva: droz and paris: champion, . william m.a. grimaldi. aristotle, rhetoric: a commentary. new york: fordham university press, - . rhetoric is generally seen as the ability to persuade. using many kinds of signs (language, images, sounds, gestures, etc.), rhetoric is connected to the pragmatic context. in ancient greece and rome, as well as in china and india, rhetoric was considered an art and practiced for its own sake. some consider rhetoric as one of the sources of semiotics (together with logic, hermeneutics, and the philosophy of language (cf. tzvetan todorov, théorie du symbole, paris: ed. du seuil, ). gestures are a part of rhetoric. quintillian, in de institutione oratoria, dealt with the lex gestus (law of gesture). in the renaissance, the code of gesture was studied in detail. in our days of illiterate rhetoric based on stereotypes and increasingly compressed messages, gestures gain a special status indicative of the power of non-literacy-based ceremonies. the rhetoric of advertisement pervades human interaction. george boole ( - ) conceived of a logical calculus, in an investigation of the laws of thought on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities (london, ), which eventually became the basis for digital computation. howard rheingold.virtual reality. new york: summit books, . rheingold offers a description that can substitute for a definition: "imagine a wraparound television with programs, including three-dimensional sound, and solid objects that you can pick up and manipulate, even feel with your fingers and hands. imagine immersing yourself in an artificial world and actively exploring it, rather than peering at it from a fixed perspective through a flat screen in a movie theater, on a television set, or on a computer display. imagine that you are the creator as well as the consumer of your artificial experience, with the power to use a gesture or a word to remold the world you see and hear and feel" (p. ). in an internet interview with rheingold, sherry turkel points out that computers and networks are objects- to-think-with for a networked era. she predicts, "i believe that against all odds and against most current expectations, we are going to see a rebirth of psychoanalytic thinking" (cf. brainstorms, http://www.well.com, ). literacy, language, and market reference is made to the works of margaret wheatley (management and the new science); michael rothschild (bionomics); bernardo huberman (dynamics of collective actions and learning in multi-agent organizations); robert axtel and joshua epstein (creators of sugarscape, a model of trade); and axel leijonhufvud (multi-agent systems), all published as webtexts. transactions as extensions of human biology evince the complex nature of human interactions. maturana and varela indirectly refer to human transactions: "coherence and harmony in relations and interactions between the members of a human social system are due to the coherence and harmony of their growth in it, in an ongoing social learning which their own social (linguistic) operation defines and which is possible thanks to the genetic and ontogenetic processes that permit structural plasticity of the members" (op. cit., p. ). they diagram the shift from minimum autonomy of components (characteristic of organisms) to maximum autonomy of components (characteristic of human societies). a walk through wall street, in us news and world report, nov. , , pp. - . one from among many reminiscences by martin mayer, author of madison avenue, wall street, men and money. "wall street as price setter for the country dealt with much more than pieces of paper. commodities markets proliferated. the fish market was on the east river at fulton; the meat market on the hudson just to the north.... the 'physicals' of all commodities markets were present...there were cotton sacks in the warehouse of the cotton exchange, coffee bags stored here for delivery against the contracts at the sugar and coffee exchange on hanover square and often a smell of roasting coffee. "in the 's, this was a male world-women were not allowed to work on the floor of the stock exchange, let alone become members. the old-timers explained with great sincerity that there was no ladies room." the report points out that today wall street "sees less of the real world outside, depends more on abstract information processed through data machinery and more than ever responds to forces far from its borders." zoon semiotikon, the semiotic animal, labeled by paul mongré (also known as felix hausdorf). charles s. peirce gave the following definitions: representamen: a sign is a representamen of which some interpretant is a cognition of a mind ( . ). object: the mediate object is the object outside the sign; ...the sign must indicate it by a hint (letter to lady welby, december , ). interpretant: the effect that the sign would produce upon any mind (letter to lady welby, march , ). in reference to the symbolic nature of market transactions, another peircean definition is useful: "symbols grow. they come into being by development out of other signs.... we think only in signs.... if a man makes a new symbol, it is by thoughts involving concepts" ( . ). the pragmatic thought is, nevertheless, inherent in any sign process. markets embody sign processes in the pragmatic field. winograd and flores state bluntly "a business (like any other organization) is constituted as a network of recurrent conversations" (op. cit., p. ). alfred d. chandler, jr. (with the assistance of takashi hikino) scale and scope. the dynamics of industrial capitalism. cambridge ma/london, england: the belknap press of harvard university press, . "...the modern industrial enterprise...has more than a production function." (p. ). chandler further notes that "expanded output by a change in capital-labor ratios is brought about by economies of scale which incorporate economies of speed.... wholesalers and retailers expand to exploit economies of scale" (p. ). james gordley. the philosophical origins of modern contract doctrine. new york: oxford university press, . mariadele manca masciadri. i contratti di baliatico, vols. milan: (s.n.), . john h. pryor. business contracts of medieval provence. selected notulae from the cartulary of girard amalric of marseilles, . toronto: pontifical institute of medieval studies, . ecu: in , the process of european unification led to the creation of the european monetary system (ems), with its coin being the european currency unit (ecu) and the exchange rate mechanism (erm). as a basket of european currencies, the ecu serves as a reserve currency in europe and probably beyond. it is not the currency of choice for international transactions, and as of the maastricht negotiations, which affirmed the need for a community currency, the ecu was not adopted for this purpose. although predominant weight in the basket (over %) is given to the german mark, the ecu is designed on the assumption that it is quite improbable that a certain currency will move in the same direction against all others. therefore, exchange rates are statistically stabilized. michael rothschild. bionomics: economy as ecosystem. webtext, . robert l. heilbroner. the demand for the supply side, in the new york review of books, june , , p. . he asks rhetorically: "how else should one identify a force that debases language, drains thought, and undoes dignity? if the barrage of advertising, unchanged in its tone and texture, were devoted to some other purpose-say the exaltation of the public sector-it would be recognized in a moment for the corrosive element that it is. but as the voice of the private sector it escapes this startled notice. i mention it only to point out that a deep source of moral decay for capitalism arises from its own doings, not from that of its governing institutions." literacy and education will seymour monroe. comenius and the beginnings of educational reform. new york: arno press, , (originally printed in ). adolphe erich meyer. education in modern times. up from rousseau. new york: avon press, . linus pierpont brockett. history and progress of education from the earliest times to the present. new york: a.s. barnes, . (originally signed "philobiblius," with an introduction by henry barnard.) james bowen. a history of western education. vols. london: methuen, - . pierre riché. education et culture dans l'occident barbare - siècles. paris: editions du seuil, . bernard bischoff. elementärunterricht und probationes pennae in der ersten hälfte des mittelalters, in mittelalterliche studien i, , pp. - . james nehring. the schools we have. the schools we want. an american teacher on the frontline. san francisco: jossey-bass, . irenée henri marron. a history of education in antiquity. new york: sheed and ward, . jacques barzun. the forgotten conditions of teaching and learning (morris philipson, editor). chicago: the university of chicago press, . the review mentioned was written by david alexander, begin here, in the new york review of books, april , , p. . polis (greek) signifies settled communities that eventually evolved into cities. the city-state in five cultures. edited with an introduction by robert griffeth and carol g. thomas. santa barbara ca: abc-clio, . j.n. coldstream. the formation of the greek polis: aristotle and archaeology. opladen: westdeutscher verlag, . individual and community: the rise of the polis, - bc. new york: oxford university press, . will durant. the story of civilization. vol , the age of faith. new york: simon and schuster, . in , the university of pavia was founded as a school of law. the university of bologna was founded in by irnevius, also for the teaching of law. students from all over latin europe came to study there. around , the university of paris was founded; by the middle of the th century, four faculties had developed: theology, canon law, medicine and the seven arts. (the seven liberal arts were comprised of the trivium-grammar, rhetoric, and logic-and the quadrivium-arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.) some time in the th century, a studium generale or university was established at oxford (pp - ). the name university derives from the fact that the essences or universals were taught (cf. encyclopedia britannica, th edition, micropedia, vol. , . logos: (noun, from the greek, from the verb lego: "i say"): word, speech, argument, explanation, doctrine, principle, reason; signified word or speech. ratio (from the latin "to think"): reason, rationale; signified measure or proportion. some of the work linking the early knowledge of the latin and greek heritage of european thought, especially that part shut off to christendom in moorish jerusalem, alexandria, cairo, tunis, sicily, and spain, was transmitted by the jews, who translated works in arabic to latin. the moslems preserved the texts of euclid and works dealing with alchemy and chemistry. in , gerald of cremona studied arabic in spain in order to translate works of aristotle (posterior analysis, on the heavens and the earth, among others), euclid (elements, data), archimedes, apollonius of perga, galen, works of greek astronomy and greco-arabic physics, books of arabic medicine and works of arabic astronomy and mathematics from the arabic to latin. beginning , michael scot translated a number of aristotle's works from the arabic to latin (cf. will durant, op. cit., pp. - ). galileo galilei. discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche (two new sciences: including centers of gravity and force of percussion, translated, with a new introduction and notes, by stillman drake) toronto: wall & thompson. -. galileo's early notebooks. the physical questions (translated from the latin, with historical and paleographical commentary, by william a. wallace). notre dame in: university of notre dame press. sir isaac newton ( - ). in , he published philosophiae principia mathematica, in which he offered explanations for the movement of planets. in this work, the abstraction of force (of attraction) is constituted and a postulate is formulated: every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other with a force whose magnitude depends directly upon the product of their masses and inversely upon the square of the distance between the two. albert einstein ( - ) published in his contribution as die grundlagen der allgemeinen relativitätstheorie, in which he referred to the attraction of massive objects. the cosmic reality of such objects and of huge distances and high velocities is quite different from the mechanical universe under consideration by galileo and newton. movement of planets cause the curving of space. einstein's theory shows that the curvature of space time evolves dynamically. newton's theory turned out to be an approximation of einstein's more encompassing model. john searle. the storm over the university, in the new york review of books, : , december , , pp. - mathematization: the use of mathematical methods or concepts in particular sciences or in the humanities. the conception of mathematics as a model for the sciences as well as for the humanities has been repeatedly expressed throughout history. in some cases, mathematization represents the search for abstract structures. today mathematization is often taken to mean modeling on computer programs. académie française: french library academy established by cardinal richelieu in . its original purpose was to maintain standards of literary taste and to establish the literary language. membership is limited to (encyclopedia britannica, th edition, micropedia, vol. , . p. ). alan bloom. the closing of the american mind. how education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today's students. new york: simon and schuster. "those despised millionaires who set up a university in the midst of a city that seems devoted only to what they had neglected, whether it was out of a sense of what they themselves had issued, or out of bad conscience about what their lives were exclusively devoted to, or to satisfy the vanity of having their names attached to the enterprise," (p. ). bart simpson, the main character of the animated cartoon series of the same name, created by matt groening. bart was first sketched in ; the television series first aired in the winter of . terry winograd and fernando flores. understanding computers and cognition. a new foundation for design. norwood nj: ablex publishing corporation, . "organizations exist as networks of directives and commissives. directives include orders, requests, consultations, and offers; commissives include promises, acceptances, and rejections" (p. ). they state also: "in fulfilling an organization's external commitments, its personnel are involved in a network of conversations" (p. ). ludwig wittgenstein. philosophical investigations (translation by g.e.m. anscombe of philosophische untersuchungen). oxford: basil blackwell. (reprint of the edition) if a multiple choice test in world history (given in june, at stuyvesant high school in new york city) asks whether the holocaust is an italian revolutionary movement, and if mein kampf was hitler's body guard or his summer retreat, why should anyone be surprised that american students show no better choices than those they are supposed to choose from? steve waite. interview with bill melton, journal of bionomics, july . family: discovering the primitive future statistics on family in the usa and the world are a matter of public record. the processing and interpretation of data, even in the age of electronic processing, takes time once data has been collected. the statistical handbook on the american family (phoenix az: the orynx press, ), for instance, deals with trends covering - . the numbers are intriguing. well over % of the adult population married by the time of their th birthday, but only around % are currently married. % are divorced and almost as many widowed. the general conclusions about the family are: there is a decline in marital stability with over one million children per year affected by the divorce of their parents. less than % of the people see marriage as a lifetime relationship. the posslq (persons of opposite sex sharing living quarters) is well over % of the population. the size of the average american household shrank from . persons over years ago to . recently. interracial marriages, while triple in number compared to , include slightly below % of the population. a.f. robertson. beyond the family. the social organization of human reproduction. cambridge, england: polity press, . martine fell. Ça va, la famille? paris: le hameau, . nicolas caparros. crisis de la familia. revolución del vivir. buenos aires: ediciones pargieman, . adrian wilson. family. london: travistock publications, . charles franklin thwing. the family. an historical and social study. boston: lee and shepard, . edward l. kain. the myth of family decline. understanding families in a world of rapid social change. lexington ma: lexington books, . herbert kretschmer. ehe und familie. die entwicklung von ehe und familie im laufe der geschichte. dornach, switzerland: verlag am goetheanum, . andré burguière, christiane klapisch-zuber, martine segalen, françoise zonabend, editors. histoire de la famille (preface by claude lévi-strauss)..paris: armand colin, . family is established in extension of reproductive drives and natural forms of cooperation. regardless of the types leading to what was called the family nucleus (husband and wife), families embody reciprocal obligations. the formalization of family life in marriage contracts was stimulated by writing. j.b.m. guy. glottochronology without cognate recognition. canberra: department of linguistics research, school of pacific studies, australian national university, . although the processes leading to the formation of nations is relatively recent, nations were frequently characterized as an extended family, although the processes reflect structural characteristics of human practical experiences different from those at work in the constitution of the family. martin b. duberman. about time. exploring the gay past. new york: gay presses of new york city, . jeffrey weeks. against nature. essays on history, sexuality, and identity. london: rivers oram, . bernice goodman. the lesbian. a celebration of difference. brooklyn: out & out books, . jean bethke elshtain. against gay marriage, in commonweal, november , , pp. - . brent hartinger. a case for gay marriage, in commonweal, november , , pp. , - . not in the best interest (adoption by lesbians and gays), in utne reader, november/december, , p. . william plummer. a mother's priceless gift, in people weekly, august , , pp. - . nelly e. gupta and frank. feldinger. brave new baby (zift surrogacy), in ladies home journal, october, , pp. - . mary thom. dilemmas of the new birth technologies, in ms., may, , pp. , , - . cleo kocol. the rent-a-womb dilemma, in the humanist, july/august, , p. . marsha riben. a last resort (excerpt from shedding light on the dark side of adoption), in utne reader, november/december, , pp. - . lisa gubernick. how much is that baby in the window? in forbes, october , , pp. - . self-sufficiency, reflecting contexts of existence of limited scale, marks the amish and mennonite families. the family contract is very powerful. succeeding generations care for each other to the extent that the home always includes quarters for the elderly. each new generation is endowed in order to maintain the path of self-sufficiency. the amish wedding (the subject of stephen scott's book of the same title, intercourse pa: good books, ), as well as the role the family plays in educating children (children in amish society: socialization and community education, by j.a. hosteter and g. enders huntington, new york: holt rinehart and winston, ) are indicative of this family life. andy grove. only the paranoid survive. new york: doubleday, . the ceo of intel, one of the world's most successful companies, discussed the requirement of genetic update and his own, apparently dated, corporate genes. adam smith. the theory of moral sentiments (d.d. raphael and a.l. macfie, editors). oxford: clarendon press, . david hume. a treatise of human nature (l.a. selby-bigge, editor). nd edition. oxford/new york: clarendon press, . -. inquiries concerning human understanding and concerning the principles of morals (l.a. selby-bigge, editor). oxford: clarendon press, . takeo doi. amae no kozo. tokyo: kobundo, . translated as the anatomy of dependence by john bester. tokyo/new york: kodansho international and harper & row, . a god for each of us the following books set forth the basic tenets of their respective religions: bhagavad gita: part of the epic poem mahabharata, this sanskrit dialog between krishna and prince arjuna poetically describes a path to spiritual wisdom and unity with god. action, devotion, and knowledge guide on this path. torah: the books of moses (also known as the pentateuch); for chistians, the first five books of the old testament: genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy. these describe the origin of the world, the covenant between god and the people of israel, the exodus from egypt and return to the promised land, and rules for religious and social behavior. together with the books labeled prophets and writings, they make up the entire old testament. the controversy among jews, roman catholics, eastern christians, and protestants about the acceptance of some books, the order of books, and translations reflect the different perspectives adopted within these religions. new testament: the christian addition to the bible comprises books. they contain sayings attributed to jesus, his life story (death and resurrection included), the writings of the apostles, rules for conversion and baptism, and the apocalypse (the end of this world and the beginning of a new one). koran (al qur'an): the holy book of the moslems, is composed of chapters (called suras). belief in allah, descriptions of rules for religious and social life, calls to moral life, and vivid descriptions of hell make up most of the text. according to moslem tradition, mohammed ascended the mount an illiterate. he came down with the koran, which allah had taught him to write. i-ching: attributed to confucius, composed of five books, containing a history of his native district, a system for divining the future (book of changes), a description of ceremonies and the ideal government (book of rites), and a collection of poetry. in their unity, all these books affirm principles of cooperation, reciprocal respect, and describe etiquette and ritual rules. mircea eliade, editor-in-chief.the encyclopedia of religion (). new york: macmillan, . mircea eliade (with i. p. couliano and h.s. wiesner). the eliade guide to world religions. san francisco: harper, . eliot alexander. the universal myths: heroes, gods, tricksters, and others. new york: new american library, . p. k. meagher, t.c. o'brien, sister consuelo maria aherne. encyclopedic dictionary of religion. vols. corpus city publications, . in regard to the multiplicity of religions, the following works provide a good reference: john ferguson. gods many and lords many: a study in primal religions. guildford, surrey: lutterworth educational, . suan imm tan. many races, many religions. singapore: educational publications bureau, - . h. byron earhart. religions of japan: many traditions within one sacred way. san francisco: harper & row, . john m. reid. doomed religions. a series of essays on great religions of the world. new york: phillips & hunt, . although no precise statistics are available, it is assumed that ca. three billion people acknowledge religion in our days. the numbers are misleading, though. for instance, only . % of the population in england attends religious services; in germany, the percentage is %; in some moslem countries, service attendance is close to %. the " -day jews" (two days of rosh hashana and day of yom kippur, also known as "revolving door" jews, in for new year and out after atonement day), the christian orthodox and catholics of christmas and easter, and the buddhists of funeral ceremonials belong to the vast majority that refers to religion as a cultural identifier. many priests and higher order ecumenical workers recite their prayers as epic poetry. atheism. the "doctrine that god does not exist, that existence of god is a false belief" (cf. m. eliade, encyclopedia of religion, vol. , pp - ). literature on atheism continuously increases. a selection showing the many angles of atheism can serve as a guide: the american atheist (periodical). austin tx: american atheists. gordon stein, editor. an anthology of atheism and rationalism. buffalo ny: prometheus books, . michael martin. atheism: a philosophical analysis. philadelphia: temple university press, . jacques j. natanson. la mort de dieu: essai sur l'athéisme moderne. paris: presses univérstaires de france, . robert a. morey. the new atheism and the erosion of freedom. minneapolis: bethany house publishers, . james thrower. a short history of western atheism. london: pemberton books, . robert eno. the confucian creation of heaven. philosophy and the defense of ritual mastery. albany: state university of new york press, . ronald l. grimes. research in ritual studies. a programmatic essay and bibliography. chicago: american theological library association; metuchen nj: scarecrow press, . evan m. zuesse. ritual cosmos. the sanctification of life in african religions. athens: ohio university press, . godfrey and monica wilson. the analysis of social change. based on observations in central africa. cambridge: the university press, . "a pagan najakunsa believes himself to be dependent upon his deceased father for health and fertility; he acts as if he were, and expresses his sense of dependence in rituals" (p. ). references for the study of myths are as follows: eliot alexander. the universal myths: heroes, gods, tricksters, and others. new york: new american library, . jane ellen harrison. prolegomena to the study of greek religion. new york: arno press, . walter burkert. ancient mystery cults. cambridge ma: harvard university press, . john ferguson. greek and roman religion: a source book. park ridge nj: noyes press, . arcadio schwade. shinto-bibliography in western languages. leiden: brill, . japanese shintoism began before writing. hinduism: with one of the highest number of followers (ca. million), hinduism is an eclectic religion. indigenous elements and aryan religions, codified around bce in the rig veda, sama veda, yajor veda, atharva veda, aranyakas, upanishads, result in an amalgam of practices and beliefs dominating religious and social life in indiat the caste system classifies members of society in four groups: priests (brahmins), rulers, farmers, and merchants, laborers (on farms or in industry). devotion to a guru, adherence to the vedic scriptures, the practice of yoga are the forms of religious action. the divine trinity of hinduism unites brahma (the creator), vishna (the preserver), and shiva (the destroyer). taoism: in the tao te ching (book of the way and its virtue), one reads: "the tao of origin gives birth to the one. the one gives birth to the two. the two gives birth to the three. the three produces the ten thousand things." with some background in tao, the poetry becomes explicit: the one is the supreme void, primordial breath. this engenders two, yin and yang, the duality from which everything sprung once a ternary relation is established. tao is poetic ontology. confucianism: stressing the relationship among individuals, families, and society, confucianism is based on two percepts: li (proper behavior) and jen (cooperative attitude). confucius expressed the philosophy on which this religion is based on sayings and dialogues during the th- th century bce. challenged by the mysticism of religions (taoism, buddhism) in the area of its inception, some followers incorporated their spirit in new-confucianism (during the period known as the sung dynasty, - ). judaism: centered on the belief in one god, judaism is the religion of the book (the torah), established at around bce by abraham, isaac, and jacob. judaism promotes the idea of human improvement, as well as the messianic thought. strong dedication to community and sense of family are part of the religious practice. islam: the contemporary religion with the highest number of adherents (almost million muslims on record), and growing fast, islam celebrates mohammed, who received the koran from allah. acknowledged at , islam (which means "submission to god") places its prophet in the line started with abraham, continued with moses, and redirected by jesus. the five pillars of islam are: allah is the only god, prayer (facing mecca) five times a day, giving of alms, fast of ramadan, and pilgrimage to mecca. christianity: in its very many denominations (roman catholic, greek orthodox, protestant, which split further into various sects, such as baptist, pentecostal, episcopal, lutheran, mormon, unitarian, quakers), claims to have its origin in jesus christ and completes the old testament of the hebrews with the new testament of the apostles. it is impossible to capture the many varieties of christianity in characteristics unanimously accepted. probably the major celebrations of christianity (some originating in pre-christian pagan rituals related to natural cycles), i.e., christmas and easter, better reflect elements of unity. christianity promotes respect for moral values, dedication to the family, and faith in one god composed of three elements (the trinity: father, son, and holy spirit). bahai of bahá'i: ascertains the unity of all religious doctrines as these embody ideals of spiritual truth. the name comes from baha ullah (glory of god), adopted by its founder mirza husain ali nuri, in , in extension of the al-bab religion. universal education, equality between male and female, and world order and peace are its goals. the religion is estimated to have million adherents world-wide. richard wilhelm. i ging; das buch der wandlungen. düsseldorf/köln: diedrichs, . wilhelm states that, in the context described, fuh-hi emerged: "he reunited man and woman, ordered the five elements and set the laws of mankind. he drew eight signs in order to dominate the world." the eight signs are the eight basic trigrams of i ging, the book of changes (which attracted leibniz's attention). king frederick barbarossa (frederick i of the holy roman empire, - ). well known for challenging the authority of the pope and for attempting to establish german supremacy in religious matters. joan of arc ( - ). a plowman's daughter who, as the story goes, listened to the voices of saints michael, catherine, and margaret. thus inspiring the french to victory over british invaders, she made possible the coronation of charles ii at reims. captured by the english, she was declared a heretic and burned at the stake. in , pope benedict xv declared her a saint. jan hus ( - ). religious reformer whose writings exercised influence over all the catholic world. in de ecclesia, he set forth that scripture is the sole source of christian doctrine. martin luther ( - ). a priest from saxony, a scholar of scripture, and a linguist, who is famous for having attacked clerical abuses. through his writings (the theses), he precipitated the reformation. moslem armies defeated the forces of the holy roman empire, led by charles martel, at poitiers (cf. j.h. roy, la bataille de poitiers, octobre , paris: gallimard, ). crusades: a series of military expeditions taking place from to ) intent on reclaiming jerusalem and the holy christian shrines from turkish control. david kirsch poses the questions: is % of human activity concept-free, driven by control mechanisms we share not only with our simian forebears, but with insects? (today the earwig, tomorrow the man? in artificial intelligence, : - , jan. , p. ). the bible on cd-rom is a publication of nimbus information systems ( ). the cd-word interactive biblical library ( ), published by the cd-word library, inc. offers of the world's most used bible texts and reference sources (two greek texts, four english versions). secular god-building in the soviet union: ob ateizme i religii. sbornik statei, pisem i drughich materialov (about atheism and religion. collected articles, letters, and other materials) by anatoli vasilevich lunacharskii ( - ), moscow: mysl, . this is a collection of articles on atheism and religion, part of the scientific-atheistic library. see also maxim gorky, untimely thoughts (translated by herman erolaev). new york: p.s. ericksson, . ernest gellner, scale and nation, in scale and social organization (f. barth, editor). "max weber stressed the significance of the way in which protestantism made every man his own priest" (p. ). glen tinder. can we be good without god? in atlantic monthly, december, . michael lewis. god is in the packaging, in the new york times magazine, july , , pp. and . lewis describes pastors using marketing techniques to form congregations. the success of the method has led to branch congregations all over the usa. tademan isobe, author of the japanese and religion, states: "the general religious awareness of the japanese does not include an ultimate god with human attributes, as the god of christianity. instead, japanese sense the mystery of life from all events and natural phenomena around them in their daily lives. they have what might be called a sense of pathos" (cf. web positing of august, , http://www.ariadne.knee.kioto-u.ac.jp). a mouthful of microwave from a strictly qualitative perspective, the amount of food people eat is represented by numbers so large that we end up looking at them in awe, without understanding what they mean. the maintenance of life is an expensive proposition. nevertheless, once we go beyond the energetic equation, i.e., in the realm of desires, the numbers increase exponentially. it can be argued that this increase (of an order of magnitude of , ) is higher than that anticipated by malthus. on the subject of what, how, and why people eat, see: claudio clini. l'alimentazione nella storia. uomo, alimentazione, malattie. abano terme, padova: francisci, . evan jones. american food. the gastronomic story. woodstock ny: overlook press, . nicholas and giana kurti, editors. but the crackling is superb. an anthology on food and drink by fellows and foreign members of the royal society. bristol, england: a. hilger, . carol a. bryant, et al. the cultural feast. an introduction to food and society. st. paul: west publishing co., . hilary wilson. egyptian food and drink. aylesbury, bucks, england: shire, . reay tannahill. food in history. new york: stein and day, . charles bixler heiser. seed to civilization. the story of food. cambridge ma: harvard university press, . margaret visser. much depends on dinner. the extraordinary history and mythology, allure and obsessions, perils and taboos, of an ordinary meal. toronto, ont.: mcclelland and stewart, . esther b. aresty. the delectable past. the joys of the table, from rome to the renaissance, from queen elizabeth i to mrs. beeton. indianapolis: bobbs-merrill, . maria p. robbins, editor. the cook's quotation book. a literary feast. wainscott ny: pushcart press, . the pleasures of the table (compiled by theodore fitzgibbon). new york: oxford university press, . charles dickens. american notes. new york: st. martin's press, . (pp. - ). on the symbolism of food, informative reading can be found in: carol a. bryant. the cultural feast: an introduction to food and society. st. paul: west publishing co., . lindsey tucker. stephen and bloom at life's feast: alimentary symbolism and the creative process in james joyce's ulysses. columbus: ohio state university press, . in l'aile ou la cuisse (wing or drumstick), a french film directed by claude zidi, luis de funés became, as the french press put it, "the napoleon of gastronomy" fighting the barbarian taste of industrial food, seen as a real danger to the authentic taste of france. at the initiative of the minister of culture, a conseil national des arts culinaires (cnac) was founded in . culinary art and gastronomic heritage were made part of the french national identity. awakening of taste (le reveil du goût) is a program launched in the elementary schools. a curriculum originating from the french institute of taste is used to explain what makes french food taste good. the cnac provides a nationwide inventory of local foods. a university of taste (centre de goût) would be established in the loire valley. jean bottero. mythes et rites de babylone. paris: librairie honoré champion, . reallexikon der assyriologie. vol. iii, getränke (drinks), pp. - ; gewürze (spices), pp. - ; vol. vi, küche (cuisine), pp. - . berlin/new york, walter de gruyter, . la plus vieille cuisine du monde, in l'histoire, , , pp. - . m. gabeus apicius. de re conquinaria (rendered into english by joseph sommers vehling, new york: dover publications, ) first appeared in england in , in a latin version, based on the manuscripts of this work dating to the th and th centuries. apicius was supposed to have lived from bce to ce. this book has since been questioned as a hoax, although it remains a reference text. lucius junius moderatus columella. de re rustica. ( volumes on agriculture. latin text with german translation by will richter). münchen: artemis verlag, . roland barthes. empire of signs. new york: hill and wang. . (originally published in french as l'empire des signes, geneva: editions d'art albert skira, s.a. "the dinner tray seems a picture of the most delicate order: its frame containing, against a dark background, various objects (bowls, boxes, saucers, chopsticks, tiny piles of food, a little gray ginger, a few shreds of orange vegetable, a background of brown sauce)...it might be said that these trays fulfill the definition of painting which according to piero della francesca is merely demonstration of surfaces and bodies becoming even smaller or larger according to their term" (p. ). "entirely visual (conceived, concerted, manipulated for sight, and even for a painter's eye), food thereby says that it is not deep: the edible substance is without a precious heart, without a buried power, without a vital secret: no japanese dish is endowed with a center (the alimentary center implied in the west by the rite which consists of arranging the meal, of surrounding or covering the article of food); here everything is the ornament of another ornament: first of all because on the table, on the tray, food is never anything but a collection of fragments, none of which appears privileged by an order of ingestion; to eat is not to respect a menu (an itinerary of dishes), but to select, with a light touch of the chopsticks, sometimes one color, sometimes another, depending on the kind of inspiration which appears in its slowness as the detached, indirect accompaniment of the conversation...." (p. ). the writings of the various religions (koran, torah, new testament) contain strictures and ceremonial rules concerning food. for cooking and eating restrictions in various cultures, see nourritures, sociétés et religions: commensalités (introduction by solange thierry). paris: l'harmattan, . on the microwave revolution in cooking, see: lori longbotham. better by microwave. new york: dutton, . maria luisa scott. mastering microwave cooking. mount vernon ny: consumers union, . eric quayle. old cook books: an illustrated history. new york: dutton. ; and daniel s. cutler. the bible cookbook. new york: morrow, , offer a good retrospective of what people used to eat. in world hunger. a reference handbook (patricia l. kutzner, santa barbara ca: abc-clio, ), the author gives a stark description of the problem of hunger in today's world: "with more than enough food in the world to feed everyone, hundreds of millions of men, women, and children still go hungry" (p. ix). it is not the first time in history that starvation and famine affect people all over the world. what is new is the scale of the problem, affecting well over one billion human beings. in june, , in the assessment of the world food situation, commissioned by the united nations economic and social council, the situation was described in terms still unchanged: "the causes of inadequate nutrition are many and closely interrelated, including ecological, sanitary, and cultural constraints, but the principal cause is poverty. this in turn results from socioeconomic development patterns that in most of the poorer countries have been characterized by a high degree of concentration of power, wealth, and incomes in the hands of relatively small elites of national and foreign individuals or groups. [...] the percentage of undernourished is highest in africa, the far east, and latin america; the hunger distribution is highest in the far east (in the range of %). of the hungry, the majority (up to %) is in rural areas. data is collected and managed by the world food council. the bellagio declaration, overcoming hunger in the 's, adopted by a group of prominent development and food policy planners, development practitioners, and scientists noticed that million children under the age of five years die annually from hunger related causes. among the organizations created to help feed the world are care, food for peace, oxfam, action hunger, the hunger project, save the children, world vision, the heifer project. this list does not include the many national and local organizations that feed the hungry in their respective countries and cities. science and philosophy: more questions than answers t.s. elliot. burnt norton, in v. four quartets. london: faber & faber, . for information on the development of science and philosophy in early civilizations, see: shigeru nakayama and nathan sivin, editors. chinese science: exploration of an ancient tradition. cambridge: mit press, . karl w. butzer. early hydraulic civilization in egypt: a study in cultural ecology. chicago: university of chicago press, . heinrich von staden. herophilus: the art of medicine in early alexandria. cambridge/new york: cambridge university press, . the cultural heritage of india, (in volumes). calcutta: ramakrishna mission, institute of culture, . james h. maclachlan. children of prometheus: a history of science and technology. toronto: wall & thompson, . isaac asimov. asimov's biographical encyclopedia of science and technology. the lives and achievements of great scientists from ancient times to the present. garden city ny: doubleday, . fritz kraft. geschichte der naturwissenschaft. freiberg: romback, . g.e.r. lloyd. methods and problems in greek science cambridge university press, . robert k.g. temple. china, land of discovery. london: patrick stephens, . temple documents discoveries and techniques such as row cultivation and hoeing ("there are inches of moisture at the end of a hoe,"), the iron plow, the horse harness, cast iron, the crank handle, lacquer ("the first plastic"), the decimal system, the suspension bridge as originating from china. in the introduction, joseph needham writes: "chauvinistic westerners, of course, always try to minimize the indebtedness of europe to china in antiquity and the middle ages" (p. ). what is of interest in the story is the fact that all these discoveries occur in a context of configurational focus, of synthesis, not in the sequential horizon of analytic western languages. in some cases, the initial non-linear thought is linearized. this is best exemplified by comparing chinese printing methods, intent on letters seen as images, with those following gutenberg's movable type. obviously, a text perceived as a holistic entity, such as the buddhist charm scroll (printed in - ) or the buddhist diamond sutra of (cf. p. ) are different from the bibles printed by gutenberg and his followers. contributions to the history of science from india and the middle east also reveal that many discoveries celebrated as accomplishments of western analytical science were anticipated in non-analytical cultures. satya prakash. founders of science in ancient india. dehli: govindram hasanand, . g. kuppuram and k. kumudamani, editors. history of science and technology in india. dehli: sundeep prakashan, . seyyed hossein nasr. islamic science. persia. tihran: surush, . charles finch. the african background to medical science: essays in african history, science, and civilization. london: karnak house, . magic, myth, and science influence each other in many ways. writings on the subject refer to specific aspects (magic and science, myth as a form of rational discourse) or to the broader issues of their respective epistemological condition. richard cavendish. a history of magic. london: weidenfeld & nicholson, . gareth knight. magic and the western mind: ancient knowledge and the transformation of consciousness. st. paul: llewellyn publications, . umberto eco. foucault's pendulum. new york: harcourt, brace jovanovich, . in this novel, umberto eco deals, in a light vein, with the occult considered as the true science. jean malbec de tresfel. abrège de la théorie et des véritables principes de l'art appelé chymie, qui est la troisième partie ou colonne de la vraye medecine hermetique. paris: chez l'auteur, . adam mclean. the alchemical mandala. a survey of the mandala in the western esoteric traditions. grand rapids, mi: phanes press, . titus burckhardt. alchemie, sinn und weltbild. london: stuart & watkins, . translated as alchemy. science of the cosmos, science of the soul, by william stoddart. longmead/shaftesbury/dorest: element books, . marie louise von franz. alchemy. an introduction to the symbolism and the psychology. toronto: inner city books, . neil powell. alchemy. the ancient science. garden city, ny: doubleday, . stanislas klossowski de rola. alchemy. the secret art. london: thames and hudson, . j.c. cooper. chinese alchemy. the taoist quest for immortality. wellingborough, northamptonshire: aquarian press, . robert zoller. the arabic parts in astrology. the lost key to prediction. rochester, vt: inner traditions international (distributed by harper & row), . dane rudhyar. an astrological mandala. the cycle of transformation and its symbolic phases. st ed. new york: random house, . cyril fagan. astrological origins. st. paul: llewellyn publications, . percy seymour. astrology. the evidence of science. luton, bedfordshire: lennard, . rodney davies. fortune-telling by astrology. the history and practice of divination by the stars. wellingborough, northamptonshire: aquarian press, . "astrological herbalism distinguished seven planetary plants, twelve herbs associated with signs of the zodiac and thirty-six plants assigned to decantates and to horoscopes" cf. lévi-strauss, le cru et le cuit, p. . ruth drayer. numerology. the language of life. el paso, tx: skidmore-roth publications, . albert einstein ( - ) nobel prize laureate, . he discusses the conditions of existence for which we are not adjusted in Über den frieden, weltordnung und weltuntergang (o. norden and h. norden, editors.), bern. , p. . in a letter to jacques hadamard ( ), einstein explained: "the words of the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanisms of thought. the physical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be 'voluntarily' reproduced or combined" cf. a testimonial from professor einstein, in the psychology of invention in the mathematical field, edited by j. hadamard, princeton: princeton university press, , p. . raymond kurzweil, the age of intelligent machines, cambridge: mit press, . "rather than defining intelligence in terms of its constituent processes, we might define it in terms of its goal: the ability to use symbolic reasoning in the pursuit of a goal" (p. ). alan bundy, the computer modelling of mathematical reasoning. new york: academic press, . allan ramsey. formal methods in artificial intelligence. cambridge/new york: cambridge university press, . m. reinfrank, editor. non-monotonic reasoning: second international workshop. berlin/new york: springer verlag, . titus lucretius carus. de rerum natura (edited with translation and commentary by john godwin). warminster, wiltshire, england: aris & phillips, . -. the nature of things. trans. frank o. copley. st ed. new york: norton., . epicurus, called by timon "the last of the natural philosophers," was translated by lucretius into latin. his letter to herodotus and master sayings (kyriai doxai) were integrated in de rerum natura (on nature). a good reference book is clay diskin's lucretius and epicurus, ithaca: cornell university press, . galileo galilei. discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche (two new sciences: including centers of gravity and force of percussion, translated, with a new introduction and notes, by stillman drake). toronto: wall & thompson, . -. galileo's early notebooks. the physical questions (translated from the latin, with historical and paleographical commentary, by william a. wallace). notre dame in: university of notre dame press, . starting out as a dictionnaire raisonné of the sciences, the arts, and crafts, the encyclopédie became a major form of philosophic expression in the th century. philosophers dedicated themselves to the advancement of the sciences and secular thought, and to the social program of the enlightenment. the encyclopédie showcased new directions of thought in all branches of intellectual activity. the emergent values corresponding to the pragmatic condition of time, tolerance, innovation, and freedom, were expressed in the encyclopedic writings and embodied in the political program of the revolutions it inspired. one of the acknowledged sources of this orientation is ephraim chamber's cyclopedia (or an universal dictionary of arts and sciences), london, . the examination of star naming is in some ways an exercise in the geology of pragmatic contexts. the acknowledgment of what is high, over, above, and beyond the observer's actions suggested power. the sequence of day and night, of seasons, of the changing weather is a mixture of repetitive patterns and unexpected occurrences, even meteorites, some related to wind, fire, water. once the shortest and the longest days are observed, and the length of day equal to that of night (the equinox), the sky becomes integrated in the pragmatics of human self-constitution by virtue of affecting cycles of work. furthermore, parallel to the mytho-magical explanation of what happens follows the association of mythical characters, mainly to stars. saturn, or chronos, was the god of time, a star known for its steady movement; jupiter, known by the egyptians as ammon, the most impressive planet, and apparently the biggest. details of this geology of naming could lead to a book. here are some of the names used: mythomagical: mercury, venus, mars, jupiter, uranus, pluto; zodiacal: gemini, capricorn, sagittarius, scorpio, etc. space: limitless, -dimensional, in which objects exist, events occur, movement takes place. objects have relative positions and their movement has relative directions. the geometric notion of space expands beyond -dimensionality. paradigm: since the time thomas kuhn published the structure of scientific revolutions ( ), the concept of paradigm was adopted in philosophic jargon. the underlying thesis is that science operates in a research space dominated by successive research models, or paradigms. the domination of such a paradigm does not make it more important than previous scientific explanations (paradigms are not comparable). rather it effects a certain convergence in the unifying framework it ascertains. logos: ancient greek for word, was many times defined, almost always partially, as a means to express thoughts. by generalization, logos became similar to thought or reason, and thus a way to control the word through speech (legein). in this last sense, logos was adapted by christianity as the word of divinity. for a description of holism, see holism-a philosophy for today, by harry settanni (new york: p. lang, ). techné: from the greek, means "pertaining to the making of artifacts" (art objects included). francis bacon ( - ): statesman and philosopher, distinguished for establishing the empiric methods for scientific research. intent on analytical tools, he set out methods of induction which proved to be effective in the distinction between scientific and philosophical research. in the advancement of learning ( ) and especially novum organum ( ), bacon set forth principles that affected the development of modern science. rené descartes ( - ): probably one of the most influential philosophers and scientists, whose contribution, at a time of change and definition, marked western civilization in many ways. the cartesian dualism he developed ascertains a physical (res extensa) and a thinking (res cogitans) substance. the first is extended, can be measured and divided; the second is indivisible. the body is part of res extensa, the mind (including thoughts, desires, volition) is res cogitans. his rules for the direction of the understanding ( ), influenced by his mathematical concerns, submitted a model for the acquisition of knowledge. the method of doubt, i.e., rejection of everything not certain, expressed in the famous discourse on method ( ), together with the foundation of a model of science that combines a mechanic image of the universe described mathematically, are part of his legacy. edwin a. abbot. flatland. a romance of many dimensions. by a square. a broad-minded square guides the reader through a -dimensional space. high priests (circular figures) forbid discussing a third dimension. abruptly, the square is transported into spaceland and peers astonished into his -dimensional homeland. spatial reasoning: a type of reasoning that incorporates the experience of space either in direct forms (geometric reasoning) or indirectly (through terms such as close, remote, among others). linearity: relation among dependent phenomena that can be described through a linear function. non-linearity: relations among dependent phenomena that cannot be described through a linear function, but through exponential and logarithmic functions, among others. jackson e. atlee. perspectives of non-linear dynamics. cambridge/new york: cambridge university press, . s. neil rasband. chaotic dynamics of non-linear systems. new york: wiley, . coherence: the notion that reflects interest in how parts of a whole are connected. of special interest is the coherence of knowledge. ralph c.s. walker. the coherence theory of truth: realism, anti-realism, idealism. london/new york: routledge, . alan h. goldman. moral knowledge. london/new york: routledge, . a major survey, focused on the contributions of keith lehrer and laurence bon jour, was carried out in the current state of the coherence theory. critical essays on the epistemic theories of keith lehrer and laurence bon jour, with replies (john w. bender, editor, dordrecht/boston: kluwer academic publishers, ). david kirsch. foundations of artificial intelligence. (a special volume of the journal artificial intelligence, : - , january . amsterdam: elsevier. self-organization is a dominant topic in artificial life research. the annual conference on artificial life (santa fe) resulted in a proceedings in which self-organization is amply discussed. some aspects pertinent to the subject can be found in: h. haken. advanced synergetics: instability hierarchies of self-organizing systems and devices. berlin/new york: springer verlag, . p.c.w. davies. the cosmic blueprint. london: heinemann, . g. m. whitesides. self-assembling materials, in nanothinc, . http://www.nanothinc.com/webmaster @nanothinc.com more information on self-assembling materials and nanotechnology can be found on the internet at http://www.nanothinc.com/webmaster @nanothinc.com and at http://www.foresight.org/webmaster@foresight.org. richard feynman, in a talk given in , stated that "the principles of physics...do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. [...] the problems of chemistry and biology can be greatly helped if our ability to...do things on an atomic level is ultimately developed, a developmet which i think cannot be avoided." (cf. http://www.foresight.org). preston prather. science education and the problem of scientific enlightenment, in science education, : , . the money invested in science is a slippery subject. while direct funds, such as those made available through the national science foundation, are rather scarce, funding through various government agencies (defense, agriculture, energy, nasa) and through private sources amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. how much of this goes to fundamental research and how much to applied science is not very clear, as even the distinction between fundamental and applied is less and less clear. ernst mach. the science of mechanics ( ). trans. t.j. mccormick. lasalle, il: open court, . henri poincaré. the foundations of science ( ). trans. g.b. halsted. new york: the science press, . n.p. cambell. foundations of science ( ). new york: dover, . bas c. van fraasen. the scientific image. oxford: clarendon press, . richard dawkins. the selfish gene. new york: oxford university press, . -. the extended phenotype. new york: oxford university press, . elan moritz, of the institute for memetic research, provides the historic and methodological background to the subject in introduction to memetic science. e.o. wilson. sociobiology: the new synthesis. cambridge: belknap/harvard university press, . mihai nadin. mind-anticipation and chaos (from the series milestones in thought and discovery). stuttgart/zurich: belser presse, . -. the art and science of multimedia, in real-time imaging (p. laplante & a. stoyenko, editors). piscataway nj: ieee press, january, . -. negotiating the world of make-believe: the aesthetic compass, in real-time imaging. london: academic press, . "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it," karl marx (cf. theses on feuerbach (from notebooks of - ). see also writings of the young marx on philosophy and society, garden city ny: anchor books, , p. . paul k. feyerabend. against method. outline of an anarchistic theory of knowledge. london: verson edition, . -. three dialogues on knowledge. oxford, england/cambridge ma: blackwell, . imre lakatos. philosophical papers, in two volumes (edited by john worrall and gregory currie). cambridge, england/new york: cambridge university press, . -. proofs and refutations. the logic of mathematical discovery (john worrall and elie zahar, editors). cambridge, england/new york: cambridge university press, . multivalued logic: expands beyond the truth and falsehood of sentences, handling the many values of the equivocal or the ambiguous. charles s. peirce ascertained that all necessary reasoning is mathematical reasoning, and that all mathematical reasoning is diagrammatic. he explained diagrammatic reasoning as being based on a diagram of the percept expressed and on operations on the diagram. the visual nature of a diagram ("composed of lines, or an array of signs...") affects the nature of the operations performed on it (cf. on the algebra of logic: a contribution to the philosophy of notation, in the american journal of mathematics, : - , ). brockman, john. the third culture: beyond the scientific revolution. (a collection of essays with introduction written by john brockman.) new york: simon & schuster. here are some quotations from the contributors: brockman maintains that there is a shift occurring in public discourse, with scientists supplanting philosophers, artists, and people of letters as the ones who render "visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are." "we're at the stage where things change on the order of decades, and it seems to be speeding up...." (danny hillis) auguste compte, in whose works the thought of positivism is convincingly embodied, attracted the attention of john stuart mill, who wrote the positive philosophy of auguste compte (boston: lee and shepard, ). some of compte's early writings are reproduced in the crisis of industrial civilization (ronald fletcher, editor, london: heinemann educational, ). stefano poggi. introduzione al il positivisma. bari: laterza, . sybil de acevedo. auguste compte: qui êtes-vous? lyons: la manufacture, . emil durkheim. de la division du travail social. e ed. paris: presses univérsitaires de france, . (translated as the division of labor in society by w.d. halls, new york: free press, . durkheim applied darwin's natural selection to labor division. herbert spencer ( - ): very well known for his essay, progress: its laws and cause ( ), attempted to conceive a theory of society based on naturalist principles. what he defined as the "super- organic," which stands for social, is subjected to evolution. in his view, societies undergo, cycles of birth- climax-death. productive power varies from one cycle to other (cf. principles of sociology, - ). art(ifacts) and aesthetic processes art speigelman. maus. a survivor's tale. new york: pantheon books, ; and maus ii: a survivor's tale-and here my troubles began. new york pantheon books, . started as a comic strip (in raw, an experimental comix magazine, co-edited by speigelman and françoise monly) on the subject of the holocaust, maus became a book and, on its completion, the museum of modern art in new york dedicated a show to the artist. over interlocking drawings tell the story of vladek, the artist's father. the comic book convention was questioned as to its appropriateness for the tragic theme. milli vanilli, the group that publicly acknowledged that the album girl you know it's true, for which it was awarded the grammy for best new artist of , was vocally interpreted by someone else. the prize winners, fab morvan and rob pilatus, credited for the vocals, were hardly the first to take advantage of the new means for creating the illusion of interpretation. as the 'visual entertainment," they became the wrapper on a package containing the music of less video-reputed singers. their producer, frank tarian (i.e., franz reuther) was on his second "fake." ten years earlier, he revealed that the pop group boney m. was his own "mouthpiece." image-driven pop music sells the fantasy of teen idol to a musically illiterate public. packaged music extends to simulations of instruments and orchestras as well. beauty and the beast is the story of a handsome prince in th century france turned into an eight-foot tall, hideous, hairy beast. unless he finds someone to love him before his st birthday, the curse cast upon him by the old woman he tried to chase away will become permanent. in a nearby village, maurice, a lovable eccentric inventor, his daughter belle, who keeps her nose in books and her head in the clouds, and gaston, the macho of the place, go through the usual "he (gaston) loves/wants her; she does not care for/shuns him, etc." as its th full-length animation, this walt disney picture is a musical fairy tale that takes advantage of sophisticated computer animation. its over one million drawings (the work of animators, artists, and technicians) are animated, some in sophisticated -dimensional computer animation. the technological performance, resulting from an elaborate database, provided attractive numbers, such as the be our guest sequence (led by the enchanted candelabra, teapot, and clock characters, entire chorus lines of dancing plates, goblets, and eating utensils perform a musical act), or the emotional ballroom sequence. everything is based on the accepted challenge: "ok, go ahead and fool us," once upon a time uttered by some art director to the computer-generated imagery specialists of the company. the story (by mme. leprince de beaumont) inspired jean cocteau, who wrote the screenplay for (and also directed) la belle et la bête ( ), featuring jean marais, josette day, and marcel andré. anselm kiefer (b. ). seduced by the relation to history, he produces allegories in reference to myth, art, religion, and culture. his compositions are strongly evocative, not lacking a certain critical dimension, sometimes focused on art itself, which repeatedly failed during times of challenge (those of nazi germany included). terminator is a movie about two cyborgs who come from the future, one to destroy, the other to protect, a boy who will affect the future when he grows up. it is reported to be the most expensive film made as of (over characters are killed), costing to million dollars; cf. stanley kauffmann, the new republic, august , , pp. - . kitsch: defined in dictionaries as gaudy, trash, pretentious, shallow art expression addressing a low, unrefined taste. kitsch-like images are used as ironic devices in artworks critical of the bourgeois taste. the relation between art and language occasioned a major show organized by the société des expositions du palais de beaux-arts in brussels. a catalogue was edited by jan debbant and patricia holm (paris: galerie de paris; london: lisson gallery; new york: marian goodman gallery). georg wilhelm friedrich hegel ( - ). Ästhetik (hrsg. von friedrich bassenge). berlin: verlag das europäische buch, . dadaism: hans arp defined dada as "the nausea caused by the foolish rational explanation of the world" ( , zurich). richard huelsenbeck stated that "dada cannot be understood, it must be experienced" ( ). more on this subject can be found in: raoul hausmann. am anfang war dada. (hrsg. von karl riha & gunter kampf). steinbach/giessen: anabas-verlag g. kampf, . serge lemoine. dada. paris: hazan, . dawn ades. dada and surrealism reviewed. london: arts council of great britain, . hans bollinger, et al. dada in zurich. zurich: kunsthaus zurich, . walter benjamin. art in the age of its mechanical reproduction is a translation of das kunstwerk im zeitalter seiner technischen reproduzierbarkeit: drei studien zur kunstsoziologie. frankfurt/main: suhrkamp verlag, . walter de maria's lightning field project was carried out with the support of the dia art foundation, which bought the land and maintains and allows for limited public access to the work. as the prototypical example of land-art, this lattice of lightning rods covers an area of one mile by one kilometer. filled with rods placed equidistantly, the lightning field is the interplay between precision and randomness. during the storm season in new mexico, the work is brought to life by many bolts of lightning. the artist explained that "light is as important as lightening." indeed, during its -hour cycle, the field goes through a continuous metamorphosis. nature and art interact in fascinating ways. christo's latest work was entitled wrapped reichstag, berlin, july . regarding christo's many ambitious projects, some references are: erich himmel, editor. christo. the pont-neuf wrapped, paris - . new york: abrams, . christo: the umbrellas. joint project for japan and the usa, may - june, . london: annely juda fine art, . christo: surrounded islands. köln: dumont buch verlag, . christo: wrapped walkways, loose park, kansas city, missouri, - . new york: h.n. abrams, . christo: valley curtain, riffle, colorado. new york: h.n. abrams, . the bauhaus, a school of arts and crafts, founded in in weimar, by walter gropius. its significance results from the philosophy of education expressed in the bauhaus program, to which distinguished artists contributed, and from the impressive number of people who, after studying at the bauhaus, affirmed its methods and vision in worlds of art, architecture, and new educational programs. among the major themes at bauhaus were the democratization of artistic creation (one of the last romantic ideas of our time), the social implication of art, and the involvement of technology. collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts were encouraged; the tendency to overcome cultural and national boundaries was tirelessly pursued; the rationalist attitude became the hallmark of all who constituted the school. in , the bauhaus had to move to dessau, where it remained until , before it settled in berlin. after gropius, the architects hans mayer ( - ) and mies van der rohe ( - ) worked on ascertaining the international style intended to offer visual coherence and integrity. in some ways, the bauhaus was continued in the usa, since many of its personalities and students had to emigrate from nazi germany and found safe haven in the usa. leon battista alberti ( th century) wrote extensively on painting and sculpture: de pictura and de statua were translated by cecil grayson (london: phaidon, ). alberti's writings on the art of building, de re aedificatoria, was translated by joseph rykwert, neil leach, and robert tavernor ( volumes, cambridge ma: mit press, ). marcel duchamp ( - ). intently against those who were "intoxicated by turpentine," he pursued a "dry art." from the nu descendant un escalier, considered "an explosion in a fireworks factory" to his celebrated ready-mades, duchamp pursued the call to "de-artify" art. selection became the major operation in offering objects taken out of context and appropriating them as aesthetic icons. he argued that "art is a path to regions where neither time nor space dominate." happening: an artistic movement based on the interaction among different forms of expression. allan kaprow (at douglas college in ) and the group associated with the reuben gallery in new york (kaprow, jim dine, claes oldenburg, whitman, hausen) brought the movement to the borderline where distinctions between the artist and the public are erased. later, the movement expanded to europe. andy warhol. the philosophy of andy warhol: from a to b and back again. new york: harcourt brace jovanovich, . -. strong opinions. new york: mcgraw hill, . andy warhol is remembered for saying that in the future, everyone will be a celebrity for minutes. vladimir (vladimirovich) nabokov. lectures on literature. edited by fredson bowers, introduction by john updike. new york: harcourt brace jovanovich, - . "a rose is a rose is a rose...," now quite an illustrious (if not trite) line, originated in gertrude stein's poem sacred emily. but "...a rose by any other name/would smell as sweet." from shakespeares romeo and juliet can be seen as a precursor. symbolism is a neo-romantic art movement of the end of the th century, in reaction to the industrial revolution and positivist attitudes permeating art and existence. writers such as beaudelaire, rimbaud, maeterlinck, huysmans, composers (wagner, in the first place), painters such as gauguin, ensor, puvis de chavannes, moreau, and odilon redon created in the spirit of symbolism. at the beginning of the th century, symbolism attempted to submit a unified alphabet of images. jung went so far as to identify its psychological basis. james joyce ( - ). ulysses. a critical and synoptic (though very controviersial) edition, prepared by hans walter gabler with wolfgang steppe and claus melchior. new york: garland publishers, . antoine furetière. essais d'un dictionnaire universel. geneva: slatkine reprints, (reprint of the original published in in amsterdam under the same title). antonio gramsci ( - ). pagine de gramsci. a cura di giansiro ferrata e niccolo gallo. milano: il saggiatore, . -. gramsci: selections from cultural writings. (edited by david forgacs and geoffrey newell-smith; translated by william boelhower). cambridge ma: harvard university press, . -. le ceneri di gramsci. milano: garzanti, . pier paolo pasolini ( - ). turc al friul. traduzione e introduzione di giancarlo bocotti. munich: instituto italian di cultura, . ken kesey. the further inquiry. photographs by ron bevirt. new york: viking penguin, . gustave flaubert ( - ). madame bovary. paris: gallimard, . -. madame bovary. patterns of provincial life. (translated, with a new introduction by francis steegmuller). new york: modern library, . donald barthelme. amateurs. new york: farrar, strauss, giroux, . -. the king. new york: harper & row, . -. the slightly irregular fire engine or the hithering thithering djinn. new york: farrar, strauss, giroux, . kurt vonnegut. breakfast of champions or, goodbye blue monday! new york: delacorte press, . -. galapagos. a novel. new york: delacorte press, . -. fates worse than death. an autobiographical collage of the 's. new york: g.p. putnam's, . john barth. chimera. new york: random house, . -. the literature of exhaustion and the literature of replenishment. northridge ca: lord john press, . -. sabbatical. a romance. new york: putnam, . william h. gass. fiction and the figures of life. new york: knopf, . -. habitations of the word: essays. new york: simon and schuster, . -. in the heart of the heart of the country and other stories. new york: harper & row, . gary percesepe. what's eating william gass?, in mississippi review, . gertrude stein's writing technique is probably best exemplified by her own writing. how to write, initially published in in paris (plain editions), states provocatively that "clarity is of no importance because nobody listens and nobody knows what you mean no matter what you mean nor how clearly you mean what you mean." in an interview with robert haas, ) in afterword, gertrude stein stated that "any human being putting down words had to make sense out of them," (p. ). "i write with my eyes not with my ears or mouth," (p. ). moreover: "my writing is as clear as mud, but mud settles and clear streams run on and disappear." gertrude stein. how to write (with a new preface by patricia meyerowitz). new york: dover publications, . the author shows that "the innovative works of an artist are explorations" (p.vi). -. useful knowledge. barrytown ny: station hill press, . -. what are masterpieces? new york: pitman publishing corp., (reprint of edition). edmund carpenter. they became what they beheld. new york: outerbridge and dienstfrey/ballentine, . the author maintains that the book became the organizing principle for all existence, a model for achieving bureaucracy. it seems that the first comic strip in america was the yellow kid, by richard f. outcault, in the new york world, . among the early comic strips: george harriman's krazy kat (held as an example of american dadaism); windsor mckay's little nemo in slumberland; milton caniff's terry and the pirated. filippo tommaso marinetti ( - ). il futurismo was written in as the preface to a volume of his poetry and was published in . its manifesto was set forth in the words "we declare that the splendor of the world has been increased by a new beauty: the beauty of speed." breaking with the livresque past, the italian futurism took it upon itself to "liberate this land from the fetid cancer of professors, archaeologists, guides, and antiquarians." the break with the past was a break with its values as these were rooted in literate culture. dziga vertov (born denis arkadievich kaufman, - ). became known through his innovative montage juxtaposition, about which he wrote in kino-glas (kino-eye). the film we ( ) is a fantasy of movement. kino-pravda ( - ) were documentaries of extreme expressionism, with very rich visual associations. experiments in simultaneity are also experiments in the understanding of the need to rethink art as a representation of dynamic events. michail fyodorovich larionov ( - ). russian-born french painter and designer, a pioneer in abstract painting, after many experiences in figurative art and with a declared obsession with the aesthetic experience of simultaneity. founder of the rayonist movement-together with his wife, natalia goncharova ( - ), painter, stage designer, and sculptor-larionov went from a neo-primitive painting style to cubism and futurism in order to finally synthesize them in a style reflecting the understanding of the role of light (in particular, as rays). his portrait of tatline ( ) is witness to the synthesis that rayonism represented. fernand léger ( - ). machine aesthetics, . "la vitesse est la loi de la vie moderne." (speed is the modern law of life.) libraries, books, readers in his introduction to a carlyle reader, (cambridge university press, ), g.b. tennyson is unequivocal in his appreciation: "no one who hopes to understand the nineteenth century in england can dispense with carlyle," (p. xiv). since nineteenth century england is of such relevance to major developments in the civilization of literacy, one can infer that tennyson's thought applies to persons trying to understand the emergence and consolidation of literacy. thomas carlyle ( - ) wrote signs of times. (he took the title from the new testament, matthew : , "o ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the sign of the times?") he condemns his age in the following terms: "were we required to characterize this age of ours by any single epithet, we should be tempted to call it, not a heroical, devotional, philosophical, or moral age. it is the age of machinery, in every outward and inward sense of that word; the age which, with its whole undivided might, forwards, teaches and practises the great art of adapting means to ends. nothing is done directly, or by hand; all is by rule and calculated contrivance. for the simplest operation, some helps and accompaniments, some cunning abbreviating process is in readiness. our old modes of exertion are all discredited, and thrown aside. on every hand, the living artisan is driven from his workshop to make room for a speedier, inanimate one," (cf. reader, p. ). parallels to the reactions to new technology in our age are more than obvious. new worlds, ancient texts. the cultural impact of an encounter, a major public documentary exhibit at the new york public library, september -january , curated by anthony grafton, assisted by april g. shelford. at the other end of the spectrum defined by carlyle's faith in books comes a fascinating note from louis hennepin ( ): "we told them [the indians] that we know all things through written documents. these savages asked, 'before you came to the lands where we live, did you rightly know that we were here?' we were obliged to say no. 'then you didn't know all things through books, and they didn't tell you everything'" a. grafton, a. shelford, and n. siraisi,the power of tradition and the shock of discovery, cambridge: harvard university press, . in comparison to carlyle's criticism of mechanical mediation of the industrial age comes this evaluation of the information age or post-industrial age: "in the industrial age, when people need to achieve something, do they have to go through a series of motions, read manuals, or become experts at the task? not at all; they flip a switch.... it isn't necessary to know a single thing about lighting; all one needs to do is flip a switch to turn the light on. [...] to take care of a number of tasks, you push a button, flip a switch, turn a dial. that is the age of industry working at its best, so that you don't have to become an electrical engineer or physicist to function effectively. "to get the information you need...do you need to go on-line or open a manual? unfortunately, most of us right now end up going through a series of activities in order to get the precise information we need. in the age of information...you will be able to turn on a computer, come up with the specific question, and it will do the work for you." (cf. address by jeff davidson, executive director of the breathing space institute of chapel hill, before the national institute of health, dec. , ; reprinted in vital speeches, vol. , - - , pp. , and in the electric libraryt.) george steiner. the end of bookishness? (edited transcript of a talk given to the international publishers' association congress in london, on june , ) in times literary supplement, - , , p. . aldus manutius, the elder (born aldo manuzio, - ): known for his activity in printing, publishing, and typography, especially for design and manufacture of small pocket-sized books printed in inexpensive editions. the family formed a short-lived printing empire (ending in with aldus manutius, the younger) and is associated with the culture of books and with high quality typography. ray bradbury. fahrenheit . an abridged version appeared in galaxy science fiction ( ) under the title the fireman. adolf hitler ( - ). mein kampf (translated by ralph manheim) boston: houghton mifflin, . mao ( - ). comrade mao tze-tung on imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tigers. peking: foreign language press, . umberto eco. the name of the rose (translated by william weaver). san diego: harcourt brace jovanovich. . originally published in italy as il nome della rosa. milano: fabbri-bompiani, . topos uranikos, in plato's philosophy is the heavenly place from which we originally come and where everything is true. vilém flusser wrote that, "the library (transhuman memory) is presented as a space (topos uranikos)" cf. on memory (electronic or otherwise), in leonardo, - , , p. . great libraries take shape, under libraries, in compton's encyclopedia (compton's new media), january , noah webster ( - ) wrote the compendious dictionary of the english language, in volumes, in . he was probably inspired by samuel johnson ( - ), who wrote his dictionary of the english language in . larousse de la grammaire. paris: librairie larousse. dudens bedeutungswörterbuch: , wörter mit ihren grundbedeutungen (bearbeitet von paul grebe, rudolf koster, wolfgang müller, et al). zehn bänden. mannheim: bibliographisches institut. vannevar bush. as we may think, in the atlantic monthly, a magazine of literature, science, art, and politics. vol. clxxvi, july-dec., . the blurb introducing the article states: "as director of the office of scientific research and development, dr. vannevar bush has coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading american scientists in the application of science to warfare. in this significant article, he holds up an incentive for scientists when the fighting has ceased. he urges that men of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge," (p. ). in many ways, this article marks the shift from a literacy-dominated pragmatics to one of many new forms of human practical activity. ted nelson. replacing the printed word: a complete literary system, in information processing . (s.h. lavington, editor). amsterdam: north holland publishing company, , pp. - . rassengna dei siti piu' utilizzati, and bibliotechi virtuali, in internet e la biblioteca, http://www.bs.unicatt.it/bibliotecavirtuale.html, . the infonautics corporation maintains the electric libraryt on the world wide web. the sense of design the term design (of latin origin) can be understood as meaning "from the sign," "out of the sign," "on account of the sign," "concerning the sign," "according to the sign," "through the medium of the sign." all these possible understandings point to the semiotic nature of design activity. balducinni defined design as "a visible demonstration by means of lines of those things which man has first conceived in his mind and pictured in the imagination and which the practised hand can make appear." it is generally agreed that before balducinni's attempt to define the field, the primary sense of design was drawing. more recently, though, design is understood in a broad sense, from actual design (of artifacts, messages, products) to the conception of events (design of exhibitions, programs, and social, political, and family gatherings). "nearly every object we use, most of the clothes we wear and many things we eat have been designed," wrote adrian forty in objects of desire. design and society since (london: thames and hudson, ; paperback edition, new york: thames and hudson, , p. ). international style: generic name attached to the functionalist, anti-ornamental, and geometric tendency of architecture in the second quarter of the th century. in , henri-russel hitchcock and philip johnson organized the show entitled international style-architecture since , at the museum of modern art in new york. among the best known architects who embraced the program are gerrit t. rietveldt, adolf loos, peter behrens, le corbusier, walter gropius, mies van der rohe, and eero saalinen. h. r. hitchcock and p. johnson. the international style. new york: norton, . jay galbraith. designing complex organizations. reading ma: addison-wesley, . devoted to the art of drawing, a collection of lectures given at the fogg museum of harvard university in march, , drawing defined (walter strauss and tracie felker, editors, new york: abaris books, ) is a good reference for the subject. richard kenin's the art of drawing: from the dawn of history to the era of the impressionists (new york: paddington press, ) gives a broad overview of drawing. vitruvius pollio. on architecture (edited from the harleian manuscripts and translated into english by frank granger). cambridge: harvard university press, . marcus cetius faventius. vitruvius and later roman building manuals. london: cambridge university press. . this book is a translation of faventius' compendium of vitruvius' de architectura and of vitruvius' de diversis fabricis architectonicae. parallel latin-english texts with translation into the english by hugh plommer. le corbusier (charles-edouard jeanneret, - ). one of the most admired and influential architects and city planners whose work combines functionalism and bold sculptural expression. since the time design became a field of study, various design styles and philosophies crystallized in acknowledged design schools. worthy of mention are the bauhaus, art deco, the ulm school (which continued in the spirit of the bauhaus), and post-modernism. a good source for information on the becoming of design is nikolaus pevsner's pioneers of modern design, harmondsworth, . the scholes and glidden typewriter of , became, with refinements, the remington model (remington was originally a gun and rifle manufacturer in the state of new york.) encyclopedia britannica, th edition, micropedia, vol. , . pp. - ). see also history of the typewriter (reprint of the original history of ). sarasota fl: b. r. swanger, . peter carl fabergé ( - ). one of the most renown goldsmiths, jewelers, and decorative artists. after studying in germany, italy, france, and england, he settled in st. petersburg in , where he inherited his father's jewelry business. famous for his inventiveness in creating decorative objects- flowers, animals, bibelots, and especially the imperial easter egg-fabergé is for many the ideal of the artist-craftsman. louis comfort tiffany ( - ). american painter, craftsman, decorator, designer and philanthropist who became one of the most influential personalities in the art nouveau style who made significant contributions to glassmaking. son of charles louis tiffany ( - ), the jeweler, he is well known for his significant contributions to glassmaking. edward george earle bulwer-lytton ( - ): british politician, poet, and novelist, famous for the last days of pompeii. (encyclopedia britannica, th edition, micropedia, vol. , . p. ). james gibson. the ecological approach to visual perception. boston: houghton mifflin, . in our days, design is focused on major themes: design integrity (promoting exemplary forms of typography and form studies, as with the basel school and its american counterparts), design function (of concern to industry-oriented schools), computation based on design. originating from gibson's studies in the psychology of man-nature relations, the ecological approach in design has its starting point in affordance. thus many designers reflect concern for an individualized approach to the understanding of affordance possibilities. costello, michie, and milne. beyond the casino economy. london: verso, . d. hayes. beyond the silicon curtain. boston: south end press, . mihai nadin. interface design: a semiotic paradigm, in semiotica : / . amsterdam: mouton de gruyter, , pp. - . -. computers in design education: a case study, in visible language (special issue: graphic design- computer graphics),vol. xix, no. , spring , pp. - . -. design and design education in the age of ubiquitous computing, in kunst design & co. wuppertal: verlag müller + busmann, , pp. - . kim henderson. architectural innovation: the reconfiguration of existing product technologies, in administrative science quarterly, vol. , january, . m. r. louis and r. i. sutton. switching cognitive gears: from habits of mind to active thinking. working paper, school of industrial engineering, stanford university, . patrick dillon. multimedia technology from a-z. new york: oryx press, . politics: there was never so much beginning friedrich hölderlin ( - ). so viel anfang war noch nie, in poems. english and german. selected verses edited, introduced, and translated by michael hamburger. london/dover nh: anvil press poetry, . aldous huxley ( - ). brave, new world. new york: modern library, , thomas alva edison ( - ). noted for inventing, among other things, the phonograph and the incandescent bulb. alexander graham bell ( - ). inventor of the graphophone. he is credited with inventing the telephone and took out the patent on it. otto nicklaus otto ( - ). inventor of the four-stroke engine applied in the automotive industry. nikola tesla ( - ). inventor of the electric alternator. lev nikolaievich tolstoy ( - ). war and peace. trans. louise and aylmer maude. new york: oxford university press, . this is a translation of voina i mir, published in moscow at the tipografia t. ros, . the declaration of independence was approved by a group delegates from the american colonies in july, , with the expressed aim of declaring the thirteen colonies independent of england. signed at the constitutional convention in , after much dispute over representation, the constitution of the united states of america entered into effect once all thirteen states ratified it. its major significance derives from its ascertainment of an effective alternative to monarchy. the system of checks and balances contained in the constitution is meant to preserve any one branch of government from assuming absolute authority. the declaration of rights of man and the citizen was approved by the french national assembly on august , and declares the right of individuals to be represented, equality among citizens, and freedom of religion, speech, and the press. the ideals of the french revolution inspired many other political movements on the continent. written by karl marx and friedrich engels in a year of many popular uprisings all over europe against conservative monarchies, the communist manifesto of expresses the political program of a revolutionary movement: workers of the world united, leading the way to a classless society. the romantic impetus of the manifesto and its new messianic tone was of a different tenor from the attempts to implement the program in russia and later on eastern europe, china, and korea. married...with children: a situation comedy at the borderline between satire and vulgarity, presenting a couple, al and peggy bundy, and their teenage children, kelly and bud, in life-like situations at the fringes of the consumer society. born in , alexander solzhenitsyn became known as a writer in the context of the post-stalin era. his books, a day in the life of ivan denisovitch ( ), the gulag archipelago ( - ), the oak and the calf ( ), testify to the many aspects of stalin's dictatorship. in , after publishing gulag archipelago (about life in soviet prison camps), the writer was exiled from his homeland. he returned to russia in . yevgeni alexandrovich yevtushenko: a rhetorical poet in the tradition of mayakovsky's poetry for the masses. during the communist regime, he took it upon himself to celebrate the official party line, as well as to poeticallly unveil less savory events and abusive practices. his poetry is still the best way to know the poet and the passionate human being. see also yevtushenko's reader. trans. robin milner-gulland. new york: e.p. dutton, . dimitri dimitrevich shostakovich ( - ): for a very long time the official composer of the soviet union. after his death, it became clear how deeply critical he was of a reality he seemed to endorse. he created his harmonic idiom by modifying the harmonic system of classical russian music. see also gunter wolter. dimitri shostakovitch: eine sowjetische tragödie. frankfurt/main, new york: p. lang, . there is no good definition of samizdat, the illegal publishing movement of the former soviet block and china. nevertheless, the power of the printed word-often primitively presented and always in limited, original editions-remains exemplary testimony to the many forces at work in societies where authoritarian rules are applied to the benefit of the political power in place. from a large number of books on various aspects of samizdat, the following titles can be referenced: samizdat. register of documents (english edition). munich: samizdat archive association. from . ferdinand j. m. feldbrugge. samizdat and political dissent in the soviet union. leyden: a.w. sijthoff, . claude widor. the samizdat press in china's provinces, - . stanford ca: hoover institution, stanford university, . nicolae ceausescu ( - ). his life can be summed up in john sweeney's statement: "in ceausescu's romania, madness was enthroned, sanity a disease" cf. the life and evil times of nicolae ceausescu, london: hutchinson, , p. . berlin wall. erected in august, , the wall divided east and west berlin. over the years, it became the symbol of political oppression. hundreds of people were killed in their attempt to escape to freedom. the political events in east europe of fall, led to destruction of the wall, a symbolic step in the not so easy process of german reunification. see also: j. ruhle, g. holzweissig. august : die mauer von berlin (hrsg von i. spittman). köln: edition deutschland archiv, . red. b. beier, u. heckel, g. richter. november : der tag der deutschen. hamburg: carlsen, . john borneman. after the wall: east meets west in the new berlin. new york: basic books, . political unrest, due to intense resentment of the soviet occupation, and economic hardship led to the creation of an independent labor union, the solidarnosc (solidarity) in . in , nationwide strikes brought poland to a standstill. martial law was imposed and solidarity was banned in after dramatic confrontations at the gdansk shipyards. reinstated in , solidarity became a major political factor in the formation of the new, non-communist government. massimo d'azeglio ( - ): i miei ricordi. a cura di alberto m. ghisalberti. torino: einaudi, . germany has a rather tortuous history behind its unification. after the peace of westphalia ( ) ending the thirty years' war, a sharp division between catholic and protestant states arose. after napoleon's defeat at waterloo ( ), the german confederation (led by austria) prepared the path towards future unification. in , the attempt to form a central government was blocked, to be resuscitated after the franco-prussian war ( - ). on his defeat of ludwig ii of bavaria, the prussian wilhelm i became the first emperor of a unified germany in , and bismarck his first chancellor. prepared by garibaldi's conquest of the kingdom of the two sicilies ( ), the creation of the kingdom of italy by victor emmanuelle ( ) ended with the seizure of rome ( ) from the control of the vatican. italy became a republic in . the establishments of various arab states is a testimony to the many forces at work in the arab world. the victory of the allies in world war brought about the dissolution of the ottoman empire. modern turkey was established in , ruled initially by a sultan, becoming a republic in under the presidency of kamal atatürk. at around the same time, syria (including lebanon) fell under the mandate of the french league of nations. lebanon became a separate state in . iraq was established as a kingdom in , falling under the same status as syria within the british league of nations. saudi arabia was created in , and jordan became an independent kingdom in . the history of national definition and sovereignty in the middle east is far from being closed. for information on the ustasha organization in croatia, see cubric milan's book ustasa hrvatska revolucionarna organizacija, beograd: idavacka kuca kujizevne novine, . chetniks (in serbia), see a dictionary of yugoslav political and economic terminology (cf. andrlic vlasta, rjecnik terminologije jugoslavenskog politicko-ekonomskog sistema, published in , zagreb: informator). the reality of the breakdown of the country that used to be yugoslavia is but one of the testimonies of change that renders words and the literate use of language meaningless. omae kenichi. the borderless world. power and strategy in the interlinked world economy. new york: harper business, . isaiah berlin. the crooked timber of humanity. chapters in the history of ideas. london: john murray, . fedor mikhailovich dostoyevsky ( - ). author of crime and punishment (prestuplenie i nakazanie), trans. david mcduff, harmondsworth: viking, . toqueville noticed that "...scarcely any question arises in the united states which does not become, sooner or later, a subject of judicial debate.... as most public men are, or have been, legal practitioners, they introduce the customs and the technicalities of their profession into the affairs of the country.... the language of the law becomes, in some measure, a vulgar tongue" cf. alexis de toqueville, democracy in america. gary chapman. time to cast aside political apathy in favor of creating a new vision for america, in los angeles times, aug. , , p. d . edward brent (writing as earl babble). electronic communication and sociology: looking backward, thinking ahead, in american sociologist, , apr. , , pp. - . "theirs not to reason why" a professional description of the initial strike in the gulf war gives the following account: "in the blitz that launched desert storm, apache and special forces helicopters first took out two early warning radar stations. this opened a corridor for f- e aircraft following in single file to hit scud sites in western iraq. also, stealth f- a fighters, benefiting from compass call and ef- long-distance jamming, hit targets in baghdad, including a phone exchange and a center controlling air defenses. other such underground centers were hit in the south. tomahawk missiles took out power plants. all this occurred within minutes. "about minutes into the assault, a second wave of strike 'packages' of other aircraft, including f- as, attacked. they were guided by awacs (airborne warning and control systems) crafts, which had been orbiting within a range of iraqi radar for months. coalition forces flew sorties the first day, losing only three planes." cf. john a. adam, warfare in the information age, in ieee spectrum, september, , p. . one more detail: "the architects of the huge raid are the central commander, lieutenant general charles a. horner, and brigadier general c. glosson, an electrical engineer by training. for months they have overseen complete war games and rehearsed precision bombing in the arabian expanse," p. . sun tzu. the art of war. trans. thomas cleary. boston & london: shambala dragon editions, . "military action is important to the nation-it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to examine it" p. . "speed is the most important in war," epaminondas of thebes. battle of leuctra, bce. helmuth von moltke ( - ). geschichte des deutsch-französischen krieges von - . the franco-german war of - . trans. clara bell and henry w. fischer. new york: h. fertig, . reprint of the version published in new york by harper in . carl von clausewitz ( - ).vom kriege. michael howard and peter paret, editors. on war. princeton nj: princeton university press, . theodor heuss ( - ). theodor heuss über staat und kirche. frankfurt/main: p. lang, . c. w. groetsch. tartaglia's inverse problem in a resistive medium, in the american mathematical monthly, : , , pp. - . roland barthes. leçon, paris: editions du seuil, . the book is based on the lecture delivered at the inauguration of the chair of literary semiology at the collège de france on january , . "but language-the performance of a language system-is neither reactionary nor progressive; it is quite simply fascist, for fascism does not prevent speech, it compels speech." alan mathison turing ( - ). british mathematician, one of the inventors of the programmable computer. during world war , turing worked at the british foreign office, helping crack the german secret military code. william aspray and arthur burks, editors. papers of john von neumann on computing and computer theory. cambridge ma: mit press; los angeles: tomash publishers, . charles babbage institute reprint series for the history of computing, vol. . john condry, tv: live from the battlefield, in ieee spectrum, september, . regarding the role of imagery and how it effectively replaces the written word, the following example is relevant: an israeli visiting arizona talked to his daughter in tel aviv while simultaneously watching the news on the cable news network (cnn). the reporter stated that a scud missile had been launched at tel aviv, and the father informed the daughter, who sought protection in a shelter. "this is what television has become since its initial adoption years ago...the world is becoming a global village, as educator marshall mcluhan predicted it would. imagery is its language" p. . darrell bott. maintaining language proficiency, in military intelligence, , , p. . charles m. herzfeld. information technology: a retro- and pro-spective. lecture presented at the battelle information technology summit. columbus oh, august . published in proceedings of the dtic/battelle information technology summit. linda reinberg, in the field: the language of the vietnam war, new york: facts of file, . the strategic defense initiative (sdi) was focused upon developing anti-missile and anti-satellite technologies and programs. a multi-layered, multi-technology approach to ballistic missile defense (bmd) meant to intercept offensive nuclear weapons after they had been launched by aggressors. the system consisted of the so-called target acquisition (search and detection of an offensive object); tracking (determination of the trajectory of the offensive object); discrimination (distinguishing of missiles and warheads from decoys or chaff); interception (accurate pointing and firing to ensure destruction of the offensive object). the critical components are computer programs and the lasers designed to focus a beam on the target's surface, heating it to the point of structural failure. the pentagon. critical technologies plan, march, . restructuring the u.s. military, a report by a joint task force of the committee for national security and the defense budget project. obviously, the post-cold war momentum provided many arguments for new plans for a scaled down, but highly technological, defense. the new circumstances created by the end of the cold war require strategies for conversion of industries that until recently depended entirely upon the needs and desires of the military. the interactive future: individual, community, and society in the age of the web elaine morgan. falling apart: the rise and decline of urban civilisation. london: souvenir press, . david clark. urban decline. london/new york: routledge, . katharine l. bradbury. urban decline and the future of american cities. washington dc: brookings institution, . hegel's theory of state derives from his philosophy of history. civil society affords individuals opportunities for freedom. but since the state is the final guarantor, it accordingly has priority over the individual; cf. philosophy of right, t.b. knox, editor. london, . e.a. wrigley and david souden, editors. thomas robert malthus. an essay on the principle of population, , in the works of thomas robert malthus. london: w. pickering, . "population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio" (p. ). jean-jacques rousseau ( - ). philosopher of the french enlightenment. in du contract social, he stated the law of inverse proportion between population and political freedom (cf. book , chapter , paris: livre de poche, . also in social contract. essays by locke, hume, and rousseau. sir ernest barker, editor. new york: oxford university press, ). bernard rubin & associates. big business and the mass media. lexington ma: lexington books, . craig e. aronoff, editor. business and the media. santa monica ca: goodyear publishing corp., . david finn. the business-media relationship: countering misconceptions and distrust. new york: amacom, . observations made by media scholars give at least a quantitative testimony to many facets of the business of media. ed shiller, in managing the media (toronto: bedford house publishing corp., ) states "the media are everywhere and they are interested in everything" (p. ). a. kent macdougall (ninety seconds to tell it all. big business and the news media, homewood il: dow jones-irwin, ) observed that "to communicate with the american public, companies must first communicate with the media" (p. ). interestingly enough, they reach huge audiences by using the rent free public airwaves. consequently, as the author shows, the news media shine by any measure of profitability. according to forbes magazine's annual study of profits, broadcasting and publishing companies led all industry groups in return on stockholder's equity and capital in recent years. specialized publications also keep track of the profitability of the media. study of media and markets, a service of simmons market research bureau, inc., makes available standard marketing information. communications industry forecasts, brought out by veronis, suhler & asso. of new york, gives a detailed financial status of the entire communication industry (radio, television, magazines, entertainment media, recorded music, advertising, promotion). j.h. cassing and s.l. husted, editors. capital, technology, and labor in the new global economy. washington dc: american enterprise institute for public policy research, . raymond vernon. exploring the global economy: emerging issues in trade and investment. cambridge: center for international affairs, harvard university press, . stephen gill. the global political economy: perspectives, problems, and policies. new york: harvester, . gene grossman. innovation and growth in the global economy. cambridge: mit press, . facts for action (periodical). boston: oxfam america, from . john clark. for richer or poorer: an oxfam report on western connections with world hunger. oxford: oxfam, . j.g. donders, editor. bread broken: an action report on the food crisis in africa. eldoret, kenya: gaba publications, amecea pastoral institute, . in his study eighteenth brumaire, ( ), karl marx described bureaucracy as a "semi-autonomous power standing partly above class-divided society, exploiting all its members alike." harvey wheeler. democracy in a revolutionary era. santa barbara: center for the study of democratic institutions, . wheeler defineds bureaucracy as "a vast organism with an assortment of specialized, departmentalized tentacles for coping with the different kinds of reality it may encounter" (pp. - ). max weber. essay in sociology. edited and translated by h.h. gerth and c. wright mills. london: oxford university press, . in this classical theory of bureaucracy, the author saw its roots in the cultural traditions of western rationalism. as such, it is characterized by impersonal relations, hierarchy, and specialization. r. chackerian, g. abcarian. bureaucratic power in society. chicago: nelson hall, inc., . b.c. smith. bureaucracy and political power. brighton: wheatsheaf books, ltd., . the author argues that "bureaucracy is a political phenomenon" (p. ix), not a mere administrative occurrence. eva etzioni-halevy. bureaucracy and democracy. a political dilemma. london/boston: routledge & kegan paul, . george c. roche. america by the throat: the stranglehold of federal bureaucracy. old greenwich ct: devin adair, . eugene lewis. american politics in a bureaucratic age: citizens, constituents, clients, and victims. cambridge ma: winthrop publishers, . michael hanben and ronda hanben. netizens: on the history and impact of usenet and the internet. a netbook. http://www.columbia.edu/~rh /ch , june, michael j. a. howe, the strange feats of idiots savants, in fragments of genius, london/new york: routledge, . "'idiots savants' is the term that has most frequently been used to designate mentally handicapped individuals who are capable of outstanding achievements at particular tasks" (p. ). he also mentions alternative labels: talented imbecile, parament, talented ament, retarded savant, schizophrenic savant, autistic savant. among the examples he gives: a -year old chinese who could give the exact page for any chinese character in a -page dictionary; a -year old woman hardly able to speak (her mental age was assessed at years, months), with no musical instruction, who could play on the piano a piece of music that a person around her might hum or play; a subject who knew all distances between towns in the usa and could list all hotels and number of rooms available; a person who knew abraham lincoln's gettysburg address but could not, after weeks of classes on the subject, say who lincoln was or what the speech means. in the degradation of the democratic dogma ( ), henry adams presented a logarithmic curve of the acceleration of history. in , adams noted that between and , the speed of events increased , times. gerard piel. the acceleration of history. new york: a.a. knopf, . nicolas rashevsky. looking at history through mathematics. cambridge: mit press, . end of the civilization of illiteracy, by mihai nadin (c) mihai nadin woman in the nineteenth century, and kindred papers relating to the sphere, condition and duties, of woman. by margaret fuller ossoli. edited by her brother, arthur b. fuller. with an introduction by horace greeley. preface. * * * * * it has been thought desirable that such papers of margaret fuller ossoli as pertained to the condition, sphere and duties of woman, should be collected and published together. the present volume contains, not only her "woman in the nineteenth century,"--which has been before published, but for some years out of print, and inaccessible to readers who have sought it,--but also several other papers, which have appeared at various times in the _tribune_ and elsewhere, and yet more which have never till now been published. my free access to her private manuscripts has given to me many papers, relating to woman, never intended for publication, which yet seem needful to this volume, in order to present a complete and harmonious view of her thoughts on this important theme. i have preferred to publish them without alteration, as most just to her views and to the reader; though, doubtless, she would have varied their expression and form before giving them to the press. it seems right here to remark, in order to avoid any misapprehension, that margaret ossoli's thoughts wore not directed so exclusively to the subject of the present volume as have been the minds of some others. as to the movement for the emancipation of woman from the unjust burdens and disabilities to which she has been subject oven in our own land, my sister could neither remain indifferent nor silent; yet she preferred, as in respect to every other reform, to act independently and to speak independently from her own stand-point, and never to merge her individuality in any existing organization. this she did, not as condemning such organizations, nor yet as judging them wholly unwise or uncalled for, but because she believed she could herself accomplish more for their true and high objects, unfettered by such organizations, than if a member of them. the opinions avowed throughout this volume, and wherever expressed, will, then, be found, whether consonant with the reader's or no, in all cases honestly and heartily her own,--the result of her own thought and faith. she never speaks, never did speak, for any clique or sect, but as her individual judgment, her reason and conscience, her observation and experience, taught her to speak. i could have wished that some one other than a brother should have spoken a few fitting words of margaret fuller, as a woman, to form a brief but proper accompaniment to this volume, which may reach some who have never read her "memoirs," recently published, or have never known her in personal life. this seemed the more desirable, because the strictest verity in speaking of her must seem, to such as knew her not, to be eulogy. but, after several disappointments as to the editorship of the volume, the duty, at last, has seemed to devolve upon me; and i have no reason to shrink from it but a sense of inadequacy. it is often supposed that literary women, and those who are active and earnest in promoting great intellectual, philanthropic, or religious movements, must of necessity neglect the domestic concerns of life. it may be that this is sometimes so, nor can such neglect be too severely reprehended; yet this is by no means a necessary result. some of the most devoted mothers the world has ever known, and whose homes were the abode of every domestic virtue, themselves the embodiment of all these, have been women whose minds were highly cultured, who loved and devoted both thought and time to literature, and were active in philanthropic and diffusive efforts for the welfare of the race. the letter to m., which is published on page , is inserted chiefly as showing the integrity and wisdom with which margaret advised her friends; the frankness with which she pointed out to every young woman who asked counsel any deficiencies of character, and the duties of life; and that among these latter she gave due place to the humblest which serve to make home attractive and happy. it is but simple justice for me to bear, in conjunction with many others, my tribute to her domestic virtues and fidelity to all home duties. that her mind found chief delight in the lowest forms of these duties may not be true, and it would be sad if it were; but it is strictly true that none, however humble, were either slighted or shunned. in common with a younger sister and brother, i shared her care in my early instruction, and found over one of the truest counsellors in a sister who scorned not the youngest mind nor the simplest intellectual wants in her love for communion, through converse or the silent page, with the minds of the greatest and most gifted. during a lingering illness, in childhood, well do i remember her as the angel of the sick-chamber, reading much to me from books useful and appropriate, and telling many a narrative not only fitted to wile away the pain of disease and the weariness of long confinement, but to elevate the mind and heart, and to direct them to all things noble and holy; over ready to watch while i slept, and to perform every gentle and kindly office. but her care of the sick--that she did not neglect, but was eminent in that sphere of womanly duty, even when no tie of kindred claimed this of her, mr. cass's letter abundantly shows; and also that this gentleness was united to a heroism which most call manly, but which, i believe, may as justly be called truly womanly. mr. cass's letter is inserted because it arrived too late to find a place in her "memoirs," and yet more because it bears much on margaret ossoli's characteristics as a woman. a few also of her private letters and papers, not bearing, save, indirectly, on the subject of this volume, are yet inserted in it, as further illustrative of her thought, feeling and action, in life's various relations. it is believed that nothing which exhibits a true woman, especially in her relations to others as friend, sister, daughter, wife, or mother, can fail to interest and be of value to her sex, indeed to all who are interested in human welfare and advancement, since these latter so much depend on the fidelity of woman. nor will anything pertaining to the education and care of children be deemed irrelevant, especially by mothers, upon whom these duties must always largely devolve. of the intellectual gifts and wide culture of margaret fuller there is no need that i should speak, nor is it wise that one standing in my relation to her should. those who knew her personally feel that no words ever flowed from her pen equalling the eloquent utterances of her lips; yet her works, though not always a clear oppression of her thoughts, are the evidences to which the world will look as proof of her mental greatness. on one point, however, i do wish to bear testimony--not needed with those who knew her well, but interesting, perhaps, to some readers into whose bands this volume may fall. it is on a subject which one who knew her from his childhood up--at _home_, where best the _heart_ and _soul_ can be known,--in the unrestrained hours of domestic life,--in various scenes, and not for a few days, nor under any peculiar circumstances--can speak with confidence, because he speaks what he "doth know, and testifieth what he hath seen." it relates to her christian faith and hope. "with all her intellectual gifts, with all her high, moral, and noble characteristics," there are some who will ask, "was her intellectual power sanctified by christian faith as its basis? were her moral qualities, her beneficent life, the results of a renewed heart?" i feel no hesitation here, nor would think it worth while to answer such questions at all, were her life to be read and known by all who read this volume, and were i not influenced also, in some degree, by the tone which has characterized a few sectarian reviews of her works, chiefly in foreign periodicals. surely, if the saviour's test, "by their fruits ye shall know them," be the true one, margaret ossoli was preeminently a christian. if a life of constant self-sacrifice,--if devotion to the welfare of kindred and the race,--if conformity to what she believed god's law, so that her life seemed ever the truest form of prayer, active obedience to the deity,--in fine, if carrying christianity into all the departments of action, so far as human infirmity allows,--if these be the proofs of a christian, then whoever has read her "memoirs" thoughtfully, and without sectarian prejudice or the use of sectarian standards of judgment, must feel her to have been a christian. but not alone in outward life, in mind and heart, too, was she a christian. the being brought into frequent and intimate contact with religious persons has been one of the chief privileges of my vocation, but never yet have i met with any person whose reverence for holy things was deeper than hers. abhorring, as all honest minds must, every species of cant, she respected true religious thought and feeling, by whomsoever cherished. god seemed nearer to her than to any person i have over known. in the influences of his holy spirit upon the heart she fully believed, and in experience realized them. jesus, the friend of man, can never have been more truly loved and honored than she loved and honored him. i am aware that this is strong language, but strength of language cannot equal the strength of my conviction on a point where i have had the best opportunities of judgment. rich as is the religion of jesus in its list of holy confessors, yet it can spare and would exclude none who in heart, mind and life, confessed and reverenced him as did she. among my earliest recollections, is her devoting much time to a thorough examination of the evidences of christianity, and ultimately declaring that to her, better than all arguments or usual processes of proof, was the soul's want of a divine religion, and the voice within that soul which declared the teachings of christ to be true and from god; and one of my most cherished possessions is that bible which she so diligently and thoughtfully read, and which bears, in her own handwriting, so many proofs of discriminating and prayerful perusal. as in regard to reformatory movements so here, she joined no organized body of believers, sympathizing with all of them whose views were noble and christian; deploring and bearing faithful testimony against anything she deemed narrowness or perversion in theology or life. this volume from her hand is now before the reader. the fact that a large share of it was never written or revised by its authoress for publication will be kept in view, as explaining any inaccuracy of expression or repetition of thought, should such occur in its pages. nor will it be deemed surprising, if, in papers written by so progressive a person, at so various periods of life, and under widely-varied circumstances, there should not always be found perfect union as to every expressed opinion. it is probable that this will soon be followed by another volume, containing a republication of "summer on the lakes," and also the "letters from europe," by the same hand. in the preparation of this volume much valuable assistance has been afforded by mr. greeley, of the new york _tribune_, who has been earnest in his desire and efforts for the diffusion of what margaret has written. a. b. f. boston, _may th_, . introduction. * * * * * the problem of woman's position, or "sphere,"--of her duties, responsibilities, rights and immunities as woman,--fitly attracts a large and still-increasing measure of attention from the thinkers and agitators of our time, the legislators, so called,--those who ultimately enact into statutes what the really governing class (to wit, the thinkers) have originated, matured and gradually commended to the popular comprehension and acceptance,--are not as yet much occupied with this problem, only fitfully worried and more or less consciously puzzled by it. more commonly they merely echo the mob's shallow retort to the petition of any strong-minded daughter or sister, who demands that she be allowed a voice in disposing of the money wrenched from her hard earnings by inexorable taxation, or in shaping the laws by which she is ruled, judged, and is liable to be sentenced to prison or to death, "it is a woman's business to obey her husband, keep his home tidy, and nourish and train his children." but when she rejoins to this, "very true; but suppose i choose not to have a husband, or am not chosen for a wife--what then? i am still subject to your laws. why am i not entitled, as a rational human being, to a voice in shaping them? i have physical needs, and must somehow earn a living. why should i not be at liberty to earn it in any honest and useful calling?"--the mob's flout is hushed, and the legislator is struck dumb also. they were already at the end of their scanty resources of logic, and it would be cruel for woman to ask further: "suppose me a wife, and my husband a drunken prodigal--what am i to do then? may i not earn food for my babes without being exposed to have it snatched from their mouths to replenish the rumseller's till, and aggravate my husband's madness? if some sympathizing relative sees fit to leave me a bequest wherewith to keep my little ones together, why may i not be legally enabled to secure this to their use and benefit? in short, why am i not regarded by the law as a _soul_, responsible for my acts to god and humanity, and not as a mere body, devoted to the unreasoning service of my husband?" the state gives no answer, and the champions of her policy evince wisdom in imitating her silence. the writer of the following pages was one of the earliest as well as ablest among american women, to demand for her sex equality before the law with her titular lord and master, her writings on this subject have the force which springs from the ripening of profound reflection into assured conviction. she wrote as one who had observed, and who deeply felt what she deliberately uttered. others have since spoken more fluently, more variously, with a greater affluence of illustration; but none, it is believed, more earnestly or more forcibly. it is due to her memory, as well as to the great and living cause of which she was so eminent and so fearless an advocate, that what she thought and said with regard to the position of her sex and its limitations, should be fully and fairly placed before the public. for several years past her principal essay on "woman," here given, has not been purchasable at any price, and has only with great difficulty been accessible to the general reader. to place it within the reach of those who need and require it, is the main impulse to the publication of this volume; but the accompanying essays and papers will be found equally worthy of thoughtful consideration. h. greeley. contents. * * * * * part i. woman in the nineteenth century * * * * * part ii miscellanies aulauron and laurie wrongs and duties of american woman george sand the same subject consuelo jenny lind, the "consuelo" of george sand caroline ever-growing lives household nobleness "glumdalclitches" "ellen; or, forgive and forget," "coubrier des etats unis," the same subject books of travel review of mrs. jameson's essays woman's influence over the insane review of browning's poems christmas children's books woman in poverty the irish character the same subject educate men and women as souls * * * * * part iii. extracts from journal and letters * * * * * appendix preface to woman in the nineteenth century. * * * * * the following essay is a reproduction, modified and expanded, of an article published in "the dial, boston, july, ," under the title of "the great lawsuit.--man _versus_ men; woman _versus_ women." this article excited a good deal of sympathy, add still more interest. it is in compliance with wishes expressed from many quarters that it is prepared for publication in its present form. objections having been made to the former title, as not sufficiently easy to be understood, the present has been substituted as expressive of the main purpose of the essay; though, by myself, the other is preferred, partly for the reason others do not like it,--that is, that it requires some thought to see what it means, and might thus prepare the reader to meet me on my own ground. besides, it offers a larger scope, and is, in that way, more just to my desire. i meant by that title to intimate the fact that, while it is the destiny of man, in the course of the ages, to ascertain and fulfil the law of his being, so that his life shall be seen, as a whole, to be that of an angel or messenger, the action of prejudices and passions which attend, in the day, the growth of the individual, is continually obstructing the holy work that is to make the earth a part of heaven. by man i mean both man and woman; these are the two halves of one thought. i lay no especial stress on the welfare of either. i believe that the development of the one cannot be effected without that of the other. my highest wish is that this truth should be distinctly and rationally apprehended, and the conditions of life and freedom recognized as the same for the daughters and the sons of time; twin exponents of a divine thought. i solicit a sincere and patient attention from those who open the following pages at all. i solicit of women that they will lay it to heart to ascertain what is for them the liberty of law. it is for this, and not for any, the largest, extension of partial privileges that i seek. i ask them, if interested by these suggestions, to search their own experience and intuitions for better, and fill up with fit materials the trenches that hedge them in. from men i ask a noble and earnest attention to anything that can be offered on this great and still obscure subject, such as i have met from many with whom i stand in private relations. and may truth, unpolluted by prejudice, vanity or selfishness, be granted daily more and more as the due of inheritance, and only valuable conquest for us all! _november_, . woman in the nineteenth century. * * * * * "frailty, thy name is woman." "the earth waits for her queen." the connection between these quotations may not be obvious, but it is strict. yet would any contradict us, if we made them applicable to the other side, and began also, frailty, thy name is man. the earth waits for its king? yet man, if not yet fully installed in his powers, has given much earnest of his claims. frail he is indeed,--how frail! how impure! yet often has the vein of gold displayed itself amid the baser ores, and man has appeared before us in princely promise worthy of his future. if, oftentimes, we see the prodigal son feeding on the husks in the fair field no more his own, anon we raise the eyelids, heavy from bitter tears, to behold in him the radiant apparition of genius and love, demanding not less than the all of goodness, power and beauty. we see that in him the largest claim finds a due foundation. that claim is for no partial sway, no exclusive possession. he cannot be satisfied with any one gift of life, any one department of knowledge or telescopic peep at the heavens. he feels himself called to understand and aid nature, that she may, through his intelligence, be raised and interpreted; to be a student of, and servant to, the universe-spirit; and king of his planet, that, as an angelic minister he may bring it into conscious harmony with the law of that spirit. in clear, triumphant moments, many times, has rung through the spheres the prophecy of his jubilee; and those moments, though past in time, have been translated into eternity by thought; the bright signs they left hang in the heavens, as single stars or constellations, and, already, a thickly sown radiance consoles the wanderer in the darkest night. other heroes since hercules have fulfilled the zodiac of beneficent labors, and then given up their mortal part to the fire without a murmur; while no god dared deny that they should have their reward, siquis tamen, hercule, siquis forte deo doliturus erit, daia praemia nollet, sed meruise dari sciet, invitus que probabit, assensere dei sages and lawgivers have bent their whole nature to the search for truth, and thought themselves happy if they could buy, with the sacrifice of all temporal ease and pleasure, one seed for the future eden. poets and priests have strung the lyre with the heart-strings, poured out their best blood upon the altar, which, reared anew from age to age, shall at last sustain the flame pure enough to rise to highest heaven. shall we not name with as deep a benediction those who, if not so immediately, or so consciously, in connection with the eternal truth, yet, led and fashioned by a divine instinct, serve no less to develop and interpret the open secret of love passing into life, energy creating for the purpose of happiness; the artist whose hand, drawn by a preexistent harmony to a certain medium, moulds it to forms of life more highly and completely organized than are seen elsewhere, and, by carrying out the intention of nature, reveals her meaning to those who are not yet wise enough to divine it; the philosopher who listens steadily for laws and causes, and from those obvious infers those yet unknown; the historian who, in faith that all events must have their reason and their aim, records them, and thus fills archives from which the youth of prophets may be fed; the man of science dissecting the statements, testing the facts and demonstrating order, even where he cannot its purpose? lives, too, which bear none of these names, have yielded tones of no less significance. the candlestick set in a low place has given light as faithfully, where it was needed, as that upon the hill, in close alleys, in dismal nooks, the word has been read as distinctly, as when shown by angels to holy men in the dark prison. those who till a spot of earth scarcely larger than is wanted for a grave, have deserved that the sun should shine upon its sod till violets answer. so great has been, from time to time, the promise, that, in all ages, men have said the gods themselves came down to dwell with them; that the all-creating wandered on the earth to taste, in a limited nature, the sweetness of virtue; that the all-sustaining incarnated himself to guard, in space and time, the destinies of this world; that heavenly genius dwelt among the shepherds, to sing to them and teach them how to sing. indeed, "der stets den hirten gnadig sich bewies." "he has constantly shown himself favorable to shepherds." and the dwellers in green pastures and natural students of the stars were selected to hail, first among men, the holy child, whose life and death were to present the type of excellence, which has sustained the heart of so large a portion of mankind in these later generations. such marks have been made by the footsteps of _man_ (still, alas! to be spoken of as the _ideal_ man), wherever he has passed through the wilderness of _men_, and whenever the pigmies stepped in one of those, they felt dilate within the breast somewhat that promised nobler stature and purer blood. they were impelled to forsake their evil ways of decrepit scepticism and covetousness of corruptible possessions. convictions flowed in upon them. they, too, raised the cry: god is living, now, to-day; and all beings are brothers, for they are his children. simple words enough, yet which only angelic natures can use or hear in their full, free sense. these were the triumphant moments; but soon the lower nature took its turn, and the era of a truly human life was postponed. thus is man still a stranger to his inheritance, still a pleader, still a pilgrim. yet his happiness is secure in the end. and now, no more a glimmering consciousness, but assurance begins to be felt and spoken, that the highest ideal man can form of his own powers is that which he is destined to attain. whatever the soul knows how to seek, it cannot fail to obtain. this is the law and the prophets. knock and it shall be opened; seek and ye shall find. it is demonstrated; it is a maxim. man no longer paints his proper nature in some form, and says, "prometheus had it; it is god-like;" but "man must have it; it is human." however disputed by many, however ignorantly used, or falsified by those who do receive it, the fact of an universal, unceasing revelation has been too clearly stated in words to be lost sight of in thought; and sermons preached from the text, "be ye perfect," are the only sermons of a pervasive and deep-searching influence. but, among those who meditate upon this text, there is a great difference of view as to the way in which perfection shall be sought. "through the intellect," say some. "gather from every growth of life its seed of thought; look behind every symbol for its law; if thou canst _see_ clearly, the rest will follow." "through the life," say others. "do the best thou knowest today. shrink not from frequent error in this gradual, fragmentary state. follow thy light for as much as it will show thee; be faithful as far as thou canst, in hope that faith presently will lead to sight. help others, without blaming their need of thy help. love much, and be forgiven." "it needs not intellect, needs not experience," says a third. "if you took the true way, your destiny would be accomplished, in a purer and more natural order. you would not learn through facts of thought or action, but express through them the certainties of wisdom. in quietness yield thy soul to the causal soul. do not disturb thy apprenticeship by premature effort; neither check the tide of instruction by methods of thy own. be still; seek not, but wait in obedience. thy commission will be given." could we indeed say what we want, could we give a description of the child that is lost, he would be found. as soon as the soul can affirm clearly that a certain demonstration is wanted, it is at hand. when the jewish prophet described the lamb, as the expression of what was required by the coming era, the time drew nigh. but we say not, see not as yet, clearly, what we would. those who call for a more triumphant expression of love, a love that cannot be crucified, show not a perfect sense of what has already been given. love has already been expressed, that made all things new, that gave the worm its place and ministry as well as the eagle; a love to which it was alike to descend into the depths of hell, or to sit at the right hand of the father. yet, no doubt, a new manifestation is at hand, a new hour in the day of man. we cannot expect to see any one sample of completed being, when the mass of men still lie engaged in the sod, or use the freedom of their limbs only with wolfish energy. the tree cannot come to flower till its root be free from the cankering worm, and its whole growth open to air and light. while any one is base, none can be entirely free and noble. yet something new shall presently be shown of the life of man, for hearts crave, if minds do not know how to ask it. among the strains of prophecy, the following, by an earnest mind of a foreign land, written some thirty years ago, is not yet outgrown; and it has the merit of being a positive appeal from the heart, instead of a critical declaration what man should _not_ do. "the ministry of man implies that he must be filled from the divine fountains which are being engendered through all eternity, so that, at the mere name of his master, he may be able to cast all his enemies into the abyss; that he may deliver all parts of nature from the barriers that imprison them; that he may purge the terrestrial atmosphere from the poisons that infect it; that he may preserve the bodies of men from the corrupt influences that surround, and the maladies that afflict them; still more, that he may keep their souls pure from the malignant insinuations which pollute, and the gloomy images that obscure them; that he may restore its serenity to the word, which false words of men fill with mourning and sadness; that he may satisfy the desires of the angels, who await from him the development of the marvels of nature; that, in fine, his world may be filled with god, as eternity is." [footnote: st. martin] another attempt we will give, by an obscure observer of our own day and country, to draw some lines of the desired image. it was suggested by seeing the design of crawford's orpheus, and connecting with the circumstance of the american, in his garret at rome, making choice of this subject, that of americans here at home showing such ambition to represent the character, by calling their prose and verse "orphic sayings"--"orphics." we wish we could add that they have shown that musical apprehension of the progress of nature through her ascending gradations which entitled them so to do, but their attempts are frigid, though sometimes grand; in their strain we are not warmed by the fire which fertilized the soil of greece. orpheus was a lawgiver by theocratic commission. he understood nature, and made her forms move to his music. he told her secrets in the form of hymns, nature as seen in the mind of god. his soul went forth toward all beings, yet could remain sternly faithful to a chosen type of excellence. seeking what he loved, he feared not death nor hell; neither could any shape of dread daunt his faith in the power of the celestial harmony that filled his soul. it seemed significant of the state of things in this country, that the sculptor should have represented the seer at the moment when he was obliged with his hand to shade his eyes. each orpheus must to the depths descend; for only thus the poet can be wise; must make the sad persephone his friend, and buried love to second life arise; again his love must lose through too much love, must lose his life by living life too true, for what he sought below is passed above, already done is all that he would do must tune all being with his single lyre, must melt all rooks free from their primal pain, must search all nature with his one soul's fire, must bind anew all forms in heavenly chain. if he already sees what he must do, well may he shade his eyes from the far-shining view. a better comment could not be made on what is required to perfect man, and place him in that superior position for which he was designed, than by the interpretation of bacon upon the legends of the syren coast "when the wise ulysses passed," says he, "he caused his mariners to stop their ears, with wax, knowing there was in them no power to resist the lure of that voluptuous song. but he, the much experienced man, who wished to be experienced in all, and use all to the service of wisdom, desired to hear the song that he might understand its meaning. yet, distrusting his own power to be firm in his better purpose, he caused himself to be bound to the mast, that he might be kept secure against his own weakness. but orpheus passed unfettered, so absorbed in singing hymns to the gods that he could not even hear those sounds of degrading enchantment." meanwhile, not a few believe, and men themselves have expressed the opinion, that the time is come when eurydice is to call for an orpheus, rather than orpheus for eurydice; that the idea of man, however imperfectly brought out, has been far more so than that of woman; that she, the other half of the same thought, the other chamber of the heart of life, needs now take her turn in the full pulsation, and that improvement in the daughters will best aid in the reformation of the sons of this age. it should be remarked that, as the principle of liberty is better understood, and more nobly interpreted, a broader protest is made in behalf of woman. as men become aware that few men have had a fair chance, they are inclined to say that no women have had a fair chance. the french revolution, that strangely disguised angel, bore witness in favor of woman, but interpreted her claims no less ignorantly than those of man. its idea of happiness did not rise beyond outward enjoyment, unobstructed by the tyranny of others. the title it gave was "citoyen," "citoyenne;" and it is not unimportant to woman that even this species of equality was awarded her. before, she could be condemned to perish on the scaffold for treason, not as a citizen, but as a subject. the right with which this title then invested a human being was that of bloodshed and license. the goddess of liberty was impure. as we read the poem addressed to her, not long since, by beranger, we can scarcely refrain from tears as painful as the tears of blood that flowed when "such crimes were committed in her name." yes! man, born to purify and animate the unintelligent and the cold, can, in his madness, degrade and pollute no less the fair and the chaste. yet truth was prophesied in the ravings of that hideous fever, caused by long ignorance and abuse. europe is conning a valued lesson from the blood-stained page. the same tendencies, further unfolded, will bear good fruit in this country. yet, by men in this country, as by the jews, when moses was leading them to the promised land, everything has been done that inherited depravity could do, to hinder the promise of heaven from its fulfilment. the cross, here as elsewhere, has been planted only to be blasphemed by cruelty and fraud. the name of the prince of peace has been profaned by all kinds of injustice toward the gentile whom he said he came to save. but i need not speak of what has been done towards the red man, the black man. those deeds are the scoff of the world; and they have been accompanied by such pious words that the gentlest would not dare to intercede with "father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." here, as elsewhere, the gain of creation consists always in the growth of individual minds, which live and aspire, as flowers bloom and birds sing, in the midst of morasses; and in the continual development of that thought, the thought of human destiny, which is given to eternity adequately to express, and which ages of failure only seemingly impede. only seemingly; and whatever seems to the contrary, this country is as surely destined to elucidate a great moral law, as europe was to promote the mental culture of man. though the national independence be blurred by the servility of individuals; though freedom and equality have been proclaimed only to leave room for a monstrous display of slave-dealing and slave-keeping; though the free american so often feels himself free, like the roman, only to pamper his appetites end his indolence through the misery of his fellow-beings; still it is not in vain that the verbal statement has been made, "all men are born free and equal." there it stands, a golden certainty wherewith to encourage the good, to shame the bad. the new world may be called clearly to perceive that it incurs the utmost penalty if it reject or oppress the sorrowful brother. and, if men are deaf, the angels hear. but men cannot be deaf. it is inevitable that an external freedom, an independence of the encroachments of other men, such as has been achieved for the nation, should be so also for every member of it. that which has once been clearly conceived in the intelligence cannot fail, sooner or later, to be acted out. it has become a law as irrevocable as that of the medes in their ancient dominion; men will privately sin against it, but the law, as expressed by a leading mind of the age, "tutti fatti a semblanza d'un solo, figli tutti d'un solo riscatto, in qual'ora, in qual parte del suolo trascorriamo quest' aura vital, siam fratelli, siam stretti ad un patto: maladetto colui che lo infrange, che s'innalza sul finoco che piange che contrista uno spirto immortal." [footnote: manzoni] "all made in the likeness of the one. all children of one ransom, in whatever hour, in whatever part of the soil, we draw this vital air, we are brothers; we must be bound by one compact; accursed he who infringes it, who raises himself upon the weak who weep, who saddens an immortal spirit." this law cannot fail of universal recognition. accursed be he who willingly saddens an immortal spirit--doomed to infamy in later, wiser ages, doomed in future stages of his own being to deadly penance, only short of death. accursed be he who sins in ignorance, if that ignorance be caused by sloth. we sicken no less at the pomp than the strife of words. we feel that never were lungs so puffed with the wind of declamation, on moral and religious subjects, as now. we are tempted to implore these "word-heroes," these word-catos, word-christs, to beware of cant [footnote: dr. johnson's one piece of advice should be written on every door: "clear your mind of cant." but byron, to whom it was so acceptable, in clearing away the noxious vine, shook down the building. sterling's emendation is worthy of honor: "realize your cant, not cast it off."] above all things; to remember that hypocrisy is the most hopeless as well as the meanest of crimes, and that those must surely be polluted by it, who do not reserve a part of their morality and religion for private use. landor says that he cannot have a great deal of mind who cannot afford to let the larger part of it lie fallow; and what is true of genius is not less so of virtue. the tongue is a valuable member, but should appropriate but a small part of the vital juices that are needful all over the body. we feel that the mind may "grow black and rancid in the smoke" even "of altars." we start up from the harangue to go into our closet and shut the door. there inquires the spirit, "is this rhetoric the bloom of healthy blood, or a false pigment artfully laid on?" and yet again we know where is so much smoke, must be some fire; with so much talk about virtue and freedom, must be mingled some desire for them; that it cannot be in vain that such have become the common topics of conversation among men, rather than schemes for tyranny and plunder, that the very newspapers see it best to proclaim themselves "pilgrims," "puritans," "heralds of holiness." the king that maintains so costly a retinue cannot be a mere boast, or carabbas fiction. we have waited here long in the dust; we are tired and hungry; but the triumphal procession must appear at last. of all its banners, none has been more steadily upheld, and under none have more valor and willingness for real sacrifices been shown, than that of the champions of the enslaved african. and this band it is, which, partly from a natural following out of principles, partly because many women have been prominent in that cause, makes, just now, the warmest appeal in behalf of woman. though there has been a growing liberality on this subject, yet society at large is not so prepared for the demands of this party, but that its members are, and will be for some time, coldly regarded as the jacobins of their day. "is it not enough," cries the irritated trader, "that you have done all you could to break up the national union, and thus destroy the prosperity of our country, but now you must be trying to break up family union, to take my wife away from the cradle and the kitchen-hearth to vote at polls, and preach from a pulpit? of course, if she does such things, she cannot attend to those of her own sphere. she is happy enough as she is. she has more leisure than i have,--every means of improvement, every indulgence." "have you asked her whether she was satisfied with these _indulgences_?" "no, but i know she is. she is too amiable to desire what would make me unhappy, and too judicious to wish to step beyond the sphere of her sex. i will never consent to have our peace disturbed by any such discussions." "'consent--you?' it is not consent from you that is in question--it is assent from your wife." "am not i the head of my house?" "you are not the head of your wife. god has given her a mind of her own. "i am the head, and she the heart." "god grant you play true to one another, then! i suppose i am to be grateful that you did not say she was only the hand. if the head represses no natural pulse of the heart, there can be no question as to your giving your consent. both will be of one accord, and there needs but to present any question to get a full and true answer. there is no need of precaution, of indulgence, nor consent. but our doubt is whether the heart _does_ consent with the head, or only obeys its decrees with a passiveness that precludes the exercise of its natural powers, or a repugnance that turns sweet qualities to bitter, or a doubt that lays waste the fair occasions of life. it is to ascertain the truth that we propose some liberating measures." thus vaguely are these questions proposed and discussed at present. but their being proposed at all implies much thought, and suggests more. many women are considering within themselves what they need that they have not, and what they can have if they find they need it. many men are considering whether women are capable of being and having more than they are and have, _and_ whether, if so, it will be best to consent to improvement in their condition. this morning, i open the boston "daily mail," and find in its "poet's corner" a translation of schiller's "dignity of woman." in the advertisement of a book on america, i see in the table of contents this sequence, "republican institutions. american slavery. american ladies." i open the "_deutsche schnellpost_" published in new york, and find at the head of a column, _juden und frauenemancipation in ungarn_--"emancipation of jews and women in hungary." the past year has seen action in the rhode island legislature, to secure married women rights over their own property, where men showed that a very little examination of the subject could teach them much; an article in the democratic review on the same subject more largely considered, written by a woman, impelled, it is said, by glaring wrong to a distinguished friend, having shown the defects in the existing laws, and the state of opinion from which they spring; and on answer from the revered old man, j. q. adams, in some respects the phocion of his time, to an address made him by some ladies. to this last i shall again advert in another place. these symptoms of the times have come under my view quite accidentally: one who seeks, may, each month or week, collect more. the numerous party, whose opinions are already labeled and adjusted too much to their mind to admit of any new light, strive, by lectures on some model-woman of bride-like beauty and gentleness, by writing and lending little treatises, intended to mark out with precision the limits of woman's sphere, and woman's mission, to prevent other than the rightful shepherd from climbing the wall, or the flock from using any chance to go astray. without enrolling ourselves at once on either side, let us look upon the subject from the best point of view which to-day offers; no better, it is to be feared, than a high house-top. a high hill-top, or at least a cathedral-spire, would be desirable. it may well be an anti-slavery party that pleads for woman, if we consider merely that she does not hold property on equal terms with men; so that, if a husband dies without making a will, the wife, instead of taking at once his place as head of the family, inherits only a part of his fortune, often brought him by herself, as if she were a child, or ward only, not an equal partner. we will not speak of the innumerable instances in which profligate and idle men live upon the earnings of industrious wives; or if the wives leave them, and take with them the children, to perform the double duty of mother and father, follow from place to place, and threaten to rob them of the children, if deprived of the rights of a husband, as they call them, planting themselves in their poor lodgings, frightening them into paying tribute by taking from them the children, running into debt at the expense of these otherwise so overtasked helots. such instances count up by scores within my own memory. i have seen the husband who had stained himself by a long course of low vice, till his wife was wearied from her heroic forgiveness, by finding that his treachery made it useless, and that if she would provide bread for herself and her children, she must be separate from his ill fame--i have known this man come to install himself in the chamber of a woman who loathed him, and say she should never take food without his company. i have known these men steal their children, whom they knew they had no means to maintain, take them into dissolute company, expose them to bodily danger, to frighten the poor woman, to whom, it seems, the fact that she alone had borne the pangs of their birth, and nourished their infancy, does not give an equal right to them. i do believe that this mode of kidnapping--and it is frequent enough in all classes of society--will be by the next age viewed as it is by heaven now, and that the man who avails himself of the shelter of men's laws to steal from a mother her own children, or arrogate any superior right in them, save that of superior virtue, will bear the stigma he deserves, in common with him who steals grown men from their mother-land, their hopes, and their homes. i said, we will not speak of this now; yet i _have_ spoken, for the subject makes me feel too much. i could give instances that would startle the most vulgar and callous; but i will not, for the public opinion of their own sex is already against such men, and where cases of extreme tyranny are made known, there is private action in the wife's favor. but she ought not to need this, nor, i think, can she long. men must soon see that as, on their own ground, woman is the weaker party, she ought to have legal protection, which would make such oppression impossible. but i would not deal with "atrocious instances," except in the way of illustration, neither demand from men a partial redress in some one matter, but go to the root of the whole. if principles could be established, particulars would adjust themselves aright. ascertain the true destiny of woman; give her legitimate hopes, and a standard within herself; marriage and all other relations would by degrees be harmonized with these. but to return to the historical progress of this matter. knowing that there exists in the minds of men a tone of feeling toward women as toward slaves, such as is expressed in the common phrase, "tell that to women and children;" that the infinite soul can only work through them in already ascertained limits; that the gift of reason, man's highest prerogative, is allotted to them in much lower degree; that they must be kept from mischief and melancholy by being constantly engaged in active labor, which is to be furnished and directed by those better able to think, &c., &c.,--we need not multiply instances, for who can review the experience of last week without recalling words which imply, whether in jest or earnest, these views, or views like these,--knowing this, can we wonder that many reformers think that measures are not likely to be taken in behalf of women, unless their wishes could be publicly represented by women? "that can never be necessary," cry the other side. "all men are privately influenced by women; each has his wife, sister, or female friends, and is too much biased by these relations to fail of representing their interests; and, if this is not enough, let them propose and enforce their wishes with the pen. the beauty of home would be destroyed, the delicacy of the sex be violated, the dignity of halls of legislation degraded, by an attempt to introduce them there. such duties are inconsistent with those of a mother;" and then we have ludicrous pictures of ladies in hysterics at the polls, and senate-chambers filled with cradles. but if, in reply, we admit as truth that woman seems destined by nature rather for the inner circle, we must add that the arrangements of civilized life have not been, as yet, such as to secure it to her. her circle, if the duller, is not the quieter. if kept from "excitement," she is not from drudgery. not only the indian squaw carries the burdens of the camp, but the favorites of louis xiv. accompany him in his journeys, and the washerwoman stands at her tub, and carries home her work at all seasons, and in all states of health. those who think the physical circumstances of woman would make a part in the affairs of national government unsuitable, are by no means those who think it impossible for negresses to endure field-work, even during pregnancy, or for sempstresses to go through their killing labors. as to the use of the pen, there was quite as much opposition to woman's possessing herself of that help to free agency as there is now to her seizing on the rostrum or the desk; and she is likely to draw, from a permission to plead her cause that way, opposite inferences to what might be wished by those who now grant it. as to the possibility of her filling with grace and dignity any such position, we should think those who had seen the great actresses, and heard the quaker preachers of modern times, would not doubt that woman can express publicly the fulness of thought and creation, without losing any of the peculiar beauty of her sex. what can pollute and tarnish is to act thus from any motive except that something needs to be said or done. woman could take part in the processions, the songs, the dances of old religion; no one fancied her delicacy was impaired by appearing in public for such a cause. as to her home, she is not likely to leave it more than she now does for balls, theatres, meetings for promoting missions, revival meetings, and others to which she flies, in hope of an animation for her existence commensurate with what she sees enjoyed by men. governors of ladies'-fairs are no less engrossed by such a charge, than the governor of a state by his; presidents of washingtonian societies no less away from home than presidents of conventions. if men look straitly to it, they will find that, unless their lives are domestic, those of the women will not be. a house is no home unless it contain food and fire for the mind as well as for the body. the female greek, of our day, is as much in the street as the male to cry, "what news?" we doubt not it was the same in athens of old. the women, shut out from the market-place, made up for it at the religious festivals. for human beings are not so constituted that they can live without expansion. if they do not get it in one way, they must in another, or perish. as to men's representing women fairly at present, while we hear from men who owe to their wives not only all that is comfortable or graceful, but all that is wise, in the arrangement of their lives, the frequent remark, "you cannot reason with a woman,"--when from those of delicacy, nobleness, and poetic culture, falls the contemptuous phrase "women and children," and that in no light sally of the hour, but in works intended to give a permanent statement of the best experiences,--when not one man, in the million, shall i say? no, not in the hundred million, can rise above the belief that woman was made _for man_,--when such traits as these are daily forced upon the attention, can we feel that man will always do justice to the interests of woman? can we think that he takes a sufficiently discerning and religious view of her office and destiny _ever_ to do her justice, except when prompted by sentiment,--accidentally or transiently, that is, for the sentiment will vary according to the relations in which he is placed? the lover, the poet, the artist, are likely to view her nobly. the father and the philosopher have some chance of liberality; the man of the world, the legislator for expediency, none. under these circumstances, without attaching importance, in themselves, to the changes demanded by the champions of woman, we hail them as signs of the times. we would have every arbitrary barrier thrown down. we would have every path laid open to woman as freely as to man. were this done, and a slight temporary fermentation allowed to subside, we should see crystallizations more pure and of more various beauty. we believe the divine energy would pervade nature to a degree unknown in the history of former ages, and that no discordant collision, but a ravishing harmony of the spheres, would ensue. yet, then and only then will mankind be ripe for this, when inward and outward freedom for woman as much as for man shall be acknowledged as a _right_, not yielded as a concession. as the friend of the negro assumes that one man cannot by right hold another in bondage, so should the friend of woman assume that man cannot by right lay even well-meant restrictions on woman. if the negro be a soul, if the woman be a soul, apparelled in flesh, to one master only are they accountable. there is but one law for souls, and, if there is to be an interpreter of it, he must come not as man, or son of man, but as son of god. were thought and feeling once so far elevated that man should esteem himself the brother and friend, but nowise the lord and tutor, of woman,--were he really bound with her in equal worship,--arrangements as to function and employment would be of no consequence. what woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a soul to live freely and unimpeded, to unfold such powers as were given her when we left our common home. if fewer talents were given her, yet if allowed the free and full employment of these, so that she may render back to the giver his own with usury, she will not complain; nay, i dare to say she will bless and rejoice in her earthly birth-place, her earthly lot. let us consider what obstructions impede this good era, and what signs give reason to hope that it draws near. i was talking on this subject with miranda, a woman, who, if any in the world could, might speak without heat and bitterness of the position of her sex. her father was a man who cherished no sentimental reverence for woman, but a firm belief in the equality of the sexes. she was his eldest child, and came to him at an age when he needed a companion. from the time she could speak and go alone, he addressed her not as a plaything, but as a living mind. among the few verses he ever wrote was a copy addressed to this child, when the first locks were cut from her head; and the reverence expressed on this occasion for that cherished head, he never belied. it was to him the temple of immortal intellect. he respected his child, however, too much to be an indulgent parent. he called on her for clear judgment, for courage, for honor and fidelity; in short, for such virtues as he knew. in so far as he possessed the keys to the wonders of this universe, he allowed free use of them to her, and, by the incentive of a high expectation, he forbade, so far as possible, that she should let the privilege lie idle. thus this child was early led to feel herself a child of the spirit. she took her place easily, not only in the world of organized being, but in the world of mind. a dignified sense of self-dependence was given as all her portion, and she found it a sure anchor. herself securely anchored, her relations with others were established with equal security. she was fortunate in a total absence of those charms which might have drawn to her bewildering flatteries, and in a strong electric nature, which repelled those who did not belong to her, and attracted those who did. with men and women her relations were noble,--affectionate without passion, intellectual without coldness. the world was free to her, and she lived freely in it. outward adversity came, and inward conflict; but that faith and self-respect had early been awakened which must always lead, at last, to an outward serenity and an inward peace. of miranda i had always thought as an example, that the restraints upon the sex were insuperable only to those who think them so, or who noisily strive to break them. she had taken a course of her own, and no man stood in her way. many of her acts had been unusual, but excited no uproar. few helped, but none checked her; and the many men who knew her mind and her life, showed to her confidence as to a brother, gentleness as to a sister. and not only refined, but very coarse men approved and aided one in whom they saw resolution and clearness of design. her mind was often the leading one, always effective. when i talked with her upon these matters, and had said very much what i have written, she smilingly replied; "and yet we must admit that i have been fortunate, and this should not be. my good father's early trust gave the first bias, and the rest followed, of course. it is true that i have had less outward aid, in after years, than most women; but that is of little consequence. religion was early awakened in my soul,--a sense that what the soul is capable to ask it must attain, and that, though i might be aided and instructed by others, i must depend on myself as the only constant friend. this self-dependence, which was honored in me, is deprecated as a fault in most women. they are taught to learn their rule from without, not to unfold it from within. "this is the fault of man, who is still vain, and wishes to be more important to woman than, by right, he should be." "men have not shown this disposition toward you," i said. "no; because the position i early was enabled to take was one of self-reliance. and were all women as sure of their wants as i was, the result would be the same. but they are so overloaded with precepts by guardians, who think that nothing is so much to be dreaded for a woman as originality of thought or character, that their minds are impeded by doubts till they lose their chance of fair, free proportions. the difficulty is to got them to the point from which they shall naturally develop self-respect, and learn self-help. "once i thought that men would help to forward this state of things more than i do now. i saw so many of them wretched in the connections they had formed in weakness and vanity. they seemed so glad to esteem women whenever they could. "'the soft arms of affection,' said one of the most discerning spirits, 'will not suffice for me, unless on them i see the steel bracelets of strength.' "but early i perceived that men never, in any extreme of despair, wished to be women. on the contrary, they were ever ready to taunt one another, at any sign of weakness, with, "'art thou not like the women, who,'-- the passage ends various ways, according to the occasion and rhetoric of the speaker. when they admired any woman, they were inclined to speak of her as 'above her sex.' silently i observed this, and feared it argued a rooted scepticism, which for ages had been fastening on the heart, and which only an age of miracles could eradicate. ever i have been treated with great sincerity; and i look upon it as a signal instance of this, that an intimate friend of the other sex said, in a fervent moment, that i 'deserved in some star to be a man.' he was much surprised when i disclosed my view of my position and hopes, when i declared my faith that the feminine side, the side of love, of beauty, of holiness, was now to have its full chance, and that, if either were better, it was better now to be a woman; for even the slightest achievement of good was furthering an especial work of our time. he smiled incredulously. 'she makes the best she can of it,' thought he. 'let jews believe the pride of jewry, but i am of the better sort, and know better.' "another used as highest praise, in speaking of a character in literature, the words 'a manly woman.' "so in the noble passage of ben jonson: 'i meant the day-star should not brighter ride, nor shed like influence, from its lucent seat; i meant she should be courteous, facile, sweet, free from that solemn vice of greatness, pride; i meant each softest virtue there should meet, fit in that softer bosom to abide, only a learned and a _manly_ soul i purposed her, that should with even powers the rock, the spindle, and the shears control of destiny, and spin her own free hours.'" "me thinks," said i, "you are too fastidious in objecting to this. jonson, in using the word 'manly,' only meant to heighten the picture of this, the true, the intelligent fate, with one of the deeper colors." "and yet," said she, "so invariable is the use of this word where a heroic quality is to be described, and i feel so sure that persistence and courage are the most womanly no less than the most manly qualities, that i would exchange these words for others of a larger sense, at the risk of marring the fine tissue of the verse. read, 'a heavenward and instructed soul,' and i should be satisfied. let it not be said, wherever there is energy or creative genius, 'she has a masculine mind.'" * * * * * this by no means argues a willing want of generosity toward woman. man is as generous towards her as he knows how to be. wherever she has herself arisen in national or private history, and nobly shone forth in any form of excellence, men have received her, not only willingly, but with triumph. their encomiums, indeed, are always, in some sense, mortifying; they show too much surprise. "can this be you?" he cries to the transfigured cinderella; "well, i should never have thought it, but i am very glad. we will tell every one that you have '_surpassed your sex_.'" in every-day life, the feelings of the many are stained with vanity. each wishes to be lord in a little world, to be superior at least over one; and he does not feel strong enough to retain a life-long ascendency over a strong nature. only a theseus could conquer before he wed the amazonian queen. hercules wished rather to rest with dejanira, and received the poisoned robe as a fit guerdon. the tale should be interpreted to all those who seek repose with the weak. but not only is man vain and fond of power, but the same want of development, which thus affects him morally, prevents his intellectually discerning the destiny of woman: the boy wants no woman, but only a girl to play ball with him, and mark his pocket handkerchief. thus, in schiller's dignity of woman, beautiful as the poem is, there is no "grave and perfect man," but only a great boy to be softened and restrained by the influence of girls. poets--the elder brothers of their race--have usually seen further; but what can you expect of every-day men, if schiller was not more prophetic as to what women must be? even with richter, one foremost thought about a wife was that she would "cook him something good." but as this is a delicate subject, and we are in constant danger of being accused of slighting what are called "the functions," let me say, in behalf of miranda and myself, that we have high respect for those who "cook something good," who create and preserve fair order in houses, and prepare therein the shining raiment for worthy inmates, worthy guests. only these "functions" must not be a drudgery, or enforced necessity, but a part of life. let ulysses drive the beeves home, while penelope there piles up the fragrant loaves; they are both well employed if these be done in thought and love, willingly. but penelope is no more meant for a baker or weaver solely, than ulysses for a cattle-herd. the sexes should not only correspond to and appreciate, but prophesy to one another. in individual instances this happens. two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold. this is imperfectly or rarely done in the general life. man has gone but little way; now he is waiting to see whether woman can keep step with him; but, instead of calling but, like a good brother, "you can do it, if you only think so," or impersonally, "any one can do what he tries to do;" he often discourages with school-boy brag: "girls can't do that; girls can't play ball." but let any one defy their taunts, break through and be brave and secure, they rend the air with shouts. this fluctuation was obvious in a narrative i have lately seen, the story of the life of countess emily plater, the heroine of the last revolution in poland. the dignity, the purity, the concentrated resolve, the calm, deep enthusiasm, which yet could, when occasion called, sparkle up a holy, an indignant fire, make of this young maiden the figure i want for my frontispiece. her portrait is to be seen in the book, a gentle shadow of her soul. short was the career. like the maid of orleans, she only did enough to verify her credentials, and then passed from a scene on which she was, probably, a premature apparition. when the young girl joined the army, where the report of her exploits had preceded her, she was received in a manner that marks the usual state of feeling. some of the officers were disappointed at her quiet manners; that she had not the air and tone of a stage-heroine. they thought she could not have acted heroically unless in buskins; had no idea that such deeds only showed the habit of her mind. others talked of the delicacy of her sex, advised her to withdraw from perils and dangers, and had no comprehension of the feelings within her breast that made this impossible. the gentle irony of her reply to these self-constituted tutors (not one of whom showed himself her equal in conduct or reason), is as good as her indignant reproof at a later period to the general, whose perfidy ruined all. but though, to the mass of these men, she was an embarrassment and a puzzle, the nobler sort viewed her with a tender enthusiasm worthy of her. "her name," said her biographer, "is known throughout europe. i paint her character that she may be as widely loved." with pride, he shows her freedom from all personal affections; that, though tender and gentle in an uncommon degree, there was no room for a private love in her consecrated life. she inspired those who knew her with a simple energy of feeling like her own. "we have seen," they felt, "a woman worthy the name, capable of all sweet affections, capable of stern virtue." it is a fact worthy of remark, that all these revolutions in favor of liberty have produced female champions that share the same traits, but emily alone has found a biographer. only a near friend could have performed for her this task, for the flower was reared in feminine seclusion, and the few and simple traits of her history before her appearance in the field could only have been known to the domestic circle. her biographer has gathered them up with a brotherly devotion. no! man is not willingly ungenerous. he wants faith and love, because he is not yet himself an elevated being. he cries, with sneering scepticism, "give us a sign." but if the sign appears, his eyes glisten, and he offers not merely approval, but homage. the severe nation which taught that the happiness of the race was forfeited through the fault of a woman, and showed its thought of what sort of regard man owed her, by making him accuse her on the first question to his god,--who gave her to the patriarch as a handmaid, and, by the mosaical law, bound her to allegiance like a serf,--even they greeted, with solemn rapture, all great and holy women as heroines, prophetesses, judges in israel; and, if they made eve listen to the serpent, gave mary as a bride to the holy spirit. in other nations it has been the same down to our day. to the woman who could conquer a triumph was awarded. and not only those whose strength was recommended to the heart by association with goodness and beauty, but those who were bad, if they were steadfast and strong, had their claims allowed. in any age a semiramis, an elizabeth of england, a catharine of russia, makes her place good, whether in a large or small circle. how has a little wit, a little genius, been celebrated in a woman! what an intellectual triumph was that of the lonely aspasia, and how heartily acknowledged! she, indeed, met a pericles. but what annalist, the rudest of men, the most plebeian of husbands, will spare from his page one of the few anecdotes of roman women--sappho! eloisa! the names are of threadbare celebrity. indeed, they were not more suitably met in their own time than the countess colonel plater on her first joining the army. they had much to mourn, and their great impulses did not find due scope. but with time enough, space enough, their kindred appear on the scene. across the ages, forms lean, trying to touch the hem of their retreating robes. the youth here by my side cannot be weary of the fragments from the life of sappho. he will not believe they are not addressed to himself, or that he to whom they were addressed could be ungrateful. a recluse of high powers devotes himself to understand and explain the thought of eloisa; he asserts her vast superiority in soul and genius to her master; he curses the fate that casts his lot in another age than hers. he could have understood her; he would have been to her a friend, such as abelard never could. and this one woman he could have loved and reverenced, and she, alas! lay cold in her grave hundreds of years ago. his sorrow is truly pathetic. these responses, that come too late to give joy, are as tragic as anything we know, and yet the tears of later ages glitter as they fall on tasso's prison bars. and we know how elevating to the captive is the security that somewhere an intelligence must answer to his. the man habitually most narrow towards woman will be flushed, as by the worst assault on christianity, if you say it has made no improvement in her condition. indeed, those most opposed to new acts in her favor, are jealous of the reputation of those which have been done. we will not speak of the enthusiasm excited by actresses, improvisatrici, female singers,--for here mingles the charm of beauty and grace,--but female authors, even learned women, if not insufferably ugly and slovenly, from the italian professor's daughter who taught behind the curtain, down to mrs. carter and madame dacier, are sure of an admiring audience, and, what is far better, chance to use what they have learned, and to learn more, if they can once get a platform on which to stand. but how to get this platform, or how to make it of reasonably easy access, is the difficulty. plants of great vigor will almost always struggle into blossom, despite impediments. but there should be encouragement, and a free genial atmosphere for those of move timid sort, fair play for each in its own kind. some are like the little, delicate flowers which love to hide in the dripping mosses, by the sides of mountain torrents, or in the shade of tall trees. but others require an open field, a rich and loosened soil, or they never show their proper hues. it may be said that man does not have his fair play either; his energies are repressed and distorted by the interposition of artificial obstacles. ay, but he himself has put them there; they have grown out of his own imperfections. if there _is_ a misfortune in woman's lot, it is in obstacles being interposed by men, which do _not_ mark her state; and, if they express her past ignorance, do not her present needs. as every man is of woman born, she has slow but sure means of redress; yet the sooner a general justness of thought makes smooth the path, the better. man is of woman born, and her face bends over him in infancy with an expression he can never quite forget. eminent men have delighted to pay tribute to this image, and it is an hackneyed observation, that most men of genius boast some remarkable development in the mother. the rudest tar brushes off a tear with his coat-sleeve at the hallowed name. the other day, i met a decrepit old man of seventy, on a journey, who challenged the stage company to guess where he was going. they guessed aright, "to see your mother." "yes," said he, "she is ninety-two, but has good eyesight still, they say. i have not seen her these forty years, and i thought i could not die in peace without." i should have liked his picture painted as a companion-piece to that of a boisterous little boy, whom i saw attempt to declaim at a school exhibition-- "o that those lips had language! life has passed with me but roughly since i heard thee last." he got but very little way before sudden tears shamed him from the stage. some gleams of the same expression which shone down upon his infancy, angelically pure and benign, visit man again with hopes of pure love, of a holy marriage. or, if not before, in the eyes of the mother of his child they again are seen, and dim fancies pass before his mind, that woman may not have been born for him alone, but have come from heaven, a commissioned soul, a messenger of truth and love; that she can only make for him a home in which he may lawfully repose, in so far as she is "true to the kindred points of heaven and home." in gleams, in dim fancies, this thought visits the mind of common men. it is soon obscured by the mists of sensuality, the dust of routine, and he thinks it was only some meteor or ignis fatuus that shone. but, as a rosicrucian lamp, it burns unwearied, though condemned to the solitude of tombs; and to its permanent life, as to every truth, each age has in some form borne witness. for the truths, which visit the minds of careless men only in fitful gleams, shine with radiant clearness into those of the poet, the priest, and the artist. whatever may have been the domestic manners of the ancients, the idea of woman was nobly manifested in their mythologies and poems, whore she appears as site in the ramayana, a form of tender purity; as the egyptian isis, [footnote: for an adequate description of the isis, see appendix a.] of divine wisdom never yet surpassed. in egypt, too, the sphynx, walking the earth with lion tread, looked out upon its marvels in the calm, inscrutable beauty of a virgin's face, and the greek could only add wings to the great emblem. in greece, ceres and proserpine, significantly termed "the great goddesses," were seen seated side by side. they needed not to rise for any worshipper or any change; they were prepared for all things, as those initiated to their mysteries knew. more obvious is the meaning of these three forms, the diana, minerva, and vesta. unlike in the expression of their beauty, but alike in this,--that each was self-sufficing. other forms were only accessories and illustrations, none the complement to one like these. another might, indeed, be the companion, and the apollo and diana set off one another's beauty. of the vesta, it is to be observed, that not only deep-eyed, deep-discerning greece, but ruder rome, who represents the only form of good man (the always busy warrior) that could be indifferent to woman, confided the permanence of its glory to a tutelary goddess, and her wisest legislator spoke of meditation as a nymph. perhaps in rome the neglect of woman was a reaction on the manners of etruria, where the priestess queen, warrior queen, would seem to have been so usual a character. an instance of the noble roman marriage, where the stern and calm nobleness of the nation was common to both, we see in the historic page through the little that is told us of brutus and portia. shakspeare has seized on the relation in its native lineaments, harmonizing the particular with the universal; and, while it is conjugal love, and no other, making it unlike the same relation as seen in cymbeline, or othello, even as one star differeth from another in glory. "by that great vow which did incorporate and make us one, unfold to me, yourself, your other half, why you are heavy. ... dwell i but in the suburbs of your good pleasure? if it be no more, portia is brutus' harlot, not his wife." mark the sad majesty of his tone in answer. who would not have lent a life-long credence to that voice of honor? "you are my true and honorable wife; as dear to me as are the ruddy drops that visit this sad heart." it is the same voice that tells the moral of his life in the last words-- "countrymen, my heart doth joy, that, yet in all my life, i found no man but he was true to me." it was not wonderful that it should be so. shakspeare, however, was not content to let portia rest her plea for confidence on the essential nature of the marriage bond: "i grant i am a woman; but withal, a woman that lord brutus took to wife. i grant i am a woman; but withal, a woman well reputed--cato's daughter. think you i am _no stronger than my sex_, being so fathered and so husbanded?" and afterward in the very scene where brutus is suffering under that "insupportable and touching loss," the death of his wife, cassius pleads-- "have you not love enough to bear with me, when that rash humor which my mother gave me makes me forgetful? _brutus_.--yes, cassius, and henceforth, when you are over-earnest with your brutus, he'll think your mother chides, and leaves you so." as indeed it was a frequent belief among the ancients, as with our indians, that the _body_ was inherited from the mother, the _soul_ from the father. as in that noble passage of ovid, already quoted, where jupiter, as his divine synod are looking down on the funeral pyre of hercules, thus triumphs-- "neo nisi _materna_ vulcanum parte potentem, sentiet. aeternum est, a me quod traxit, et expers atque immune neois, nullaque domabile flamma idque ego defunctum terra coelestibus oris accipiam, cunctisque meum laetabile factum dis fore confido. "the part alone of gross _maternal_ flame fire shall devour; while that from me he drew shall live immortal and its force renew; that, when he's dead, i'll raise to realms above; let all the powers the righteous act approve." it is indeed a god speaking of his union with an earthly woman, but it expresses the common roman thought as to marriage,--the same which permitted a man to lend his wife to a friend, as if she were a chattel "she dwelt but in the suburbs of his good pleasure." yet the same city, as i have said, leaned on the worship of vesta, the preserver, and in later times was devoted to that of isis. in sparta, thought, in this respect as in all others, was expressed in the characters of real life, and the women of sparta were as much spartans as the men. the "citoyen, citoyenne" of france was here actualized. was not the calm equality they enjoyed as honorable as the devotion of chivalry? they intelligently shared the ideal life of their nation. like the men they felt: "honor gone, all's gone: better never have been born." they were the true friends of men. the spartan, surely, would not think that he received only his body from his mother. the sage, had he lived in that community, could not have thought the souls of "vain and foppish men will be degraded after death to the forms of women; and, if they do not then make great efforts to retrieve themselves, will become birds." (by the way, it is very expressive of the hard intellectuality of the merely _mannish_ mind, to speak thus of birds, chosen always by the _feminine_ poet as the symbols of his fairest thoughts.) we are told of the greek nations in general, that woman occupied there an infinitely lower place than man. it is difficult to believe this, when we see such range and dignity of thought on the subject in the mythologies, and find the poets producing such ideals as cassandra, iphigenia, antigone, macaria; where sibylline priestesses told the oracle of the highest god, and he could not be content to reign with a, court of fewer than nine muses. even victory wore a female form. but, whatever were the facts of daily life, i cannot complain of the age and nation which represents its thought by such a symbol as i see before me at this moment. it is a zodiac of the busts of gods and goddesses, arranged in pairs. the circle breathes the music of a heavenly order. male and female heads are distinct in expression, but equal in beauty, strength and calmness. each male head is that of a brother and a king,--each female of a sister and a queen. could the thought thus expressed be lived out, there would be nothing more to be desired. there would be unison in variety, congeniality in difference. coming nearer our own time, we find religion and poetry no less true in their revelations. the rude man, just disengaged from the sod, the adam, accuses woman to his god, and records her disgrace to their posterity. he is not ashamed to write that he could be drawn from heaven by one beneath him,--one made, he says, from but a small part of himself. but in the same nation, educated by time, instructed by a succession of prophets, we find woman in as high a position as she has ever occupied, no figure that has ever arisen to greet our eyes has been received with more fervent reverence than that of the madonna. heine calls her the _dame du comptoir_ of the catholic church, and this jeer well expresses a serious truth. and not only this holy and significant image was worshipped by the pilgrim, and the favorite subject of the artist, but it exercised an immediate influence on the destiny of the sex. the empresses who embraced the cross converted sons and husbands. whole calendars of female saints, heroic dames of chivalry, binding the emblem of faith on the heart of the best-beloved, and wasting the bloom of youth in separation and loneliness, for the sake of duties they thought it religion to assume, with innumerable forms of poesy, trace their lineage to this one. nor, however imperfect may be the action, in our day, of the faith thus expressed, and though we can scarcely think it nearer this ideal than that of india or greece was near their ideal, is it in vain that the truth has been recognized, that woman is not only a part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, born that men might not be lonely--but that women are in themselves possessors of and possessed by immortal souls. this truth undoubtedly received a greater outward stability from the belief of the church that the earthly parent of the saviour of souls was a woman. the assumption of the virgin, as painted by sublime artists, as also petrarch's hymn to the madonna, [footnote: appendix b.] cannot have spoken to the world wholly without result, yet oftentimes those who had ears heard not. see upon the nations the influence of this powerful example. in spain look only at the ballads. woman in these is "very woman;" she is the betrothed, the bride, the spouse of man; there is on her no hue of the philosopher, the heroine, the savante, but she looks great and noble. why? because she is also, through her deep devotion, the betrothed of heaven. her upturned eyes have drawn down the light that casts a radiance round her. see only such a ballad as that of "lady teresa's bridal," where the infanta, given to the moorish bridegroom, calls down the vengeance of heaven on his unhallowed passion, and thinks it not too much to expiate by a life in the cloister the involuntary stain upon her princely youth. [footnote: appendix c.] it was this constant sense of claims above those of earthly love or happiness that made the spanish lady who shared this spirit a guerdon to be won by toils and blood and constant purity, rather than a chattel to be bought for pleasure and service. germany did hot need to _learn_ a high view of woman; it was inborn in that race. woman was to the teuton warrior his priestess, his friend, his sister,--in truth, a wife. and the christian statues of noble pairs, as they lie above their graves in stone, expressing the meaning of all the by-gone pilgrimage by hands folded in mutual prayer, yield not a nobler sense of the place and powers of woman than belonged to the _altvater_ day. the holy love of christ which summoned them, also, to choose "the better part--that which could not be taken from them," refined and hallowed in this nation a native faith; thus showing that it was not the warlike spirit alone that left the latins so barbarous in this respect. but the germans, taking so kindly to this thought, did it the more justice. the idea of woman in their literature is expressed both to a greater height and depth than elsewhere. i will give as instances the themes of three ballads: one is upon a knight who had always the name of the virgin on his lips. this protected him all his life through, in various and beautiful modes, both from sin and other dangers; and, when he died, a plant sprang from his grave, which so gently whispered the ave maria that none could pass it by with an unpurified heart. another is one of the legends of the famous drachenfels. a maiden, one of the earliest converts to christianity, was carried by the enraged populace to this dread haunt of "the dragon's fabled brood," to be their prey. she was left alone, but undismayed, for she knew in whom she trusted. so, when the dragons came rushing towards her, she showed them a crucifix and they crouched reverently at her feet. next day the people came, and, seeing these wonders, were all turned to the faith which exalts the lowly. the third i have in mind is another of the rhine legends. a youth is sitting with the maid he loves on the shore of an isle, her fairy kingdom, then perfumed by the blossoming grape-vines which draped its bowers. they are happy; all blossoms with them, and life promises its richest vine. a boat approaches on the tide; it pauses at their foot. it brings, perhaps, some joyous message, fresh dew for their flowers, fresh light on the wave. no! it is the usual check on such great happiness. the father of the count departs for the crusade; will his son join him, or remain to rule their domain, and wed her he loves? neither of the affianced pair hesitates a moment. "i must go with my father,"--"thou must go with thy father." it was one thought, one word. "i will be here again," he said, "when these blossoms have turned to purple grapes." "i hope so," she sighed, while the prophetic sense said "no." and there she waited, and the grapes ripened, and were gathered into the vintage, and he came not. year after year passed thus, and no tidings; yet still she waited. he, meanwhile, was in a moslem prison. long he languished there without hope, till, at last, his patron saint appeared in vision and announced his release, but only on condition of his joining the monastic order for the service of the saint. and so his release was effected, and a safe voyage home given. and once more he sets sail upon the rhine. the maiden, still watching beneath the vines, sees at last the object of all this patient love approach--approach, but not to touch the strand to which she, with outstretched arms, has rushed. he dares not trust himself to land, but in low, heart-broken tones, tells her of heaven's will; and that he, in obedience to his vow, is now on his way to a convent on the river-bank, there to pass the rest of his earthly life in the service of the shrine. and then he turns his boat, and floats away from her and hope of any happiness in this world, but urged, as he believes, by the breath of heaven. the maiden stands appalled, but she dares not murmur, and cannot hesitate long. she also bids them prepare her boat. she follows her lost love to the convent gate, requests an interview with the abbot, and devotes her elysian isle, where vines had ripened their ruby fruit in vain for her, to the service of the monastery where her love was to serve. then, passing over to the nunnery opposite, she takes the veil, and meets her betrothed at the altar; and for a life-long union, if not the one they had hoped in earlier years. is not this sorrowful story of a lofty beauty? does it not show a sufficiently high view of woman, of marriage? this is commonly the chivalric, still more the german view. yet, wherever there was a balance in the mind of man, of sentiment with intellect, such a result was sure. the greek xenophon has not only painted us a sweet picture of the domestic woman, in his economics, but in the cyropedia has given, in the picture of panthea, a view of woman which no german picture can surpass, whether lonely and quiet with veiled lids, the temple of a vestal loveliness, or with eyes flashing, and hair flowing to the free wind, cheering on the hero to fight for his god, his country, or whatever name his duty might bear at the time. this picture i shall copy by and by. yet xenophon grew up in the same age with him who makes iphigenia say to achilles, "better a thousand women should perish than one man cease to see the light." this was the vulgar greek sentiment. xenophon, aiming at the ideal man, caught glimpses of the ideal woman also. from the figure of a cyrus the pantheas stand not afar. they do not in thought; they would not in life. i could swell the catalogue of instances far beyond the reader's patience. but enough have been brought forward to show that, though there has been great disparity betwixt the nations as between individuals in their culture on this point, yet the idea of woman has always cast some rays and often been forcibly represented. far less has woman to complain that she has not had her share of power. this, in all ranks of society, except the lowest, has been hers to the extent that vanity would crave, far beyond what wisdom would accept. in the very lowest, where man, pressed by poverty, sees in woman only the partner of toils and cares, and cannot hope, scarcely has an idea of, a comfortable home, he often maltreats her, and is less influenced by her. in all ranks, those who are gentle and uncomplaining, too candid to intrigue, too delicate to encroach, suffer much. they suffer long, and are kind; verily, they have their reward. but wherever man is sufficiently raised above extreme poverty, or brutal stupidity, to care for the comforts of the fireside, or the bloom and ornament of life, woman has always power enough, if she choose to exert it, and is usually disposed to do so, in proportion to her ignorance and childish vanity. unacquainted with the importance of life and its purposes, trained to a selfish coquetry and love of petty power, she does not look beyond the pleasure of making herself felt at the moment, and governments are shaken and commerce broken up to gratify the pique of a female favorite. the english shopkeeper's wife does not vote, but it is for her interest that the politician canvasses by the coarsest flattery. france suffers no woman on her throne, but her proud nobles kiss the dust at the feet of pompadour and dubarry; for such flare in the lighted foreground where a roland would modestly aid in the closet. spain (that same spain which sang of ximena and the lady teresa) shuts up her women in the care of duennas, and allows them no book but the breviary; but the ruin follows only the more surely from the worthless favorite of a worthless queen. relying on mean precautions, men indeed cry peace, peace, where there is no peace. it is not the transient breath of poetic incense that women want; each can receive that from a lover. it is not life-long sway; it needs but to become a coquette, a shrew, or a good cook, to be sure of that. it is not money, nor notoriety, nor the badges of authority which men have appropriated to themselves. if demands, made in their behalf, lay stress on any of these particulars, those who make them have not searched deeply into the need. the want is for that which at once includes these and precludes them; which would not be forbidden power, lest there be temptation to steal and misuse it; which would not have the mind perverted by flattery from a worthiness of esteem; it is for that which is the birthright of every being capable of receiving it,--the freedom, the religious, the intelligent freedom of the universe to use its means, to learn its secret, as far as nature has enabled them, with god alone for their guide and their judge. ye cannot believe it, men; but the only reason why women over assume what is more appropriate to you, is because you prevent them from finding out what is fit for themselves. were they free, were they wise fully to develop the strength and beauty of woman; they would never wish to be men, or man-like. the well-instructed moon flies not from her orbit to seize on the glories of her partner. no; for she knows that one law rules, one heaven contains, one universe replies to them alike. it is with women as with the slave: "vor dem sklaven, wenn er die kette bricht, vor dem frelen menschen erzittert nicht." tremble not before the free man, but before the slave who has chains to break. in slavery, acknowledged slavery, women are on a par with men. each is a work-tool, an article of property, no more! in perfect freedom, such as is painted in olympus, in swedenborg's angelic state, in the heaven where there is no marrying nor giving in marriage, each is a purified intelligence, an enfranchised soul,--no less. "jene himmlische gestalten sie fragen nicht nach mann und welb, und keine kielder, keine falten umgeben den verklarten leib." the child who song this was a prophetic form, expressive of the longing for a state of perfect freedom, pure love. she could not remain here, but was translated to another air. and it may be that the air of this earth will never be so tempered that such can bear it long. but, while they stay, they must bear testimony to the truth they are constituted to demand. that an era approaches which shall approximate nearer to such a temper than any has yet done, there are many tokens; indeed, so many that only a few of the most prominent can here be enumerated. the reigns of elizabeth of england and isabella of castile foreboded this era. they expressed the beginning of the new state; while they forwarded its progress. these were strong characters, and in harmony with the wants of their time. one showed that this strength did not unfit a woman for the duties of a wife and a mother; the other, that it could enable her to live and die alone, a wide energetic life, a courageous death. elizabeth is certainly no pleasing example. in rising above the weakness, she did not lay aside the foibles ascribed to her sex; but her strength must be respected now, as it was in her own time. mary stuart and elizabeth seem types, moulded by the spirit of the time, and placed upon an elevated platform, to show to the coming ages woman such as the conduct and wishes of man in general is likely to make her. the first shows woman lovely even to allurement; quick in apprehension and weak in judgment; with grace and dignity of sentiment, but no principle; credulous and indiscreet, yet artful; capable of sudden greatness or of crime, but not of a steadfast wisdom, nor self-restraining virtue. the second reveals woman half-emancipated and jealous of her freedom, such as she has figured before or since in many a combative attitude, mannish, not equally manly; strong and prudent more than great or wise; able to control vanity, and the wish to rule through coquetry and passion, but not to resign these dear deceits from the very foundation, as unworthy a being capable of truth and nobleness. elizabeth, taught by adversity, put on her virtues as armor, more than produced them in a natural order from her soul. the time and her position called on her to act the wise sovereign, and she was proud that she could do so, but her tastes and inclinations would have led her to act the weak woman. she was without magnanimity of any kind. we may accept as an omen for ourselves that it was isabella who furnished columbus with the means of coming hither. this land must pay back its debt to woman, without whose aid it would not have been brought into alliance with the civilized world. a graceful and meaning figure is that introduced to us by mr. prescott, in the conquest of mexico, in the indian girl marina, who accompanied cortez, and was his interpreter in all the various difficulties of his career. she stood at his side, on the walls of the besieged palace, to plead with her enraged countrymen. by her name he was known in new spain, and, after the conquest, her gentle intercession was often of avail to the conquered. the poem of the future may be read in some features of the story of "malinche." the influence of elizabeth on literature was real, though, by sympathy with its finer productions, she was no more entitled to give name to an era than queen anne. it was simply that the fact of having a female sovereign on the throne affected the course of a writer's thoughts. in this sense, the presence of a woman on the throne always makes its mark. life is lived before the eyes of men, by which their imaginations are stimulated as to the possibilities of woman. "we will die for our king, maria, theresa," cry the wild warriors, clashing their swords; and the sounds vibrate through the poems of that generation. the range of female character in spenser alone might content us for one period. britomart and belphoebe have as much room on the canvas as florimel; and, where this is the case, the haughtiest amazon will not murmur that una should be felt to be the fairest type. unlike as was the english queen to a fairy queen, we may yet conceive that it was the image of a queen before the poet's mind that called up this splendid court of women. shakspeare's range is also great; but he has left out the heroic characters, such as the macaria of greece, the britomart of spenser. ford and massinger have, in this respect, soared to a higher flight of feeling than he. it was the holy and heroic woman they most loved, and if they could not paint an imogen, a desdemona, a rosalind, yet, in those of a stronger mould, they showed a higher ideal, though with so much less poetic power to embody it, than we see in portia or isabella, the simple truth of cordelia, indeed, is of this sort. the beauty of cordelia is neither male nor female; it is the beauty of virtue. the ideal of love and marriage rose high in the mind of all the christian nations who were capable of grave and deep feeling. we may take as examples of its english aspect the lines, "i could not love thee, dear, so much, loved i not honor more." or the address of the commonwealth's man to his wife, as she looked out from the tower window to see him, for the last time, on his way to the scaffold. he stood up in the cart, waved his hat, and cried, "to heaven, my love, to heaven, and leave you in the storm!" such was the love of faith and honor,--a love which stopped, like colonel hutchinson's, "on this side idolatry," because it was religious. the meeting of two such souls donne describes as giving birth to an "abler soul." lord herbert wrote to his love, "were not our souls immortal made, our equal loves can make them such." in the "broken heart," of ford, penthea, a character which engages my admiration even more deeply than the famous one of calanthe, is made to present to the mind the most beautiful picture of what these relations should be in their purity. her life cannot sustain the violation of what she so clearly feels. shakspeare, too, saw that, in true love, as in fire, the utmost ardor is coincident with the utmost purity. it is a true lover that exclaims in the agony of othello, "if thou art false, o then heaven mocks itself!" the son, framed, like hamlet, to appreciate truth in all the beauty of relations, sinks into deep melancholy when he finds his natural expectations disappointed. he has no other. she to whom he gave the name, disgraces from his heart's shrine all the sex. "frailty, thy name is woman." it is because a hamlet could find cause to say so, that i have put the line, whose stigma has never been removed, at the head of my work. but, as a lover, surely hamlet would not have so far mistaken, as to have finished with such a conviction. he would have felt the faith of othello, and that faith could not, in his more dispassionate mind, have been disturbed by calumny. in spain, this thought is arrayed in a sublimity which belongs to the sombre and passionate genius of the nation. calderon's justina resists all the temptation of the demon, and raises her lover, with her, above the sweet lures of mere temporal happiness. their marriage is vowed at the stake; their goals are liberated together by the martyr flame into "a purer state of sensation and existence." in italy, the great poets wove into their lives an ideal love which answered to the highest wants. it included those of the intellect and the affections, for it was a love of spirit for spirit. it was not ascetic, or superhuman, but, interpreting all things, gave their proper beauty to details of the common life, the common day. the poet spoke of his love, not as a flower to place in his bosom, or hold carelessly in his hand, but as a light toward which he must find wings to fly, or "a stair to heaven." he delighted to speak of her, not only as the bride of his heart, but the mother of his soul; for he saw that, in cases where the right direction had been taken, the greater delicacy of her frame and stillness of her life left her more open than is man to spiritual influx. so he did not look upon her as betwixt him and earth, to serve his temporal needs, but, rather, betwixt him and heaven, to purify his affections and lead him to wisdom through love. he sought, in her, not so much the eve as the madonna. in these minds the thought, which gleams through all the legends of chivalry, shines in broad intellectual effulgence, not to be misinterpreted; and their thought is reverenced by the world, though it lies far from the practice of the world as yet,--so far that it seems as though a gulf of death yawned between. even with such men the practice was, often, widely different from the mental faith. i say mental; for if the heart were thoroughly alive with it, the practice could not be dissonant. lord herbert's was a marriage of convention, made for him at fifteen; he was not discontented with it, but looked only to the advantages it brought of perpetuating his family on the basis of a great fortune. he paid, in act, what he considered a dutiful attention to the bond; his thoughts travelled elsewhere; and while forming a high ideal of the companionship of minds in marriage, he seems never to have doubted that its realization must be postponed to some other state of being. dante, almost immediately after the death of beatrice, married a lady chosen for him by his friends, and boccaccio, in describing the miseries that attended, in this case, "the form of an union where union is none," speaks as if these were inevitable to the connection, and as if the scholar and poet, especially, could expect nothing but misery and obstruction in a domestic partnership with woman. centuries have passed since, but civilized europe is still in a transition state about marriage; not only in practice but in thought. it is idle to speak with contempt of the nations where polygamy is an institution, or seraglios a custom, while practices far more debasing haunt, well-nigh fill, every city and every town, and so far as union of one with one is believed to be the only pure form of marriage, a great majority of societies and individuals are still doubtful whether the earthly bond must be a meeting of souls, or only supposes a contract of convenience and utility. were woman established in the rights of an immortal being, this could not be. she would not, in some countries, be given away by her father, with scarcely more respect for her feelings than is shown by the indian chief, who sells his daughter for a horse, and beats her if she runs away from her new home. nor, in societies where her choice is left free, would she be perverted, by the current of opinion that seizes her, into the belief that she must marry, if it be only to find a protector, and a home of her own. neither would man, if he thought the connection of permanent importance, form it so lightly. he would not deem it a trifle, that he was to enter into the closest relations with another soul, which, if not eternal in themselves, must eternally affect his growth. neither, did he believe woman capable of friendship, [footnote: see appendix d, spinoza's view] would he, by rash haste, lose the chance of finding a friend in the person who might, probably, live half a century by his side. did love, to his mind, stretch forth into infinity, he would not miss his chance of its revelations, that he might the sooner rest from his weariness by a bright fireside, and secure a sweet and graceful attendant "devoted to him alone." were he a step higher, he would not carelessly enter into a relation where he might not be able to do the duty of a friend, as well as a protector from external ill, to the other party, and have a being in his power pining for sympathy, intelligence and aid, that he could not give. what deep communion, what real intercourse is implied in sharing the joys and cares of parentage, when any degree of equality is admitted between the parties! it is true that, in a majority of instances, the man looks upon his wife as an adopted child, and places her to the other children in the relation of nurse or governess, rather than that of parent. her influence with them is sure; but she misses the education which should enlighten that influence, by being thus treated. it is the order of nature that children should complete the education, moral and mental, of parents, by making them think what is needed for the best culture of human beings, and conquer all faults and impulses that interfere with their giving this to these dear objects, who represent the world to them. father and mother should assist one another to learn what is required for this sublime priesthood of nature. but, for this, a religious recognition of equality is required. where this thought of equality begins to diffuse itself, it is shown in four ways. first;--the household partnership. in our country, the woman looks for a "smart but kind" husband; the man for a "capable, sweet-tempered" wife. the man furnishes the house; the woman regulates it. their relation is one of mutual esteem, mutual dependence. their talk is of business; their affection shows itself by practical kindness. they know that life goes more smoothly and cheerfully to each for the other's aid; they are grateful and content. the wife praises her husband as a "good provider;" the husband, in return, compliments her as a "capital housekeeper." this relation is good so far as it goes. next comes a closer tie, which takes the form either of mutual idolatry or of intellectual companionship. the first, we suppose, is to no one a pleasing subject of contemplation. the parties weaken and narrow one another; they lock the gate against all the glories of the universe, that they may live in a cell together. to themselves they seem the only wise; to all others, steeped in infatuation; the gods smile as they look forward to the crisis of cure; to men, the woman seems an unlovely syren; to women, the man an effeminate boy. the other form, of intellectual companionship, has become more and more frequent. men engaged in public life, literary men, and artists, have often found in their wives companions and confidants in thought no less than in feeling. and, as the intellectual development of woman has spread wider and risen higher, they have, not unfrequently, shared the same employment; as in the case of roland and his wife, who were friends in the household and in the nation's councils, read, regulated home affairs, or prepared public documents together, indifferently. it is very pleasant, in letters begun by roland and finished by his wife, to see the harmony of mind, and the difference of nature; one thought, but various ways of treating it. this is one of the best instances of a marriage of friendship. it was only friendship, whose basis was esteem; probably neither party knew love, except by name. roland was a good man, worthy to esteem, and be esteemed; his wife as deserving of admiration as able to do without it. madame roland is the fairest specimen we yet have of her class; as clear to discern her aim, as valiant to pursue it, as spenser's britomart; austerely set apart from all that did not belong to her, whether as woman or as mind. she is an antetype of a class to which the coming time will afford a field--the spartan matron, brought by the culture of the age of books to intellectual consciousness and expansion. self-sufficingness, strength, and clearsightedness were, in her, combined with a power of deep and calm affection. she, too, would have given a son or husband the device for his shield, "return with it or upon it;" and this, not because she loved little, but much. the page of her life is one of unsullied dignity. her appeal to posterity is one against the injustice of those who committed such crimes in the name of liberty. she makes it in behalf of herself and her husband. i would put beside it, on the shelf, a little volume, containing a similar appeal from the verdict of contemporaries to that of mankind, made by godwin in behalf of his wife, the celebrated, the by most men detested, mary wolstonecraft. in his view, it was an appeal from the injustice of those who did such wrong in the name of virtue. were this little book interesting for no other cause, it would be so for the generous affection evinced under the peculiar circumstances. this man had courage to love and honor this woman in the face of the world's sentence, and of all that was repulsive in her own past history. he believed he saw of what soul she was, and that the impulses she had struggled to act out were noble, though the opinions to which they had led might not be thoroughly weighed. he loved her, and he defended her for the meaning and tendency of her inner life. it was a good fact. mary wolstonecraft, like madame dudevant (commonly known as george sand) in our day, was a woman whose existence better proved the need of some new interpretation of woman's rights than anything she wrote. such beings as these, rich in genius, of most tender sympathies, capable of high virtue and a chastened harmony, ought not to find themselves, by birth, in a place so narrow, that, in breaking bonds, they become outlaws. were there as much room in the world for such, as in spenser's poem for britomart, they would not run their heads so wildly against the walls, but prize their shelter rather. they find their way, at last, to light and air, but the world will not take off the brand it has set upon them. the champion of the rights of woman found, in godwin, one who would plead that cause like a brother. he who delineated with such purity of traits the form of woman in the marguerite, of whom the weak st. leon could never learn to be worthy,--a pearl indeed whose price was above rubies,--was not false in life to the faith by which he had hallowed his romance. he acted, as he wrote, like a brother. this form of appeal rarely fails to touch the basest man:--"are you acting toward other women in the way you would have men act towards your sister?" george sand smokes, wears male attire, wishes to be addressed as "mon frere;"--perhaps, if she found those who were as brothers indeed, she would not care whether she were brother or sister. [footnote: a note appended by my sister in this place, in the first edition, is here omitted, because it is incorporated in another article in this volume, treating of george sand more at length.--[ed.]] we rejoice to see that she, who expresses such a painful contempt for men in most of her works, as shows she must have known great wrong from them, depicts, in "la roche mauprat," a man raised by the workings of love from the depths of savage sensualism to a moral and intellectual life. it was love for a pure object, for a steadfast woman, one of those who, the italian said, could make the "stair to heaven." this author, beginning like the many in assault upon bad institutions, and external ills, yet deepening the experience through comparative freedom, sees at last that the only efficient remedy must come from individual character. these bad institutions, indeed, it may always be replied, prevent individuals from forming good character, therefore we must remove them. agreed; yet keep steadily the higher aim in view. could you clear away all the bad forms of society, it is vain, unless the individual begin to be ready for better. there must be a parallel movement in these two branches of life. and all the rules left by moses availed less to further the best life than the living example of one messiah. still the mind of the age struggles confusedly with these problems, better discerning as yet the ill it can no longer bear, than the good by which it may supersede it. but women like sand will speak now and cannot be silenced; their characters and their eloquence alike foretell an era when such as they shall easier learn to lead true lives. but though such forebode, not such shall be parents of it. [footnote: appendix e.] those who would reform the world must show that they do not speak in the heat of wild impulse; their lives must be unstained by passionate error; they must be severe lawgivers to themselves. they must be religious students of the divine purpose with regard to man, if they would not confound the fancies of a day with the requisitions of eternal good. their liberty must be the liberty of law and knowledge. but as to the transgressions against custom which have caused such outcry against those of noble intention, it may be observed that the resolve of eloisa to be only the mistress of abelard, was that of one who saw in practice around her the contract of marriage made the seal of degradation. shelley feared not to be fettered, unless so to be was to be false. wherever abuses are seen, the timid will suffer; the bold will protest. but society has a right to outlaw them till she has revised her law; and this she must be taught to do, by one who speaks with authority, not in anger or haste. if godwin's choice of the calumniated authoress of the "rights of woman," for his honored wife, be a sign of a new era, no less so is an article to which i have alluded some pages back, published five or six years ago in one of the english reviews, where the writer, in doing fall justice to eloisa, shows his bitter regret that she lives not now to love him, who might have known bettor how to prize her love than did the egotistical abelard. these marriages, these characters, with all their imperfections, express an onward tendency. they speak of aspiration of soul, of energy of mind, seeking clearness and freedom. of a like promise are the tracts lately published by goodwyn barmby (the european pariah, as he calls himself) and his wife catharine. whatever we may think of their measures, we see in them wedlock; the two minds are wed by the only contract that can permanently avail, that of a common faith and a common purpose. we might mention instances, nearer home, of minds, partners in work and in life, sharing together, on equal terms, public and private interests, and which wear not, on any side, the aspect of offence shown by those last-named: persons who steer straight onward, yet, in our comparatively free life, have not been obliged to run their heads against any wall. but the principles which guide them might, under petrified and oppressive institutions, have made them warlike, paradoxical, and, in some sense, pariahs. the phenomena are different, the law is the same, in all these cases. men and women have been obliged to build up their house anew from the very foundation. if they found stone ready in the quarry, they took it peaceably; otherwise they alarmed the country by pulling down old towers to get materials. these are all instances of marriage as intellectual companionship. the parties meet mind to mind, and a mutual trust is produced, which can buckler them against a million. they work together for a common, purpose, and, in all these instances, with the same implement,--the pen. the pen and the writing-desk furnish forth as naturally the retirement of woman as of man. a pleasing expression, in this kind, is afforded by the union in the names of the howitts. william and mary howitt we heard named together for years, supposing them to be brother and sister; the equality of labors and reputation, even so, was auspicious; more so, now we find them man and wife. in his late work on germany, howitt mentions his wife, with pride, as one among the constellation of distinguished english-women, and in a graceful, simple manner. and still we contemplate with pleasure the partnership in literature and affection between the howitts,--the congenial pursuits and productions--the pedestrian tours wherein the married pair showed that marriage, on a wide enough basis, does not destroy the "inexhaustible" entertainment which lovers find in one another's company. in naming these instances, i do not mean to imply that community of employment is essential to the union of husband and wife, more than to the union of friends. harmony exists in difference, no less than in likeness, if only the same key-note govern both parts. woman the poem, man the poet! woman the heart, man the head! such divisions are only important when they are never to be transcended. if nature is never bound down, nor the voice of inspiration stifled, that is enough. we are pleased that women should write and speak, if they feel need of it, from having something to tell; but silence for ages would be no misfortune, if that silence be from divine command, and not from man's tradition. while goetz von berlichingen rides to battle, his wife is busy in the kitchen; but difference of occupation does not prevent that community of inward life, that perfect esteem, with which he says, "whom god loves, to him gives he such a wife." manzoni thus dedicates his "adelchi." "to his beloved and venerated wife, enrichetta luigia blondel, who, with conjugal affection and maternal wisdom, has preserved a virgin mind, the author dedicates this 'adelchi,' grieving that he could not, by a more splendid and more durable monument, honor the dear name, and the memory of so many virtues." the relation could not be fairer, nor more equal, if she, too, had written poems. yet the position of the parties might have been the reverse as well; the woman might have sung the deeds, given voice to the life of the man, and beauty would have been the result; as we see, in pictures of arcadia, the nymph singing to the shepherds, or the shepherd, with his pipe, alluring the nymphs; either makes a good picture. the sounding lyre requires not muscular strength, but energy of soul to animate the hand which would control it. nature seems to delight in varying the arrangements, as if to show that she will be fettered by no rule; and we must admit the same varieties that she admits. the fourth and highest grade of marriage union is the religious, which may be expressed as pilgrimage toward a common shrine. this includes the others: home sympathies and household wisdom, for these pilgrims must know how to assist each other along the dusty way; intellectual communion, for how sad it would be on such a journey to have a companion to whom you could not communicate your thoughts and aspirations as they sprang to life; who would have no feeling for the prospects that open, more and more glorious as we advance; who would never see the flowers that may be gathered by the most industrious traveller! it must include all these. such a fellow-pilgrim count zinzendorf seems to have found in his countess, of whom he thus writes: "twenty-five years' experience has shown me that just the help-meet whom i have is the only one that could suit my vocation. who else could have so carried through my family affairs? who lived so spotlessly before the world? who so wisely aided me in my rejection of a dry morality? who so clearly set aside the pharisaism which, as years passed, threatened to creep in among us? who so deeply discerned as to the spirits of delusion which sought to bewilder us? who would have governed my whole economy so wisely, richly and hospitably, when circumstances commanded? who have taken indifferently the part of servant or mistress, without, on the one side, affecting an especial spirituality; on the other, being sullied by any worldly pride? who, in a community where all ranks are eager to be on a level, would, from wise and real causes, have known how to maintain inward and outward distinctions? who, without a murmur, have seen her husband encounter such dangers by land and sea? who undertaken with him, and _sustained_, such astonishing pilgrimages? who, amid such difficulties, would have always held up her head and supported me? who found such vast sums of money, and acquitted them on her own credit? and, finally, who, of all human beings, could so well understand and interpret to others my inner and outer being as this one, of such nobleness in her way of thinking, such great intellectual capacity, and so free from the theological perplexities that enveloped me!" let any one peruse, with all intentness, the lineaments of this portrait, and see if the husband had not reason, with this air of solemn rapture and conviction, to challenge comparison? we are reminded of the majestic cadence of the line whose feet stop in the just proportion of humanity, "daughter of god and mati, accomplished eve!" an observer [footnote: spangenberg] adds this testimony: "we may, in many marriages, regard it as the best arrangement, if the man has so much advantage over his wife, that she can, without much thought of her own, be led and directed by him as by a father. but it was not so with the count and his consort. she was not made to be a copy; she was an original; and, while she loved and honored him, she thought for herself, on all subjects, with so much intelligence, that he could and did look on her as a sister and friend also." compare with this refined specimen of a religiously civilized life the following imperfect sketch of a north american indian, and we shall see that the same causes will always produce the same results, the flying pigeon (ratchewaine) was the wife of a barbarous chief, who had six others; but she was his only true wife, because the only one of a strong and pure character, and, having this, inspired a veneration, as like as the mind of the man permitted to that inspired by the countess zinzendorf. she died when her son was only four years old, yet left on his mind a feeling of reverent love worthy the thought of christian chivalry. grown to manhood, he shed tears on seeing her portrait. the flying pigeon. "ratchewaine was chaste, mild, gentle in her disposition, kind, generous, and devoted to her husband. a harsh word was never known to proceed from her mouth; nor was she ever known to be in a passion. mabaskah used to say of her, after her death, that her hand was shut when those who did not want came into her presence; but when the really poor came in, it was like a strainer full of holes, letting all she held in it pass through. in the exercise of generous feeling she was uniform, it was not indebted for its exercise to whim, nor caprice, nor partiality. no matter of what nation the applicant for her bounty was, or whether at war or peace with her nation; if he were hungry, she fed him; if naked, she clothed him; and, if houseless, she gave him shelter. the continued exercise of this generous feeling kept her poor. and she has been known to give away her last blanket--all the honey that was in the lodge, the last bladder of bear's oil, and the last piece of dried meat. "she was scrupulously exact in the observance of all the religious rites which her faith imposed upon her. her conscience is represented to have been extremely tender. she often feared that her acts were displeasing to the great spirit, when she would blacken her face, and retire to some lone place, and fast and pray." to these traits should be added, but for want of room, anecdotes which show the quick decision and vivacity of her mind. her face was in harmony with this combination. her brow is as ideal and the eyes and lids as devout and modest as the italian picture of the madonna, while the lower part of the face has the simplicity and childish strength of the indian race. her picture presents the finest specimen of indian beauty we have ever seen. such a woman is the sister and friend of all beings, as the worthy man is their brother and helper. with like pleasure we survey the pairs wedded on the eve of missionary effort they, indeed, are fellow-pilgrims on the well-made road, and whether or no they accomplish all they hope for the sad hindoo, or the nearer savage, we feel that in the burning waste their love is like to be a healing dew, in the forlorn jungle a tent of solace to one another. they meet, as children of one father, to read together one book of instruction. we must insert in this connection the most beautiful picture presented by ancient literature of wedded love under this noble form. it is from the romance in which xenophon, the chivalrous greek, presents his ideal of what human nature should be. the generals of cyrus had taken captive a princess, a woman of unequalled beauty, and hastened to present her to the prince as that part of the spoil he would think most worthy of his acceptance. cyrus visits the lady, and is filled with immediate admiration by the modesty and majesty with which she receives him. he finds her name is panthea, and that she is the wife of abradatus, a young king whom she entirely loves. he protects her as a sister, in his camp, till he can restore her to her husband. after the first transports of joy at this reunion, the heart of panthea is bent on showing her love and gratitude to her magnanimous and delicate protector. and as she has nothing so precious to give as the aid of abradatus, that is what she most wishes to offer. her husband is of one soul with her in this, as in all things. the description of her grief and self-destruction, after the death which ensued upon this devotion, i have seen quoted, but never that of their parting when she sends him forth to battle. i shall copy both. if they have been read by any of my readers, they may be so again with profit in this connection, for never were the heroism of a true woman, and the purity of love in a true marriage, painted in colors more delicate and more lively. "the chariot of abradatus, that had four perches and eight horses, was completely adorned for him; and when he was going to put on his linen corslet, which was a sort of armor used by those of his country, panthea brought him a golden helmet, and arm-pieces, broad bracelets for his wrists, a purple habit that reached down to his feet, and hung in folds at the bottom, and a crest dyed of a violet color. these things she had made, unknown to her husband, and by taking the measure of his armor. he wondered when he saw them, and inquired thus of panthea: 'and have you made me these arms, woman, by destroying your own ornaments?' 'no, by jove!' said panthea, 'not what is the most valuable of them; for it is you, if you appear to others to be what i think you, that will be my greatest ornament.' and, saying that, she put on him the armor, and, though she endeavored to conceal it, the tears poured down her checks. when abradatus, who was before a man of fine appearance, was set out in those arms, he appeared the most beautiful and noble of all, especially being likewise so by nature. then, taking the reins from the driver, he was just preparing to mount the chariot, when panthea, after she had desired all that were there to retire, thus said: "'o abradatus! if ever there was a woman who had a greater regard to her husband than to her own soul, i believe you know that i am such an one; what need i therefore speak of things in particular? for i reckon that my actions have convinced you more than any words i can now use. and yet, though i stand thus affected toward you, as you know i do, i swear, by this friendship of mine and yours, that i certainly would rather choose to be put under ground jointly with you, approving yourself a brave man, than to live with you in disgrace and shame; so much do i think you and myself worthy of the noblest things. then i think that we both lie under great obligations to cyrus, that, when i was a captive, and chosen out for himself, he thought fit to treat me neither as a slave, nor, indeed, as a woman of mean account, but he took and kept me for you, as if i were his brother's wife. besides, when araspes, who was my guard, went away from him, i promised him, that, if he would allow me to send for you, you would come to him, and approve yourself a much better and move faithful friend than araspes.' "thus she spoke; and abradatus, being struck with admiration at her discourse, laying, his hand gently on her head, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, made this prayer: 'do thou, o greatest jove! i grant me to appear a husband worthy of panthea, and a friend worthy of cyrus, who has done us so much honor!' "having said this, he mounted the chariot by the door of the driver's seat; and, after he had got up, when the driver shut the door, panthea, who had now no other way to salute him, kissed the seat of the chariot. the chariot then moved, and she, unknown to him, followed, till abradatus turning about, and seeing her, said: 'take courage, panthea! fare you happily and well, and now go your ways.' on this her women and servants carried her to her conveyance, and, laying her down, concealed her by throwing the covering of a tent over her. the people, though abradatus and his chariot made a noble spectacle, were not able to look at him till panthea was gone." after the battle-- "cyrus calling to some of his servants, 'tell me, said he, 'has any one seen abradatus? for i admire that he now does not appear.' one replied, 'my sovereign, it is because he is not living, but died in the battle as he broke in with his chariot on the egyptians. all the rest, except his particular companions, they say, turned off when they saw the egyptians' compact body. his wife is now said to have taken up his dead body, to have placed it in the carriage that she herself was conveyed in, and to have brought it hither to some place on the river pactolus, and her servants are digging a grave on a certain elevation. they say that his wife, after setting him out with all the ornaments she has, is sitting on the ground with his head on her knees.' cyrus, hearing this, gave himself a blow on the thigh, mounted his horse at a leap, and, taking with him a thousand horse, rode away to this scene of affliction; but gave orders to gadatas and gobryas to take with them all the rich ornaments proper for a friend and an excellent man deceased, and to follow after him; and whoever had herds of cattle with him, he ordered them to take both oxen, and horses, and sheep in good number, and to bring them away to the place where, by inquiry, they should find him to be, that he might sacrifice these to abradatus. "as soon as he saw the woman sitting on the ground, and the dead body there lying, he shed tears at the afflicting sight, and said: 'alas! thou brave and faithful soul, hast thou left us, and art thou gone?' at the same time he took him by the right hand, and the hand of the deceased came away, for it had been cut off with a sword by the egyptians. he, at the sight of this, became yet much more concerned than before. the woman shrieked out in a lamentable manner, and, taking the hand from cyrus, kissed it, fitted it to its proper place again, as well as she could, and said: 'the rest, cyrus, is in the same condition, but what need you see it? and i know that i was not one of the least concerned in these his sufferings, and, perhaps, you were not less so; for i, fool that i was! frequently exhorted him to behave in such a manner as to appear a friend to you, worthy of notice; and i know he never thought of what he himself should suffer, but of what he should do to please you. he is dead, therefore,' said she, 'without reproach, and i, who urged him on, sit here alive.' cyrus, shedding tears for some time in silence, then spoke:--'he has died, woman, the noblest death; for he has died victorious! do you adorn him with these things that i furnish you with.' (gobryas and gadatas were then come up, and had brought rich ornaments in great abundance with them.) 'then,' said he, 'be assured that he shall not want respect and honor in all other things; but, over and above, multitudes shall concur in raising him a monument that shall be worthy of us, and all the sacrifices shall be made him that are proper to be made in honor of a brave man. you shall not be left destitute, but, for the sake of your modesty and every other virtue, i will pay you all other honors, as well as place those about you who will conduct you wherever you please. do you but make it known to me where it is that you desire to be conveyed to.' and panthea replied: 'be confident, cyrus, i will not conceal from you to whom it is that i desire to go.' "he, having said this, went away with great pity for her that she should have lost such a husband, and for the man that he should have left such a wife behind him, never to see her more. panthea then gave orders for her servants to retire, 'till such time,' said she, 'as i shall have lamented my husband as i please.' her nurse she bid to stay, and gave orders that, when she was dead, she would wrap her and her husband up in one mantle together. the nurse, after having repeatedly begged her not to do this, and meeting with no success, but observing her to grow angry, sat herself down, breaking out into tears. she, being beforehand provided with a sword, killed herself, and, laying her head down on her husband's breast, she died. the nurse set up a lamentable cry, and covered them both, as panthea had directed. "cyrus, as soon as he was informed of what the woman had done, being struck with it, went to help her if he could. the servants, three in number, seeing what had been done, drew their swords and killed themselves, as they stood at the place where she bad ordered them. and the monument is now said to have been raised by continuing the mound on to the servants; and on a pillar above, they say, the names of the man and woman were written in syriac letters. "below were three pillars, and they were inscribed thus, 'of the servants.' cyrus, when he came to this melancholy scene, was struck with admiration of the woman, and, having lamented over her, went away. he took care, as was proper, that all the funeral rites should be paid them in the noblest manner, and the monument, they say, was raised up to a very great size." * * * * * these be the ancients, who, so many assert, had no idea of the dignity of woman, or of marriage. such love xenophon could paint as subsisting between those who after death "would see one another never more." thousands of years have passed since, and with the reception of the cross, the nations assume the belief that those who part thus may meet again and forever, if spiritually fitted to one another, as abradatus and panthea were, and yet do we see such marriages among them? if at all, how often? i must quote two more short passages from xenophon, for he is a writer who pleases me well. cyrus, receiving the armenians whom he had conquered-- "'tigranes,' said he, 'at what rate would you purchase the regaining of your wife?' now tigranes happened to be _but lately married_, and had a very great love for his wife." (that clause perhaps sounds _modern_.) "'cyrus,' said he, 'i would ransom her at the expense of my life.' "'take then your own to yourself,' said he. ... "when they came home, one talked of cyrus' wisdom, another of his patience and resolution, another of his mildness. one spoke of his beauty and smallness of his person, and, on that, tigranes asked his wife, 'and do you, armenian dame, think cyrus handsome?' 'truly,' said she, 'i did not look at him.' 'at whom, then, _did_ you look?' said tigranes. 'at him who said that, to save me from servitude, he would ransom me at the expense of his own life.'" from the banquet.-- "socrates, who observed her with pleasure, said, 'this young girl has confirmed me in the opinion i have had, for a long time, that the female sex are nothing inferior to ours, excepting only in strength of body, or, perhaps, his steadiness of judgment.'" * * * * * in the economics, the manner in which the husband gives counsel to his young wife presents the model of politeness and refinement. xenophon is thoroughly the gentleman; gentle in breeding and in soul. all the men he describes are so, while the shades of manner are distinctly marked. there is the serene dignity of socrates, with gleams of playfulness thrown across its cool, religious shades, the princely mildness of cyrus, and the more domestic elegance of the husband in the economics. there is no way that men sin more against refinement, as well as discretion, than in their conduct toward their wives. let them look at the men of xenophon. such would know how to give counsel, for they would know how to receive it. they would feel that the most intimate relations claimed most, not least, of refined courtesy. they would not suppose that confidence justified carelessness, nor the reality of affection want of delicacy in the expression of it. such men would be too wise to hide their affairs from the wife, and then expect her to act as if she knew them. they would know that, if she is expected to face calamity with courage, she must be instructed and trusted in prosperity, or, if they had failed in wise confidence, such as the husband shows in the economics, they would be ashamed of anger or querulous surprise at the results that naturally follow. such men would not be exposed to the bad influence of bad wives; for all wives, bad or good, loved or unloved, inevitably influence their husbands, from the power their position not merely gives, but necessitates, of coloring evidence and infusing feelings in hours when the--patient, shall i call him?--is off his guard. those who understand the wife's mind, and think it worth while to respect her springs of action, know bettor where they are. but to the bad or thoughtless man, who lives carelessly and irreverently so near another mind, the wrong he does daily back upon himself recoils. a cyrus, an abradatus, knows where he stands. * * * * * but to return to the thread of my subject. another sign of the times is furnished by the triumphs of female authorship. these have been great, and are constantly increasing. women have taken possession of so many provinces for which men had pronounced them unfit, that, though these still declare there are some inaccessible to them, it is difficult to say just _where_ they must stop. the shining names of famous women have cast light upon the path of the sex, and many obstructions have been removed. when a montague could learn better than her brother, and use her lore afterwards to such purpose as an observer, it seemed amiss to hinder women from preparing themselves to see, or from seeing all they could, when prepared. since somerville has achieved so much, will any young girl be prevented from seeking a knowledge of the physical sciences, if she wishes it? de stael's name was not so clear of offence; she could not forget the woman in the thought; while she was instructing you as a mind, she wished to be admired as a woman; sentimental tears often dimmed the eagle glance. her intellect, too, with all its splendor, trained in a drawing-room, fed on flattery, was tainted and flawed; yet its beams make the obscurest school-house in new england warmer and lighter to the little rugged girls who are gathered together on its wooden bench. they may never through life hear her name, but she is not the less their benefactress. the influence has been such, that the aim certainly is, now, in arranging school instruction for girls, to give them as fair a field as boys. as yet, indeed, these arrangements are made with little judgment or reflection; just as the tutors of lady jane grey, and other distinguished women of her time, taught them latin and greek, because they knew nothing else themselves, so now the improvement in the education of girls is to be made by giving them young men as teachers, who only teach what has been taught themselves at college, while methods and topics need revision for these new subjects, which could better be made by those who had experienced the same wants. women are, often, at the head of these institutions; but they have, as yet, seldom been thinking women, capable of organizing a new whole for the wants of the time, and choosing persons to officiate in the departments. and when some portion of instruction of a good sort is got from the school, the far greater proportion which is infused from the general atmosphere of society contradicts its purport. yet books and a little elementary instruction are not furnished in vain. women are better aware how great and rich the universe is, not so easily blinded by narrowness or partial views of a home circle. "her mother did so before her" is no longer a sufficient excuse. indeed, it was never received as an excuse to mitigate the severity of censure, but was adduced as a reason, rather, why there should be no effort made for reformation. whether much or little has been done, or will be done,--whether women will add to the talent of narration the power of systematizing,--whether they will carve marble, as well as draw and paint,--is not important. but that it should be acknowledged that they have intellect which needs developing--that they should not be considered complete, if beings of affection and habit alone--is important. yet even this acknowledgment, rather conquered by woman than proffered by man, has been sullied by the usual selfishness. too much is said of women being better educated, that they may become better companions and mothers _for_ men. they should be fit for such companionship, and we have mentioned, with satisfaction, instances where it has been established. earth knows no fairer, holier relation than that of a mother. it is one which, rightly understood, must both promote and require the highest attainments. but a being of infinite scope must not be treated with an exclusive view to any one relation. give the soul free course, let the organization, both of body and mind, be freely developed, and the being will be fit for any and every relation to which it may be called. the intellect, no more than the sense of hearing, is to be cultivated merely that woman may be a more valuable companion to man, but because the power who gave a power, by its mere existence signifies that it must be brought out toward perfection. in this regard of self-dependence, and a greater simplicity and fulness of being, we must hail as a preliminary the increase of the class contemptuously designated as "old maids." we cannot wonder at the aversion with which old bachelors and old maids have been regarded. marriage is the natural means of forming a sphere, of taking root in the earth; it requires more strength to do this without such an opening; very many have failed, and their imperfections have been in every one's way. they have been more partial, more harsh, more officious and impertinent, than those compelled by severer friction to render themselves endurable. those who have a more full experience of the instincts have a distrust as to whether the unmarried can be thoroughly human and humane, such as is hinted in the saying, "old-maids' and bachelors' children are well cared for," which derides at once their ignorance and their presumption. yet the business of society has become so complex, that it could now scarcely be carried on without the presence of these despised auxiliaries; and detachments from the army of aunts and uncles are wanted to stop gaps in every hedge. they rove about, mental and moral ishmaelites, pitching their tents amid the fixed and ornamented homes of men. in a striking variety of forms, genius of late, both at home and abroad, has paid its tribute to the character of the aunt and the uncle, recognizing in these personages the spiritual parents, who have supplied defects in the treatment of the busy or careless actual parents. they also gain a wider, if not so deep experience. those who are not intimately and permanently linked with others, are thrown upon themselves; and, if they do not there find peace and incessant life, there is none to flatter them that they are not very poor, and very mean. a position which so constantly admonishes, may be of inestimable benefit. the person may gain, undistracted by other relationships, a closer communion with the one. such a use is made of it by saints and sibyls. or she may be one of the lay sisters of charity, a canoness, bound by an inward vow,--or the useful drudge of all men, the martha, much sought, little prized,--or the intellectual interpreter of the varied life she sees; the urania of a half-formed world's twilight. or she may combine all these. not needing to care that she may please a husband, a frail and limited being, her thoughts may turn to the centre, and she may, by steadfast contemplation entering into the secret of truth and love, use it for the good of all men, instead of a chosen few, and interpret through it all the forms of life. it is possible, perhaps, to be at once a priestly servant and a loving muse. saints and geniuses have often chosen a lonely position, in the faith that if, undisturbed by the pressure of near ties, they would give themselves up to the inspiring spirit, it would enable them to understand and reproduce life better than actual experience could. how many "old maids" take this high stand we cannot say: it is an unhappy fact that too many who have come before the eye are gossips rather, and not always good-natured gossips. but if these abuse, and none make the best of their vocation, yet it has not failed to produce some good results. it has been seen by others, if not by themselves, that beings, likely to be left alone, need to be fortified and furnished within themselves; and education and thought have tended more and more to regard these beings as related to absolute being, as well as to others. it has been seen that, as the breaking of no bond ought to destroy a man, so ought the missing of none to hinder him from growing. and thus a circumstance of the time, which springs rather from its luxury than its purity, has helped to place women on the true platform. perhaps the next generation, looking deeper into this matter, will find that contempt is put upon old maids, or old women, at all, merely because they do not use the elixir which would keep them always young. under its influence, a gem brightens yearly which is only seen to more advantage through the fissures time makes in the casket. [footnote: appendix f.] no one thinks of michael angelo's persican sibyl, or st. theresa, or tasso's leonora, or the greek electra, as an old maid, more than of michael angelo or canova as old bachelors, though all had reached the period in life's course appointed to take that degree. see a common woman at forty; scarcely has she the remains of beauty, of any soft poetic grace which gave her attraction as woman, which kindled the hearts of those who looked on her to sparkling thoughts, or diffused round her a roseate air of gentle love. see her, who was, indeed, a lovely girl, in the coarse, full-blown dahlia flower of what is commonly matron-beauty, "fat, fair, and forty," showily dressed, and with manners as broad and full as her frill or satin cloak. people observe, "how well she is preserved!" "she is a fine woman still," they say. this woman, whether as a duchess in diamonds, or one of our city dames in mosaics, charms the poet's heart no more, and would look much out of place kneeling before the madonna. she "does well the honors of her house,"--"leads society,"--is, in short, always spoken and thought of upholstery-wise. or see that care-worn face, from which every soft line is blotted,--those faded eyes, from which lonely tears have driven the flashes of fancy, the mild white beam of a tender enthusiasm. this woman is not so ornamental to a tea-party; yet she would please better, in picture. yet surely she, no more than the other, looks as a human being should at the end of forty years. forty years! have they bound those brows with no garland? shed in the lamp no drop of ambrosial oil? not so looked the iphigenia in aulis. her forty years had seen her in anguish, in sacrifice, in utter loneliness. but those pains were borne for her father and her country; the sacrifice she had made pure for herself and those around her. wandering alone at night in the vestal solitude of her imprisoning grove, she has looked up through its "living summits" to the stars, which shed down into her aspect their own lofty melody. at forty she would not misbecome the marble. not so looks the persica. she is withered; she is faded; the drapery that enfolds her has in its dignity an angularity, too, that tells of age, of sorrow, of a stern resignation to the _must_. but her eye, that torch of the soul, is untamed, and, in the intensity of her reading, we see a soul invincibly young in faith and hope. her age is her charm, for it is the night of the past that gives this beacon-fire leave to shine. wither more and more, black chrysalid! thou dost but give the winged beauty time to mature its splendors! not so looked victoria colonna, after her life of a great hope, and of true conjugal fidelity. she had been, not merely a bride, but a wife, and each hour had helped to plume the noble bird. a coronet of pearls will not shame her brow; it is white and ample, a worthy altar for love and thought. even among the north american indians, a race of men as completely engaged in mere instinctive life as almost any in the world, and where each chief, keeping many wives as useful servants, of course looks with no kind eye on celibacy in woman, it was excused in the following instance mentioned by mrs. jameson. a woman dreamt in youth that she was betrothed to the sun. she built her a wigwam apart, filled it with emblems of her alliance, and means of on independent life. there she passed her days, sustained by her own exertions, and true to her supposed engagement. in any tribe, we believe, a woman, who lived as if she was betrothed to the sun, would be tolerated, and the rays which made her youth blossom sweetly, would crown her with a halo in age. there is, on this subject, a nobler view than heretofore, if not the noblest, and improvement here must coincide with that in the view taken of marriage. "we must have units before we can have union," says one of the ripe thinkers of the times. if larger intellectual resources begin to be deemed needful to woman, still more is a spiritual dignity in her, or even the mere assumption of it, looked upon with respect. joanna southcote and mother anne lee are sure of a band of disciples; ecstatica, dolorosa, of enraptured believers who will visit them in their lowly huts, and wait for days to revere them in their trances. the foreign noble traverses land and sea to hear a few words from the lips of the lowly peasant girl, whom he believes especially visited by the most high. very beautiful, in this way, was the influence of the invalid of st. petersburg, as described by de maistre. mysticism, which may be defined as the brooding soul of the world, cannot fail of its oracular promise as to woman. "the mothers," "the mother of all things," are expressions of thought which lead the mind towards this side of universal growth. whenever a mystical whisper was heard, from behmen down to st. simon, sprang up the thought, that, if it be true, as the legend says, that humanity withers through a fault committed by and a curse laid upon woman, through her pure child, or influence, shall the new adam, the redemption, arise. innocence is to be replaced by virtue, dependence by a willing submission, in the heart of the virgin-mother of the new race. the spiritual tendency is toward the elevation of woman, but the intellectual by itself is not so. plato sometimes seems penetrated by that high idea of love, which considers man and woman as the two-fold expression of one thought. this the angel of swedenborg, the angel of the coming age, cannot surpass, but only explain more fully. but then again plato, the man of intellect, treats woman in the republic as property, and, in the timaeus, says that man, if he misuse the privileges of one life, shall be degraded into the form of woman; and then, if ho do not redeem himself, into that of a bird. this, as i said above, expresses most happily how antipoetical is this state of mind. for the poet, contemplating the world of things, selects various birds as the symbols of his most gracious and ethereal thoughts, just as he calls upon his genius as muse rather than as god. but the intellect, cold, is ever more masculine than feminine; warmed by emotion, it rushes toward mother-earth, and puts on the forms of beauty. the electrical, the magnetic element in woman has not been fairly brought out at any period. everything might be expected from it; she has far more of it than man. this is commonly expressed by saying that her intuitions are more rapid and more correct. you will often see men of high intellect absolutely stupid in regard to the atmospheric changes, the fine invisible links which connect the forms of life around them, while common women, if pure and modest, so that a vulgar self do not overshadow the mental eye, will seize and delineate these with unerring discrimination. women who combine this organization with creative genius are very commonly unhappy at present. they see too much to act in conformity with those around them, and their quick impulses seem folly to those who do not discern the motives. this is an usual effect of the apparition of genius, whether in man or woman, but is more frequent with regard to the latter, because a harmony, an obvious order and self-restraining decorum, is most expected from her. then women of genius, even more than men, are likely to be enslaved by an impassioned sensibility. the world repels them more rudely, and they are of weaker bodily frame. those who seem overladen with electricity frighten those around them. "when she merely enters the room, i am what the french call _herisse_," said a man of petty feelings and worldly character of such a woman, whose depth of eye and powerful motion announced the conductor of the mysterious fluid. woe to such a woman who finds herself linked to such a man in bonds too close! it is the crudest of errors. he will detest her with all the bitterness of wounded self-love. he will take the whole prejudice of manhood upon himself, and, to the utmost of his power, imprison and torture her by its imperious rigors. yet, allow room enough, and the electric fluid will be found to invigorate and embellish, not destroy life. such women are the great actresses, the songsters. such traits we read in a late searching, though too french, analysis of the character of mademoiselle rachel, by a modern, la rochefeucault. the greeks thus represent the muses; they have not the golden serenity of apollo; they are overflowed with thought; there is something tragic in their air. such are the sibyls of gueroino; the eye is overfull of expression, dilated and lustrous; it seems to have drawn the whole being into it. sickness is the frequent result of this overcharged existence. to this region, however misunderstood, or interpreted with presumptuous carelessness, belong the phenomena of magnetism, or mesmerism, as it is now often called, where the trance of the ecstatica purports to be produced by the agency of one human being on another, instead of, as in her case, direct from the spirit. the worldling has his sneer at this as at the services of religion. "the churches can always be filled with women"--"show me a man in one of your magnetic states, and i will believe." women are, indeed, the easy victims both of priestcraft and self-delusion; but this would not be, if the intellect was developed in proportion to the other powers. they would then have a regulator, and be more in equipoise, yet must retain the same nervous susceptibility while their physical structure is such as it is. it is with just that hope that we welcome everything that tends to strengthen the fibre and develop the nature on more sides. when the intellect and affections are in harmony; when intellectual consciousness is calm and deep; inspiration will not be confounded with fancy. then, "she who advances with rapturous, lyrical glances, singing the song of the earth, singing its hymn to the gods," will not be pitied as a mad-woman, nor shrunk from as unnatural. the greeks, who saw everything in forms, which we are trying to ascertain as law, and classify as cause, embodied all this in the form of cassandra. cassandra was only unfortunate in receiving her gift too soon. the remarks, however, that the world still makes in such cases, are well expressed by the greek dramatist. in the trojan dames there are fine touches of nature with regard to cassandra. hecuba shows that mixture of shame and reverence that prosaic kindred always do toward the inspired child, the poet, the elected sufferer for the race. when the herald announces that cassandra is chosen to be the mistress of agamemnon, hecuba answers, with indignation, betraying the pride and faith she involuntarily felt in this daughter. "_hec_. the maiden of phoebus, to whom the golden-haired gave as a privilege a virgin life! _tal_. love of the inspired maiden hath pierced him. _hec_. then cast away, my child, the sacred keys, and from thy person the consecrated garlands which thou wearest." yet, when, a moment after, cassandra appears, singing, wildly, her inspired song, hecuba calls her, "my _frantic_ child." yet how graceful she is in her tragic _raptus_, the chorus shows. "_chorus_. how sweetly at thy house's ills thou smil'st, chanting what, haply, thou wilt not show true." if hecuba dares not trust her highest instinct about her daughter, still less can the vulgar mind of the herald talthybius, a man not without feeling, but with no princely, no poetic blood, abide the wild, prophetic mood which insults all his prejudices. "_tal_. the venerable, and that accounted wise, is nothing better than that of no repute; for the greatest king of all the greeks, the dear son of atreus, a possessed with the love of this mad-woman. i, indeed, am poor; yet i would not receive her to my bed." the royal agamemnon could see the beauty of cassandra; _he_ was not afraid of her prophetic gifts. the best topic for a chapter on this subject, in the present day, would be the history of the seeress of prevorst, the best observed subject of magnetism in our present times, and who, like her ancestresses of delphos, was roused to ecstasy or phrensy by the touch of the laurel. i observe in her case, and in one known to me here, that what might have been a gradual and gentle disclosure of remarkable powers was broken and jarred into disease by an unsuitable marriage. both these persons were unfortunate in not understanding what was involved in this relation, but acted ignorantly, as their friends desired. they thought that this was the inevitable destiny of woman. but when engaged in the false position, it was impossible for them to endure its dissonances, as those of less delicate perceptions can; and the fine flow of life was checked and sullied. they grew sick; but, even so, learned and disclosed more than those in health are wont to do. in such cases, worldlings sneer; but reverent men learn wondrous news, either from the person observed, or by thoughts caused in themselves by the observation. fenelon learns from guyon, kerner from his seeress, what we fain would know. but to appreciate such disclosures one must be a child; and here the phrase, "women and children," may, perhaps, be interpreted aright, that only little children shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. all these motions of the time, tides that betoken a waxing moon, overflow upon our land. the world at large is readier to let woman learn and manifest the capacities of her nature than it ever was before, and here is a less encumbered field and freer air than anywhere else. and it ought to be so; we ought to pay for isabella's jewels. the names of nations are feminine--religion, virtue and victory are feminine. to those who have a superstition, as to outward reigns, it is not without significance that the name of the queen of our motherland should at this crisis be victoria,--victoria the first. perhaps to us it may be given to disclose the era thus outwardly presaged. another isabella too at this time ascends the throne. might she open a new world to her sex! but, probably, these poor little women are, least of any, educated to serve as examples or inspirers for the rest. the spanish queen is younger; we know of her that she sprained her foot the other day, dancing in her private apartments; of victoria, that she reads aloud, in a distinct voice and agreeable manner, her addresses to parliament on certain solemn days, and, yearly, that she presents to the nation some new prop of royalty. these ladies have, very likely, been trained more completely to the puppet life than any other. the queens, who have been queens indeed, were trained by adverse circumstances to know the world around them and their own powers. it is moving, while amusing, to read of the scottish peasant measuring the print left by the queen's foot as she walks, and priding himself on its beauty. it is so natural to wish to find what is fair and precious in high places,--so astonishing to find the bourbon a glutton, or the guelph a dullard or gossip. in our own country, women are, in many respects, better situated than men. good books are allowed, with more time to read them. they are not so early forced into the bustle of life, nor so weighed down by demands for outward success. the perpetual changes, incident to our society, make the blood circulate freely through the body politic, and, if not favorable at present to the grace and bloom of life, they are so to activity, resource, and would be to reflection, but for a low materialist tendency, from which the women are generally exempt in themselves, though its existence, among the men, has a tendency to repress their impulses and make them doubt their instincts, thus often paralyzing their action during the best years. but they have time to think, and no traditions chain them, and few conventionalities, compared with what must be met in other nations. there is no reason why they should not discover that the secrets of nature are open, the revelations of the spirit waiting, for whoever will seek them. when the mind is once awakened to this consciousness, it will not be restrained by the habits of the past, but fly to seek the seeds of a heavenly future. their employments are more favorable to meditation than those of men. woman is not addressed religiously here more than elsewhere. she is told that she should be worthy to be the mother of a washington, or the companion of some good man.' but in many, many instances, she has already learned that all bribes have the same flaw; that truth and good are to be sought solely for their own sakes. and, already, an ideal sweetness floats over many forms, shines in many eyes. already deep questions are put by young girls on the great theme: what shall i do to enter upon the eternal life? men are very courteous to them. they praise them often, check them seldom. there is chivalry in the feeling toward "the ladies," which gives them the best seats in the stage-coach, frequent admission, not only to lectures of all sorts, but to courts of justice, halls of legislature, reform conventions. the newspaper editor "would be better pleased that the lady's book should be filled up exclusively by ladies. it would then, indeed, be a true gem, worthy, to be presented by young men to the, mistress of their affections." can gallantry go further? in this country is venerated, wherever seen, the character which goethe spoke of as an ideal, which he saw actualized in his friend and patroness, the grand duchess amelia: "the excellent woman is she, who, if the husband dies, can be a father to the children." and this, if read aright, tells a great deal. women who speak in public, if they have a moral power, such as has been felt from angelina grimke and abby kelly,--that is, if they speak for conscience' sake, to serve a cause which they hold sacred,--invariably subdue the prejudices of their hearers, and excite an interest proportionate to the aversion with which it had been the purpose to regard them. a passage in a private letter so happily illustrates this, that it must be inserted here. abby kelly in the town-house of ----. "the scene was not unheroic--to see that woman, true to humanity and her own nature, a centre of rude eyes and tongues, even gentlemen feeling licensed to make part of a species of mob around a female out of her sphere. as she took her seat in the desk amid the great noise, and in the throng, full, like a wave, of something to ensue, i saw her humanity in a gentleness and unpretension, tenderly open to the sphere around her, and, had she not been supported by the power of the will of genuineness and principle, she would have failed. it led her to prayer, which, in woman especially, is childlike; sensibility and will going to the side of god and looking up to him; and humanity was poured out in aspiration. "she acted like a gentle hero, with her mild decision and womanly calmness. all heroism is mild, and quiet, and gentle, for it is life and possession; and combativeness and firmness show a want of actualness. she is as earnest, fresh and simple, as when she first entered the crusade. i think she did much good, more than the men in her place could do, for woman feels more as being and reproducing--this brings the subject more into home relations. men speak through, and mostly from intellect, and this addresses itself to that in others which is combative." not easily shall we find elsewhere, or before this time, any written observations on the same subject, so delicate and profound. the late dr. channing, whose enlarged and tender and religious nature shared every onward impulse of his tune, though his thoughts followed his wishes with a deliberative caution which belonged to his habits and temperament, was greatly interested in these expectations for women. his own treatment of them was absolutely and thoroughly religious. he regarded them as souls, each of which had a destiny of its own, incalculable to other minds, and whose leading it must follow, guided by the light of a private conscience. he had sentiment, delicacy, kindness, taste; but they were all pervaded and ruled by this one thought, that all beings had souls, and must vindicate their own inheritance. thus all beings were treated by him with an equal, and sweet, though solemn, courtesy. the young and unknown, the woman and the child, all felt themselves regarded with an infinite expectation, from which there was no reaction to vulgar prejudice. he demanded of all he met, to use his favorite phrase, "great truths." his memory, every way dear and reverend, is, by many, especially cherished for this intercourse of unbroken respect. at one time, when the progress of harriet martineau through this country, angelina grimke's appearance in public, and the visit of mrs. jameson, had turned his thoughts to this subject, he expressed high hopes as to what the coming era would bring to woman. he had been much pleased with the dignified courage of mrs. jameson in taking up the defence of her sex in from which women usually shrink, because, if they express themselves on such subjects with sufficient force and clearness to do any good, they are exposed to assaults whose vulgarity makes them painful. in intercourse with such a woman, he had shared her indignation at the base injustice, in many respects, and in many regions, done to the sex; and been led to think of it far more than ever before. he seemed to think that he might some time write upon the subject. that his aid is withdrawn from the cause is a subject of great regret; for, on this question as on others, he would have known how to sum up the evidence, and take, in the noblest spirit, middle ground. he always furnished a platform on which opposing parties could stand and look at one another under the influence of his mildness and enlightened candor. two younger thinkers, men both, have uttered noble prophecies, auspicious for woman. kinmont, all whose thoughts tended towards the establishment of the reign of love and peace, thought that the inevitable means of this would be an increased predominance given to the idea of woman. had he lived longer, to see the growth of the peace party, the reforms in life and medical practice which seek to substitute water for wine and drugs, pulse for animal food, he would have been confirmed in his view of the way in which the desired changes are to be effected. in this connection i must mention shelley, who, like all men of genius, shared the feminine development, and, unlike many, knew it. his life was one of the first pulse-beats in the present reform-growth. he, too, abhorred blood and heat, and, by his system and his song, tended to reinstate a plant-like gentleness in the development of energy. in harmony with this, his ideas of marriage were lofty, and, of course, no less so of woman, her nature, and destiny. for woman, if, by a sympathy as to outward condition, she is led to aid the enfranchisement of the slave, must be no less so, by inward tendency, to favor measures which promise to bring the world more thoroughly and deeply into harmony with her nature. when the lamb takes place of the lion as the emblem of nations, both women and men will be as children of one spirit, perpetual learners of the word and doers thereof, not hearers only. a writer in the new york pathfinder, in two articles headed "femality," has uttered a still more pregnant word than any we have named. he views woman truly from the soul, and not from society, and the depth and leading of his thoughts are proportionably remarkable. he views the feminine nature as a harmonizer of the vehement elements, and this has often been hinted elsewhere; but what he expresses most forcibly is the lyrical, the inspiring and inspired apprehensiveness of her being. this view being identical with what i have before attempted to indicate, as to her superior susceptibility to magnetic or electric influence, i will now try to express myself more fully. there are two aspects of woman's nature, represented by the ancients as muse and minerva. it is the former to which the writer in the pathfinder looks. it is the latter which wordsworth has in mind, when he says, "with a placid brow, which woman ne'er should forfeit, keep thy vow." the especial genius of woman i believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency. she excels not so easily in classification, or recreation, as in an instinctive seizure of causes, and a simple breathing out of what she receives, that has the singleness of life, rather than the selecting and energizing of art. more native is it to her to be the living model of the artist than to set apart from herself any one form in objective reality; more native to inspire and receive the poem, than to create it. in so far as soul is in her completely developed, all soul is the same, but in so far as it is modified in her as woman, it flows, it breathes, it sings, rather than deposits soil, or finishes work; and that which is especially feminine flushes, in blossom, the face of earth, and pervades, like air and water, all this seeming solid globe, daily renewing and purifying its life. such may be the especially feminine element spoken of as femality. but it is no more the order of nature that it should be incarnated pure in any form, than that the masculine energy should exist unmingled with it in any form. male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. but, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. there is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman. history jeers at the attempts of physiologists to bind great original laws by the forms which flow from them. they make a rule; they say from observation what can and cannot be. in vain! nature provides exceptions to every rule. she sends women to battle, and sets hercules spinning; she enables women to bear immense burdens, cold, and frost; she enables the man, who feels maternal love, to nourish his infant like a mother. of late she plays still gayer pranks. not only she deprives organizations, but organs, of a necessary end. she enables people to read with the top of the head, and see with the pit of the stomach. presently she will make a female newton, and a male syren. man partakes of the feminine in the apollo, woman of the masculine as minerva. what i mean by the muse is that unimpeded clearness of the intuitive powers, which a perfectly truthful adherence to every admonition of the higher instincts would bring to a finely organized human being. it may appear as prophecy or as poesy. it enabled cassandra to foresee the results of actions passing round her; the seeress to behold the true character of the person through the mask of his customary life. (sometimes she saw a feminine form behind the man, sometimes the reverse.) it enabled the daughter of linnaeus to see the soul of the flower exhaling from the flower. [footnote: the daughter of linnaeus states, that, while looking steadfastly at the red lily, she saw its spirit hovering above it, as a red flame. it is true, this, like many fair spirit-stories, may be explained away as an optical illusion, but its poetic beauty and meaning would, even then, make it valuable, as an illustration of the spiritual fact.] it gave a man, but a poet-man, the power of which he thus speaks: "often in my contemplation of nature, radiant intimations, and as it were sheaves of light, appear before me as to the facts of cosmogony, in which my mind has, perhaps, taken especial part." he wisely adds, "but it is necessary with earnestness to verify the knowledge we gain by these flashes of light." and none should forget this. sight must be verified by light before it can deserve the honors of piety and genius. yet sight comes first, and of this sight of the world of causes, this approximation to the region of primitive motions, women i hold to be especially capable. even without equal freedom with the other sex, they have already shown themselves so; and should these faculties have free play, i believe they will open new, deeper and purer sources of joyous inspiration than have as yet refreshed the earth. let us be wise, and not impede the soul. let her work as she will. let us have one creative energy, one incessant revelation. let it take what form it will, and let us not bind it by the past to man or woman, black or white. jove sprang from rhea, pallas from jove. so let it be. if it has been the tendency of these remarks to call woman rather to the minerva side,--if i, unlike the more generous writer, have spoken from society no less than the soul,--let it be pardoned! it is love that has caused this,--love for many incarcerated souls, that might be freed, could the idea of religious self-dependence be established in them, could the weakening habit of dependence on others be broken up. proclus teaches that every life has, in its sphere, a totality or wholeness of the animating powers of the other spheres; having only, as its own characteristic, a predominance of some one power. thus jupiter comprises, within himself, the other twelve powers, which stand thus: the first triad is _demiurgic or fabricative_, that is, jupiter, neptune, vulcan; the second, _defensive_, vesta, minerva, mars; the third, _vivific_, ceres, juno, diana; and the fourth, mercury, venus, apollo, _elevating and harmonic_. in the sphere of jupiter, energy is predominant--with venus, beauty; but each comprehends and apprehends all the others. when the same community of life and consciousness of mind begin among men, humanity will have, positively and finally, subjugated its brute elements and titanic childhood; criticism will have perished; arbitrary limits and ignorant censure be impossible; all will have entered upon the liberty of law, and the harmony of common growth. then apollo will sing to his lyre what vulcan forges on the anvil, and the muse weave anew the tapestries of minerva. it is, therefore, only in the present crisis that the preference is given to minerva. the power of continence must establish the legitimacy of freedom, the power of self-poise the perfection of motion. every relation, every gradation of nature is incalculably precious, but only to the soul which is poised upon itself, and to whom no loss, no change, can bring dull discord, for it is in harmony with the central soul. if any individual live too much in relations, so that he becomes a stranger to the resources of his own nature, he falls, after a while, into a distraction, or imbecility, from which he can only be cured by a time of isolation, which gives the renovating fountains time to rise up. with a society it is the same. many minds, deprived of the traditionary or instinctive means of passing a cheerful existence, must find help in self-impulse, or perish. it is therefore that, while any elevation, in the view of union, is to be hailed with joy, we shall not decline celibacy as the great fact of the time. it is one from which no vow, no arrangement, can at present save a thinking mind. for now the rowers are pausing on their oars; they wait a change before they can pull together. all tends to illustrate the thought of a wise cotemporary. union is only possible to those who are units. to be fit for relations in time, souls, whether of man or woman, must be able to do without them in the spirit. it is therefore that i would have woman lay aside all thought, such as she habitually cherishes, of being taught and led by men. i would have her, like the indian girl, dedicate herself to the sun, the sun of truth, and go nowhere if his beams did not make clear the path. i would have her free from compromise, from complaisance, from helplessness, because i would have her good enough and strong enough to love one and all beings, from the fulness, not the poverty of being. men, as at present instructed, will not help this work, because they also are under the slavery of habit. i have seen with delight their poetic impulses. a sister is the fairest ideal, and how nobly wordsworth, and even byron, have written of a sister! there is no sweeter sight than to see a father with his little daughter. very vulgar men become refined to the eye when leading a little girl by the hand. at that moment, the right relation between the sexes seems established, and you feel as if the man would aid in the noblest purpose, if you ask him in behalf of his little daughter. once, two fine figures stood before me, thus. the father of very intellectual aspect, his falcon eye softened by affection as he looked down on his fair child; she the image of himself, only more graceful and brilliant in expression. i was reminded of southey's kehama; when, lo, the dream was rudely broken! they were talking of education, and he said, "i shall not have maria brought too forward. if she knows too much, she will never find a husband; superior women hardly ever can." "surely," said his wife, with a blush, "you wish maria to be as good and wise as she can, whether it will help her to marriage or not." "no," he persisted, "i want her to have a sphere and a home, and some one to protect her when i am gone." it was a trifling incident, but made a deep impression. i felt that the holiest relations fail to instruct the unprepared and perverted mind. if this man, indeed, could have looked at it on the other side, he was the last that would have been willing to have been taken himself for the home and protection he could give, but would have been much more likely to repeat the tale of alcibiades with his phials. but men do _not_ look at both sides, and women must leave off asking them and being influenced by them, but retire within themselves, and explore the ground-work of life till they find their peculiar secret. then, when they come forth again, renovated and baptized, they will know how to turn all dross to gold, and will be rich and free though they live in a hut, tranquil if in a crowd. then their sweet singing shall not be from passionate impulse, but the lyrical overflow of a divine rapture, and a new music shall be evolved from this many-chorded world. grant her, then, for a while, the armor and the javelin. let her put from her the press of other minds, and meditate in virgin loneliness. the same idea shall reappear in due time as muse, or ceres, the all-kindly, patient earth-spirit. among the throng of symptoms which denote the present tendency to a crisis in the life of woman,--which resembles the change from girlhood, with its beautiful instincts, but unharmonized thoughts, its blind pupilage and restless seeking, to self-possessed, wise and graceful womanhood,--i have attempted to select a few. one of prominent interest is the unison upon the subject of three male minds, which, for width of culture, power of self-concentration and dignity of aim, take rank as the prophets of the coming age, while their histories and labors are rooted in the past. swedenborg came, he tells us, to interpret the past revelation and unfold a new. he announces the new church that is to prepare the way for the new jerusalem, a city built of precious stones, hardened and purified by secret processes in the veins of earth through the ages. swedenborg approximated to that harmony between the scientific and poetic lives of mind, which we hope from the perfected man. the links that bind together the realms of nature, the mysteries that accompany her births and growths, were unusually plain to him. he seems a man to whom insight was given at a period when the mental frame was sufficiently matured to retain and express its gifts. his views of woman are, in the main, satisfactory. in some details we my object to them, as, in all his system, there are still remains of what is arbitrary and seemingly groundless--fancies that show the marks of old habits, and a nature as yet not thoroughly leavened with the spiritual leaven. at least, so it seems to me now. i speak reverently, for i find such reason to venerate swedenborg, from an imperfect knowledge of his mind, that i feel one more perfect might explain to me much that does not now secure my sympathy. his idea of woman is sufficiently large and noble to interpose no obstacle to her progress. his idea of marriage is consequently sufficient. man and woman share an angelic ministry; the union is of one with one, permanent and pure. as the new church extends its ranks, the needs of woman must be more considered. quakerism also establishes woman on a sufficient equality with man. but, though the original thought of quakerism is pure, its scope is too narrow, and its influence, having established a certain amount of good and made clear some truth, must, by degrees, be merged in one of wider range. [footnote: in worship at stated periods, in daily expression, whether by word or deed, the quakers have placed woman on the same platform with man. can any one assert that they have reason to repent this?] the mind of swedenborg appeals to the various nature of man, and allows room for aesthetic culture and the free expression of energy. as apostle of the new order, of the social fabric that is to rise from love, and supersede the old that was based on strife, charles fourier comes next, expressing, in an outward order, many facts of which swedenborg saw the secret springs. the mind of fourier, though grand and clear, was, in some respects, superficial. he was a stranger to the highest experiences. his eye was fixed on the outward more than the inward needs of man. yet he, too, was a seer of the divine order, in its musical expression, if not in its poetic soul. he has filled one department of instruction for the new era, and the harmony in action, and freedom for individual growth, he hopes, shall exist; and, if the methods he proposes should not prove the true ones, yet his fair propositions shall give many hints, and make room for the inspiration needed for such. he, too, places woman on an entire equality with man, and wishes to give to one as to the other that independence which must result from intellectual and practical development. those who will consult him for no other reason, might do so to see how the energies of woman may be made available in the pecuniary way. the object of fourier was to give her the needed means of self-help, that she might dignify and unfold her life for her own happiness, and that of society. the many, now, who see their daughters liable to destitution, or vice to escape from it, may be interested to examine the means, if they have not yet soul enough to appreciate the ends he proposes. on the opposite side of the advancing army leads the great apostle of individual culture, goethe. swedenborg makes organization and union the necessary results of solitary thought. fourier, whose nature was, above all, constructive, looked to them too exclusively. better institutions, he thought, will make better men. goethe expressed, in every way, the other side. if one man could present better forms, the rest could not use them till ripe for them. fourier says, as the institutions, so the men! all follies are excusable and natural under bad institutions. goethe thinks, as the man, so the institutions! there is no excuse for ignorance and folly. a man can grow in any place, if he will. ay! but, goethe, bad institutions are prison-walls and impure air, that make him stupid, so that he does not will. and thou, fourier, do not expect to change mankind at once, or even "in three generations," by arrangement of groups and series, or flourish of trumpets for attractive industry. if these attempts are made by unready men, they will fail. yet we prize the theory of fourier no less than the profound suggestion of goethe. both are educating the age to a clearer consciousness of what man needs, what man can be; and better life must ensue. goethe, proceeding on his own track, elevating the human being, in the most imperfect states of society, by continual efforts at self-culture, takes as good care of women as of men. his mother, the bold, gay frau aja, with such playful freedom of nature; the wise and gentle maiden, known in his youth, over whose sickly solitude "the holy ghost brooded as a dove;" his sister, the intellectual woman _par excellence_; the duchess amelia; lili, who combined the character of the woman of the world with the lyrical sweetness of the shepherdess, on whose chaste and noble breast flowers and gems were equally at home; all these had supplied abundant suggestions to his mind, as to the wants and the possible excellences of woman. and from his poetic soul grew up forms new and more admirable than life has yet produced, for whom his clear eye marked out paths in the future. in faust margaret represents the redeeming power, which, at present, upholds woman, while waiting for a better day. the lovely little girl, pure in instinct, ignorant in mind, is misled and profaned by man abusing her confidence.[footnote: as faust says, her only fault was a "kindly delusion,"--"ein guter wahn."] to the mater _dolorosa_ she appeals for aid. it is given to the soul, if not against outward sorrow; and the maiden, enlightened by her sufferings, refusing to receive temporal salvation by the aid of an evil power, obtains the eternal in its stead. in the second part, the intellectual man, after all his manifold strivings, owes to the interposition of her whom he had betrayed _his_ salvation. she intercedes, this time, herself a glorified spirit, with the mater _gloriosa_. leonora, too, is woman, as we see her now, pure, thoughtful, refined by much acquaintance with grief. iphigenia he speaks of in his journals as his "daughter," and she is the daughter [footnote: goethe was as false to his ideas, in practice, as lord herbert. and his punishment was the just and usual one of connections formed beneath the standard of right, from the impulses of the baser self. iphigenia was the worthy daughter of his mind; but the son, child of his degrading connection in actual life, corresponded with that connection. this son, on whom goethe vainly lavished so much thought and care, was like his mother, and like goethe's attachment for his mother. "this young man," says a late well-informed writer (m. henri blaze), "wieland, with good reason, called the son of the servant, _der sohn der magd_. he inherited from his father only his name and his _physique_."] whom a man will wish, even if he has chosen his wife from very mean motives. she is the virgin, steadfast, soul, to whom falsehood is more dreadful than any other death. but it is to wilhelm meister's apprenticeship and wandering years that i would especially refer, as these volumes contain the sum of the sage's observations during a long life, as to what man should do, under present circumstances, to obtain mastery over outward, through an initiation into inward life, and severe discipline of faculty. as wilhelm advances into the upward path, he becomes acquainted with better forms of woman, by knowing how to seek, and how to prize them when found. for the weak and immature man will, often, admire a superior woman, but he will not be able to abide by a feeling which is too severe a tax on his habitual existence. but, with wilhelm, the gradation is natural, and expresses ascent in the scale of being. at first, he finds charm in mariana and philina, very common forms of feminine character, not without redeeming traits, no less than charms, but without wisdom or purity. soon he is attended by mignon, the finest expression ever yet given to what i have called the lyrical element in woman. she is a child, but too full-grown for this man; he loves, but cannot follow her; yet is the association not without an enduring influence. poesy has been domesticated in his life; and, though he strives to bind down her heavenward impulse, as art or apothegm, these are only the tents, beneath which he may sojourn for a while, but which may be easily struck, and carried on limitless wanderings. advancing into the region of thought, he encounters a wise philanthropy in natalia (instructed, let us observe, by an _uncle_); practical judgment and the outward economy of life in theresa; pure devotion in the fair saint. further, and last, he comes to the house of macaria, the soul of a star; that is, a pure and perfected intelligence embodied in feminine form, and the centre of a world whose members revolve harmoniously around her. she instructs him in the archives of a rich human history, and introduces him to the contemplation of the heavens. from the hours passed by the side of mariana to these with macaria, is a wide distance for human feet to traverse. nor has wilhelm travelled so far, seen and suffered so much, in vain, he now begins to study how he may aid the next generation; he sees objects in harmonious arrangement, and from his observations deduces precepts by which to guide his course as a teacher and a master, "help-full, comfort-full." in all these expressions of woman, the aim of goethe is satisfactory to me. he aims at a pure self-subsistence, and a free development of any powers with which they may be gifted by nature as much for them as for men. they are units, addressed as souls. accordingly, the meeting between man and woman, as represented by him, is equal and noble; and, if he does not depict marriage, he makes it possible. in the macaria, bound with the heavenly bodies in fixed revolutions, the centre of all relations, herself unrelated, he expresses the minerva side of feminine nature. it was not by chance that goethe gave her this name. macaria, the daughter of hercules, who offered herself as a victim for the good of her country, was canonized by the greeks, and worshipped as the goddess of true felicity. goethe has embodied this felicity as the serenity that arises from wisdom, a wisdom such as the jewish wise man venerated, alike instructed in the designs of heaven, and the methods necessary to carry them into effect upon earth. mignon is the electrical, inspired, lyrical nature. and wherever it appears we echo in our aspirations that of the child, "so let me seem until i be:-- take not the _white robe_ away." * * * * * "though i lived without care and toil, yet felt i sharp pain enough to make me again forever young." all these women, though we see them in relations, we can think of as unrelated. they all are very individual, yet seem nowhere restrained. they satisfy for the present, yet arouse an infinite expectation. the economist theresa, the benevolent natalia, the fair saint, have chosen a path, but their thoughts are not narrowed to it. the functions of life to them are not ends, but suggestions. thus, to them, all things are important, because none is necessary. their different characters have fair play, and each is beautiful in its minute indications, for nothing is enforced or conventional; but everything, however slight, grows from the essential life of the being. mignon and theresa wear male attire when they like, and it is graceful for them to do so, while macaria is confined to her arm-chair behind the green curtain, and the fair saint could not bear a speck of dust on her robe. all things are in their places in this little world, because all is natural and free, just as "there is room for everything out of doors." yet all is rounded in by natural harmony, which will always arise where truth and love are sought in the light of freedom. goethe's book bodes an era of freedom like its own of "extraordinary, generous seeking," and new revelations. new individualities shall be developed in the actual world, which shall advance upon it as gently as the figures come out upon his canvas. i have indicated on this point the coincidence between his hopes and those of fourier, though his are directed by an infinitely higher and deeper knowledge of human nature. but, for our present purpose, it is sufficient to show how surely these different paths have conducted to the same end two earnest thinkers. in some other place i wish to point out similar coincidences between goethe's model school and the plans of fourier, which may cast light upon the page of prophecy. * * * * * many women have observed that the time drew nigh for a better care of the sex, and have thrown out hints that may be useful. among these may be mentioned-- miss edgeworth, who, although restrained by the habits of her age and country, and belonging more to the eighteenth than the nineteenth century, has done excellently as far as she goes. she had a horror of sentimentalism, and of the love of notoriety, and saw how likely women, in the early stages of culture, were to aim at these. therefore she bent her efforts to recommending domestic life. but the methods she recommends are such as will fit a character for any position to which it may be called. she taught a contempt of falsehood, no less in its most graceful, than in its meanest apparitions; the cultivation of a clear, independent judgment, and adherence to its dictates; habits of various and liberal study and employment, and a capacity for friendship. her standard of character is the same for both sexes,--truth, honor, enlightened benevolence, and aspiration after knowledge. of poetry, she knows nothing, and her religion consists in honor and loyalty to obligations once assumed--in short, in "the great idea of duty which holds us upright." her whole tendency is practical. mrs. jameson is a sentimentalist, and, therefore, suits us ill in some respects, but she is full of talent, has a just and refined perception of the beautiful, and a genuine courage when she finds it necessary. she does not appear to have thought out, thoroughly, the subject on which we are engaged, and her opinions, expressed as opinions, are sometimes inconsistent with one another. but from the refined perception of character, admirable suggestions are given in her "women of shakspeare," and "loves of the poets." but that for which i most respect her is the decision with which she speaks on a subject which refined women are usually afraid to approach, for fear of the insult and scurrile jest they may encounter; but on which she neither can nor will restrain the indignation of a full heart. i refer to the degradation of a large portion of women into the sold and polluted slaves of men, and the daring with which the legislator and man of the world lifts his head beneath the heavens, and says, "this must be; it cannot be helped; it is a necessary accompaniment of _civilization_." so speaks the _citizen_. man born of woman, the father of daughters, declares that he will and must buy the comforts and commercial advantages of his london, vienna, paris, new york, by conniving at the moral death, the damnation, so far as the action of society can insure it, of thousands of women for each splendid metropolis. o men! i speak not to you. it is true that your wickedness (for you must not deny that at least nine thousand out of the ten fall through the vanity you have systematically flattered, or the promises you have treacherously broken); yes, it is true that your wickedness is its own punishment. your forms degraded and your eyes clouded by secret sin; natural harmony broken and fineness of perception destroyed in your mental and bodily organization; god and love shut out from your hearts by the foul visitants you have permitted there; incapable of pure marriage; incapable of pure parentage; incapable of worship; o wretched men, your sin is its own punishment! you have lost the world in losing yourselves. who ruins another has admitted the worm to the root of his own tree, and the fuller ye fill the cup of evil, the deeper must be your own bitter draught. but i speak not to you--you need to teach and warn one another. and more than one voice rises in earnestness. and all that _women_ say to the heart that has once chosen the evil path is considered prudery, or ignorance, or perhaps a feebleness of nature which exempts from similar temptations. but to you, women, american women, a few words may not be addressed in vain. one here and there may listen. you know how it was in the oriental clime, one man, if wealth permitted, had several wives and many handmaidens. the chastity and equality of genuine marriage, with "the thousand decencies that flow" from its communion, the precious virtues that gradually may be matured within its enclosure, were unknown. but this man did not wrong according to his light. what he did, he might publish to god and man; it was not a wicked secret that hid in vile lurking-places and dens, like the banquets of beasts of prey. those women were not lost, not polluted in their own eyes, nor those of others. if they were not in a state of knowledge and virtue, they were at least in one of comparative innocence. you know how it was with the natives of this continent. a chief had many wives, whom he maintained and who did his household work; those women were but servants, still they enjoyed the respect of others and their own. they lived together, in peace. they knew that a sin against what was in their nation esteemed virtue, would be as strictly punished in man as in woman. now pass to the countries where marriage is between one and one. i will not speak of the pagan nations, but come to those which own the christian rule. we all know what that enjoins; there is a standard to appeal to. see, now, not the mass of the people, for we all know that it is a proverb and a bitter jest to speak of the "down-trodden million." we know that, down to our own time, a principle never had so fair a chance to pervade the mass of the people, but that we must solicit its illustration from select examples. take the paladin, take the poet. did _they_ believe purity more impossible to man than to woman? did they wish woman to believe that man was less amenable to higher motives,--that pure aspirations would not guard him against bad passions,--that honorable employments and temperate habits would not keep him free from slavery to the body? o no! love was to them a part of heaven, and they could not even wish to receive its happiness, unless assured of being worthy of it. its highest happiness to them was that it made them wish to be worthy. they courted probation. they wished not the title of knight till the banner had been upheld in the heats of battle, amid the rout of cowards. i ask of you, young girls--i do not mean _you_ whose heart is that of an old coxcomb, though your looks have not yet lost their sunny tinge. not of you whose whole character is tainted with vanity, inherited or taught, who have early learned the love of coquettish excitement, and whose eyes rove restlessly in search of a "conquest" or a "beau;" you who are ashamed _not_ to be seen by others the mark of the most contemptuous flattery or injurious desire. to such i do not speak. but to thee, maiden, who, if not so fair, art yet of that unpolluted nature which milton saw when he dreamed of comus and the paradise. thou, child of an unprofaned wedlock, brought up amid the teachings of the woods and fields, kept fancy-free by useful employment and a free flight into the heaven of thought, loving to please only those whom thou wouldst not be ashamed to love; i ask of thee, whose cheek has not forgotten its blush nor thy heart its lark-like hopes, if he whom thou mayest hope the father will send thee, as the companion of life's toils and joys, is not to thy thought pure? is not manliness to thy thought purity, not lawlessness? can his lips speak falsely? can he do, in secret, what he could not avow to the mother that bore him? o say, dost thou not look for a heart free, open as thine own, all whose thoughts may be avowed, incapable of wronging the innocent, or still further degrading the fallen--a man, in short, in whom brute nature is entirely subject to the impulses of his better self? yes! it was thus that thou didst hope; for i have many, many times seen the image of a future life, of a destined spouse, painted on the tablets of a virgin heart. it might be that she was not true to these hopes. she was taken into what is called "the world," froth and scum as it mostly is on the social caldron. there, she saw fair woman carried in the waltz close to the heart of a being who appeared to her a satyr. being warned by a male friend that he was in fact of that class, and not fit for such familiar nearness to a chaste being, the advised replied that "women should know nothing about such things." she saw one fairer given in wedlock to a man of the same class. "papa and mamma said that 'all men were faulty at some time in their lives; they had a great many temptations.' frederick would be so happy at home; he would not want to do wrong." she turned to the married women; they, o tenfold horror! laughed at her supposing "men were like women." sometimes, i say, she was not true, and either sadly accommodated herself to "woman's lot," or acquired a taste for satyr-society, like some of the nymphs, and all the bacchanals of old. but to those who could not and would not accept a mess of pottage, or a circe cup, in lieu of their birthright, and to these others who have yet their choice to make, i say, courage! i have some words of cheer for you. a man, himself of unbroken purity, reported to me the words of a foreign artist, that "the world would never be better till men subjected themselves to the same laws they had imposed on women;" that artist, he added, was true to the thought. the same was true of canova, the same of beethoven. "like each other demi-god, they kept themselves free from stain;" and michael angelo, looking over here from the loneliness of his century, might meet some eyes that need not shun his glance. in private life, i am assured by men who are not so sustained and occupied by the worship of pure beauty, that a similar consecration is possible, is practised; that many men feel that no temptation can be too strong for the will of man, if he invokes the aid of the spirit instead of seeking extenuation from the brute alliances of his nature. in short, what the child fancies is really true, though almost the whole world declares it a lie. man is a child of god; and if he seeks his guidance to keep the heart with diligence, it will be so given that all the issues of life may be pure. life will then be a temple. the temple round spread green the pleasant ground; the fair colonnade be of pure marble pillars made; strong to sustain the roof, time and tempest proof; yet, amidst which, the lightest breeze can play as it please; the audience hall be free to all who revere the power worshipped here, sole guide of youth, unswerving truth. in the inmost shrine stands the image divine, only seen by those whose deeds have worthy been-- priestlike clean. those, who initiated are, declare, as the hours usher in varying hopes and powers; it changes its face, it changes its age, now a young, beaming grace, now nestorian sage; but, to the pure in heart, this shape of primal art in age is fair, in youth seems wise, beyond compare, above surprise; what it teaches native seems, its new lore our ancient dreams; incense rises from the ground; music flows around; firm rest the feet below, clear gaze the eyes above, when truth, to point the way through life, assumes the wand of love; but, if she cast aside the robe of green, winter's silver sheen, white, pure as light, makes gentle shroud as worthy weed as bridal robe had been. [footnote: as described by the historians:-- "the temple of juno is like what the character of woman should be. columns! graceful decorums, attractive yet sheltering. porch! noble, inviting aspect of the life. kaos! receives the worshippers. see here the statue of the divinity. ophistodpmos! sanctuary where the most precious possessions were kept safe from the hand of the spoiler and the eye of the world."] we are now in a transition state, and but few steps have yet been taken. from polygamy, europe passed to the marriage _de convenance_. this was scarcely an improvement an attempt was then made to substitute genuine marriage (the mutual choice of souls inducing a permanent union), as yet baffled on every side by the haste, the ignorance, or the impurity of man. where man assumes a high principle to which he is not yet ripened, it will happen, for a long time, that the few will be nobler than before; the many, worse. thus now. in the country of sidney and milton, the metropolis is a den of wickedness, and a sty of sensuality; in the country of lady russell, the custom of english peeresses, of selling their daughters to the highest bidder, is made the theme and jest of fashionable novels by unthinking children who would stare at the idea of sending them to a turkish slave-dealer, though the circumstances of the bargain are there less degrading, as the will and thoughts of the person sold are not so degraded by it, and it is not done in defiance of an acknowledged law of right in the land and the age. i must here add that i do not believe there ever was put upon record more depravation of man, and more despicable frivolity of thought and aim in woman; than in the novels which purport to give the picture of english fashionable life, which are read with such favor in our drawing-rooms, and give the tone to the manners of some circles. compared with the cold, hard-hearted folly there described, crime is hopeful; for it, at least, shows some power remaining in the mental constitution. to return:--attention has been awakened among men to the stains of celibacy, and the profanations of marriage. they begin to write about it and lecture about it. it is the tendency now to endeavor to help the erring by showing them the physical law. this is wise and excellent; but forget not the better half. cold bathing and exercise will not suffice to keep a life pure, without an inward baptism, and noble, exhilarating employment for the thoughts and the passions. early marriages are desirable, but if (and the world is now so out of joint that there are a hundred thousand chances to one against it) a man does not early, or at all, find the person to whom he can be united in the marriage of souls, will you give him in the marriage _de convenance_? or, if not married, can you find no way for him to lead a virtuous and happy life? think of it well, ye who think yourselves better than pagans, for many of _them_ knew this sure way. [footnote: the persian sacred books, the desatir, describe the great and holy prince ky khosrou, as being "an angel, and the son of an angel," one to whom the supreme says, "thou art not absent from before me for one twinkling of an eye. i am never out of thy heart. and i am contained in nothing but in thy heart, and in a heart like thy heart. and i am nearer unto thee than thou art to thyself." this prince had in his golden seraglio three ladies of surpassing beauty, and all four, in this royal monastery, passed their lives, and left the world as virgins. the persian people had no scepticism when the history of such a mind was narrated.] to you, women of america, it is more especially my business to address myself on this subject, and my advice may be classed under three heads: clear your souls from the taint of vanity. do not rejoice in conquests, either that your power to allure may be seen by other women, or for the pleasure of rousing passionate feelings that gratify your love of excitement. it must happen, no doubt, that frank and generous women will excite love they do not reciprocate, but, in nine cases out of ten, the woman has, half consciously, done much to excite. in this case, she shall not be held guiltless, either as to the unhappiness or injury of the lover. pure love, inspired by a worthy object, must ennoble and bless, whether mutual or not; but that which is excited by coquettish attraction of any grade of refinement, must cause bitterness and doubt, as to the reality of human goodness, so soon as the flush of passion is over. and, that you may avoid all taste for these false pleasures, "steep the soul in one pure love, and it will lost thee long." the love of truth, the love of excellence, whether you clothe them in the person of a special object or not, will have power to save you from following duessa, and lead you in the green glades where una's feet have trod. it was on this one subject that a venerable champion of good, the last representative of the spirit which sanctified the revolution, and gave our country such a sunlight of hope in the eyes of the nations, the same who lately, in boston, offered anew to the young men the pledge taken by the young men of his day, offered, also, his counsel, on being addressed by the principal of a girl's school, thus:-- reply of mr. adams. mr. adams was so deeply affected by the address of miss foster, as to be for some time inaudible. when heard, he spoke as follows: "this is the first instance in which a lady has thus addressed me personally; and i trust that all the ladies present will be able sufficiently to enter into my feelings to know that i am more affected by this honor than by any other i could hare received, "you have been pleased, madam, to allude to the character of my father, and the history of my family, and their services to the country. it is indeed true that, from the existence of the republic as an independent nation, my father and myself have been in the public service of the country, almost without interruption. i came into the world, as a person having personal responsibilities, with the declaration of independence, which constituted us a nation. i was a child at that time, and had then perhaps the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed on man--a mother who was anxious and capable to form her children to be what they ought to be. from that mother i derived whatever instruction--religious especially and moral--has pervaded a long life; i will not say perfectly, and as it ought to be; but i will say, because it is justice only to the memory of her whom i revere, that if, in the course of my life, there has been any imperfection, or deviation from what she taught me, the fault is mine, and not hers. "with such a mother, and such other relations with the sex, of sister, wife, and daughter, it has been the perpetual instruction of my life to love and revere the female sex. and in order to carry that sentiment of love and reverence to its highest degree of perfection, i know of nothing that exists in human society better adapted to produce that result, than institutions of the character that i have now the honor to address. "i have been taught, as i have said, through the course of my life, to love and to revere the female sex; but i have been taught, also--and that lesson has perhaps impressed itself on my mind even more strongly, it may be, than the other--i have been taught not to flatter them. it is not unusual, in the intercourse of man with the other sex--and especially for young men--to think that the way to win the hearts of ladies is by flattery. to love and to revere the sex, is what i think the duty of man; _but not to flatter them;_ and this i would say to the young ladies here--and if they, and others present, will allow me, with all the authority which nearly four score years may have with those who have not yet attained one score--i would say to them what i have no doubt they say to themselves, and are taught here, not to take the flattery of men as proof of perfection. "i am now, however, i fear, assuming too much of a character that does not exactly belong to me. i therefore conclude, by assuring you, madam, that your reception of me has affected me, as you perceive, more than i can express in words; and that i shall offer my best prayers, till my latest hour, to the creator of us all, that this institution especially, and all others of a similar kind, designed to form the female mind to wisdom and virtue, may prosper to the end of time." it will be interesting to add here the character of mr. adams' mother, as drawn by her husband, the first john adams, in a family letter [footnote: journal and correspondence of miss adams, vol. i., p. .] written just before his death. "i have reserved for the last the life of lady russell. this i have not yet read, because i read it more than forty years ago. on this hangs a tale which you ought to know and communicate it to your children. i bought the life and letters of lady russell in the year , and sent it to your grandmother, with an express intent and desire that she should consider it a mirror in which to contemplate herself; for, at that time, i thought it extremely probable, from the daring and dangerous career i was determined to run, that she would one day find herself in the situation of lady russell, her husband without a head. this lady was more beautiful than lady russell, had a brighter genius, more information, a more refined taste, and, at least, her equal in the virtues of the heart; equal fortitude and firmness of character, equal resignation to the will of heaven, equal in all the virtues and graces of the christian life. like lady russell, she never, by word or look, discouraged me from running all hazards for the salvation of my country's liberties; she was willing to share with me, and that her children should share with us both, in all the dangerous consequences we had to hazard." will a woman who loves flattery or an aimless excitement, who wastes the flower of her mind on transitory sentiments, ever be loved with a love like that, when fifty years' trial have entitled to the privileges of "the golden marriage?" such was the love of the iron-handed warrior for her, not his hand-maid, but his help-meet: "whom god loves, to him gives he such a wife." i find the whole of what i want in this relation, in the two epithets by which milton makes adam address _his_ wife. in the intercourse of every day he begins: "daughter of god and man, _accomplished_ eve." [footnote: see appendix h.] in a moment of stronger feeling, "daughter of god and man, immortal eve." what majesty in the cadence of the line; what dignity, what reverence in the attitude both of giver and receiver! the woman who permits, in her life, the alloy of vanity; the woman who lives upon flattery, coarse or fine, shall never be thus addressed, she is _not_ immortal so far as her will is concerned, and every woman who does so creates miasma, whose spread is indefinite. the hand which casts into the waters of life a stone of offence knows not how far the circles thus caused may spread their agitations. a little while since i was at one of the most fashionable places of public resort. i saw there many women, dressed without regard to the season or the demands of the place, in apery, or, as it looked, in mockery, of european fashions. i saw their eyes restlessly courting attention. i saw the way in which it was paid; the style of devotion, almost an open sneer, which it pleased those ladies to receive from men whose expression marked their own low position in the moral and intellectual world. those women went to their pillows with their heads full of folly, their hearts of jealousy, or gratified vanity; those men, with the low opinion they already entertained of woman confirmed. these were american _ladies;_ that is, they were of that class who have wealth and leisure to make full use of the day, and confer benefits on others. they were of that class whom the possession of external advantages makes of pernicious example to many, if these advantages be misused. soon after, i met a circle of women, stamped by society as among the most degraded of their sex. "how," it was asked of them, "did you come here?" for by the society that i saw in the former place they were shut up in a prison. the causes were not difficult to trace: love of dress, love of flattery, love of excitement. they had not dresses like the other ladies, so they stole them; they could not pay for flattery by distinctions, and the dower of a worldly marriage, so they paid by the profanation of their persons. in excitement, more and more madly sought from day to day, they drowned the voice of conscience. now i ask you, my sisters, if the women at the fashionable house be not answerable for those women being in the prison? as to position in the world of souls, we may suppose the women of the prison stood fairest, both because they had misused less light, and because loneliness and sorrow had brought some of them to feel the need of better life, nearer truth and good. this was no merit in them, being an effect of circumstance, but it was hopeful. but you, my friends (and some of you i have already met), consecrate yourselves without waiting for reproof, in free love and unbroken energy, to win and to diffuse a better life. offer beauty, talents, riches, on the altar; thus shall you keep spotless your own hearts, and be visibly or invisibly the angels to others. i would urge upon those women who have not yet considered this subject, to do so. do not forget the unfortunates who dare not cross your guarded way. if it do not suit you to act with those who have organized measures of reform, then hold not yourself excused from acting in private. seek out these degraded women, give them tender sympathy, counsel, employment. take the place of mothers, such as might have saved them originally. if you can do little for those already under the ban of the world,--and the best-considered efforts have often failed, from a want of strength in those unhappy ones to bear up against the sting of shame and the prejudices of the world, which makes them seek oblivion again in their old excitements,--you will at least leave a sense of love and justice in their hearts, that will prevent their becoming utterly embittered and corrupt. and you may learn the means of prevention for those yet uninjured. these will be found in a diffusion of mental culture, simple tastes, best taught by your example, a genuine self-respect, and, above all, what the influence of man tends to hide from woman, the love and fear of a divine, in preference to a human tribunal. but suppose you save many who would have lost their bodily innocence (for as to mental, the loss of that is incalculably more general), through mere vanity and folly; there still remain many, the prey and spoil of the brute passions of man; for the stories frequent in our newspapers outshame antiquity, and vie with the horrors of war. as to this, it must be considered that, as the vanity and proneness to seduction of the imprisoned women represented a general degradation in their sex; so do these acts a still more general and worse in the male. where so many are weak, it is natural there should be many lost; where legislators admit that ten thousand prostitutes are a fair proportion to one city, and husbands tell their wives that it is folly to expect chastity from men, it is inevitable that there should be many monsters of vice. i must in this place mention, with respect and gratitude, the conduct of mrs. child in the case of amelia norman. the action and speech of this lady was of straightforward nobleness, undeterred by custom or cavil from duty toward an injured sister. she showed the case and the arguments the counsel against the prisoner had the assurance to use in their true light to the public. she put the case on the only ground of religion and equity. she was successful in arresting the attention of many who had before shrugged their shoulders, and let sin pass as necessarily a part of the company of men. they begin to ask whether virtue is not possible, perhaps necessary, to man as well as to woman. they begin to fear that the perdition of a woman must involve that of a man. this is a crisis. the results of this case will be important. in this connection i must mention eugene sue, the french novelist, several of whose works have been lately translated among us, as having the true spirit of reform as to women. like every other french writer, he is still tainted with the transmissions of the old _regime_. still, falsehood may be permitted for the sake of advancing truth, evil as the way to good. even george sand, who would trample on every graceful decorum, and every human law, for the sake of a sincere life, does not see that she violates it by making her heroines able to tell falsehoods in a good cause. these french writers need ever to be confronted by the clear perception of the english and german mind, that the only good man, consequently the only good reformer, is he "who bases good on good alone, and owes to virtue every triumph that he knows." still, sue has the heart of a reformer, and especially towards women; he sees what they need, and what causes are injuring them. from the histories of fleur de marie and la louve, from the lovely and independent character of rigolette, from the distortion given to matilda's mind, by the present views of marriage, and from the truly noble and immortal character of the "hump-backed sempstress" in the "wandering jew," may be gathered much that shall elucidate doubt and direct inquiry on this subject. in reform, as in philosophy, the french are the interpreters to the civilized world. their own attainments are not great, but they make clear the post, and break down barriers to the future. observe that the good man of sue is as pure as sir charles grandison. apropos to sir charles. women are accustomed to be told by men that the reform is to come _from them_. "you," say the men, "must frown upon vice; you must decline the attentions of the corrupt; you must not submit to the will of your husband when it seems to you unworthy, but give the laws in marriage, and redeem it from its present sensual and mental pollutions." this seems to us hard. men have, indeed, been, for more than a hundred years, rating women for countenancing vice. but, at the same time, they have carefully hid from them its nature, so that the preference often shown by women for bad men arises rather from a confused idea that they are bold and adventurous, acquainted with regions which women are forbidden to explore, and the curiosity that ensues, than a corrupt heart in the woman. as to marriage, it has been inculcated on women, for centuries, that men have not only stronger passions than they, but of a sort that it would be shameful for them to share or even understand; that, therefore, they must "confide in their husbands," that is, submit implicitly to their will; that the least appearance of coldness or withdrawal, from whatever cause, in the wife is wicked, because liable to turn her husband's thoughts to illicit indulgence; for a man is so constituted that he must indulge his passions or die! accordingly, a great part of women look upon men as a kind of wild beasts, but "suppose they are all alike;" the unmarried are assured by the married that, "if they knew men as they do," that is, by being married to them, "they would not expect continence or self-government from them." i might accumulate illustrations on this theme, drawn from acquaintance with the histories of women, which would startle and grieve all thinking men, but i forbear. let sir charles grandison preach to his own sex; or if none there be who feels himself able to speak with authority from a life unspotted in will or deed, let those who are convinced of the practicability and need of a pure life, as the foreign artist was, advise the others, and warn them by their own example, if need be. the following passage, from a female writer, on female affairs, expresses a prevalent way of thinking on this subject: "it may be that a young woman, exempt from all motives of vanity, determines to take for a husband a man who does not inspire her with a very decided inclination. imperious circumstances, the evident interest of her family, or the danger of suffering celibacy, may explain such a resolution. if, however, she were to endeavor to surmount a personal repugnance, we should look upon this as _injudicious_. such a rebellion of nature marks the limit that the influence of parents, or the self-sacrifice of the young girl, should never pass. _we shall be told that this repugnance is an affair of the imagination_. it may be so; but imagination is a power which it is temerity to brave; and its antipathy is more difficult to conquer than its preference." [footnote: madame necker de saussure.] among ourselves, the exhibition of such a repugnance from a woman who had been given in marriage "by advice of friends," was treated by an eminent physician as sufficient proof of insanity. if he had said sufficient cause for it, he would have been nearer right. it has been suggested by men who were pained by seeing bad men admitted, freely, to the society of modest women,--thereby encouraged to vice by impunity, and corrupting the atmosphere of homes,--that there should be a senate of the matrons in each city and town, who should decide what candidates were fit for admission to their houses and the society of their daughters. [footnote: see goethe's tasso. "a synod of good women should decide,"--if the golden age is to be restored.] such a plan might have excellent results; but it argues a moral dignity and decision which does not yet exist, and needs to be induced by knowledge and reflection. it has been the tone to keep women ignorant on these subjects, or, when they were not, to command that they should seem so. "it is indelicate," says the father or husband, "to inquire into the private character of such an one. it is sufficient that i do not think him unfit to visit you." and so, this man, who would not tolerate these pages in his house, "unfit for family reading," because they speak plainly, introduces there a man whose shame is written on his brow, as well as the open secret of the whole town, and, presently, if _respectable_ still, and rich enough, gives him his daughter to wife. the mother affects ignorance, "supposing he is no worse than most men." the daughter _is_ ignorant; something in the mind of the new spouse seems strange to her, but she supposes it is "woman's lot" not to be perfectly happy in her affections; she has always heard, "men could not understand women," so she weeps alone, or takes to dress and the duties of the house. the husband, of course, makes no avowal, and dreams of no redemption. "in the heart of every young woman," says the female writer above quoted, addressing herself to the husband, "depend upon it, there is a fund of exalted ideas; she conceals, represses, without succeeding in smothering them. _so long as these ideas in your wife are directed to you, they are, no doubt, innocent_, but take care that they be not accompanied with _too much_ pain. in other respects, also, spare her delicacy. let all the antecedent parts of your life, if there are such, which would give her pain, be concealed from her; _her happiness and her respect for you would suffer from this misplaced confidence._ allow her to retain that flower of purity, _which should distinguish her, in your eyes, from every other woman_." we should think so, truly, under this canon. such a man must esteem purity an exotic that could only be preserved by the greatest care. of the degree of mental intimacy possible, in such a marriage, let every one judge for himself! on this subject, let every woman, who has once begun to think, examine herself; see whether she does not suppose virtue possible and necessary to man, and whether she would not desire for her son a virtue which aimed at a fitness for a divine life, and involved, if not asceticism, that degree of power over the lower self, which shall "not exterminate the passions, but keep them chained at the feet of reason." the passions, like fire, are a bad muster; but confine them to the hearth and the altar, and they give life to the social economy, and make each sacrifice meet for heaven. when many women have thought upon this subject, some will be fit for the senate, and one such senate in operation would affect the morals of the civilized world. at present i look to the young. as preparatory to the senate, i should like to see a society of novices, such as the world has never yet seen, bound by no oath, wearing no badge, in place of an oath, they should have a religious faith in the capacity of man for virtue; instead of a badge, should wear in the heart a firm resolve not to stop short of the destiny promised him as a son of god. their service should be action and conservatism, not of old habits, but of a better nature, enlightened by hopes that daily grow brighter. if sin was to remain in the world, it should not be by their connivance at its stay, or one moment's concession to its claims. they should succor the oppressed, and pay to the upright the reverence due in hero-worship by seeking to emulate them. they would not denounce the willingly bad, but they could not be with them, for the two classes could not breathe the same atmosphere. they would heed no detention from the time-serving, the worldly and the timid. they could love no pleasures that were not innocent and capable of good fruit, i saw, in a foreign paper, the title now given to a party abroad, "los exaltados." such would be the title now given these children by the world: los exaltados, las exaltadas; but the world would not sneer always, for from them would issue a virtue by which it would, at last, be exalted too. i have in my eye a youth and a maiden whom i look to as the nucleus of such a class. they are both in early youth; both as yet uncontaminated; both aspiring, without rashness; both thoughtful; both capable of deep affection; both of strong nature and sweet feelings; both capable of large mental development. they reside in different regions of earth, but their place in the soul is the same. to them i look, as, perhaps, the harbingers and leaders of a new era, for never yet have i known minds so truly virgin, without narrowness or ignorance. when men call upon women to redeem them, they mean such maidens. but such are not easily formed under the present influences of society. as there are more such young men to help give a different tone, there will be more such maidens. the english, novelist, d'israeli, has, in his novel of "the young duke," made a man of the most depraved stock be redeemed by a woman who despises him when he has only the brilliant mask of fortune and beauty to cover the poverty of his heart and brain, but knows how to encourage him when he enters on a better course. but this woman was educated by a father who valued character in women. still, there will come now and then one who will, as i hope of my young exaltada, be example and instruction for the rest. it was not the opinion of woman current among jewish men that formed the character of the mother of jesus. since the sliding and backsliding men of the world, no less than the mystics, declare that, as through woman man was lost, so through woman must man be redeemed, the time must be at hand. when she knows herself indeed as "accomplished," still more as "immortal eve," this may be. as an immortal, she may also know and inspire immortal love, a happiness not to be dreamed of under the circumstances advised in the last quotation. where love is based on concealment, it must, of course, disappear when the soul enters the scene of clear vision! and, without this hope, how worthless every plan, every bond, every power! "the giants," said the scandinavian saga, "had induced loke (the spirit that hovers between good and ill) to steal for them iduna (goddess of immortality) and her apples of pure gold. he lured her out, by promising to show, on a marvellous tree he had discovered, apples beautiful as her own, if she would only take them with her for a comparison. thus having lured her beyond the heavenly domain, she was seized and carried away captive by the powers of misrule. "as now the gods could not find their friend iduna, they were confused with grief; indeed, they began visibly to grow old and gray. discords arose, and love grew cold. indeed, odur, spouse of the goddess of love and beauty, wandered away, and returned no more. at last, however, the gods, discovering the treachery of loke, obliged him to win back iduna from the prison in which she sat mourning. he changed himself into a falcon, and brought her back as a swallow, fiercely pursued by the giant king, in the form of an eagle. so she strives to return among us, light and small as a swallow. we must welcome her form as the speck on the sky that assures the glad blue of summer. yet one swallow does not make a summer. let us solicit them in flights and flocks!" * * * * * returning from the future to the present, let us see what forms iduna takes, as she moves along the declivity of centuries to the valley where the lily flower may concentrate all its fragrance. it would seem as if this time were not very near to one fresh from books, such as i have of late been--no: _not_ reading, but sighing over. a crowd of books having been sent me since my friends knew me to be engaged in this way, on woman's "sphere,", woman's "mission," and woman's "destiny," i believe that almost all that is extant of formal precept has come under my eye. among these i read with refreshment a little one called "the whole duty of woman," "indited by a noble lady at the request of a noble lord," and which has this much of nobleness, that the view it takes is a religious one. it aims to fit woman for heaven; the main bent of most of the others is to fit her to please, or, at least, not to disturb, a husband. among these i select, as a favorable specimen, the book i have already quoted, "the study [footnote: this title seems to be incorrectly translated from the french. i have not seen the original] of the life of woman, by madame necker de saussure, of geneva, translated from the french." this book was published at philadelphia, and has been read with much favor here. madame necker is the cousin of madame de stael, and has taken from her works the motto prefixed to this. "cette vie n'a quelque prix que si elle sert a' l'education morale do notre coeur." mde. necker is, by nature, capable of entire consistency in the application of this motto, and, therefore, the qualifications she makes, in the instructions given to her own sex, show forcibly the weight which still paralyzes and distorts the energies of that sex. the book is rich in passages marked by feeling and good suggestions; but, taken in the whole, the impression it leaves is this: woman is, and _shall remain_, inferior to man and subject to his will, and, in endeavoring to aid her, we must anxiously avoid anything that can be misconstrued into expression of the contrary opinion, else the men will be alarmed, and combine to defeat our efforts. the present is a good time for these efforts, for men are less occupied about women than formerly. let us, then, seize upon the occasion, and do what we can to make our lot tolerable. but we must sedulously avoid encroaching on the territory of man. if we study natural history, our observations may be made useful, by some male naturalist; if we draw well, we may make our services acceptable to the artists. but our names must not be known; and, to bring these labors to any result, we must take some man for our head, and be his hands. the lot of woman is sad. she is constituted to expect and need a happiness that cannot exist on earth. she must stifle such aspirations within her secret heart, and fit herself, as well as she can, for a life of resignations and consolations. she will be very lonely while living with her husband. she must not expect to open her heart to him fully, or that, after marriage, he will be capable of the refined service of love. the man is not born for the woman, only the woman for the man. "men cannot understand the hearts of women." the life of woman must be outwardly a well-intentioned, cheerful dissimulation of her real life. naturally, the feelings of the mother, at the birth of a female child, resemble those of the paraguay woman, described by southey as lamenting in such heart-breaking tones that her mother did not kill her the hour she was born,--"her mother, who knew what this life of a woman must be;"--or of those women seen at the north by sir a. mackenzie, who performed this pious duty towards female infants whenever they had an opportunity. "after the first delight, the young mother experiences feelings a little different, according as the birth of a son or a daughter has been announced. "is it a son? a sort of glory swells at this thought the heart of the mother; she seems to feel that she is entitled to gratitude. she has given a citizen, a defender, to her country; to her husband an heir of his name; to herself a protector. and yet the contrast of all these fine titles with this being, so humble, soon strikes her. at the aspect of this frail treasure, opposite feelings agitate her heart; she seems to recognise in him _a nature superior to her own_, but subjected to a low condition, and she honors a future greatness in the object of extreme compassion. somewhat of that respect and adoration for a feeble child, of which some fine pictures offer the expression in the features of the happy mary, seem reproduced with the young mother who has given birth to a son. "is it a daughter? there is usually a slight degree of regret; so deeply rooted is the idea of the superiority of man in happiness and dignity; and yet, as she looks upon this child, she is more and more _softened_ towards it. a deep sympathy--a sentiment of identity with this delicate being--takes possession of her; an extreme pity for so much weakness, a more pressing need of prayer, stirs her heart. whatever sorrows she may have felt, she dreads for her daughter; but she will guide her to become much wiser, much better than herself. and then the gayety, the frivolity of the young woman have their turn. this little creature is a flower to cultivate, a doll to decorate." similar sadness at the birth of a daughter i have heard mothers express not unfrequently. as to this living so entirely for men, i should think when it was proposed to women they would feel, at least, some spark of the old spirit of races allied to our own. "if he is to be my bridegroom _and lord_" cries brunhilda, [footnote: see the nibelungen lays.] "he must first be able to pass through fire and water." "i will serve at the banquet," says the walkyrie, "but only him who, in the trial of deadly combat, has shown himself a hero." if women are to be bond-maids, let it be to men superior to women in fortitude, in aspiration, in moral power, in refined sense of beauty. you who give yourselves "to be supported," or because "one must love something," are they who make the lot of the sex such that mothers are sad when daughters are born. it marks the state of feeling on this subject that it was mentioned, as a bitter censure on a woman who had influence over those younger than herself,--"she makes those girls want to see heroes?" "and will that hurt them?" "certainly; how _can_ you ask? they will find none, and so they will never be married." "_get_ married" is the usual phrase, and the one that correctly indicates the thought; but the speakers, on this occasion, were persons too outwardly refined to use it. they were ashamed of the word, but not of the thing. madame necker, however, sees good possible in celibacy. indeed, i know not how the subject could be better illustrated, than by separating the wheat from the chaff in madame necker's book; place them in two heaps, and then summon the reader to choose; giving him first a near-sighted glass to examine the two;--it might be a christian, an astronomical, or an artistic glass,--any kind of good glass to obviate acquired defects in the eye. i would lay any wager on the result. but time permits not here a prolonged analysis. i have given the clues for fault-finding. as a specimen of the good take the following passage, on the phenomena of what i have spoken of, as the lyrical or electric element in woman. "women have been seen to show themselves poets in the most pathetic pantomimic scenes, where all the passions were depicted full of beauty; and these poets used a language unknown to themselves, and, the performance once over, their inspiration was a forgotten dream. without doubt there is an interior development to beings so gifted; but their sole mode of communication with us is their talent. they are, ill all besides, the inhabitants of another planet." similar observations have been made by those who have seen the women at irish wakes, or the funeral ceremonies of modern greece or brittany, at times when excitement gave the impulse to genius; but, apparently, without a thought that these rare powers belonged to no other planet, but were a high development of the growth of this, and might, by wise and reverent treatment, be made to inform and embellish the scenes of every day. but, when woman has her fair chance, she will do so, and the poem of the hour will vie with that of the ages. i come now with satisfaction to my own country, and to a writer, a female writer, whom i have selected as the clearest, wisest, and kindliest, who has, as yet, used pen here on these subjects. this is miss sedgwick. miss sedgwick, though she inclines to the private path, and wishes that, by the cultivation of character, might should vindicate right, sets limits nowhere, and her objects and inducements are pure. they are the free and careful cultivation of the powers that have been given, with an aim at moral and intellectual perfection. her speech is moderate and sane, but never palsied by fear or sceptical caution. herself a fine example of the independent and beneficent existence that intellect and character can give to woman, no less than man, if she know how to seek and prize it,--also, that the intellect need not absorb or weaken, but rather will refine and invigorate, the affections,--the teachings of her practical good sense come with great force, and cannot fail to avail much. every way her writings please me both as to the means and the ends. i am pleased at the stress she lays on observance of the physical laws, because the true reason is given. only in a strong and clean body can the soul do its message fitly. she shows the meaning of the respect paid to personal neatness, both in the indispensable form of cleanliness, and of that love of order and arrangement, that must issue from a true harmony of feeling. the praises of cold water seem to me an excellent sign in the age. they denote a tendency to the true life. we are now to have, as a remedy for ills, not orvietan, or opium, or any quack medicine, but plenty of air and water, with due attention to warmth and freedom in dress, and simplicity of diet. every day we observe signs that the natural feelings on these subjects are about to be reinstated, and the body to claim care as the abode and organ of the soul; not as the tool of servile labor, or the object of voluptuous indulgence. a poor woman, who had passed through the lowest grades of ignominy, seemed to think she had never been wholly lost, "for," said she, "i would always have good under-clothes;" and, indeed, who could doubt that this denoted the remains of private self-respect in the mind? a woman of excellent sense said, "it might seem childish, but to her one of the most favorable signs of the times was that the ladies had been persuaded to give up corsets." yes! let us give up all artificial means of distortion. let life be healthy, pure, all of a piece. miss sedgwick, in teaching that domestics must have the means of bathing us much as their mistresses, and time, too, to bathe, has symbolized one of the most important of human rights. another interesting sign of the time is the influence exercised by two women, miss martineau and miss barrett, from their sick-rooms. the lamp of life which, if it had been fed only by the affections, depended on precarious human relations, would scarce have been able to maintain a feeble glare in the lonely prison, now shines far and wide over the nations, cheering fellow-sufferers and hallowing the joy of the healthful. these persons need not health or youth, or the charms of personal presence, to make their thoughts available. a few more such, and "old woman" [footnote: an apposite passage is quoted in appendix f.] shall not be the synonyme for imbecility, nor "old maid" a term of contempt, nor woman be spoken of as a reed shaken by the wind. it is time, indeed, that men and women both should cease to grow old in any other way than as the tree does, full of grace and honor. the hair of the artist turns white, but his eye shines clearer than ever, and we feel that age brings him maturity, not decay. so would it be with all, were the springs of immortal refreshment but unsealed within the soul; then, like these women, they would see, from the lonely chamber window, the glories of the universe; or, shut in darkness, be visited by angels. i now touch on my own place and day, and, as i write, events are occurring that threaten the fair fabric approached by so long an avenue. week before last, the gentile was requested to aid the jew to return to palestine; for the millennium, the reign of the son of mary was near. just now, at high and solemn mass, thanks were returned to the virgin for having delivered o'connell from unjust imprisonment, in requital of his having consecrated to her the league formed in behalf of liberty on tara's hill. but last week brought news which threatens that a cause identical with the enfranchisement of jews, irish, women, ay, and of americans in general, too, is in danger, for the choice of the people threatens to rivet the chains of slavery and the leprosy of sin permanently on this nation, through the annexation of texas! ah! if this should take place, who will dare again to feel the throb of heavenly hope, as to the destiny of this country? the noble thought that gave unity to all our knowledge, harmony to all our designs,--the thought that the progress of history had brought on the era, the tissue of prophecies pointed out the spot, where humanity was, at last, to have a fair chance to know itself, and all men be born free and equal for the eagle's flight,--flutters as if about to leave the breast, which, deprived of it, will have no more a nation, no more a home on earth. women of my country!--exaltadas! if such there be,--women of english, old english nobleness, who understand the courage of boadicea, the sacrifice of godiva, the power of queen emma to tread the red-hot iron unharmed,--women who share the nature of mrs. hutchinson, lady russell, and the mothers of our own revolution,--have you nothing to do with this? you see the men, how they are willing to sell shamelessly the happiness of countless generations of fellow-creatures, the honor of their country, and their immortal souls, for a money market and political power. do you not feel within you that which can reprove them, which can check, which can convince them? you would not speak in vain; whether each in her own home, or banded in unison. tell these men that you will not accept the glittering baubles, spacious dwellings, and plentiful service, they mean to offer you through those means. tell them that the heart of woman demands nobleness and honor in man, and that, if they have not purity, have not mercy, they are no longer fathers, lovers, husbands, sons of yours. this cause is your own, for, as i have before said, there is a reason why the foes of african slavery seek more freedom for women; but put it not upon that ground, but on the ground of right. if you have a power, it is a moral power. the films of interest are not so close around you as around the men. if you will but think, you cannot fail to wish to save the country from this disgrace. let not slip the occasion, but do something to lift off the curse incurred by eve. you have heard the women engaged in the abolition movement accused of boldness, because they lifted the voice in public, and lifted the latch of the stranger. but were these acts, whether performed judiciously or no, _so_ bold as to dare before god and man to partake the fruits of such offence as this? you hear much of the modesty of your sex. preserve it by filling the mind with noble desires that shall ward off the corruptions of vanity and idleness. a profligate woman, who left her accustomed haunts and took service in a new york boarding-house, said "she had never heard talk so vile at the five points, as from the ladies at the boarding-house." and why? because they were idle; because, having nothing worthy to engage them, they dwelt, with unnatural curiosity, on the ill they dared not go to see. it will not so much injure your modesty to have your name, by the unthinking, coupled with idle blame, as to have upon your soul the weight of not trying to save a whole race of women from the scorn that is put upon _their_ modesty. think of this well! i entreat, i conjure you, before it is too late. it is my belief that something effectual might be done by women, if they would only consider the subject, and enter upon it in the true spirit,--a spirit gentle, but firm, and which feared the offence of none, save one who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. and now i have designated in outline, if not in fulness, the stream which is ever flowing from the heights of my thought. in the earlier tract i was told i did not make my meaning sufficiently clear. in this i have consequently tried to illustrate it in various ways, and may have been guilty of much repetition. yet, as i am anxious to leave no room for doubt, i shall venture to retrace, once more, the scope of my design in points, as wad done in old-fashioned sermons. man is a being of two-fold relations, to nature beneath, and intelligences above him. the earth is his school, if not his birth-place; god his object; life and thought his means of interpreting nature, and aspiring to god. only a fraction of this purpose is accomplished in the life of any one man. its entire accomplishment is to be hoped only from the sum of the lives of men, or man considered as a whole. as this whole has one soul and one body, any injury or obstruction to a part, or to the meanest member, affects the whole. man can never be perfectly happy or virtuous, till all men are so. to address man wisely, you must not forget that his life is partly animal, subject to the same laws with nature. but you cannot address him wisely unless you consider him still more as soul, and appreciate the conditions and destiny of soul. the growth of man is two-fold, masculine and feminine. so far as these two methods can be distinguished, they are so as energy and harmony; power and beauty; intellect and love; or by some such rude classification; for we have not language primitive and pure enough to express such ideas with precision. these two sides are supposed to be expressed in man and woman, that is, as the more and the less, for the faculties have not been given pure to either, but only in preponderance. there are also exceptions in great number, such as men of far more beauty than power, and the reverse. but, as a general rule, it seems to have been the intention to give a preponderance on the one side, that is called masculine, and on the other, one that is called feminine. there cannot be a doubt that, if these two developments were in perfect harmony, they would correspond to and fulfil one another, like hemispheres, or the tenor and bass in music. but there is no perfect harmony in human nature; and the two parts answer one another only now and then; or, if there be a persistent consonance, it can only be traced at long intervals, instead of discoursing an obvious melody. what is the cause of this? man, in the order of time, was developed first; as energy comes before harmony; power before beauty. woman was therefore under his care as an elder. he might have been her guardian and teacher. but, as human nature goes not straight forward, but by excessive action and then reaction in an undulated course, he misunderstood and abused his advantages, and became her temporal master instead of her spiritual sire. on himself came the punishment. he educated woman more as a servant than a daughter, and found himself a king without a queen. the children of this unequal union showed unequal natures, and, more and more, men seemed sons of the handmaid, rather than princess. at last, there were so many ishmaelites that the rest grew frightened and indignant. they laid the blame on hagar, and drove her forth into the wilderness. but there were none the fewer ishmaelites for that. at last men became a little wiser, and saw that the infant moses was, in every case, saved by the pure instincts of woman's breast. for, as too much adversity is better for the moral nature than too much prosperity, woman, in this respect, dwindled less than man, though in other respects still a child in leading-strings. so man did her more and more justice, and grew more and more kind. but yet--his habits and his will corrupted by the past--he did not clearly see that woman was half himself; that her interests were identical with his; and that, by the law of their common being, he could never reach his true proportions while she remained in any wise shorn of hers. and so it has gone on to our day; both ideas developing, but more slowly than they would under a clearer recognition of truth and justice, which would have permitted the sexes their due influence on one another, and mutual improvement from more dignified relations. wherever there was pure love, the natural influences were, for the time, restored. wherever the poet or artist gave free course to his genius, he saw the truth, and expressed it in worthy forms, for these men especially share and need the feminine principle. the divine birds need to be brooded into life and song by mothers. wherever religion (i mean the thirst for truth and good, not the love of sect and dogma) had its course, the original design was apprehended in its simplicity, and the dove presaged sweetly from dodona's oak. i have aimed to show that no age was left entirely without a witness of the equality of the sexes in function, duty and hope. also that, when there was unwillingness or ignorance, which prevented this being acted upon, women had not the less power for their want of light and noble freedom. but it was power which hurt alike them and those against whom they made use of the arms of the servile,--cunning, blandishment, and unreasonable emotion. that now the time has come when a clearer vision and better action are possible--when man and woman may regard one another, as brother and sister, the pillars of one porch, the priests of one worship. i have believed and intimated that this hope would receive an ampler fruition, than ever before, in our own land. and it will do so if this land carry out the principles from which sprang our national life. i believe that, at present, women are the best helpers of one another. let them think; let them act; till they know what they need. we only ask of men to remove arbitrary barriers. some would like to do more. but i believe it needs that woman show herself in her native dignity, to teach them how to aid her; their minds are so encumbered by tradition. when lord edward fitzgerald travelled with the indians, his manly heart obliged him at once to take the packs from the squaws and carry them. but we do not read that the red men followed his example, though they are ready enough to carry the pack of the white woman, because she seems to them a superior being. let woman appear in the mild majesty of ceres, and rudest churls will be willing to learn from her. you ask, what use will she make of liberty, when she has so long been sustained and restrained? i answer; in the first place, this will not be suddenly given. i read yesterday a debate of this year on the subject of enlarging women's rights over property. it was a leaf from the class-book that is preparing for the needed instruction. the men learned visibly as they spoke. the champions of woman saw the fallacy of arguments on the opposite side, and were startled by their own convictions. with their wives at home, and the readers of the paper, it was the same. and so the stream flows on; thought urging action, and action leading to the evolution of still better thought. but, were this freedom to come suddenly, i have no fear of the consequences. individuals might commit excesses, but there is not only in the sex a reverence for decorums and limits inherited and enhanced from generation to generation, which many years of other life could not efface, but a native love, in woman as woman, of proportion, of "the simple art of not too much,"--a greek moderation, which would create immediately a restraining party, the natural legislators and instructors of the rest, and would gradually establish such rules as are needed to guard, without impeding, life. the graces would lead the choral dance, and teach the rest to regulate their steps to the measure of beauty. but if you ask me what offices they may fill, i reply--any. i do not care what case you put; let them be sea-captains, if you will. i do not doubt there are women well fitted for such an office, and, if so, i should be as glad to see them in it, as to welcome the maid of saragossa, or the maid of missolonghi, or the suliote heroine, or emily plater. i think women need, especially at this juncture, a much greater range of occupation than they have, to rouse their latent powers. a party of travellers lately visited a lonely hut on a mountain. there they found an old woman, who told them she and her husband had lived there forty years. "why," they said, "did you choose so barren a spot?" she "did not know; _it was the man's notion."_ and, during forty years, she had been content to act, without knowing why, upon "the man's notion." i would not have it so. in families that i know, some little girls like to saw wood, others to use carpenters' tools. where these tastes are indulged, cheerfulness and good-humor are promoted. where they are forbidden, because "such things are not proper for girls," they grow sullen and mischievous. fourier had observed these wants of women, as no one can fail to do who watches the desires of little girls, or knows the ennui that haunts grown women, except where they make to themselves a serene little world by art of some kind. he, therefore, in proposing a great variety of employments, in manufactures or the care of plants and animals, allows for one third of women as likely to have a taste for masculine pursuits, one third of men for feminine. who does not observe the immediate glow and serenity that is diffused over the life of women, before restless or fretful, by engaging in gardening, building, or the lowest department of art? here is something that is not routine, something that draws forth life towards the infinite. i have no doubt, however, that a large proportion of women would give themselves to the same employments as now, because there are circumstances that must lead them. mothers will delight to make the nest soft and warm. nature would take care of that; no need to clip the wings of any bird that wants to soar and sing, or finds in itself the strength of pinion for a migratory flight unusual to its kind. the difference would be that _all_ need not be constrained to employments for which _some_ are unfit. i have urged upon the sex self-subsistence in its two forms of self-reliance and self-impulse, because i believe them to be the needed means of the present juncture. i have urged on woman independence of man, not that i do not think the sexes mutually needed by one another, but because in woman this fact has led to an excessive devotion, which has cooled love, degraded marriage, and prevented either sex from being what it should be to itself or the other. i wish woman to live, _first_ for god's sake. then she will not make an imperfect man her god, and thus sink to idolatry. then she will not take what is not fit for her from a sense of weakness and poverty. then, if she finds what she needs in man embodied, she will know how to love, and be worthy of being loved. by being more a soul, she will not be less woman, for nature is perfected through spirit. now there is no woman, only an overgrown child. that her hand may be given with dignity, she must be able to stand alone. i wish to see men and women capable of such relations as are depicted by landor in his pericles and aspasia, where grace is the natural garb of strength, and the affections are calm, because deep. the softness is that of a firm tissue, as when "the gods approve the depth, but not the tumult of the soul, a fervent, not ungovernable love." a profound thinker has said, "no married woman can represent the female world, for she belongs to her husband. the idea of woman must be represented by a virgin." but that is the very fault of marriage, and of the present relation between the sexes, that the woman does belong to the man, instead of forming a whole with him. were it otherwise, there would be no such limitation to the thought. woman, self-centred, would never be absorbed by any relation; it would be only an experience to her as to man. it is a vulgar error that love, _a_ love, to woman is her whole existence; she also is born for truth and love in their universal energy. would she but assume her inheritance, mary would not be the only virgin mother. not manzoni alone would celebrate in his wife the virgin mind with the maternal wisdom and conjugal affections. the soul is ever young, ever virgin. and will not she soon appear?--the woman who shall vindicate their birthright for all women; who shall teach them what to claim, and how to use what they obtain? shall not her name be for her era victoria, for her country and life virginia? yet predictions are rash; she herself must teach us to give her the fitting name. an idea not unknown to ancient times has of late been revived, that, in the metamorphoses of life, the soul assumes the form, first of man, then of woman, and takes the chances, and reaps the benefits of either lot. why then, say some, lay such emphasis on the rights or needs of woman? what she wins not as woman will come to her as man. that makes no difference. it is not woman, but the law of right, the law of growth, that speaks in us, and demands the perfection of each being in its kind--apple as apple, woman as woman. without adopting your theory, i know that i, a daughter, live through the life of man; but what concerns me now is, that my life be a beautiful, powerful, in a word, a complete life in its kind. had i but one more moment to live i must wish the same. suppose, at the end of your cycle, your great world-year, all will be completed, whether i exert myself or not (and the supposition is _false_,--but suppose it true), am i to be indifferent about it? not so! i must beat my own pulse true in the heart of the world; for _that_ is virtue, excellence, health. thou, lord of day! didst leave us to-night so calmly glorious, not dismayed that cold winter is coming, not postponing thy beneficence to the fruitful summer! thou didst smile on thy day's work when it was done, and adorn thy down-going as thy up-rising, for thou art loyal, and it is thy nature to give life, if thou canst, and shine at all events! i stand in the sunny noon of life. objects no longer glitter in the dews of morning, neither are yet softened by the shadows of evening. every spot is seen, every chasm revealed. climbing the dusty hill, some fair effigies that once stood for symbols of human destiny have been broken; those i still have with me show defects in this broad light. yet enough is left, even by experience, to point distinctly to the glories of that destiny; faint, but not to be mistaken streaks of the future day. i can say with the bard, "though many have suffered shipwreck, still beat noble hearts." always the soul says to us all, cherish your best hopes as a faith, and abide by them in action. such shall be the effectual fervent means to their fulfilment; for the power to whom we bow has given its pledge that, if not now, they of pure and steadfast mind, by faith exalted, truth refined, _shall_ hear all music loud and clear, whose first notes they ventured here. then fear not thou to wind the horn, though elf and gnome thy courage scorn; ask for the castle's king and queen; though rabble rout may rush between, beat thee senseless to the ground, in the dark beset thee round; persist to ask, and it will come; seek not for rest in humbler home; so shalt thou see, what few have seen, the palace home of king and queen. _th november_, . part ii. * * * * * miscellanies. aglauron and laurie. a drive through the country near boston. aglauron and laurie are two of the pleasantest men i know. laurie combines, with the external advantages of a beautiful person and easy address, all the charm which quick perceptions and intelligent sympathy give to the intercourse of daily life. he has an extensive, though not a deep, knowledge of men and books,--his naturally fine taste has been more refined by observation, both at home and abroad, than is usual in this busy country; and, though not himself a thinker, he follows with care and delight the flights of a rapid and inventive mind. he is one of those rare persons who, without being servile or vacillating, present on no side any barrier to the free action of another mind. yes, he is really an agreeable companion. i do not remember ever to have been wearied or chilled in his company. aglauron is a person of far greater depth and force than his friend and cousin, but by no means as agreeable. his mind is ardent and powerful, rather than brilliant and ready,--neither does he with ease adapt himself to the course of another. but, when he is once kindled, the blaze of light casts every object on which it falls into a bold relief, and gives every scene a lustre unknown before. he is not, perhaps, strictly original in his thoughts; but the severe truth of his character, and the searching force of his attention, give the charm of originality to what he says. accordingly, another cannot, by repetition, do it justice. i have never any doubt when i write down or tell what laurie says, but aglauron must write for himself. yet i almost always take notes of what has passed, for the amusement of a distant friend, who is learning, amidst the western prairies, patience, and an appreciation of the poor benefits of our imperfectly civilized state. and those i took this day, seemed not unworthy of a more general circulation. the sparkle of talk, the free breeze that swelled its current, are always fled when you write it down; but there is a gentle flow, and truth to the moment, rarely attained in more elaborate compositions. my two friends called to ask if i would drive with them into the country, and i gladly consented. it was a beautiful afternoon of the last week in may. nature seemed most desirous to make up for the time she had lost, in an uncommonly cold and wet spring. the leaves were bursting from their sheaths with such rapidity that the trees seemed actually to greet you as you passed along. the vestal choirs of snow-drops and violets were chanting their gentle hopes from every bank, the orchards were white with blossoms, and the birds singing in almost tumultuous glee. we drove for some time in silence, perhaps fearful to disturb the universal song by less melodious accents, when aglauron said: "how entirely are we new-born today! how are all the post cold skies and hostile breezes vanished before this single breath of sweetness! how consoling is the truth thus indicated!" _laurie_. it is indeed the dearest fact of our consciousness, that, in every moment of joy, pain is annihilated. there is no past, and the future is only the sunlight streaming into the far valley. _aglauron._ yet it was the night that taught us to prize the day. _laurie._ even so. and i, you know, object to none of the "dark masters." _aglauron_. nor i,--because i am sure that whatever is, is good; and to find out the _why_ is all our employment here. but one feels so at home in such a day as this! _laurie._ as this, indeed! i never heard so many birds, nor saw so many flowers. do you not like these yellow flowers? _aglauron._ they gleam upon the fields as if to express the bridal kiss of the sun. he seems most happy, if not most wealthy, when first he is wed to the earth. _laurie._ i believe i have some such feeling about these golden flowers. when i did not know what was the asphodel, so celebrated by the poets, i thought it was a golden flower; yet this yellow is so ridiculed as vulgar. _aglauron_. it is because our vulgar luxury depreciates objects not fitted to adorn our dwellings. these yellow flowers will not bear being token out of their places and brought home to the centre-table. but, when enamelling the ground, the cowslip, the king-cup,--nay, the marigold and dandelion even,--are resplendently beautiful. _laurie_. they are the poor man's gold. see that dark, unpointed house, with its lilac shrubbery. as it stands, undivided from the road to which the green bank slopes down from the door, is not the effect of that enamel of gold dandelions beautiful? _aglauron_. it seems as if a stream of peace had flowed from the door-step down to the very dust, in waves of light, to greet the passer-by. that is, indeed, a quiet house. it looks as if somebody's grandfather lived there still. _laurie_. it is most refreshing to see the dark boards amid those houses of staring white. strange that, in the extreme heat of summer, aching eyes don't teach the people better. _aglauron_. we are still, in fact, uncivilized, for all our knowledge of what is done "in foreign parts" cannot make us otherwise. civilization must be homogeneous,--must be a natural growth. this glistening white paint was long preferred because the most expensive; just as in the west, i understand, they paint houses red to make them resemble the hideous red brick. and the eye, thus spoiled by excitement, prefers red or white to the stone-color, or the browns, which would harmonize with other hues. _laurie_. i should think the eye could never be spoiled so far as to like these white palings. these bars of glare amid the foliage are unbearable. _myself_. what color should they be? _laurie_. an invisible green, as in all civilized parts of the globe. then your eye would rest on the shrubbery undisturbed. _myself_. your vaunted italy has its palaces of white stucco and buildings of brick. _laurie_. ay,--but the stucco is by the atmosphere soon mellowed into cream-color, the brick into rich brown. _myself_. i have heard a connoisseur admire our own red brick in the afternoon sun, above all other colors. _laurie_. there are some who delight too much in the stimulus of color to be judges of harmony of coloring. it is so, often, with the italians. no color is too keen for the eye of the neapolitan. he thinks, with little riding-hood, there is no color like red. i have seen one of the most beautiful new palaces paved with tiles of a brilliant red. but this, too, is barbarism. _myself_. you are pleased to call it so, because you make the english your arbiters in point of taste; but i do not think they, on your own principle, are our proper models. with their ever-weeping skies, and seven-piled velvet of verdure, they are no rule for us, whose eyes are accustomed to the keen blue and brilliant clouds of our own realm, and who see the earth wholly green scarce two months in the year. no white is more glistening than our january snows; no house here hurts my eye more than the fields of white-weed will, a fortnight hence. _laurie._ true refinement of taste would bid the eye seek repose the more. but, even admitting what you say, there is no harmony. the architecture is borrowed from england; why not the rest? _aglauron._ but, my friend, surely these piazzas and pipe-stem pillars are all american. _laurie._ but the cottage to which they belong is english. the inhabitants, suffocating in small rooms, and beneath sloping roofs, because the house is too low to admit any circulation of air, are in need, we must admit, of the piazza, for elsewhere they must suffer all the torments of mons. chaubert in his first experience of the oven. but i do not assail the piazzas, at any rate; they are most desirable, in these hot summers of ours, were they but in proportion with the house, and their pillars with one another. but i do object to houses which are desirable neither as summer nor winter residences here. the shingle palaces, celebrated by irving's wit, were far more appropriate, for they, at least, gave free course to the winds of heaven, when the thermometer stood at ninety-five degrees in the shade. _aglauron._ pity that american wit nipped in the bud those early attempts at an american architecture. here in the east, alas! the case is become hopeless. but in the west the log-cabin still promises a proper basis. _laurie._ you laugh at me. but so it is. i am not so silly as to insist upon american architecture, american art, in the th of july style, merely for the gratification of national vanity. but a building, to be beautiful, should harmonize exactly with the uses to which it is to be put, and be an index to the climate and habits of the people. there is no objection to borrowing good thoughts from other nations, if we adopt the new style because we find it will serve our convenience, and not merely because it looks pretty outside. _aglauron._ i agree with you that here, as well as in manners and in literature, there is too ready access to the old stock, and, though i said it in jest, my hope is, in truth, the log-cabin. this the settler will enlarge, as his riches and his family increase; he will beautify as his character refines, and as his eye becomes accustomed to observe objects around him for their loveliness as well as for their utility. he will borrow from nature the forms and coloring most in harmony with the scene in which his dwelling is placed. might growth here be but slow enough! might not a greediness for gain and show cheat men of all the real advantages of their experience! (here a carriage passed.) _laurie._ who is that beautiful lady to whom you bowed? _aglauron._ beautiful do you think her? at this distance, and with the freshness which the open air gives to her complexion, she certainly does look so, and was so still, five years ago, when i knew her abroad. it is mrs. v----. _laurie._ i remember with what interest you mentioned her in your letters. and you promised to tell me her true story. _aglauron._ i was much interested, then, both in her and her story, but, last winter, when i met her at the south, she had altered, and seemed so much less attractive than before, that the bright colors of the picture are well-nigh effaced. _laurie._ the pleasure of telling the story will revive them again. let us fasten our horses and go into this little wood. there is a seat near the lake which is pretty enough to tell a story upon. _aglauron._ in all the idyls i ever read, they were told in caves, or beside a trickling fountain. _laurie._ that was in the last century. we will innovate. let us begin that american originality we were talking about, and make the bank of a lake answer our purpose. * * * * * we dismounted accordingly, but, on reaching the spot, aglauron at first insisted on lying on the grass, and gazing up at the clouds in a most uncitizen-like fashion, and it was some time before we could get the promised story. at last,-- * * * * * i first saw mrs. v---- at the opera in vienna. abroad, i scarcely cared for anything in comparison with music. in many respects the old world disappointed my hopes; society was, in essentials, no better, nor worse, than at home, and i too easily saw through the varnish of conventional refinement. lions, seen near, were scarcely more interesting than tamer cattle, and much more annoying in their gambols and caprices. parks and ornamental grounds pleased me less than the native forests and wide-rolling rivers of my own land. but in the arts, and most of all in music, i found all my wishes more than realized. i found the soul of man uttering itself with the swiftness, the freedom and the beauty, for which i had always pined. i easily conceived how foreigners, once acquainted with this diverse language, pass their lives without a wish for pleasure or employment beyond hearing the great works of the masters. it seemed to me that here was wealth to feed the thoughts for ages. this lady fixed my attention by the rapturous devotion with which she listened. i saw that she too had here found her proper home. every shade of thought and feeling expressed in the music was mirrored in her beautiful countenance. her rapture of attention, during some passages, was enough of itself to make you hold your breath; and a sudden stroke of genius lit her face into a very heaven with its lightning. it seemed to me that in her i should find one who would truly sympathize with me, one who looked on the art not as a connoisseur, but a votary. i took the speediest opportunity of being introduced to her at her own house by a common friend. but what a difference! at home i scarcely knew her. still she was beautiful; but the sweetness, the elevated expression, which the satisfaction of an hour had given her, were entirely fled. her eye was restless, her cheek pale and thin, her whole expression perturbed and sorrowful. every gesture spoke the sickliness of a spirit long an outcast from its natural home, bereft of happiness, and hopeless of good. i perceived, at first sight of her every-day face, that it was not unknown to me. three or four years earlier, staying in the country-house of one of her friends, i had seen her picture. the house was very dull,--as dull as placid content with the mere material enjoyments of life, and an inert gentleness of nature, could make its inhabitants. they were people to be loved, but loved without a thought. their wings had never grown, nor their eyes coveted a wider prospect than could be seen from the parent nest. the friendly visitant could not discompose them by a remark indicating any expansion of mind or life. much as i enjoyed the beauty of the country around, when out in the free air, my hours within the house would have been dull enough but for the contemplation of this picture. while the round of common-place songs was going on, and the whist-players were at their work, i used to sit and wonder how this being, so sovereign in the fire of her nature, so proud in her untamed loveliness, could ever have come of their blood. her eye, from the canvas, even, seemed to annihilate all things low or little, and able to command all creation in search of the object of its desires. she had not found it, though; i felt this on seeing her now. she, the queenly woman, the boadicea of a forlorn hope, as she seemed born to be, the only woman whose face, to my eye, had ever given promise of a prodigality of nature sufficient for the entertainment of a poet's soul, was--i saw it at a glance--a captive in her life, and a beggar in her affections. _laurie._ a dangerous object to the traveller's eye, methinks! _aglauron._ not to mine! the picture had been so; but, seeing her now, i felt that the glorious promise of her youthful prime had failed. she had missed her course; and the beauty, whose charm to the imagination had been that it seemed invincible, was now subdued and mixed with earth. _laurie._ i can never comprehend the cruelty in your way of viewing human beings, aglauron. to err, to suffer, is their lot; all who have feeling and energy of character must share it; and i could not endure a woman who at six-and-twenty bore no trace of the past. _aglauron._ such women and such men are the companions of everyday life. but the angels of our thoughts are those moulds of pure beauty which must break with a fall. the common air must not touch them, for they make their own atmosphere. i admit that such are not for the tenderness of daily life; their influence must be high, distant, starlike, to be pure. such was this woman to me before i knew her; one whose splendid beauty drew on my thoughts to their future home. in knowing her, i lost the happiness i had enjoyed in knowing what she should have been. at first the disappointment was severe, but i have learnt to pardon her, as others who get mutilated or worn in life, and show the royal impress only in their virgin courage. but this subject would detain me too long. let me rather tell you of mrs. v----'s sad history. a friend of mine has said that beautiful persons seem rarely born to their proper family, but amidst persons so rough and uncongenial that _their_ presence commands like that of a reproving angel, or pains like that of some poor prince changed at nurse, and bound for life to the society of churls. so it was with emily. her father was sordid, her mother weak; persons of great wealth and greater selfishness. she was the youngest by many years, and left alone in her father's house. notwithstanding the want of intelligent sympathy while she was growing up, and the want of all intelligent culture, she was not an unhappy child. the unbounded and foolish indulgence with which she was treated did not have an obviously bad effect upon her then; it did not make her selfish, sensual, or vain. her character was too powerful to dwell upon such boons as those nearest her could bestow. she negligently received them all as her due. it was later that the pernicious effects of the absence of all discipline showed themselves; but in early years she was happy in her lavish feelings, and in beautiful nature, on which she could pour them, and in her own pursuits. music was her passion; in it she found food, and an answer for feelings destined to become so fatal to her peace, but which then glowed so sweetly in her youthful form as to enchant the most ordinary observer. when she was not more than fifteen, and expanding like a flower in each sunny day, it was her misfortune that her first husband saw and loved her. emily, though pleased by his handsome person and gay manners, never bestowed a serious thought on him. if she had, it would have been the first ever disengaged from her life of pleasurable sensation. but when he did plead his cause with all the ardor of youth, and the flourishes which have been by usage set apart for such occasions, she listened with delight; for all his talk of boundless love, undying faith, etc., seemed her native tongue. it was like the most glowing sunset sky. it swelled upon the ear like music. it was the only way she ever wished to be addressed, and she now saw plainly why all talk of everyday people had fallen unheeded on her ear. she could have listened all day. but when, emboldened by the beaming eye and ready smile with which she heard, he pressed his suit more seriously, and talked of marriage, she drew back astonished. marry yet?--impossible! she had never thought of it; and as she thought now of marriages, such as she had seen them, there was nothing in marriage to attract. but l---- was not so easily repelled; he made her every promise of pleasure, as one would to a child. he would take her away to journey through scenes more beautiful than she had ever dreamed of; he would take her to a city where, in the fairest home, she should hear the finest music, and he himself, in every scene, would be her devoted slave, too happy if for every now pleasure he received one of those smiles which had become his life. he saw her yielding, and hastened to secure her. her father was delighted, as fathers are strangely wont to be, that he was likely to be deprived of his child, his pet, his pride. the mother was threefold delighted that she would have a daughter married so _young_,--at least three years younger than any of her elder sisters were married. both lent their influence; and emily, accustomed to rely on them against all peril, and annoyance, till she scarcely knew there was pain or evil in the world, gave her consent, as she would have given it to a pleasure-party for a day or a week. the marriage was hurried on; l---- intent on gaining his object, as men of strong will and no sentiment are wont to be, the parents thinking of the eclat of the match. emily was amused by the preparations for the festivity, and full of excitement about the new chapter which was to be opened in her life. yet so little idea had she of the true business of life, and the importance of its ties, that perhaps there was no figure in the future that occupied her less than that of her bridegroom, a handsome man, with a sweet voice, her captive, her adorer. she neither thought nor saw further, lulled by the pictures of bliss and adventure which were floating before her fancy, the more enchanting because so vague. it was at this time that the picture that so charmed me was taken. the exquisite rose had not yet opened its leaves so as to show its heart; but its fragrance and blushful pride were there in perfection. poor emily! she had the promised journeys, the splendid home. amid the former her mind, opened by new scenes, already learned that something she seemed to possess was wanting in the too constant companion of her days. in the splendid home she received not only musicians, but other visitants, who taught her strange things. four little months after her leaving home, her parents were astonished by receiving a letter in which she told them they had parted with her too soon; that she was not happy with mr. l----, as he had promised she should be, and that she wished to have her marriage broken. she urged her father to make haste about it, as she had particular reasons for impatience. you may easily conceive of the astonishment of the good folks at home. her mother wondered and cried. her father immediately ordered his horses, and went to her. he was received with rapturous delight, and almost at the first moment thanked for his speedy compliance with her request. but when she found that he opposed her desire of having her marriage broken, and when she urged him with vehemence and those marks of caressing fondness she had been used to find all-powerful, and he told her at last it could not be done, she gave way to a paroxysm of passion; she declared that she could not and would not live with mr. l----; that, so soon as she saw anything of the world, she saw many men that she infinitely preferred to him; and that, since her father and mother, instead of guarding her, so mere a child as she was, so entirely inexperienced, against a hasty choice, had persuaded and urged her to it, it was their duty to break the match when they found it did not make her happy. "my child, you are entirely unreasonable." "it is not a time to be patient; and i was too yielding before. i am not seventeen. is the happiness of my whole life to be sacrificed?" "emily, you terrify me! do you love anybody else?" "not yet; but i am sure shall find some one to love, now i know what it is. i have seen already many whom i prefer to mr. l----." "is he not kind to you?" "kind! yes; but he is perfectly uninteresting. i hate to be with him. i do not wish his kindness, nor to remain in his house." in vain her father argued; she insisted that she could never be happy as she was; that it was impossible the law could be so cruel as to bind her to a vow she had taken when so mere a child; that she would go home with her father now, and they would see what could be done. she added that she had already told her husband her resolution. "and how did he bear it?" "he was very angry; but it is better for him to be angry once than unhappy always, as i should certainly make him did i remain here." after long and fruitless attempts to reason her into a different state of mind, the father went in search of the husband. he found him irritated and mortified. he loved his wife, in his way, for her personal beauty. he was very proud of her; he was piqued to the last degree by her frankness. he could not but acknowledge the truth of what she said, that she had been persuaded into the match when but a child; for she seemed a very infant now, in wilfulness and ignorance of the world. but i believe neither he nor her father had one compunctious misgiving as to their having profaned the holiness of marriage by such an union. their minds had never been opened to the true meaning of life, and, though they thought themselves so much wiser, they were in truth much less so than the poor, passionate emily,--for her heart, at least, spoke clearly, if her mind lay in darkness. they could do nothing with her, and her father was at length compelled to take her home, hoping that her mother might be able to induce her to see things in a different light. but father, mother, uncles, brothers, all reasoned with her in vain. totally unused to disappointment, she could not for a long time believe that she was forever bound by a bond that sat uneasily on her untamed spirit. when at last convinced of the truth, her despair was terrible. "am i his? his forever? must i never then love? never marry one whom i could really love? mother! it is too cruel. i cannot, will not believe it. you always wished me to belong to him. you do not now wish to aid me, or you are afraid! o, you would not be so, could you but know what i feel!" at last convinced, she then declared that if she could not be legally separated from l----, but must consent to bear his name, and never give herself to another, she would at least live with him no more. she would not again leave her father's house. here she was deaf to all argument, and only force could have driven her away. her indifference to l---- had become hatred, in the course of these thoughts and conversations. she regarded herself as his victim, and him as her betrayer, since, she said, he was old enough to know the importance of the step to which he led her. her mind, naturally noble, though now in this wild state, refused to admit his love as an excuse. "had he loved me," she said, "he would have wished to teach me to love him, before securing me as his property. he is as selfish as he is dull and uninteresting. no! i will drag on my miserable years here alone, but i will not pretend to love him nor gratify him by the sight of his slave!" a year and more passed, and found the unhappy emily inflexible. her husband at last sought employment abroad, to hide his mortification. after his departure, emily relaxed once from the severe coldness she had shown since her return home. she had passed her time there with her music, in reading poetry, in solitary walks. but as the person who had been, however unintentionally, the means of making her so miserable, was further removed from her, she showed willingness to mingle again with the family, and see one or two young friends. one of these, almeria, effected what all the armament of praying and threatening friends had been unable to do. she devoted herself to emily. she shared her employments and her walks; she sympathized with all her feelings, even the morbid ones which she saw to be sincerity, tenderness and delicacy gone astray,--perverted and soured by the foolish indulgence of her education, and the severity of her destiny made known suddenly to a mind quite unprepared. at last, having won the confidence and esteem of emily, by the wise and gentle cheek her justice and clear perceptions gave to all extravagance, almeria ventured on representing to emily her conduct as the world saw it. to this she found her quite insensible. "what is the world to me?" she said. "i am forbidden to seek there all it can offer of value to woman--sympathy and a home." "it is full of beauty still," said almeria, looking out into the golden and perfumed glories of a june day. "not to the prisoner and the slave," said emily. "all are such, whom god hath not made free;" and almeria gently ventured to explain the hopes of larger span which enable the soul that can soar upon their wings to disregard the limitations of seventy years. emily listened with profound attention. the words were familiar to her, but the tone was not; it was that which rises from the depths of a purified spirit,--purified by pain, softened into peace. "have you made any use of these thoughts in your life, almeria?" the lovely preacher hesitated not to reveal a tale before unknown except to her own heart, of woe, renunciation, and repeated blows from a hostile fate. emily heard it in silence, but she understood. the great illusions of youth vanished. she did not suffer alone; her lot was not peculiar. another, perhaps many, were forbidden the bliss of sympathy and a congenial environment. and what had almeria done? revenged herself? tormented all around her? clung with wild passion to a selfish resolve? not at all. she had made the best of a wreck of life, and deserved a blessing on a new voyage. she had sought consolation in disinterested tenderness for her fellow-sufferers, and she deserved to cease to suffer. the lesson was taken home, and gradually leavened the whole being of this spoiled but naturally noble child. a few weeks afterwards, she asked her father when mr. l---- was expected to return. "in about three months," he replied, much surprised. "i should like to have you write to him for me." "what now absurdity?" said the father, who, long mortified and harassed, had ceased to be a fond father to his once adored emily. "say that my views are unchanged as to his soliciting a marriage with me when too childish to know my own mind on that or any other subject; but i have now seen enough of the world to know that he meant no ill, if no good, and was no more heedless in this great matter than many others are. he is not born to know what one constituted like me must feel, in a home where i found no rest for my heart. i have now read, seen and thought, what has made me a woman. i can be what you call reasonable, though not perhaps in your way. i see that my misfortune is irreparable. i heed not the world's opinion, and would, for myself, rather remain here, and keep up no semblance of a connection which my matured mind disclaims. but that scandalizes you and my mother, and makes your house a scene of pain and mortification in your old age. i know you, too, did not neglect the charge of me, in your own eyes. i owe you gratitude for your affectionate intentions at least. "l---- too is as miserable as mortification can make one like him. write, and ask him if he wishes my presence in his house on my own terms. he must not expect from me the affection, or marks of affection, of a wife. i should never have been his wife had i waited till i understood life or myself. but i will be his attentive and friendly companion, the mistress of his house, if he pleases. to the world it will seem enough,--he will be more comfortable there,--and what he wished of me was, in a great measure, to show me to the world. i saw that, as soon as we were in it, i could not give him happiness if i would, for we have not a thought nor employment in common. but if we can agree on the way, we may live together without any one being very miserable except myself, and i have made up my mind." the astonishment of the father may be conceived, and his cavils; l----'s also. to cut the story short, it was settled in emily's way, for she was one of the sultana kind, dread and dangerous. l---- hardly wished her to love him now, for he half hated her for all she had done; yet he was glad to have her back, as she had judged, for the sake of appearances. all was smoothed over by a plausible story. people, indeed, knew the truth as to the fair one's outrageous conduct perfectly, but mr. l---- was rich, his wife beautiful, and gave good parties; so society, as such, bowed and smiled, while individuals scandalized the pair. they had been living on this footing for several years, when i saw emily at the opera. she was a much altered being. debarred of happiness in her affections, she had turned for solace to the intellectual life, and her naturally powerful and brilliant mind had matured into a splendor which had never been dreamed of by those who had seen her amid the freaks end day-dreams of her early youth. yet, as i said before, she was not captivating to me, as her picture had been. she was, in a different way, as beautiful in feature and coloring as in her spring-time. her beauty, all moulded and mellowed by feeling, was far more eloquent; but it had none of the virgin magnificence, the untouched tropical luxuriance, which had fired my fancy. the false position in which she lived had shaded her expression with a painful restlessness; and her eye proclaimed that the conflicts of her mind had strengthened, had deepened, but had not yet hallowed, her character. she was, however, interesting, deeply so; one of those rare beings who fill your eye in every mood. her passion for music, and the great excellence she had attained as a performer, drew us together. i was her daily visitor; but, if my admiration ever softened into tenderness, it was the tenderness of pity for her unsatisfied heart, and cold, false life. but there was one who saw with very different eyes. v---- had been intimate with emily some time before my arrival, and every day saw him more deeply enamored. _laurie._ and pray where was the husband all this time? _aglauron._ l---- had sought consolation in ambition. he was a man of much practical dexterity, but of little thought, and less heart. he had at first been jealous of emily for his honor's sake,--not for any reality,--for she treated him with great attention as to the comforts of daily life; but otherwise, with polite, steady coldness. finding that she received the court, which many were disposed to pay her, with grace and affability, but at heart with imperial indifference, he ceased to disturb himself; for, as she rightly thought, he was incapable of understanding her. a coquette he could have interpreted; but a romantic character like hers, born for a grand passion, or no love at all, he could not. nor did he see that v---- was likely to be more to her than any of her admirers. _laurie._ i am afraid i should have shamed his obtuseness. v---- has nothing to recommend him that i know of, except his beauty, and that is the beauty of a _petit-maitre_--effeminate, without character, and very unlikely, i should judge, to attract such a woman as you give me the idea of. _aglauron._ you speak like a man, laurie; but have you never heard tales of youthful minstrels and pages being preferred by princesses, in the land of chivalry, to stalwart knights, who were riding all over the land, doing their devoirs maugre scars and starvation? and why? one want of a woman's heart is to admire and be protected; but another is to be understood in all her delicate feelings, and have an object who shall know how to receive all the marks of her inventive and bounteous affection. v---- is such an one; a being of infinite grace and tenderness, and an equal capacity for prizing the same in another. effeminate, say you? lovely, rather, and lovable. he was not, indeed, made to grow old; but i never saw a fairer spring-time than shone in his eye when life, and thought, and love, opened on him all together. he was to emily like the soft breathing of a flute in some solitary valley; indeed, the delicacy of his nature made a solitude around him in the world. so delicate was he, and emily for a long time so unconscious, that nobody except myself divined how strong was the attraction which, as it drew them nearer together, invested both with a lustre and a sweetness which charmed all around them. but i see the sun is declining, and warns me to cut short a tale which would keep us here till dawn if i were to detail it as i should like to do in my own memories. the progress of this affair interested me deeply; for, like all persons whose perceptions are more lively than their hopes, i delight to live from day to day in the more ardent experiments of others. i looked on with curiosity, with sympathy, with fear. how could it end? what would become of them, unhappy lovers? one too noble, the other too delicate, ever to find happiness in an unsanctioned tie. i had, however, no right to interfere, and did not, even by a look, until one evening, when the occasion was forced upon me. there was a summer fete given at l----'s. i had mingled for a while with the guests in the brilliant apartments; but the heat oppressed, the conversation failed to interest me. an open window tempted me to the garden, whose flowers and tufted lawns lay bathed in moonlight. i went out alone; but the music of a superb band followed my steps, and gave impulse to my thoughts. a dreaming state, pensive though not absolutely sorrowful, came upon me,--one of those gentle moods when thoughts flow through the mind amber-clear and soft, noiseless, because unimpeded. i sat down in an arbor to enjoy it, and probably stayed much longer than i could have imagined; for when i reentered the large saloon it was deserted. the lights, however, were not extinguished, and, hearing voices in the inner room, i supposed some guests still remained; and, as i had not spoken with emily that evening, i ventured in to bid her good-night. i started, repentant, on finding her alone with v----, and in a situation that announced their feelings to be no longer concealed from each other. she, leaning back on the sofa, was weeping bitterly, while v----, seated at her feet, holding her hands within his own, was pouring forth his passionate words with a fervency which prevented him from perceiving my entrance. but emily perceived me at once, and starting up, motioned me not to go, as i had intended. i obeyed, and sat down. a pause ensued, awkward for me and for v----, who sat with his eyes cast down and blushing like a young girl detected in a burst of feeling long kept secret. emily sat buried in thought, the tears yet undried upon her cheeks. she was pale, but nobly beautiful, as i had never yet seen her. after a few moments i broke the silence, and attempted to tell why i had returned so late. she interrupted me: "no matter, aglauron, how it happened; whatever the chance, it promises to give both v---- and myself, what we greatly need, a calm friend and adviser. you are the only person among these crowds of men whom i could consult; for i have read friendship in your eye, and i know you have truth and honor. v---- thinks of you as i do, and he too is, or should be, glad to have some counsellor beside his own wishes." v---- did not raise his eyes; neither did he contradict her. after a moment he said, "i believe aglauron to be as free from prejudice as any man, and most true and honorable; yet who can judge in this matter but ourselves?" "no one shall judge," said emily; "but i want counsel. god help me! i feel there is a right and wrong; but how can my mind, which has never been trained to discern between them, be confident of its power at this important moment? aglauron, what remains to me of happiness,--if anything do remain; perhaps the hope of heaven, if, indeed, there be a heaven,--is at stake! father and brother have failed their trust. i have no friend able to understand, wise enough to counsel me. the only one whose words ever came true to my thoughts, and of whom you have often reminded me, is distant. will you, this hour, take her place?" "to the best of my ability," i replied without hesitation, struck by the dignity of her manner. "you know," she said, "all my past history; all do so here, though they do not talk loudly of it. you and all others have probably blamed me. you know not, you cannot guess, the anguish, the struggles of my childish mind when it first opened to the meaning of those words, love, marriage, life. when i was bound to mr. l----, by a vow which from my heedless lips was mockery of all thought, all holiness, i had never known a duty, i had never felt the pressure of a tie. life had been, so far, a sweet, voluptuous dream, and i thought of this seemingly so kind and amiable person as a new and devoted ministrant to me of its pleasures. but i was scarcely in his power when i awoke. i perceived the unfitness of the tie; its closeness revolted me. "i had no timidity; i had always been accustomed to indulge my feelings, and i displayed them now. l----, irritated, averted his mastery; this drove me wild; i soon hated him, and despised too his insensibility to all which i thought most beautiful. from all his faults, and the imperfection of our relation, grew up in my mind the knowledge of what the true might be to me. it is astonishing how the thought grow upon me day by day. i had not been married more than three months before i knew what it would be to love, and i longed to be free to do so. i had never known what it was to be resisted, and the thought never came to me that i could now, and for all my life, be bound by so early a mistake. i thought only of expressing my resolve to be free. "how i was repulsed, how disappointed, you know, or could divine if you did not know; for all but me have been trained to bear the burden from their youth up, and accustomed to have the individual will fettered for the advantage of society. for the same reason, you cannot guess the silent fury that filled my mind when i at last found that i had struggled in vain, and that i must remain in the bondage that i had ignorantly put on. "my affections were totally alienated from my family, for i felt they had known what i had not, and had neither put me on my guard, nor warned me against precipitation whose consequences must be fatal. i saw, indeed, that they did not look on life as i did, and could be content without being happy; but this observation was far from making me love them more. i felt alone, bitterly, contemptuously alone. i hated men who had made the laws that bound me. i did not believe in god; for why had he permitted the dart to enter so unprepared a breast? i determined never to submit, though i disdained to struggle, since struggle was in vain. in passive, lonely wretchedness i would pass my days. i would not feign what i did not feel, nor take the hand which had poisoned for me the cup of life before i had sipped the first drops. "a friend--the only one i have ever known--taught me other thoughts. she taught me that others, perhaps all others, were victims, as much as myself. she taught me that if all the wrecked submitted to be drowned, the world would be a desert. she taught me to pity others, even those i myself was paining; for she showed me that they had sinned in ignorance, and that i had no right to make them suffer so long as i myself did, merely because they were the authors of my suffering. "she showed me, by her own pure example, what were duty and benevolence and employment to the soul, even when baffled and sickened in its dearest wishes. that example was not wholly lost: i freed my parents, at least, from their pain, and, without falsehood, became less cruel and more calm. "yet the kindness, the calmness, have never gone deep. i have been forced to live out of myself; and life, busy or idle, is still most bitter to the homeless heart. i cannot be like almeria; i am more ardent; and, aglauron, you see now i might be happy," she looked towards v----. i followed her eye, and was well-nigh melted too by the beauty of his gaze. "the question in my mind is," she resumed, "have i not a right to fly? to leave this vacant life, and a tie which, but for worldly circumstances, presses as heavily on l---- as on myself. i shall mortify him; but that is a trifle compared with actual misery. i shall grieve my parents; but, were they truly such, would they not grieve still more that i must reject the life of mutual love? i have already sacrificed enough; shall i sacrifice the happiness of one i could really bless for those who do not know one native heart-beat of my life?" v---- kissed her hand. "and yet," said she, sighing, "it does not always look so. we must, in that case, leave the world; it will not tolerate us. can i make v---- happy in solitude? and what would almeria think? often it seems that she would feel that now i do love, and could make a green spot in the desert of life over which she mourned, she would rejoice to have me do so. then, again, something whispers she might have objections to make; and i wish--o, i long to know them! for i feel that this is the great crisis of my life, and that if i do not act wisely, now that i have thought and felt, it will be unpardonable. in my first error i was ignorant what i wished, but now i know, and ought not to be weak or deluded." i said, "have you no religious scruples? do you never think of your vow as sacred?" "never!" she replied, with flashing eyes. "shall the woman be bound by the folly of the child? no!--have never once considered myself as l----'s wife. if i have lived in his house, it was to make the best of what was left, as almeria advised. but what i feel he knows perfectly. i have never deceived him. but o! i hazard all! all! and should i be again ignorant, again deceived"---- v---- here poured forth all that can be imagined. i rose: "emily, this case seems to me so extraordinary that i must have time to think. you shall hear from me. i shall certainly give you my best advice, and i trust you will not over-value it." "i am sure," she said, "it will be of use to me, and will enable me to decide what i shall do. v----, now go away with aglauron; it is too late for you to stay here." i do not know if i have made obvious, in this account, what struck me most in the interview,--a certain savage force in the character of this beautiful woman, quite independent of the reasoning power. i saw that, as she could give no account of the past, except that she saw it was fit, or saw it was not, so she must be dealt with now by a strong instalment made by another from his own point of view, which she would accept or not, as suited her. there are some such characters, which, like plants, stretch upwards to the light; they accept what nourishes, they reject what injures them. they die if wounded,--blossom if fortunate; but never learn to analyze all this, or find its reasons; but, if they tell their story, it is in emily's way;--"it was so;" "i found it so." i talked with v----, and found him, as i expected, not the peer of her he loved, except in love. his passion was at its height. better acquainted with the world than emily,--not because he had seen it more, but because he had the elements of the citizen in him,--he had been at first equally emboldened and surprised by the ease with which he won her to listen to his suit. but he was soon still more surprised to find that she would only listen. she had no regard for her position in society as a married woman,--none for her vow. she frankly confessed her love, so far as it went, but doubted as to whether it was _her whole love_, and doubted still more her right to leave l----, since she had returned to him, and could not break the bond so entirely as to give them firm foot-hold in the world. "i may make you unhappy," she said, "and then be unhappy myself; these laws, this society, are so strange, i can make nothing of them. in music i am at home. why is not all life music? we instantly know when we are going wrong there. convince me it is for the best, and i will go with you at once. but now it seems wrong, unwise, scarcely better than to stay as we are. we must go secretly, must live obscurely in a corner. that i cannot bear,--all is wrong yet. why am i not at liberty to declare unblushingly to all men that i will leave the man whom i _do not_ love, and go with him i _do_ love? that is the only way that would suit me,--i cannot see clearly to take any other course." i found v---- had no scruples of conscience, any more than herself. he was wholly absorbed in his passion, and his only wish was to persuade her to elope, that a divorce might follow, and she be all his own. i took my part. i wrote next day to emily. i told her that my view must differ from hers in this: that i had, from early impressions, a feeling of the sanctity of the marriage vow. it was not to me a measure intended merely to insure the happiness of two individuals, but a solemn obligation, which, whether it led to happiness or not, was a means of bringing home to the mind the great idea of duty, the understanding of which, and not happiness, seemed to be the end of life. life looked not clear to me otherwise. i entreated her to separate herself from v---- for a year, before doing anything decisive; she could then look at the subject from other points of view, and see the bearing on mankind as well as on herself alone. if she still found that happiness and v---- were her chief objects, she might be more sure of herself after such a trial. i was careful not to add one word of persuasion or exhortation, except that i recommended her to the enlightening love of the father of our spirits. _laurie_. with or without persuasion, your advice had small chance, i fear, of being followed. _aglauron_. you err. next day v---- departed. emily, with a calm brow and earnest eyes, devoted herself to thought, and such reading as i suggested. _laurie_. and the result? _aglauron_. i grieve not to be able to point my tale with the expected moral, though perhaps the true denouement may lead to one as valuable. l---- died within the year, and she married v----. _laurie_. and the result? _aglauron_. is for the present utter disappointment in him. she was infinitely blest, for a time, in his devotion, but presently her strong nature found him too much hers, and too little his own. he satisfied her as little as l---- had done, though always lovely and dear. she saw with keen anguish, though this time without bitterness, that we are never wise enough to be sure any measure will fulfil our expectations. but--i know not how it is--emily does not yet command the changes of destiny which she feels so keenly and faces so boldly. born to be happy only in the clear light of religious thought, she still seeks happiness elsewhere. she is now a mother, and all other thoughts are merged in that. but she will not long be permitted to abide there. one more pang, and i look to see her find her central point, from which all the paths she has taken lead. she loves truth so ardently, though as yet only in detail, that she will yet know truth as a whole. she will see that she does not live for emily, or for v----, or for her child, but as one link in a divine purpose. her large nature must at last serve knowingly. _myself_. i cannot understand you, aglauron; i do not guess the scope of your story, nor sympathize with your feeling about this lady. she is a strange, and, i think, very unattractive person. i think her beauty must have fascinated you. her character seems very inconsistent. _aglauron_. because i have drawn from life. _myself_. but, surely, there should be a harmony somewhere. _aglauron_. could we but get the right point of view. _laurie_. and where is that? he pointed to the sun, just sinking behind the pine grove. we mounted and rode home without a word more. but i do not understand aglauron yet, nor what he expects from this emily. yet her character, though almost featureless at first, gains distinctness as i think of it more. perhaps in this life i shall find its key. the wrongs of american women. the duty of american women. the same day brought us a copy of mr. burdett's little book,--in which the sufferings and difficulties that beset the large class of women who must earn their subsistence in a city like new york, are delineated with so much simplicity, feeling, and exact adherence to the facts,--and a printed circular, containing proposals for immediate practical adoption of the plan wore fully described in a book published some weeks since, under the title, "the duty of american women to their country," which was ascribed alternately to mrs. stowe and miss catharine beecher. the two matters seemed linked to one another by natural parity. full acquaintance with the wrong must call forth all manner of inventions for its redress. the circular, in showing the vast want that already exists of good means for instructing the children of this nation, especially in the west, states also the belief that among women, as being less immersed in other cares and toils, from the preparation it gives for their task as mothers, and from the necessity in which a great proportion stand of earning a subsistence somehow, at least during the years which precede marriage, if they _do_ marry, must the number of teachers wanted be found, which is estimated already at _sixty thousand_. we cordially sympathize with these views. much has been written about woman's keeping within her sphere, which is defined as the domestic sphere. as a little girl she is to learn the lighter family duties, while she acquires that limited acquaintance with the realm of literature and science that will enable her to superintend the instruction of children in their earliest years. it is not generally proposed that she should be sufficiently instructed and developed to understand the pursuits or aims of her future husband; she is not to be a help-meet to him in the way of companionship and counsel, except in the care of his house and children. her youth is to be passed partly in learning to keep house and the use of the needle, partly in the social circle, where her manners may be formed, ornamental accomplishments perfected and displayed, and the husband found who shall give her the domestic sphere for which she is exclusively to be prepared. were the destiny of woman thus exactly marked out; did she invariably retain the shelter of a parent's or guardian's roof till she married; did marriage give her a sure home and protector; were she never liable to remain a widow, or, if so, sure of finding immediate protection from a brother or new husband, so that she might never be forced to stand alone one moment; and were her mind given for this world only, with no faculties capable of eternal growth and infinite improvement; we would still demand for her a for wider and more generous culture, than is proposed by those who so anxiously define her sphere. we would demand it that she might not ignorantly or frivolously thwart the designs of her husband; that she might be the respected friend of her sons, not less than of her daughters; that she might give more refinement, elevation and attraction, to the society which is needed to give the characters of _men_ polish and plasticity,--no less so than to save them from vicious and sensual habits. but the most fastidious critic on the departure of woman from her sphere can scarcely fail to see, at present, that a vast proportion of the sex, if not the better half, do not, _cannot_ have this domestic sphere. thousands and scores of thousands in this country, no less than in europe, are obliged to maintain themselves alone. far greater numbers divide with their husbands the care of earning a support for the family. in england, now, the progress of society has reached so admirable a pitch, that the position of the sexes is frequently reversed, and the husband is obliged to stay at home and "mind the house and bairns," while the wife goes forth to the employment she alone can secure. we readily admit that the picture of this is most painful;--that nature made an entirely opposite distribution of functions between the sexes. we believe the natural order to be the best, and that, if it could be followed in an enlightened spirit, it would bring to woman all she wants, no less for her immortal than her mortal destiny. we are not surprised that men who do not look deeply and carefully at causes and tendencies, should be led, by disgust at the hardened, hackneyed characters which the present state of things too often produces in women, to such conclusions as they are. we, no more than they, delight in the picture of the poor woman digging in the mines in her husband's clothes. we, no more than they, delight to hear their voices shrilly raised in the market-place, whether of apples, or of celebrity. but we see that at present they must do as they do for bread. hundreds and thousands must step out of that hallowed domestic sphere, with no choice but to work or steal, or belong to men, not as wives, but as the wretched slaves of sensuality. and this transition state, with all its revolting features, indicates, we do believe, an approach of a nobler era than the world has yet known. we trust that by the stress and emergencies of the present and coming time the minds of women will be formed to more reflection and higher purposes than heretofore; their latent powers developed, their characters strengthened and eventually beautified and harmonized. should the state of society then be such that each may remain, as nature seems to have intended, woman the tutelary genius of home, while man manages the outdoor business of life, both may be done with a wisdom, a mutual understanding and respect, unknown at present. men will be no less gainers by this than women, finding in pure and more religious marriages the joys of friendship and love combined,--in their mothers and daughters better instruction, sweeter and nobler companionship, and in society at large, an excitement to their finer powers and feelings unknown at present, except in the region of the fine arts. blest be the generous, the wise, who seek to forward hopes like these, instead of struggling, against the fiat of providence and the march of fate, to bind down rushing life to the standard of the past! such efforts are vain, but those who make them are unhappy and unwise. it is not, however, to such that we address ourselves, but to those who seek to make the best of things as they are, while they also strive to make them better. such persons will have seen enough of the state of things in london, paris, new york, and manufacturing regions everywhere, to feel that there is an imperative necessity for opening more avenues of employment to women, and fitting them better to enter them, rather than keeping them back. women have invaded many of the trades and some of the professions. sewing, to the present killing extent, they cannot long bear. factories seem likely to afford them permanent employment. in the culture of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, even in the sale of them, we rejoice to see them engaged. in domestic service they will be aided, but can never be supplanted, by machinery. as much room as there is here for woman's mind and woman's labor, will always be filled. a few have usurped the martial province, but these must always be few; the nature of woman is opposed to war. it is natural enough to see "female physicians," and we believe that the lace cap and work-bag are as much at home here as the wig and gold-headed cane. in the priesthood, they have, from all time, shared more or less--in many eras more than at the present. we believe there has been no female lawyer, and probably will be none. the pen, many of the fine arts, they have made their own; and in the more refined countries of the world, as writers, as musicians, as painters, as actors, women occupy as advantageous ground as men. writing and music may be esteemed professions for them more than any other. but there are two others--where the demand must invariably be immense, and for which they are naturally better fitted than men--for which we should like to see them better prepared and better rewarded than they are. these are the professions of nurse to the sick, and of the teacher. the first of these professions we have warmly desired to see dignified. it is a noble one, now most unjustly regarded in the light of menial service. it is one which no menial, no servile nature can fitly occupy. we were rejoiced when an intelligent lady of massachusetts made the refined heroine of a little romance select this calling. this lady (mrs. george lee) has looked on society with unusual largeness of spirit and healthiness of temper. she is well acquainted with the world of conventions, but sees beneath it the world of nature. she is a generous writer, and unpretending as the generous are wont to be. we do not recall the name of the tale, but the circumstance above mentioned marks its temper. we hope to see the time when the refined and cultivated will choose this profession, and learn it, not only through experience and under the direction of the doctor, but by acquainting themselves with the laws of matter and of mind, so that all they do shall be intelligently done, and afford them the means of developing intelligence, as well as the nobler, tenderer feelings of humanity; for even this last part of the benefit they cannot receive if their work be done in a selfish or mercenary spirit. the other profession is that of teacher, for which women are peculiarly adapted by their nature, superiority in tact, quickness of sympathy, gentleness, patience, and a clear and animated manner in narration or description. to form a good teacher, should be added to this, sincere modesty combined with firmness, liberal views, with a power and will to liberalize them still further, a good method, and habits of exact and thorough investigation. in the two last requisites women are generally deficient, but there are now many shining examples to prove that if they are immethodical and superficial as teachers, it is because it is the custom so to teach them, and that when aware of these faults, they can and will correct them. the profession is of itself an excellent one for the improvement of the teacher during that interim between youth and maturity when the mind needs testing, tempering, and to review and rearrange the knowledge it has acquired. the natural method of doing this for one's self, is to attempt teaching others; those years also are the best of the practical teacher. the teacher should be near the pupil, both in years and feelings; no oracle, but the eldest brother or sister of the pupil. more experience and years form the lecturer and director of studies, but injure the powers as to familiar teaching. these are just the years of leisure in the lives even of those women who are to enter the domestic sphere, and this calling most of all compatible with a constant progress as to qualifications for that. viewing the matter thus, it may well be seen that we should hail with joy the assurance that sixty thousand _female_ teachers are wanted, and more likely to be, and that a plan is projected which looks wise, liberal and generous, to afford the means, to those whose hearts answer to this high calling, of obeying their dictates. the plan is to have cincinnati as a central point, where teachers shall be for a short time received, examined, and prepared for their duties. by mutual agreement and cooperation of the various sects, funds are to be raised, and teachers provided, according to the wants and tendencies of the various locations now destitute. what is to be done for them centrally, is for suitable persons to examine into the various kinds of fitness, communicate some general views whose value has been tested, and counsel adapted to the difficulties and advantages of their new positions. the central committee are to have the charge of raising funds, and finding teachers, and places where teachers are wanted. the passage of thoughts, teachers and funds, will be from east to west--the course of sunlight upon this earth. the plan is offered as the most extensive and pliant means of doing a good and preventing ill to this nation, by means of a national education; whose normal school shall have an invariable object in the search after truth, and the diffusion of the means of knowledge, while its form shall be plastic according to the wants of the time. this normal school promises to have good effects, for it proposes worthy aims through simple means, and the motive for its formation and support seems to be disinterested philanthropy. it promises to eschew the bitter spirit of sectarianism and proselytism, else we, for one party, could have nothing to do with it. men, no doubt, have oftentimes been kept from absolute famine by the wheat with which such tares are mingled; but we believe the time is come when a purer and more generous food is to be offered to the people at large. we believe the aim of all education to be to rouse the mind to action, show it the means of discipline and of information; then leave it free, with god, conscience, and the love of truth, for its guardians and teachers. woe be to those who sacrifice these aims of universal and eternal value to the propagation of a set of opinions! we can accept such doctrine as is offered by rev. colvin e. stowe, one of the committee, in the following passage: "in judicious practice, i am persuaded there will seldom be any very great difficulty, especially if there be excited in the community anything like a whole-hearted and enlightened sincerity in the cause of public instruction. "it is all right for people to suit their own taste and convictions in respect to sect; and by fair means, and at proper times, to teach their children and those under their influence to prefer the denominations which they prefer; but further than this no one has any right to go. it is all wrong to hazard the well-being of the soul, to jeopardize great public interests for the sake of advancing the interests of a sect. people must learn to practise some self-denial, on christian principles, in respect to their denominational prejudices as well as in respect to other things, before pure religion can ever gain a complete victory over every form of human selfishness." the persons who propose themselves to the examination and instruction of the teachers at cincinnati, till the plan shall be sufficiently under way to provide regularly for the office, are mrs. stowe and miss catharine beecher, ladies well known to fame, as possessing unusual qualifications for the task. as to finding abundance of teachers, who that reads this little book of mr. burdett's, or the account of the compensation of female labor in new york, and the hopeless, comfortless, useless, pernicious lives of those who have even the advantage of getting work must lead, with the sufferings and almost inevitable degradation to which those who cannot are exposed, but must long to snatch such as are capable of this better profession (and among the multitude there must be many who are or could be made so) from their present toils, and make them free, and the means of freedom and growth in others? to many books on such subjects--among others to "woman in the nineteenth century"--the objection has been made, that they exhibit ills without specifying any practical means for their remedy. the writer of the last-named essay does indeed think that it contains one great rule which, if laid to heart, would prove a practical remedy for many ills, and of such daily and hourly efficacy in the conduct of life, that any extensive observance of it for a single year would perceptibly raise the tone of thought, feeling and conduct, throughout the civilized world. but to those who ask not only such a principle, but an external method for immediate use, we say that here is one proposed which looks noble and promising; the proposers offer themselves to the work with heart and hand, with time and purse. go ye and do likewise. george sand. when i first knew george sand, i thought to have found tried the experiment i wanted. i did not value bettine so much. she had not pride enough for me. only now, when i am sure of myself, can i pour out my soul at the feet of another. in the assured soul it is kingly prodigality; in one which cannot forbear it is mere babyhood. i love "abandon" only when natures are capable of the extreme reverse. i know bettine would end in nothing; when i read her book i knew she could not outlive her love. but in _"les sept cordes de la lyre,"_ which i read first, i saw the knowledge of the passions and of social institutions, with the celestial choice which rose above them. i loved helene, who could hear so well the terrene voices, yet keep her eye fixed on the stars. that would be my wish also,--to know all, and then choose. i even revered her, for i was not sure that i could have resisted the call of the _now_; could have left the spirit and gone to god; and at a more ambitious age i could not have refused the philosopher. but i hoped much from her steadfastness, and i thought i heard the last tones of a purified life. gretchen, in the golden cloud, is raised above all past delusions, worthy to redeem and upbear the wise man who stumbled into the pit of error while searching for truth. still, in "andre" and "jacques," i trace the same high morality of one who had tried the liberty of circumstance only to learn to appreciate the liberty of law;--to know that license is the foe of freedom; and, though the sophistry of passion in these books disgusted me, flowers of purest hue seemed to grow upon the dark and dirty ground. i thought she had cast aside the slough of her past life, and begun a new existence beneath the sun of a new ideal. but here, in the _"lettres d'un voyageur,"_ what do i see? an unfortunate, wailing her loneliness, wailing her mistakes, _writing for money!_ she has genius, and a manly grasp of mind, but not a manly heart. will there never be a being to combine a man's mind and a woman's heart, and who yet finds life too rich to weep over? never? when i read in _"leon leoni"_ the account of the jeweller's daughter's life with her mother, passed in dressing, and learning to be looked at when dressed, _"avec un front impassible,"_ it reminded me of ---- and her mother. what a heroine she would be for sand! she has the same fearless softness with juliet, and a sportive _naivete_ a mixture of bird and kitten, unknown to the dupe of leoni. if i were a man, and wished a wife, as many do, merely as an ornament, a silken toy, i would take ---- as soon as any i know. her fantastic, impassioned and mutable nature would yield an inexhaustible amusement. she is capable of the most romantic actions,--wild as the falcon, voluptuous as the tuberose; yet she has not in her the elements of romance, like a deeper or less susceptible nature. my cold and reasoning ----, with her one love lying, perhaps never to be unfolded, beneath such sheaths of pride and reserve, would make a far better heroine. ---- and her mother differ from juliet and _her_ mother by the impulse a single strong character gave them. even at this distance of time there is a light but perceptible taste of iron in the water. george sand disappoints me, as almost all beings do, especially since i have been brought close to her person by the _"lettres d'un voyageur."_ her remarks on lavater seem really shallow, _a la mode du genre feminin._ no self-ruling aspasia she, but a frail woman, mourning over her lot. any peculiarity in her destiny seems accidental; she is forced to this and to that to earn her bread, forsooth! yet her style--with what a deeply smouldering fire it burns! not vehement, but intense, like jean jacques. from a notice of george sand. it is probably known to a great proportion of readers that this writer is a woman, who writes under the name, and frequently assumes the dress and manners, of a man. it is also known that she has not only broken the marriage-bond, and, since that, formed other connections, independent of the civil and ecclesiastical sanction, but that she first rose into notice through works which systematically assailed the present institution of marriage, and the social bonds which are connected with it. no facts are more adapted to startle every feeling of our community; but, since the works of sand are read here, notwithstanding, and cannot fail to be so while they exert so important an influence abroad, it would be well they should be read intelligently, as to the circumstances of their birth and their tendency. george sand we esteem to be a person of strong passions, but of original nobleness and a love of right sufficient to guide them all to the service of worthy aims. but she fell upon evil times. she was given in marriage, according to the fashion of the old regime; she was taken from a convent, where she had heard a great deal about the law of god and the example of jesus, into a society where no vice was proscribed, if it would only wear the cloak of hypocrisy. she found herself impatient of deception, and loudly appealed to by passion; she yielded, but she could not do so, as others did, sinning against what she owned to be the rule of right and the will of heaven. she protested, she examined, she "hacked into the roots of things," and the bold sound of her axe called around her every foe that finds a home amid the growths of civilization. still she persisted. "if it be real," thought she, "it cannot be destroyed; as to what is false, the sooner it goes the better; and i, for one, would rather perish by its fall, than wither in its shade." schiller puts into the mouth of mary stuart these words, as her only plea: "the world knows the worst of me, and i may boast that, though i have erred, i am better than my reputation." sand may say the same. all is open, noble; the free descriptions, the sophistry of passion, are, at least, redeemed by a desire for truth as strong as ever beat in any heart. to the weak or unthinking, the reading of such books may not be desirable, for only those who take exercise as men can digest strong meat. but to any one able to understand the position and circumstances, we believe this reading cannot fail of bringing good impulses, valuable suggestions; and it is quite free from that subtle miasma which taints so large a portion of french literature, not less since the revolution than before. this we say to the foreign reader. to her own country, sand is a boon precious and prized, both as a warning and a leader, for which none there can be ungrateful. she has dared to probe its festering wounds; and if they be not past all surgery, she is one who, most of any, helps towards a cure. would, indeed, the surgeon had come with quite clean hands! a woman of sand's genius--as free, as bold, and pure from even the suspicion of error--might have filled an apostolic station among her people with what force had come her cry, "if it be false, give it up; but if it be true, keep to it,-- one or the other!" but we have read all we wish to say upon this subject lately uttered just from the quarter we could wish. it is such a woman, so unblemished in character, so high in aim, so pure in soul, that should address this other, as noble in nature, but clouded by error, and struggling with circumstances. it is such women that will do such others justice. they are not afraid to look for virtue, and reply to aspiration, among those who have _not_ dwelt "in decencies forever." it is a source of pride and happiness to read this address from the heart of elizabeth barrett:-- to george sand. a desire. thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man, self-called george sand! whose soul amid the lions of thy tumultuous senses moans defiance, and answers roar for roar, as spirits can,-- i would some wild, miraculous thunder ran above the applauding circus, in appliance of thine own nobler nature's strength and science, drawing two pinions, white as wings of swan, from the strong shoulders, to amaze the place with holier light! that thou, to woman's claim, and man's, might join, beside, the angel's grace of a pure genius, sanctified from blame, till child and maiden pressed to thine embrace, to kiss upon thy lips a stainless fame! * * * * * to the same. a recognition. true genius, but true woman! dost deny thy woman's nature with a manly scorn, and break away the gauds and armlets worn by weaker woman in captivity? ah, vain denial! that revolted cry is sobbed in by a woman's voice forlorn:-- thy woman's hair, my sister! all unshorn, floats back dishevelled strength in agony, disproving thy man's name; and while before the world thou burnest in a poet-fire, we see thy woman-heart beat evermore through the large flame. beat purer, heart! and higher, till god unsex thee on the spirit-shore, to which, alone unsexing, purely aspire! * * * * * this last sonnet seems to have been written after seeing the picture of sand, which represents her in a man's dress, but with long, loose hair, and an eye whose mournful fire is impressive, even in the caricatures. for some years sand has quitted her post of assailant. she has seen that it is better to seek some form of life worthy to supersede the old, than rudely to destroy it, heedless of the future. her force is bending towards philanthropic measures. she does not appear to possess much of the constructive faculty; and, though her writings command a great pecuniary compensation, and have a wide sway, it is rather for their tendency than for their thought. she has reached no commanding point of view from which she may give orders to the advanced corps. she is still at work with others in the breach, though she works with more force than almost any. in power, indeed, sand bears the palm above all other french novelists. she is vigorous in conception, often great in the apprehension and the contrast of characters. she knows passion, as has been hinted, at a _white_ heat, when all the lower particles are remoulded by its power. her descriptive talent is very great, and her poetic feeling exquisite. she wants but little of being a poet, but that little is indispensable. yet she keeps us always hovering on the borders of enchanted fields. she has, to a signal degree, that power of exact transcript from her own mind, in which almost all writers fail. there is no veil, no half-plastic integument between us and the thought; we vibrate perfectly with it. this is her chief charm, and next to it is one in which we know no french writer that resembles her, except rousseau, though he, indeed, is vastly her superior in it; that is, of concentrated glow. her nature glows beneath the words, like fire beneath ashes,--deep, deep! her best works are unequal; in many parts written hastily, or carelessly, or with flagging spirits. they all promise far more than they can perform; the work is not done masterly; she has not reached that point where a writer sits at the helm of his own genius. sometimes she plies the oar,--sometimes she drifts. but what greatness she has is genuine; there is no tinsel of any kind, no drapery carefully adjusted, no chosen gesture about her. may heaven lead her, at last, to the full possession of her best self, in harmony with the higher laws of life! we are not acquainted with all her works, but among those we know, mention "_la roche maupart_," "_andre_," "_jacques_," "_les sept cordes de la lyre_," and "_les maitres mosaistes_," as representing her higher inspirations, her sincerity in expression, and her dramatic powers. they are full of faults; still they show her scope and aim with some fairness, which such of her readers as chance first on such of her books as "_leone leoni_" may fail to find; or even such as "_simon_," and "_spiridion_," though into the imperfect web of these are woven threads of pure gold. such is the first impression made by the girl fiamma, so noble, as she appears before us with the words "_e l'onore_;" such the thought in _spiridion_ of making the apparition the reward of virtue. the work she is now publishing, "_consuelo_" with its sequel, "_baroness de rudolstadt_," exhibits her genius poised on a firmer pedestal, breathing a serener air. still it is faulty in conduct, and shows some obliquity of vision. she has not reached the interpreter's house yet. but when she does, she will have clues to guide many a pilgrim, whom one less tried, less tempted than herself could not help on the way. from a criticism on "consuelo." * * * * *. the work itself cannot fail of innumerable readers, and a great influence, for it counts many of the most significant pulse-beats of the tune. apart from its range of character and fine descriptions, it records some of the mystical apparitions, and attempts to solve some of the problems of the time. how to combine the benefits of the religious life with those of the artist-life in an existence more simple, more full, more human in short, than either of the two hitherto known by these names has been,--this problem is but poorly solved in the "countess of rudolstadt," the sequel to consuelo. it is true, as the english reviewer says, that george sand is a far better poet than philosopher, and that the chief use she can be of in these matters is, by her great range of observation and fine intuitions, to help to develop the thoughts of the time a little way further. but the sincerity, the reality of all he can obtain from this writer will be highly valued by the earnest man. in one respect the book is entirely successful--in showing how inward purity and honor may preserve a woman from bewilderment and danger, and secure her a genuine independence. whoever aims at this is still considered, by unthinking or prejudiced minds, as wishing to despoil the female character of its natural and peculiar loveliness. it is supposed that delicacy must imply weakness, and that only an amazon can stand upright, and have sufficient command of her faculties to confront the shock of adversity, or resist the allurements of tenderness. miss bremer, dumas, and the northern novelist, andersen, make women who have a tendency to the intellectual life of an artist fail, and suffer the penalties of arrogant presumption, in the very first steps of a career to which an inward vocation called them in preference to the usual home duties. yet nothing is more obvious than that the circumstances of the time do, more and more frequently, call women to such lives, and that, if guardianship is absolutely necessary to women, many must perish for want of it. there is, then, reason to hope that god may be a sufficient guardian to those who dare rely on him; and if the heroines of the novelists we have named ended as they did, it was for the want of the purity of ambition and simplicity of character which do not permit such as consuelo to be either unseated and depraved, or unresisting victims and breaking reeds, if left alone in the storm and crowd of life. to many women this picture will prove a true consuelo (consolation), and we think even very prejudiced men will not read it without being charmed with the expansion, sweetness and genuine force, of a female character, such as they have not met, but must, when painted, recognize as possible, and may be led to review their opinions, and perhaps to elevate and enlarge their hopes, as to "woman's sphere" and "woman's mission." if such insist on what they have heard of the private life of this writer, and refuse to believe that any good thing can come out of nazareth, we reply that we do not know the true facts as to the history of george sand. there has been no memoir or notice of her published on which any one can rely, and we have seen too much of life to accept the monsters of gossip in reference to any one. but we know, through her works, that, whatever the stains on her life and reputation may have been, there is in her a soul so capable of goodness and honor as to depict them most successfully in her ideal forms. it is her works, and not her private life, that we are considering. of her works we have means of judging; of herself, not. but among those who have passed unblamed through the walks of life, we have not often found a nobleness of purpose and feeling, a sincere religious hope, to be compared with the spirit that breathes through the pages of consuelo. the experiences of the artist-life, the grand and penetrating remarks upon music, make the book a precious acquisition to all whose hearts are fashioned to understand such things. we suppose that we receive here not only the mind of the writer, but of liszt, with whom she has publicly corresponded in the "_lettres d'un voyageur_." none could more avail us, for "in him also is a spark of the divine fire," as beethoven said of ichubert. we may thus consider that we have in this book the benefit of the most electric nature, the finest sensibility, and the boldest spirit of investigation combined, expressing themselves in a little world of beautiful or picturesque forms. although there are grave problems discussed, and sad and searching experiences described in this work, yet its spirit is, in the main, hopeful, serene, almost glad. it is the spirit inspired from a near acquaintance with the higher life of art. seeing there something really achieved and completed, corresponding with the soul's desires, faith is enlivened as to the eventual fulfilment of those desires, and we feel a certainty that the existence which looks at present so marred and fragmentary shall yet end in harmony. the shuttle is at work, and the threads are gradually added that shall bring out the pattern, and prove that what seems at present confusion is really the way and means to order and beauty. jenny lind, the "consuelo" of george sand. jenny lind, the prima donna of stockholm, is among the most distinguished of those geniuses who have been invited to welcome the queen to germany. her name has been unknown among us, as she is still young, and has not wandered much from the scene of her first triumphs; but many may have seen, last winter, in the foreign papers, an account of her entrance into stockholm after an absence of some length. the people received her with loud cries of homage, took the horses from her carriage and drew her home; a tribute of respect often paid to conquerors and statesmen, but seldom, or, as far as we know, never to the priesthood of the muses, who have conferred the higher benefit of raising, refining and exhilarating, the popular mind. an accomplished swede, now in this country, communicated to a friend particulars of jenny lind's career, which suggested the thought that she might have given the hint for the principal figure in sand's late famous novel, "consuelo." this work is at present in process of translation in "the harbinger," a periodical published at brook farm, mass.; but, as this translation has proceeded but a little way, and the book in its native tongue is not generally, though it has been extensively, circulated here, we will give a slight sketch of its plan. it has been a work of deepest interest to those who have looked upon sand for some years back, as one of the best exponents of the difficulties, the errors, the aspirations, the weaknesses, and the regenerative powers of the present epoch. the struggle in her mind and the experiments of her life have been laid bare to the eyes of her fellow-creatures with fearless openness--fearless, not shameless. let no man confound the bold unreserve of sand with that of those who have lost the feeling of beauty and the love of good. with a bleeding heart and bewildered feet she sought the truth, and if she lost the way, returned as soon as convinced she had done so; but she would never hide the fact that she had lost it. "what god knows, i dare avow to man," seems to be her motto. it is impossible not to see in her, not only the distress and doubts of the intellect, but the temptations of a sensual nature; but we see too the courage of a hero and a deep capacity for religion. this mixed nature, too, fits her peculiarly to speak to men so diseased as men are at present. they feel she knows their ailment, and if she find a cure, it will really be by a specific remedy. an upward tendency and growing light are observable in all her works for several years past, till now, in the present, she has expressed such conclusions as forty years of the most varied experience have brought to one who had shrunk from no kind of discipline, yet still cried to god amid it all; one who, whatever you may say against her, you must feel has never accepted a word for a thing, or worn one moment the veil of hypocrisy; and this person one of the most powerful nature, both as to passion and action, and of an ardent, glowing genius. these conclusions are sadly incomplete. there is an amazing alloy in the last product of her crucible, but there is also so much of pure gold that the book is truly a cordial, as its name of consuelo (consolation) promises. the young consuelo lives as a child the life of a beggar. her youth is passed in the lowest circumstances of the streets of venice. she brings the more pertinacious fire of spanish blood to be fostered by the cheerful airs of italy. a vague sense of the benefits to be derived, from such mingling of various influences, in the formation of a character, is to be discerned in several works of art now, when men are really wishing to become citizens of the world, though old habits still interfere on every side with so noble a development. nothing can be more charming than the first volume, which describes the young girl amid the common life of venice. it is sunny, open, and romantic as the place. the beauty of her voice, when a little singing-girl in the streets, arrested the attention of a really great and severe master, porpora, who educated her to music. in this she finds the vent and the echo for her higher self. her affections are fixed on a young companion, an unworthy object, but she does not know him to be so. she judges from her own candid soul, that all must be good, and derives from the tie, for a while, the fostering influences which love alone has for genius. clear perception follows quickly upon her first triumphs in art. they have given her a rival, and a mean rival, in her betrothed, whose talent, though great, is of an inferior grade to hers; who is vain, every way impure. her master, porpora, tries to avail himself of this disappointment to convince her that the artist ought to devote himself to art alone; that private ties must interfere with his perfection and his glory. but the nature of consuelo revolts against this doctrine, as it would against the seclusion of a convent. she feels that genius requires manifold experience for its development, and that the mind, concentrated on a single object, is likely to pay by a loss of vital energy for the economy of thoughts and time. driven by these circumstances into germany, she is brought into contact with the old noblesse, a very different, but far less charming, atmosphere than that of the gondoliers of venice. but here, too, the strong, simple character of our consuelo is unconstrained, if not at home, and when her heart swells and needs expansion, she can sing. here the count de rudolstadt, albert, loves consuelo, which seems, in the conduct of the relation, a type of a religious democracy in love with the spirit of art. we do not mean that any such cold abstraction is consciously intended, but all that is said means this. it shadows forth one of the greatest desires which convulse our age. a most noble meaning is couched in the history of albert, and though the writer breaks down under such great attempts, and the religion and philosophy of the book are clumsily embodied compared with its poesy and rhetoric, yet great and still growing thoughts are expressed with sufficient force to make the book a companion of rare value to one in the same phase of mind. albert is the aristocratic democrat, such as alfieri was; one who, in his keen perception of beauty, shares the good of that culture which ages have bestowed on the more fortunate classes, but in his large heart loves and longs for the good of all men, as if he had himself suffered in the lowest pits of human misery. he is all this and more in his transmigration, real or fancied, of soul, through many forms of heroic effort and bloody error; in his incompetency to act at the present time, his need of long silences, of the company of the dead and of fools, and eventually of a separation from all habitual ties, is expressed a great idea, which is still only in the throes of birth, yet the nature of whose life we begin to prognosticate with some clearness. consuelo's escape from the castle, and even from albert, her admiration of him, and her incapacity to love him till her own character be more advanced, are told with great naturalness. her travels with joseph haydn, are again as charmingly told as the venetian life. here the author speaks from her habitual existence, and far more masterly than of those deep places of thought where she is less at home. she has lived much, discerned much, felt great need of great thoughts, but not been able to think a great way for herself. she fearlessly accompanies the spirit of the age, but she never surpasses it; _that_ is the office of the great thinker. at vienna consuelo is brought fully into connection with the great world as an artist. she finds that its realities, so far from being less, are even more harsh and sordid for the artist than for any other; and that with avarice, envy and falsehood, she must prepare for the fearful combat which awaits noble souls in any kind of arena, with the pain of disgust when they cannot raise themselves to patience--with the almost equal pain, when they can, of pity for those who know not what they do. albert is on the verge of the grave; and consuelo, who, not being able to feel for him sufficient love to find in it compensation for the loss of that artist-life to which she feels nature has destined her, had hitherto resisted the entreaties of his aged father, and the pleadings of her own reverential and tender sympathy with the wants of his soul, becomes his wife just before he dies. the sequel, therefore, of this history is given under the title of countess of rudolstadt. consuelo is still on the stage; she is at the prussian court. the well-known features of this society, as given in the memoirs of the time, are put together with much grace and wit. the sketch of frederic is excellent. the rest of the book is devoted to expression of the author's ideas on the subject of reform, and especially of association as a means thereto. as her thoughts are yet in a very crude state, the execution of this part is equally bungling and clumsy. worse: she falsifies the characters of both consuelo and albert,--who is revived again by subterfuge of trance,--and stains her best arrangements by the mixture of falsehood and intrigue. yet she proceeds towards, if she walks not by, the light of a great idea; and sincere democracy, universal religion, scatter from afar many seeds upon the page for a future time. the book should be, and will be, universally read. those especially who have witnessed all sand's doubts and sorrows on the subject of marriage, will rejoice in the clearer, purer ray which dawns upon her now. the most natural and deep part of the book, though not her main object, is what relates to the struggle between the claims of art and life, as to whether it be better for the world and one's self to develop to perfection a talent which heaven seemed to have assigned as a special gift and vocation, or sacrifice it whenever the character seems to require this for its general development. the character of consuelo is, throughout the first part, strong, delicate, simple, bold, and pure. the fair lines of this picture are a good deal broken in the second part; but we must remain true to the impression originally made upon us by this charming and noble creation of the soul of sand. it is in reference to _our_ consuelo that a correspondent [footnote: we do not know how accurate is this correspondent's statement of facts. the narrative is certainly interesting.--_ed_.] writes, as to jenny lind; and we are rejoiced to find that so many hints were, or might have been, furnished for the picture from real life. if jenny lind did not suggest it, yet she must also be, in her own sphere, a consuelo. "jenny lind must have been born about or . when a young child, she was observed, playing about and singing in the streets of stockholm, by mr. berg, master of singing for the royal opera. pleased and astonished at the purity and suavity of her voice, he inquired instantly for her family, and found her father, a poor innkeeper, willing and glad to give up his daughter to his care, on the promise to protect her and give her an excellent musical education. he was always very careful of her, never permitting her to sing except in his presence, and never letting her appear on the stage, unless as a mute figure in some ballet, such, for instance, as cupid and the graces, till she was sixteen, when she at once executed her part in 'der freyschutz,' to the full satisfaction and surprise of the public of stockholm. from that time she gradually became the favorite of every one. without beauty, she seems, from her innocent and gracious manners, beautiful on the stage and charming in society. she is one of the few actresses whom no evil tongue can ever injure, and is respected and welcomed in any and all societies. "the circumstances that reminded me of consuelo were these: that she was a poor child, taken up by this singing-master, and educated thoroughly and severely by him; that she loved his son, who was a good-for-nothing fellow, like anzoleto, and at last discarded him; that she refused the son of an english earl, and, when he fell sick, his father condescended to entreat for him, just as the count of rudolstadt did for his son; that, though plain and low in stature, when singing her best parts she appears beautiful, and awakens enthusiastic admiration; that she is rigidly correct in her demeanor towards her numerous admirers, having even returned a present sent her by the crown-prince, oscar, in a manner that she deemed equivocal. this last circumstance being noised abroad, the next time she appeared on the stage she was greeted with more enthusiastic plaudits than ever, and thicker showers of flowers fell upon her from the hands of her true friends, the public. she was more fortunate than consuelo in not being compelled to sing to a public of prussian corporals." indeed, the picture of frederic's opera-audience, with the pit full of his tall grenadiers with their wives on their shoulders, never daring to applaud except when he gave the order, as if by tap of drum, opposed to the tender and expansive nature of the artist, is one of the best tragicomedies extant. in russia, too, all is military; as soon as a new musician arrives, he is invested with a rank in the army. even in the church nicholas has lately done the same. it seems as if he could not believe a man to be alive, except in the army; could not believe the human heart could beat, except by beat of drum. but we believe in russia there is at least a mask of gayety thrown over the chilling truth. the great frederic wished no disguise; everywhere he was chief corporal, and trampled with his everlasting boots the fair flowers of poesy into the dust. the north has been generous to us of late; she has sent us _ole bull_. she is about to send _frederika bremer_. may she add jenny lind! caroline. the other evening i heard a gentle voice reading aloud the story of maurice, a boy who, deprived of the use of his limbs by paralysis, was sustained in comfort, and almost in cheerfulness, by the exertions of his twin sister. left with him in orphanage, her affections were centred upon him, and, amid the difficulties his misfortunes brought upon them, grew to a fire intense and pure enough to animate her with angelic impulses and powers. as he could not move about, she drew him everywhere in a little cart; and when at last they heard that sea-bathing might accomplish his cure, conveyed him, in this way, hundreds of miles to the sea-shore. her pious devotion and faith were rewarded by his cure, and (a french story would be entirely incomplete otherwise) with money, plaudits and garlands, from the by-standers. though the story ends in this vulgar manner, it is, in its conduct, extremely sweet and touching, not only as to the beautiful qualities developed by these trials in the brother and sister, but in the purifying and softening influence exerted, by the sight of his helplessness and her goodness, on all around them. those who are the victims of some natural blight often fulfil this important office, and bless those within their sphere more, by awakening feelings of holy tenderness and compassion, than a man healthy and strong can do by the utmost exertion of his good-will and energies. thus, in the east, men hold sacred those in whom they find a distortion or alienation of mind which makes them unable to provide for themselves. the well and sane feel themselves the ministers of providence to carry out a mysterious purpose, while taking care of those who are thus left incapable of taking care of themselves; and, while fulfilling this ministry, find themselves refined and made better. the swiss have similar feelings as to those of their families whom cretinism has reduced to idiocy. they are attended to, fed, dressed clean, and provided with a pleasant place for the day, before doing anything else, even by very busy and poor people. we have seen a similar instance, in this country, of voluntary care of an idiot, and the mental benefits that ensued. this idiot, like most that are called so, was not without a glimmer of mind. his teacher was able to give him some notions, both of spiritual and mental facts; at least she thought she had given him the idea of god, and though it appeared by his gestures that to him the moon was the representative of that idea, yet he certainly did conceive of something above him, and which inspired him with reverence and delight. he knew the names of two or three persons who had done him kindness, and when they were mentioned, would point upward, as he did to the moon, showing himself susceptible, in his degree, of mr. carlyle's grand method of education, hero-worship. she had awakened in him a love of music, so that he could be soothed in his most violent moods by her gentle singing. it was a most touching sight to see him sitting opposite to her at such tunes, his wondering and lack-lustre eyes filled with childish pleasure, while in hers gleamed the same pure joy that we may suppose to animate the looks of an angel appointed by heaven to restore a ruined world. we know another instance, in which a young girl became to her village a far more valuable influence than any patron saint who looks down from his stone niche, while his votaries recall the legend of his goodness in days long past. caroline lived in a little, quiet country village--quiet as no village can now remain, since the railroad strikes its spear through the peace of country life. she lived alone with a widowed mother, for whom, as well as for herself, her needle won bread, while the mother's strength, and skill sufficed to the simple duties of their household. they lived content and hopeful, till, whether from sitting still too much, or some other cause, caroline became ill, and soon the physician pronounced her spine to be affected, and to such a degree that she was incurable. this news was a thunder-bolt to the poor little cottage. the mother, who had lost her elasticity of mind, wept in despair; but the young girl, who found so early all the hopes and joys of life taken from her, and that she was seemingly left without any shelter from the storm, had even at first the faith and strength to bow her head in gentleness, and say, "god will provide." she sustained and cheered her mother. and god did provide. with simultaneous vibration the hearts of all their circle acknowledged the divine obligation of love and mutual aid between human beings. food, clothing, medicine, service, were all offered freely to the widow and her daughter. caroline grew worse, and was at last in such a state that she could only be moved upon a sheet, and by the aid of two persons. in this toilsome service, and every other that she required for years, her mother never needed to ask assistance. the neighbors took turns in doing all that was required, and the young girls, as they were growing up, counted it among their regular employments to work for or read to caroline. not without immediate reward was their service of love. the mind of the girl, originally bright and pure, was quickened and wrought up to the finest susceptibility by the nervous exaltation that often ensues upon affection of the spine. the soul, which had taken an upward impulse from its first act of resignation, grew daily more and more into communion with the higher regions of life, permanent and pure. perhaps she was instructed by spirits which, having passed through a similar trial of pain and loneliness, had risen to see the reason why. however that may be, she grew in nobleness of view and purity of sentiment, and, as she received more instruction from books also than any other person in her circle, had from many visitors abundant information as to the events which were passing around her, and leisure to reflect on them with a disinterested desire for truth, she became so much wiser than her companions as to be at last their preceptress and best friend, and her brief, gentle comments and counsels were listened to as oracles from one enfranchised from the films which selfishness and passion cast over the eyes of the multitude. the twofold blessing conferred by her presence, both in awakening none but good feelings in the hearts of others, and in the instruction she became able to confer, was such, that, at the end of five years, no member of that society would have been so generally lamented as caroline, had death called her away. but the messenger, who so often seems capricious in his summons, took first the aged mother, and the poor girl found that life had yet the power to bring her grief, unexpected and severe. and now the neighbors met in council. caroline could not be left quite alone in the house. should they take turns, and stay with her by night as well as by day? "not so," said the blacksmith's wife; "the house will never seem like home to her now, poor thing! and 't would be kind of dreary for her to change about her _nusses_ so. i'll tell you what; all my children but one are married and gone off; we have property enough; i will have a good room fixed for her, and she shall live with us. my husband wants her to, as much as me." the council acquiesced in this truly humane arrangement, and caroline lives there still; and we are assured that none of her friends dread her departure so much as the blacksmith's wife. "'ta'n't no trouble at all to have her," she says, "and if it was, i shouldn't care; she is so good and still, and talks so pretty! it's as good bein' with her as goin' to meetin'!" de maistre relates some similar passages as to a sick girl in st. petersburgh, though his mind dwelt more on the spiritual beauty evinced in her remarks, than on the good she had done to those around her. indeed, none bless more than those who "only stand and wait." even if their passivity be enforced by fate, it will become a spiritual activity, if accepted in a faith higher above fate than the greek gods were supposed to sit enthroned above misfortune. ever-growing lives. "age could not wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." so was one person described by the pen which has made a clearer mark than any other on the history of man. but is it not surprising that such a description should apply to so few? of two or three women we read histories that correspond with the hint given in these lines. they were women in whom there was intellect enough to temper and enrich, heart enough to soften and enliven the entire being. there was soul enough to keep the body beautiful through the term of earthly existence; for while the roundness, the pure, delicate lineaments, the flowery bloom of youth were passing, the marks left in the course of those years were not merely of time and care, but also of exquisite emotions and noble thoughts. with such chisels time works upon his statues, tracery and fretwork, well worth the loss of the first virgin beauty of the alabaster; while the fire within, growing constantly brighter and brighter, shows all these changes in the material, as rich and varied ornaments. the vase, at last, becomes a lamp of beauty, fit to animate the councils of the great, or the solitude of the altar. two or three women there have been, who have thus grown even more beautiful with age. we know of many more men of whom this is true. these have been heroes, or still more frequently poets and artists; with whom the habitual life tended to expand the soul, deepen and vary the experience, refine the perceptions, and immortalize the hopes and dreams of youth. they were persons who never lost their originality of character, nor spontaneity of action. their impulses proceeded from a fulness and certainty of character, that made it impossible they should doubt or repent, whatever the results of their actions might be. they could not repent, in matters little or great, because they felt that their notions were a sincere exposition of the wants of their souls. their impulsiveness was not the restless fever of one who must change his place somehow or some-whither, but the waves of a tide, which might be swelled to vehemence by the action of the winds or the influence of an attractive orb, but was none the less subject to fixed laws. a character which does not lose its freedom of motion and impulse by contact with the world, grows with its years more richly creative, more freshly individual. it is a character governed by a principle of its own, and not by rules taken from other men's experience; and therefore it is that "age cannot wither them, nor custom stale their infinite variety." like violins, they gain by age, and the spirit of him who discourseth through them most excellent music, "like wine well kept and long, heady, nor harsh, nor strong, with each succeeding year is quaffed a richer, purer, mellower draught." our french neighbors have been the object of humorous satire for their new coinage of terms to describe the heroes of their modern romance. a hero is no hero unless he has "ravaged brows," is "blase" or "brise" or "fatigue." his eyes must be languid, and his cheeks hollow. youth, health and strength, charm no more; only the tree broken by the gust of passion is beautiful, only the lamp that has burnt out the better part of its oil precious, in their eyes. this, with them, assumes the air of caricature and grimace, yet it indicates a real want of this time--a feeling that the human being ought to grow more rather than less attractive with the passage of time, and that the decrease in physical charms would, in a fair and full life, be more than compensated by an increase of those which appeal to the imagination and higher feelings. a friend complains that, while most men are like music-boxes, which you can wind up to play their set of tunes, and then they stop, in our society the set consists of only two or three tunes at most that is because no new melodies are added after five-and-twenty at farthest. it is the topic of jest and amazement with foreigners that what is called society is 'given up so much into the hands of boys and girls. accordingly it wants spirit, variety and depth of tone, and we find there no historical presences, none of the charms, infinite in variety, of cleopatra, no heads of julius caesar, overflowing with meanings, as the sun with light. sometimes we hear an educated voice that shows us how these things might be altered. it has lost the fresh tone of youth, but it has gained unspeakably in depth, brilliancy, and power of expression. how exquisite its modulations, so finely shaded, showing that all the intervals are filled up with little keys of fairy delicacy and in perfect tune! its deeper tones sound the depth of the past; its more thrilling notes express an awakening to the infinite, and ask a thousand questions of the spirits that are to unfold our destinies, too far-reaching to be clothed in words. who does not feel the sway of such a voice? it makes the whole range of our capacities resound and tremble, and, when there is positiveness enough to give an answer, calls forth most melodious echoes. the human eye gains, in like manner, by tune and experience. its substance fades, but it is only the more filled with an ethereal lustre which penetrates the gazer till he feels as if "that eye were in itself a soul," and realizes the range of its power "to rouse, to win, to fascinate, to melt, and by its spell of undefined control magnetic draw the secrets of the soul." the eye that shone beneath the white locks of thorwaldsen was such an one,--the eye of immortal youth, the indicator of the man's whole aspect in a future sphere. we have scanned such eyes closely; when near, we saw that the lids were red, the corners defaced with ominous marks, the orb looked faded and tear-stained; but when we retreated far enough for its ray to reach us, it seemed far younger than the clear and limpid gaze of infancy, more radiant than the sweetest beam in that of early youth. the future and the past met in that glance, o for more such eyes! the vouchers of free, of full and ever-growing lives! household nobleness, "mistress of herself, though china fell." women, in general, are indignant that the satirist should have made this the climax to his praise of a woman. and yet, we fear, he saw only too truly. what unexpected failures have we seen, literally, in this respect! how often did the martha blur the mary out of the face of a lovely woman at the sound of a crash amid glass and porcelain! what sad littleness in all the department thus represented! obtrusion of the mop and duster on the tranquil meditation of a husband and brother. impatience if the carpet be defaced by the feet even of cherished friends. there is a beautiful side, and a good reason here; but why must the beauty degenerate, and give place to meanness? to woman the care of home is confided. it is the sanctuary, of which she should be the guardian angel. to all elements that are introduced there she should be the "ordering mind." she represents the spirit of beauty, and her influence should be spring-like, clothing all objects within her sphere with lively, fresh and tender hues. she represents purity, and all that appertains to her should be kept delicately pure. she is modesty, and draperies should soften all rude lineaments, and exclude glare and dust. she is harmony, and all objects should be in their places ready for, and matched to, their uses. we all know that there is substantial reason for the offence we feel at defect in any of these ways. a woman who wants purity, modesty and harmony, in her dress and manners, is insufferable; one who wants them in the arrangements of her house, disagreeable to everybody. she neglects the most obvious ways of expressing what we desire to see in her, and the inference is ready, that the inward sense is wanting. it is with no merely gross and selfish feeling that all men commend the good housekeeper, the good nurse. neither is it slight praise to say of a woman that she does well the honors of her house in the way of hospitality. the wisdom that can maintain serenity, cheerfulness and order, in a little world of ten or twelve persons, and keep ready the resources that are needed for their sustenance and recovery in sickness and sorrow, is the same that holds the stars in their places, and patiently prepares the precious metals in the most secret chambers of the earth. the art of exercising a refined hospitality is a fine art, and the music thus produced only differs from that of the orchestra in this, that in the former case the overture or sonata cannot be played twice in the same manner. it requires that the hostess shall combine true self-respect and repose, "the simple art of _not too much_," with refined perception of individual traits and moods in character, with variety and vivacity, an ease, grace and gentleness, that diffuse their sweetness insensibly through every nook of an assembly, and call out reciprocal sweetness wherever there is any to be found. the only danger in all this is the same that besets us in every walk of life; to wit, that of preferring the outward sign to the inward spirit whenever there is cause to hesitate between the two. "i admire," says goethe, "the chinese novels; they express so happily ease, peace and a finish unknown to other nations in the interior arrangements of their homes. "in one of them i came upon the line, 'i heard the lovely maidens laughing, and found my way to the garden, where they were seated in their light cane-chairs,' to me this brings an immediate animation, by the images it suggests of lightness, brightness and elegance." this is most true, but it is also most true that the garden-house would not seem thus charming unless its light cane-chairs had lovely, laughing maidens seated in them. and the lady who values her porcelain, that most exquisite product of the peace and thorough-breeding of china, so highly, should take the hint, and remember that unless the fragrant herb of wit, sweetened by kindness, and softened by the cream of affability, also crown her board, the prettiest tea-cups in the world might as well lie in fragments in the gutter, as adorn her social show. the show loses its beauty when it ceases to represent a substance. here, as elsewhere, it is only vanity, narrowness and self-seeking, that spoil a good thing. women would never be too good housekeepers for their own peace and that of others, if they considered housekeeping only as a means to an end. if their object were really the peace and joy of all concerned, they could bear to have their cups and saucers broken more easily than their tempers, and to have curtains and carpets soiled, rather than their hearts by mean and small feelings. but they are brought up to think it is a disgrace to be a bad housekeeper, not because they must, by such a defect, be a cause of suffering and loss of time to all within their sphere, but because all other women will laugh at them if they are so. here is the vice,--for want of a high motive there can be no truly good action. we have seen a woman, otherwise noble and magnanimous in a high degree, so insane on this point as to weep bitterly because she found a little dust on her picture-frames, and torment her guests all dinner-time with excuses for the way in which the dinner was cooked. we have known others to join with their servants to backbite the best and noblest friends for trifling derelictions against the accustomed order of the house. the broom swept out the memory of much sweet counsel and loving-kindness, and spots on the table-cloth were more regarded than those they made on their own loyalty and honor in the most intimate relations. "the worst of furies is a woman scorned," and the sex, so lively, mobile, impassioned, when passion is aroused at all, are in danger of frightful error, under great temptation. the angel can give place to a more subtle and treacherous demon, though one, generally, of less tantalizing influence, than in the breast of man. in great crises, woman needs the highest reason to restrain her; but her besetting sin is that of littleness. just because nature and society unite to call on her for such fineness and finish, she can be so petty, so fretful, so vain, envious and base! o, women, see your danger! see how much you need a great object in all your little actions. you cannot be fair, nor can your homes be fair, unless you are holy and noble. will you sweep and garnish the house, only that it may be ready for a legion of evil spirits to enter in--for imps and demons of gossip, frivolity, detraction, and a restless fever about small ills? what is the house for, if good spirits cannot peacefully abide there? lo! they are asking for the bill in more than one well-garnished mansion. they sought a home and found a work-house. martha! it was thy fault! "glumdalclitches." this title was wittily given by an editor of this city to the ideal woman demanded in "woman in the nineteenth century." we do not object to it, thinking it is really desirable that women should grow beyond the average size which has been prescribed for them. we find in the last news from paris these anecdotes of two who "tower" an inch or more "above their sex," if not yet of glumdalclitch stature. "_bravissima!_--the th of may, at paris, a young girl, who was washing linen, fell into the canal st. martin. those around called out for help, but none ventured to give it. just then a young lady elegantly dressed came up and saw the case; in the twinkling of an eye she threw off her hat and shawl, threw herself in, and succeeded in dragging the young girl to the brink, after having sought for her in vain several times under the water. this lady was mlle. adele chevalier, an actress. she was carried, with the girl she had saved, into a neighboring house, which she left, after having received the necessary cares, in a fiacre, and amid the plaudits of the crowd." the second anecdote is of a different kind, but displays a kind of magnanimity still more unusual in this poor servile world: "one of our (french) most distinguished painters of sea-subjects, gudin, has married a rich young english lady, belonging to a family of high rank, and related to the duke of wellington. m. gudin was lately at berlin at the same time with k----, inspector of pictures to the king of holland. the king of prussia desired that both artists should be presented to him, and received gudin in a very flattering manner; his genius being his only letter of recommendation. "monsieur k---- has not the same advantage; but, to make up for it, he has a wife who enjoys in holland a great reputation for her beauty. the king of prussia is a cavalier, who cares more for pretty ladies than for genius. so monsieur and madame k---- were invited to the royal table--an honor which was not accorded to monsieur and madame gudin. "humble representations were made to the monarch, advising him not to make such a marked distinction between the french artist and the dutch amateur. these failing, the wise counsellors went to madame gudin, and, intimating that they did so with the good-will of the king, said that she might be received as cousin to the duke of wellington, as daughter of an english general, and of a family which dates back to the thirteenth century. she could, if she wished, avail herself of her rights of birth to obtain the same honors with madame k----. to sit at the table of the king, she need only cease for a moment to be madame gudin, and become once more lady l----." does not all this sound like a history of the seventeenth century? surely etiquette was never maintained in a more arrogant manner at the court of louis xiv. but madame gudin replied that her highest pride lay in the celebrated name which she bears at present; that she did not wish to rely on any other to obtain so futile a distinction, and that, in her eyes, the most noble escutcheon was the palette of her husband. i need not say that this dignified feeling was not comprehended. madame gudin was not received at the table, but she had shown the nobleness of her character. for the rest, madame k----, on arriving at paris, had the bad taste to boast of having been distinguished above madame gudin, and the story reaching the tuileries, where monsieur and madame gudin are highly favored, excited no little mirth in the circle there. "ellen: or, forgive and forget." we notice this coarsely-written little fiction because it is one of a class which we see growing with pleasure. we see it with pleasure, because, in its way, it is genuine. it is a transcript of the crimes, calumnies, excitements, half-blind love of right, and honest indignation at the sort of wrong which it can discern, to be found in the class from which it emanates. that class is a large one in our country villages, and these books reflect its thoughts and manners as half-penny ballads do the life of the streets of london. the ballads are not more true to the facts; but they give us, in a coarser form, far more of the spirit than we get from the same facts reflected in the intellect of a dickens, for instance, or of any writer far enough above the scene to be properly its artist. so, in this book, we find what cooper, miss sedgwick and mrs. kirkland, might see, as the writer did, but could hardly believe in enough to speak of it with such fidelity. it is a current superstition that country people are more pure and healthy in mind and body than those who live in cities. it may be so in countries of old-established habits, where a genuine peasantry have inherited some of the practical wisdom and loyalty of the past, with most of its errors. we have our doubts, though, from the stamp upon literature, always the nearest evidence of truth we can get, whether, even there, the difference between town and country life is as much in favor of the latter as is generally supposed. but in our land, where the country is at present filled with a mixed population, who come seeking to be purified by a better life and culture from all the ills and diseases of the worst forms of civilization, things often _look_ worse than in the city; perhaps because men have more time and room to let their faults grow and offend the light of day. there are exceptions, and not a few; but, in a very great proportion of country villages, the habits of the people, as to food, air, and even exercise, are ignorant and unhealthy to the last degree. their want of all pure faith, and appetite for coarse excitement, is shown by continued intrigues, calumnies, and crimes. we have lived in a beautiful village, where, more favorably placed than any other person in it, both as to withdrawal from bad associations and nearness to good, we heard inevitably, from domestics, work-people, and school-children, more ill of human nature than we could possibly sift were we to elect such a task from all the newspapers of this city, in the same space of time. we believe the amount of ill circulated by means of anonymous letters, as described in this book, to be as great as can be imported in all the french novels (and that is a bold word). we know ourselves of two or three cases of morbid wickedness, displayed by means of anonymous letters, that may vie with what puzzled the best wits of france in a famous law-suit not long since. it is true, there is, to balance all this, a healthy rebound,--a surprise and a shame; and there are heartily good people, such as are described in this book, who, having taken a direction upward, keep it, and cannot be bent downward nor aside. but, then, the reverse of the picture is of a blackness that would appall one who came to it with any idyllic ideas of the purity and peaceful loveliness of agricultural life. but what does this prove? only the need of a dissemination of all that is best, intellectually and morally, through the whole people. our groves and fields have no good fairies or genii who teach, by legend or gentle apparition, the truths, the principles, that can alone preserve the village, as the city, from the possession of the fiend. their place must be taken by the school-master, and he must be one who knows not only "readin', writin', and 'rithmetic," but the service of god and the destiny of man. our people require a thoroughly-diffused intellectual life, a religious aim, such as no people at large ever possessed before; else they must sink till they become dregs, rather than rise to become the cream of creation, which they are too apt to flatter themselves with the fancy of being already. the most interesting fiction we have ever read in this coarse, homely, but genuine class, is one called "metallek." it may be in circulation in this city; but we bought it in a country nook, and from a pedlar; and it seemed to belong to the country. had we met with it in any other way, it would probably have been to throw it aside again directly, for the author does not know how to write english, and the first chapters give no idea of his power of apprehending the poetry of life. but happening to read on, we became fixed and charmed, and have retained from its perusal the sweetest picture of life lived in this land, ever afforded us, out of the pale of personal observation. that such things are, private observation has made us sure; but the writers of books rarely seem to have seen them; rarely to have walked alone in an untrodden path long enough to hold commune with the spirit of the scene. in this book you find the very life; the most vulgar prose, and the most exquisite poetry. you follow the hunter in his path, walking through the noblest and fairest scenes only to shoot the poor animals that were happy there, winning from the pure atmosphere little benefit except to good appetite, sleeping at night in the dirty hovels, with people who burrow in them to lead a life but little above that of the squirrels end foxes. there is throughout that air of room enough, and free if low forms of human nature, which, at such times, makes bearable all that would otherwise be so repulsive. but when we come to the girl who is the presiding deity, or rather the tutelary angel of the scene, how are all discords harmonized; how all its latent music poured forth! it is a portrait from the life--it has the mystic charm of fulfilled reality, how far beyond the fairest ideals ever born of thought! pure, and brilliantly blooming as the flower of the wilderness, she, in like manner, shares while she sublimes its nature. she plays round the most vulgar and rude beings, gentle and caressing, yet unsullied; in her wildness there is nothing cold or savage; her elevation is soft and warm. never have we seen natural religion more beautifully expressed; never so well discerned the influence of the natural nun, who needs no veil or cloister to guard from profanation the beauty she has dedicated to god, and which only attracts human love to hallow it into the divine. the lonely life of the girl after the death of her parents,--her fearlessness, her gay and sweet enjoyment of nature, her intercourse with the old people of the neighborhood, her sisterly conduct towards her "suitors,"--all seem painted from the life; but the death-bed scene seems borrowed from some sermon, and is not in harmony with the rest. in this connection we must try to make amends for the stupidity of an earlier notice of the novel, called "margaret, or the real and ideal," &c. at the time of that notice we had only looked into it here and there, and did no justice to a work full of genius, profound in its meaning, and of admirable fidelity to nature in its details. since then we have really read it, and appreciated the sight and representation of soul-realities; and we have lamented the long delay of so true a pleasure. a fine critic said, "this is a yankee novel; or rather let it be called _the_ yankee novel, as nowhere else are the thought and dialect of our villages really represented." another discovered that it must have been written in maine, by the perfection with which peculiar features of scenery there are described. a young girl could not sufficiently express her delight at the simple nature with which scenes of childhood are given, and especially at margaret's first going to meeting. she had never elsewhere found written down what she had felt. a mature reader, one of the most spiritualized and harmonious minds we have ever met, admires the depth and fulness in which the workings of the spirit through the maiden's life are seen by the author, and shown to us; but laments the great apparatus with which the consummation of the whole is brought about, and the formation of a new church and state, before the time is yet ripe, under the banner of mons. christi. but all these voices, among those most worthy to be heard, find in the book a _real presence_, and draw from it auspicious omens that an american literature is possible even in our day, because there are already in the mind here existent developments worthy to see the light, gold-fishes amid the moss in the still waters. for ourselves, we have been most charmed with the way the real and ideal are made to weave and shoot rays through one another, in which margaret bestows on external nature what she receives through books, and wins back like gifts in turn, till the pond and the mythology are alternate sections of the same chapter. we delight in the teachings she receives through chilion and his violin, till on the grave of "one who tried to love his fellow-men" grows up the full white rose-flower of her life. the ease with which she assimilates the city life when in it, making it a part of her imaginative tapestry, is a sign of the power to which she has grown. we have much more to think and to say of the book, as a whole, and in parts; and should the mood and summer leisure ever permit a familiar and intimate acquaintance with it, we trust they will be both thought and said. for the present, we will only add that it exhibits the same state of things, and strives to point out such remedies as we have hinted at in speaking of the little book which heads this notice; itself a rude charcoal sketch, but if read as hieroglyphics are, pointing to important meanings and results. "courrier des etats unis." no other nation can hope to vie with the french in the talent of communicating information with ease, vivacity and consciousness. they must always be the best narrators and the best interpreters, so far as presenting a clear statement of outlines goes. thus they are excellent in conversation, lectures, and journalizing. after we know all the news of the day, it is still pleasant to read the bulletin of the _"courrier des etats unis."_ we rarely agree with the view taken; but as a summary it is so excellently well done, every topic put in its best place, with such a light and vigorous hand, that we have the same pleasure we have felt in fairy tales, when some person under trial is helped by a kind fairy to sort the silks and feathers to their different places, till the glittering confusion assumes the order,--of a kaleidoscope. then, what excellent correspondents they have in paris! what a humorous and yet clear account we have before us, now, of the thiers game! we have traced guizot through every day with the utmost distinctness, and see him perfectly in the sick-room. now, here is thiers, playing with his chess-men, jesuits, &c. a hundred clumsy english or american papers could not make the present crisis in paris so clear as we see it in the glass of these nimble frenchmen. certainly it is with newspaper-writing as with food; the english and americans have as good appetites, but do not, and never will, know so well how to cook as the french. the parisian correspondent of the _"schnellpost"_ also makes himself merry with the play of m. thiers. both speak with some feeling of the impressive utterance of lamartine in the late debates. the jesuits stand their ground, but there is a wave advancing which will not fail to wash away what ought to go,--nor are its roarings, however much in advance of the wave itself, to be misinterpreted by intelligent ears. the world is raising its sleepy lids, and soon no organization can exist which from its very nature interferes in any way with the good of the whole. in germany the terrors of the authorities are more and more directed against the communists. they are very anxious to know what communism really is, or means. they have almost forgotten, says the correspondent, the repression of the jews, and like objects, in this new terror. meanwhile, the russian emperor has issued an edict, commanding the polish jews, both men and women, to lay aside their national garb. he hopes thus to mingle them with the rest of the mass he moves. it will be seen whether such work can be done by beginning upon the outward man. the paris correspondent of the _"courrier,"_ who gives an account of amusements, has always many sprightly passages illustrative of the temper of the times. horse-races are now the fashion, in which he rejoices, as being likely to give to france good horses of her own. a famous lottery is on the point of coming off,--to give an organ to the church of st. eustache,--on which it does not require a very high tone of morals to be severe. a public exhibition has been made of the splendid array of prizes, including every article of luxury, from jewels and cashmere shawls down to artificial flowers. a nobleman, president of the horticultural society, had given an entertainment, in which the part of the different flowers was acted by beautiful women, that of fruit and vegetables by distinguished men. such an amusement would admit of much light grace and wit, which may still be found in france, if anywhere in the world. there is also an amusing story of the stir caused among the french political leaders by the visit of a nobleman of one of the great english families, to paris. "he had had several audiences, previous to his departure from london, of queen victoria; he received a despatch daily from the english court. but in reply to all overtures made to induce him to open his mission, he preserved a gloomy silence. all attentions, all signs of willing confidence, are lavished on him in vain. france is troubled. 'has england,' thought she, 'a secret from us, while we have none from her?' she was on the point of inventing one, when, lo! the secret mission turns out to be the preparation of a ball-dress, with whose elegance, fresh from parisian genius, her britannic majesty wished to dazzle and surprise her native realm." 't is a pity americans cannot learn the grace which decks these trifling jests with so much prettiness. till we can import something of that, we have no right to rejoice in french fashions and french wines. such a nervous, driving nation as we are, ought to learn to fly along gracefully, on the light, fantastic toe. can we not learn something of the english beside the knife and fork conventionalities which, with them, express a certain solidity of fortune and resolve? can we not get from the french something beside their worst novels? "courrier des etats unis." our protegee, queen victoria. the _courrier_ laughs, though with features somewhat too disturbed for a graceful laugh, at a notice, published a few days since in the _tribune_, of one of its jests which scandalized the american editor. it does not content itself with a slight notice, but puts forth a manifesto, in formidably large type, in reply. with regard to the jest itself, we must remark that mr. greeley saw this only in a translation, where it had lost whatever of light and graceful in its manner excused a piece of raillery very coarse in its substance. we will admit that, had he seen it as it originally stood, connected with other items in the playful chronicle of pierre durand, it would have impressed him differently. but the cause of irritation in the _courrier_, and of the sharp repartees of its manifesto, is, probably, what was said of the influence among us of "french literature and french morals," to which the "organ of the french-american population" felt called on to make a spirited reply, and has done so with less of wit and courtesy than could have been expected from the organ of a people who, whatever may be their faults, are at least acknowledged in wit and courtesy preeminent. we hope that the french who come to us will not become, in these respects, americanized, and substitute the easy sneer, and use of such terms as "ridiculous," "virtuous misanthropy," &c., for the graceful and poignant raillery of their native land, which tickles even where it wounds. we may say, in reply to the _courrier_, that if fourierism "recoils towards a state of nature," it arises largely from the fact that its author lived in a country where the natural relations are, if not more cruelly, at least more lightly violated, than in any other of the civilized world. the marriage of convention has done its natural office in sapping the morals of france, till breach of the marriage vow has become one of the chief topics of its daily wit, one of the acknowledged traits of its manners, and a favorite--in these modern times we might say the favorite--subject of its works of fiction. from the time of moliere, himself an agonized sufferer behind his comic mask from the infidelities of a wife he was not able to cease to love, through memoirs, novels, dramas, and the volleyed squibs of the press, one fact stares us in the face as one of so common occurrence, that men, if they have not ceased to suffer in heart and morals from its poisonous action, have yet learned to bear with a shrug and a careless laugh that marks its frequency. understand, we do not say that the french are the most deeply stained with vice of all nations. we do not think them so. there are others where there is as much, but there is none where it is so openly acknowledged in literature, and therefore there is none whose literature alone is so likely to deprave inexperienced minds, by familiarizing them with wickedness before they have known the lure and the shock of passion. and we believe that this is the very worst way for youth to be misled, since the miasma thus pervades the whole man, and he is corrupted in head and heart at once, without one strengthening effort at resistance. were it necessary, we might substantiate what we say by quoting from the _courrier_ within the last fortnight, jokes and stories such as are not to be found so _frequently_ in the prints of any other nation. there is the story of the girl adelaide, which, at another time, we mean to quote, for its terrible pathos. there is a man on trial for the murder of his wife, of whom the witnesses say, "he was so fond of her you would never have known she was his wife!" here is one, only yesterday, where a man kills a woman to whom he was married by his relatives at eighteen, she being much older, and disagreeable to him, but their properties matching. after twelve years' marriage, he can no longer support the yoke, and kills both her and her father, and "his only regret is that he cannot kill all who had anything to do with the match." either infidelity or such crimes are the natural result of marriages made as they are in france, by agreement between the friends, without choice of the parties. it is this horrible system, and not a native incapacity for pure and permanent relations, that leads to such results. we must observe, _en passant_, that this man was the father of five children by this hated woman--a wickedness not peculiar to france or any nation, and which cannot foil to do its work of filling the world with sickly, weak, or depraved beings, who have reason to curse their brutal father that he does not murder them as well as their wretched mother,--who, more unhappy than the victim of seduction, is made the slave of sense in the name of religion and law. the last steamer brings us news of the disgrace of victor hugo, one of the most celebrated of the literary men of france, and but lately created one of her peers. the affair, however, is to be publicly "hushed up." but we need not cite many instances to prove, what is known to the whole world, that these wrongs are, if not more frequent, at least more lightly treated by the french, in literature and discourse, than by any nation of europe. this being the case, can an american, anxious that his country should receive, as her only safeguard from endless temptations, good moral instruction and mental food, be otherwise than grieved at the promiscuous introduction among us of their writings? we know that there are in france good men, pure books, true wit. but there is an immensity that is bad, and more hurtful to our farmers, clerks and country milliners, than to those to whose tastes it was originally addressed,--as the small-pox is most fatal among the wild men of the woods,--and this, from the unprincipled cupidity of publishers, is broad-cast recklessly over all the land we had hoped would become a healthy asylum for those before crippled and tainted by hereditary abuses. this cannot be prevented; we can only make head against it, and show that there is really another way of thinking and living,--ay, and another voice for it in the world. we are naturally on the alert, and if we sometimes start too quickly, that is better than to play "_le noir faineant_"--(the black sluggard). we are displeased at the unfeeling manner in which the _courrier_ speaks of those whom he calls _our models_. he did not misunderstand us, and some things he says on this subject deserve and suggest a retort that would be bitter. but we forbear, because it would injure the innocent with the guilty. the _courrier_ ranks the editor of the _tribune_ among "the men who have undertaken an ineffectual struggle against the perversities of this lower world." by _ineffectual_ we presume he means that it has never succeeded in exiling evil from this lower world. we are proud to be ranked among the band of those who at least, in the ever-memorable words of scripture, have "done what they could" for this purpose. to this band belong all good men of all countries, and france has contributed no small contingent of those whose purpose was noble, whose lives were healthy, and whose minds, even in their lightest moods, pure. we are better pleased to act as sutler or pursuivant of this band, whose strife the _courrier_ thinks so _impuissante_, than to reap the rewards of efficiency on the other side. there is not too much of this salt, in proportion to the whole mass that needs to be salted, nor are "occasional accesses of virtuous misanthropy" the worst of maladies in a world that affords such abundant occasion for it. in fine, we disclaim all prejudice against the french nation. we feel assured that all, or almost all, impartial minds will acquiese in what we say as to the tone of lax morality, in reference to marriage, so common in their literature. we do not like it, in joke or in earnest; neither are we of those to whom vice "loses most of its deformity by losing all its grossness." if there be a deep and ulcerated wound, we think the more "the richly-embroidered veil" is torn away the better. such a deep social wound exists in france; we wish its cure, as we wish the health of all nations and of all men; so far indeed would we "recoil towards a state of nature." we believe that nature wills marriage and parentage to be kept sacred. the fact of their not being so is to us not a pleasant subject of jest; and we should really pity the first lady of england for injury here, though she be a queen; while the ladies of the french court, or of parisian society, if they willingly lend themselves to be the subject of this style of jest, or find it agreeable when made, must be to us the cause both of pity, and disgust. we are not unaware of the great and beautiful qualities native to the french--of their chivalry, their sweetness of temper, their rapid, brilliant and abundant genius. we would wish to see these qualities restored to their native lustre, and not receive the base alloy which has long stained the virginity of the gold. on books of travel. [footnote: it need not be said, probably, that margaret fuller did not think the fact that books of travel by women have generally been piquant and lively rather than discriminating and instructive, a result of their nature, and therefore unavoidable; on the contrary, she regarded woman as naturally more penetrating than man, and the fact that in journeying she would see more of home-life than he, would give her a great advantage,--but she did believe woman needed a wider culture, and then she would not fail to _excel_ in writing books of travels. the merits now in such works she considered striking and due to woman's natural quickness and availing herself of all her facilities, and any deficiencies simply proved the need of a broader education.--[edit.]] among those we have, the best, as to observation of particulars and lively expression, are by women. they are generally ill prepared as regards previous culture, and their scope is necessarily narrower than that of men, but their tact and quickness help them a great deal. you can see their minds grow by what they feed on, when they travel. there are many books of travel, by women, that are, at least, entertaining, and contain some penetrating and just observations. there has, however, been none since lady mary wortley montague, with as much talent, liveliness, and preparation to observe in various ways, as she had. a good article appeared lately in one of the english periodicals, headed by a long list of travels by women. it was easy to observe that the personality of the writer was the most obvious thing in each and all of these books, and that, even in the best of them, you travelled with the writer as a charming or amusing companion, rather than as an accomplished or instructed guide. review of "memoirs and essays, by mrs. jameson." mrs. jameson appears to be growing more and more desperately modest, if we may judge from the motto: "what if the little rain should say, 'so small a drop as i can ne'er refresh the thirsty plain,-- i'll tarry in the sky'" and other superstitious doubts and disclaimers proffered in the course of the volume. we thought the time had gone by when it was necessary to plead "request of friends" for printing, and that it was understood now-a-days that, from the facility of getting thoughts into print, literature has become not merely an archive for the preservation of great thoughts, but a means of general communication between all classes of minds, and all grades of culture. if writers write much that is good, and write it well, they are read much and long; if the reverse, people simply pass them by, and go in search of what is more interesting. there needs be no great fuss about publishing or not publishing. those who forbear may rather be considered the vain ones, who wish to be distinguished among the crowd. especially this extreme modesty looks superfluous in a person who knows her thoughts have been received with interest for ten or twelve years back. we do not like this from mrs. jameson, because we think she would be amazed if others spoke of her as this little humble flower, doubtful whether it ought to raise its head to the light. she should leave such affectations to her aunts; they were the fashion in their day. it is very true, however, that she should _not_ have published the very first paragraph in her book, which presents an inaccuracy and shallowness of thought quite amazing in a person of her fine perceptions, talent and culture. we allude to the contrast she attempts to establish between raphael and titian, in placing mind in contradistinction to beauty, as if beauty were merely physical. of course she means no such thing; but the passage means this or nothing, and, as an opening to a paper on art, is indeed reprehensible and fallacious. the rest of this paper, called the house of titian, is full of pleasant chat, though some of the judgments--that passed on canaletti's pictures, for instance--are opposed to those of persons of the purest taste; and in other respects, such as in speaking of the railroad to venice, mrs. jameson is much less wise than those over whom she assumes superiority. the railroad will destroy venice; the two things cannot coexist; and those who do not look upon that wondrous dream in this age, will, probably, find only vestiges of its existence. the picture of adelaide kemble is very pretty, though there is an attempt of a sort too common with mrs. jameson to make more of the subject than it deserves. adelaide kemble was not the true artist, or she could not so soon or so lightly have stept into another sphere. it is enough to paint her as a lovely woman, and a woman-genius. the true artist cannot forswear his vocation; heaven does not permit it; the attempt makes him too unhappy, nor will he form ties with those who can consent to such sacrilege. adelaide kemble loved art, but was not truly an artist. the "xanthian marbles," and "washington allston," are very pleasing papers. the most interesting part, however, are the sentences copied from mr. allston. these have his chaste, superior tone. we copy some of them. "what _light_ is in the natural world, such is _fame_ in the intellectual,--both requiring an _atmosphere_ in order to become perceptible. hence the fame of michel angelo is to some minds a nonentity; even as the sun itself would be invisible _in vacuo_" (a very pregnant statement, containing the true reason why "no man is a hero to his valet de chambre.") "fame does not depend on the will of any man; but reputation may be given and taken away; for fame is the sympathy of kindred intellects, and sympathy is not a subject of _willing_; while reputation, having its source in the popular voice, is a sentence which may be altered or suppressed at pleasure. reputation, being essentially contemporaneous, is always at the mercy of the envious and ignorant. but fame, whose very birth is posthumous, and which is only known to exist by the echoes of its footsteps through congenial minds, can neither be increased nor diminished by any degree of wilfulness." "an original mind is rarely understood until it has been _reflected_ from some half-dozen congenial with it; so averse are men to admitting the true in an unusual form; while any novelty, however fantastic, however false, is greedily swallowed. nor is this to be wondered at, for all truth demands a response, and few people care to _think_, yet they must have something to supply the place of thought. every mind would appear original if every man had the power of projecting his own into the minds of others." "all effort at originality must end either in the quaint or monstrous; for no man knows himself as on original; he can only believe it on the report of others to whom he is made known, as he is by the projecting power before spoken of." "there is an essential meanness in wishing to get the better of any one. the only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself." "reverence is an ennobling sentiment; it is felt to be degrading only by the vulgar mind, which would escape the sense of its own littleness by elevating itself into the antagonist of what is above it." "he that has no pleasure in looking up is not fit to look down; of such minds are the mannerists in art, and in the world--the tyrants of all sorts." "make no man your idol; for the best man must have faults, and his faults will naturally become yours, in addition to your own. this is as true in art as in morals." "the devil's heartiest laugh is at a detracting witticism. hence the phrase 'devilish good' has sometimes a literal meaning." "woman's mission and woman's position" is an excellent paper, in which plain truths ere spoken with an honorable straight-forwardness, and a great deal of good feeling. we despise the woman who, knowing such facts, is afraid to speak of them; yet we honor one, too, who does the plain right thing, for she exposes herself to the assaults of vulgarity, in a way painful to a person who has not strength to find shelter and repose in her motives. we recommend this paper to the consideration of all those, the unthinking, wilfully unseeing million, who are in the habit of talking of "woman's sphere," as if it really were, at present, for the majority, one of protection, and the gentle offices of home. the rhetorical gentlemen and silken dames, who, quite forgetting their washerwomen, their seamstresses, and the poor hirelings for the sensual pleasures of man, that jostle them daily in the streets, talk as if women need be fitted for no other chance than that of growing like cherished flowers in the garden of domestic love, are requested to look at this paper, in which the state of women, both in the manufacturing and agricultural districts of england, is exposed with eloquence, and just inferences drawn. "this, then, is what i mean when i speak of the anomalous condition of women in these days. i would point out, as a primary source of incalculable mischief, the contradiction between her assumed and her real position; between what is called her proper sphere by the laws of god and nature, and what has become her real sphere by the laws of necessity, and through the complex relations of artificial existence. in the strong language of carlyle, i would say that 'here is a lie standing up in the midst of society.' i would say 'down with it, even to the ground;' for while this perplexing and barbarous anomaly exists, fretting like an ulcer at the very heart of society, all new specifics and palliatives are in vain. the question must be settled one way or another; either let the man in all the relations of life be held the natural guardian of the woman, constrained to fulfil that trust, responsible in society for her well-being and her maintenance; or, if she be liable to be thrust from the sanctuary of home, to provide for herself through the exercise of such faculties as god has given her, let her at least have fair play; let it not be avowed, in the same breath that protection is necessary to her, and that it is refused her; and while we send her forth into the desert, and bind the burthen on her back, and put the staff in her hand, let not her steps be beset, her limbs fettered, and her eyes blindfolded." amen. the sixth and last of these papers, on the relative social position of "mothers and governesses," exhibits in true and full colors a state of things in england, beside which the custom in some parts of china of drowning female infants looks mild, generous, and refined;--an accursed state of things, beneath whose influence nothing can, and nothing ought to thrive. though this paper, of which we have not patience to speak further at this moment, is valuable from putting the facts into due relief, it is very inferior to the other, and shows the want of thoroughness and depth in mrs. jameson's intellect. she has taste, feeling and knowledge, but she cannot think out a subject thoroughly, and is unconsciously tainted and hampered by conventionalities. her advice to the governesses reads like a piece of irony, but we believe it was not meant as such. advise them to be burnt at the stake at once, rather than submit to this slow process of petrifaction. she is as bad as the reports of the "society for the relief of distressed and dilapidated governesses." we have no more patience. we must go to england ourselves, and see these victims under the water torture. till then, a dieu! woman's influence over the insane. in reference to what is said of entrusting an infant to the insane, we must relate a little tale which touched the heart in childhood from the eloquent lips of the mother. the minister of the village had a son of such uncommon powers that the slender means on which the large family lived were strained to the utmost to send him to college. the boy prized the means of study as only those under such circumstances know how to prize them; indeed, far beyond their real worth; since, by excessive study, prolonged often at the expense of sleep, he made himself insane. all may conceive the feelings of the family when their star returned to them again, shorn of its beams; their pride, their hard-earned hope, sunk to a thing so hopeless, so helpless, that there could be none so poor to do him reverence. but they loved him, and did what the ignorance of the time permitted. there was little provision then for the treatment of such cases, and what there was was of a kind that they shrunk from resorting to, if it could be avoided. they kept him at home, giving him, during the first months, the freedom of the house; but on his making an attempt to kill his father, and confessing afterwards that his old veneration had, as is so often the case in these affections, reacted morbidly to its opposite, so that he never saw a once-loved parent turn his back without thinking how he could rush upon him and do him an injury, they felt obliged to use harsher measures, and chained him to a post in one room of the house. there, so restrained, without exercise or proper medicine, the fever of insanity came upon him in its wildest form. he raved, shrieked, struck about him, and tore off all the raiment that was put upon him. one of his sisters, named lucy, whom he had most loved when well, had now power to soothe him. he would listen to her voice, and give way to a milder mood when she talked or sang. but this favorite sister married, went to her new home, and the maniac became wilder, more violent than ever. after two or three years, she returned, bringing with her on infant. she went into the room where the naked, blaspheming, raging object was confined. he knew her instantly, and felt joy at seeing her. "but, lucy," said he, suddenly, "is that your baby you have in your arms? give it to me, i want to hold it!" a pang of dread and suspicion shot through the young mother's heart,--she turned pale and faint. her brother was not at that moment so mad that he could not understand her fears. "lucy," said he, "do you suppose i would hurt _your_ child?" his sister had strength of mind and of heart; she could not resist the appeal, and hastily placed the child in his arms. poor fellow! he held it awhile, stroked its little face, and melted into tears, the first he had shed since his insanity. for some time after that he was better, and probably, had he been under such intelligent care as may be had at present, the crisis might have been followed up, and a favorable direction given to his disease. but the subject was not understood then, and, having once fallen mad, he was doomed to live and die a madman. from a criticism on browning's poems. * * * * "the return of the druses," a "blot in the 'scutcheon," and "colombo's birthday," all have the same originality of conception, delicate penetration into the mysteries of human feeling, atmospheric individuality, and skill in picturesque detail. all three exhibit very high and pure ideas of woman, and a knowledge, very rare in man, of the ways in which what is peculiar in her office and nature works. her loftiest elevation does not, in his eyes, lift her out of nature. she becomes, not a mere saint, but the goddess-queen of nature. her purity is not cold, like marble, but the healthy, gentle energy of the flower, instinctively rejecting what is not fit for it, with no need of disdain to dig a gulf between it and the lower forms of creation. her office to man is that of the muse, inspiring him to all good thoughts and deeds. the passions that sometimes agitate these maidens of his verso are the surprises of noble hearts unprepared for evil; and even their mistakes cannot cost bitter tears to their attendant angels. the girl in the "return of the druses" is the sort of nature byron tried to paint in myrrha. but byron could only paint women as they were to him. browning can show what they are in themselves. in "a blot in the 'scutcheon," we see a lily, storm-struck, half-broken, but still a lily. in "colombe's birthday," a queenly rose-bud, which expands into the full-glowing rose before our eyes. it is marvellous in this drama how the characters are unfolded to us by the crisis, which not only exhibits, but calls to life, the higher passions and the thoughts which were latent within them. we bless the poet for these pictures of women, which, however the common tone of society, by the grossness and levity of the remarks bandied from tongue to tongue, would seem to say to the contrary, declare there is still in the breasts of men a capacity for pure and exalting passion,--for immortal tenderness. of browning's delicate sheaths of meaning within meaning, which must be opened slowly, petal by petal, as we seek the heart of a flower, and the spirit-like, distant breathings of his lute, familiar with the secrets of shores distant and enchanted, a sense can only be gained by reading him a great deal; and we wish "bells and pomegranates" might be brought within the reach of all who have time and soul to wait and listen for such! christmas. our festivals come rather too near together, since we have so few of them;--thanksgiving, christmas-day, new-years'-day, and then none again till july. we know not but these four, with the addition of a "day set apart for fasting and prayer," might answer the purposes of rest and edification as well as a calendar full of saints' days, if they were observed in a better spirit. but, thanksgiving is devoted to good dinners; christmas and new-years' days to making presents and compliments; fast-day to playing at cricket and other games, and the fourth of july to boasting of the past, rather than to plans how to deserve its benefits and secure its fruits. we value means of marking time by appointed days, because man, on one side of his nature so ardent and aspiring, is on the other so indolent and slippery a being, that he needs incessant admonitions to redeem the time. time flows on steadily, whether _he_ regards it or not; yet, unless _he keep time_, there is no music in that flow. the sands drop with inevitable speed; yet each waits long enough to receive, if it be ready, the intellectual touch that should turn it to a sand of gold. time, says the grecian fable, is the parent of power, power is the father of genius and wisdom. time, then, is grandfather of the noblest of the human family; and we must respect the aged sire whom we see on the frontispiece of the almanacs, and believe his scythe was meant to mow down harvests ripened for an immortal use. yet the best provision made by the mind of society at large for these admonitions soon loses its efficacy, and requires that individual earnestness, individual piety, should continually reinforce the most beautiful form. the world has never seen arrangements which might more naturally offer good suggestions than those of the church of rome. the founders of that church stood very near a history radiant at every page with divine light. all their rites and ceremonial days illustrate facts of an universal interest. but the life with which piety first, and afterwards the genius of great artists, invested these symbols, waned at last, except to a thoughtful few. reverence was forgotten in the multitude of genuflexions; the rosary became a string of beads rather than a series of religious meditations; and the "glorious company of saints and martyrs" were not regarded so much as the teachers of heavenly truth, as intercessors to obtain for their votaries the temporal gifts they craved. yet we regret that some of those symbols had not been more reverenced by protestants, as the possible occasion of good thoughts, and, among others, we regret that the day set apart to commemorate the birth of jesus should have been stript, even by those who observe it, of many impressive and touching accessories. if ever there was an occasion on which the arts could become all but omnipotent in the service of a holy thought, it is this of the birth of the child jesus. in the palmy days of the catholic religion they may be said to have wrought miracles in its behalf; and in our colder time, when we rather reflect that light from a different point of view than transport ourselves into it, who, that has an eye and ear faithful to the soul, is not conscious of inexhaustible benefits from some of the works by which sublime geniuses have expressed their ideas?--in the adorations of the magi and the shepherds, in the virgin with the infant jesus, or that work which expresses what christendom at large has not begun to realize,--that work which makes us conscious, as we listen, why the soul of man was thought worthy and able to upbear a cross of such dreadful weight,--the messiah of handel. christmas would seem to be the day peculiarly sacred to children; and something of this feeling is beginning to show itself among us, though rather from german influence than of native growth. the ever-green tree is often reared for the children on christmas evening, and its branches cluster with little tokens that may, at least, give them a sense that the world is rich, and that there are some in it who care to bless them. it is a charming sight to see their glistening eyes, and well worth much trouble in preparing the christmas-tree. yet, on this occasion, as on all others, we should like to see pleasure offered to them in a form less selfish than it is. when shall we read of banquets prepared for the halt, the lame, and the blind, on the day that is said to have brought _their_ friend into the world? when will children be taught to ask all the cold and ragged little ones whom they have seen during the day wistfully gazing at the shop-windows, to share the joys of christmas-eve? we borrow the christmas-tree from germany; might we but borrow with it that feeling which pervades all their stories, about the influence of the christ-child, and has, i doubt not (for the spirit of literature is always, though refined, the essence of popular life), pervaded the conduct of children there. we will mention two of these as happily expressive of different sides of the desirable character. one is a legend of the saint hermann joseph. the legend runs that this saint, when a little boy, passed daily by a niche where was an image of the virgin and child, and delighted there to pay his devotions. his heart was so drawn towards the holy child that one day, having received what seemed to him a gift truly precious, a beautiful red and yellow apple, he ventured to offer it, with his prayer. to his unspeakable delight the child put forth his hand and took the apple. after that day, never was a gift bestowed upon the little hermann, that was not carried to the same place. he needed nothing for himself, but dedicated all his childish goods to the altar. after a while he was in trouble. his father, who was a poor man, found it necessary to take him from school, and bind him to a trade. he communicated his woes to his friends of the niche, and the virgin comforted him like a mother, and bestowed on him money, by means of which he rose to be a learned and tender shepherd of men. another still more touching story is that of the holy rupert. rupert was the only child of a princely house, and had something to give besides apples. but his generosity and human love were such that, as a child, he could never see poor children suffering without despoiling himself of all he had with him in their behalf. his mother was, at first, displeased with this; but when he replied, "they are thy children too," her reproofs yielded to tears. one time, when he had given away his coat to a poor child, he got wearied and belated on his homeward way. he lay down a while and fell asleep. then he dreamed that he was on a river-shore, and saw a mild and noble old man bathing many children. after he had plunged them into the water, he would place them on a beautiful island, where they looked white and glorious as little angels. rupert was seized with a strong desire to join them, and begged the old man to bathe him also in the stream. but he was answered, "it is not yet time." just then a rainbow spanned the island, and in its arch was enthroned the child jesus, dressed in a coat that rupert knew to be his own. and the child said to the others, "see this coat; it is one which my brother rupert has just sent to me. he has given us many gifts from his love; shall we not ask him to join us here?" and they shouted a musical "yes!" and rupert started out of his dream. but he had lain too long on the damp bank of the river without his coat, and cold and fever soon sent him to join the band of his brothers in their home. these are legends, superstitious, you will say. but, in casting aside the shell, have we retained the kernel? the image of the child jesus is not seen in the open street. does his heart find other means to express itself there? protestantism does not mean, we suppose, to deaden the spirit in excluding the form. the thought of jesus, as a child, has great weight with children who have learned to think of him at all. in thinking of him they form an image of all that the morning of a pure and fervent life should be and bring. in former days i knew a boy-artist whose genius, at that time, showed high promise. he was not more than fourteen years old--a pale, slight boy, with a beaming eye. the hopes and sympathy of friends, gained by his talent, had furnished him with a studio and orders for some pictures. he had picked up from the streets a boy, still younger and poorer than himself, to take care of the room and prepare his colors, and the two boys were as content in their relation as michael angelo with his urbino. if you went there, you found exposed to view many pretty pictures--"a girl with a dove," "the guitar-player," and such subjects as are commonly supposed to interest at his age. but, hid in a corner, and never shown, unless to the beggar-page or some most confidential friend, was the real object of his love and pride, the slowly-growing work of secret hours. the subject of this picture was christ teaching the doctors. and in those doctors he had expressed all he had already observed of the pedantry and shallow conceit of those in whom mature years have not unfolded the soul: and in the child, all he felt that early youth should be and seek, though, alas! his own feet failed him on the difficult road. this one record of the youth of jesus, had, at least, been much to his mind. in earlier days the little saints thought they best imitated the emanuel by giving apples and cents; but we know not why, in our age, that esteems itself so much enlightened, they should not become also the givers of spiritual gifts. we see in them, continually, impulses that only require a good direction to effect infinite good. see the little girls at work for foreign missions; that is not useless; they devote the time to a purpose that is not selfish; the horizon of their thoughts is extended. but they are perfectly capable of becoming home-missionaries as well. the principle of stewardship would make them so. i have seen a little girl of thirteen, who had much service, too, to do for a hard-working mother, in the midst of a circle of poor children whom she gathered daily to a morning school. she took them from the door-steps and the gutters; she washed their faces and hands; she taught them to read and sew, and told them stories that had delighted her own infancy. in her face, though in feature and complexion plain, was something already of a madonna sweetness, and it had no way eclipsed the gayety of childhood. i have seen a boy, scarce older, brought up for some time with the sons of laborers, who, so soon as he found himself possessed of superior advantages, thought not of surpassing others, but of excelling that he might be able to impart; and he was able to do it. if the other boys had less leisure, and could pay for less instruction, they did not suffer by it. he could not be happy unless they also could enjoy milton, and pass from nature to natural philosophy. he performed, though in a childish way, and in no grecian garb, the part of apollo amidst the herdsmen of admetus. the cause of education would be indefinitely furthered if, in addition to formal means, there were but this principle awakened in the hearts of the young, that what they have they must bestow. all are not natural instructors, but a large proportion are; and those who do possess such a talent are the best possible teachers to those a little younger than themselves. many have more patience with the difficulties they have lately left behind, and enjoy their power of assisting more than those further removed in age and knowledge do. then the intercourse may be far more congenial and profitable than where the teacher receives for hire all sorts of pupils as they are sent him by their guardians. here be need only choose those who have a predisposition for what he is best able to teach; and, as i would have the so-called higher instruction as much diffused in this way as the lower, there would be a chance of awakening all the power that now lies latent. if a girl, for instance, who has only a passable talent for music, but who, from the advantage of social position, has been able to gain thorough instruction, felt it her duty to teach whomsoever she know that had a talent without money to cultivate it, the good is obvious. those who are learning, receive an immediate benefit by the effort to rearrange and interpret what they learn; so the use of this justice would be two-fold. some efforts are made here and there; nay, sometimes there are those who can say they have returned usury for every gift of fate; and would others make the same experiments, they might find utopia not so far off as the children of this world, wise in securing their own selfish ease, would persuade us it must always be. we have hinted what sort of christmas-box we would wish for the children; it must be one as full, as that of the christ-child must be, of the pieces of silver that were lost and are found. but christmas with its peculiar associations has deep interest for men and women no less. at that time thus celebrated, a pure woman saw in her child what the son of man should be as a child of god. she anticipated fur him a life of glory to god, peace and good-will towards men. in any young mother's heart, who has any purity of heart, the same feelings arise. but most of these mothers carelessly let them go without obeying their instructions. if they did not, we should see other children, other men than now throng our streets. the boy could not invariably disappoint the mother, the man the wife, who steadily demanded of him such a career. and man looks upon woman, in this relation, always as he should. does he see in her a holy mother, worthy to guard the infancy of an immortal soul? then she assumes in his eyes those traits which the romish church loved to revere in mary. frivolity, base appetite, contempt, are exorcised, and man and woman appear again, in unprofaned connection, as brother and sister, children and servants of one divine love, and pilgrims to a common aim. were all this right in the private sphere, the public would soon right itself also, and the nations of christendom might join in a celebration such as "kings and prophets waited for," and so many martyrs died to achieve, of christ-mass. children's books. there is no branch of literature that better deserves cultivation, and none that so little obtains it from worthy hands, as this of children's books. it requires a peculiar development of the genius and sympathies, rare among men of factitious life, who are not men enough to revive with force and beauty the thoughts and scenes of childhood. it is all idle to talk baby-talk, and give shallow accounts of deep things, thinking thereby to interest the child. he does not like to be too much puzzled; but it is simplicity be wants, not silliness. we fancy their angels, who are always waiting in the courts of our father, smile somewhat sadly on the ignorance of those who would feed them on milk and water too long, and think it would be quite as well to give them a stone. there is too much amongst us of the french way of palming off false accounts of things on children, "to do them good," and showing nature to them in a magic lantern "purified for the use of childhood," and telling stories of sweet little girls and brave little boys,--o, all so good, or so bad! and above all, so _little_, and everything about them so little! children accustomed to move in full-sized apartments, and converse with full-grown men and women, do not need so much of this baby-house style in their literature. they like, or would like if they could get them, better things much more. they like the _arabian nights_, and _pilgrim's progress_, and _bunyan's emblems_, and _shakspeare_, and the _iliad_ and _odyssey_,--at least, they used to like them; and if they do not now, it is because their taste has been injured by so many sugar-plums. the books that were written in the childhood of nations suit an uncorrupted childhood now. they are simple, picturesque, robust. their moral is not forced, nor is the truth veiled with a well-meant but sure-to-fail hypocrisy. sometimes they are not moral at all,--only free plays of the fancy and intellect. these, also, the child needs, just as the infant needs to stretch its limbs, and grasp at objects it cannot hold. we have become so fond of the moral, that we forget the nature in which it must find its root; so fond of instruction, that we forget development. where ballads, legends, fairy-tales, are moral, the morality is heart-felt; if instructive, it is from the healthy common sense of mankind, and not for the convenience of nursery rule, nor the "peace of schools and families." o, that winter, freezing, snow-laden winter, which ushered in our eighth birthday! there, in the lonely farm-house, the day's work done, and the bright woodfire all in a glow, we were permitted to slide back the panel of the cupboard in the wall,--most fascinating object still in our eyes, with which no stateliest alcoved library can vie,--and there saw, neatly ranged on its two shelves, not--praised be our natal star!--_peter parley_, nor a history of the good little boy who never took anything that did not belong to him; but the _spectator_, _telemachus_, _goldsmith's animated nature_, and the _iliad_. forms of gods and heroes more distinctly seen, and with eyes of nearer love then than now!--our true uncle, sir roger de coverley, and ye, fair realms of nature's history, whose pictures we tormented all grown persons to illustrate with more knowledge, still more,--how we bless the chance that gave to us your great realities, which life has daily helped us, helps us still, to interpret, instead of thin and baseless fictions that would all this time have hampered us, though with only cobwebs! children need some childish talk, some childish play, some childish books. but they also need, and need more, difficulties to overcome, and a sense of the vast mysteries which the progress of their intelligence shall aid them to unravel. this sense is naturally their delight, as it is their religion, and it must not be dulled by premature explanations or subterfuges of any kind. there has been too much of this lately. miss edgeworth is an excellent writer for children. she is a child herself, as she writes, nursed anew by her own genius. it is not by imitating, but by reproducing childhood, that the writer becomes its companion. then, indeed, we have something especially good, for, "like wine, well-kept and long, heady, nor harsh, nor strong, with each succeeding year is quaffed, a richer, purer, mellower draught." miss edgeworth's grown people live naturally with the children; they do not talk to them continually about angels or flowers, but about the things that interest themselves. they do not force them forward, nor keep them back. the relations are simple and honorable; all ages in the family seem at home under one roof and sheltered by one care. the _juvenile miscellany_, formerly published by mrs. child, was much and deservedly esteemed by children. it was a healthy, cheerful, natural and entertaining companion to them. we should censure too monotonously tender a manner in what is written for children, and too constant an attention to moral influence. we should prefer a larger proportion of the facts of natural or human history, and that they should speak for themselves. woman in poverty. woman, even less than man, is what she should be as a whole. she is not that self-centred being, full of profound intuitions, angelic love, and flowing poesy, that she should be. yet there are circumstances in which the native force and purity of her being teach her how to conquer where the restless impatience of man brings defeat, and leaves him crushed and bleeding on the field. images rise to mind of calm strength, of gentle wisdom learning from every turn of adverse fate,--of youthful tenderness and faith undimmed to the close of life, which redeem humanity and make the heart glow with fresh courage as we write. they are mostly from obscure corners and very private walks. there was nothing shining, nothing of an obvious and sounding heroism to make their conduct doubtful, by tainting their motives with vanity. unknown they lived, untrumpeted they died. many hearts were warmed and fed by them, but perhaps no mind but our own ever consciously took account of their virtues. had art but the power adequately to tell their simple virtues, and to cast upon them the light which, shining through those marked and faded faces, foretold the glories of a second spring! the tears of holy emotion which fell from those eyes have seemed to us pearls beyond all price; or rather, whose price will be paid only when, beyond the grave, they enter those better spheres in whose faith they felt and acted here. from this private gallery we will, for the present, bring forth but one picture. that of a black nun was wont to fetter the eyes of visitors in the royal galleries of france, and my sister of mercy, too, is of that complexion. the old woman was recommended as a laundress by my friend, who had long prized her. i was immediately struck with the dignity and propriety of her manner. in the depth of winter she brought herself the heavy baskets through the slippery streets; and, when i asked her why she did not employ some younger person to do what was so entirely disproportioned to her strength, simply said, "she lived alone, and could not afford to hire an errand-boy." "it was hard for her?" "no, she was fortunate in being able to get work at her age, when others could do it better. her friends were very good to procure it for her." "had she a comfortable home?" "tolerably so,--she should not need one long." "was that a thought of joy to her?" "yes, for she hoped to see again the husband and children from whom she had long been separated." thus much in answer to the questions, but at other times the little she said was on general topics. it was not from her that i learnt how the great idea of duty had held her upright through a life of incessant toil, sorrow, bereavement; and that not only she had remained upright, but that her character had been constantly progressive. her latest act had been to take home a poor sick girl who had no home of her own, and could not bear the idea of dying in a hospital, and maintain and nurse her through the last weeks of her life. "her eye-sight was failing, and she should not be able to work much longer,--but, then, god would provide. _somebody_ ought to see to the poor, motherless girl." it was not merely the greatness of the act, for one in such circumstances, but the quiet matter-of-course way in which it was done, that showed the habitual tone of the mind, and made us feel that life could hardly do more for a human being than to make him or her the _somebody_ that is daily so deeply needed, to represent the right, to do the plain right thing. "god will provide." yes, it is the poor who feel themselves near to the god of love. though he slay them, still do they trust him. "i hope," said i to a poor apple-woman, who had been drawn on to disclose a tale of distress that, almost in the mere hearing, made me weary of life, "i hope i may yet see you in a happier condition." "with god's help," she replied, with a smile that raphael would have delighted to transfer to his canvas; a mozart, to strains of angelic sweetness. all her life she had seemed an outcast child; still she leaned upon a father's love. the dignity of a state like this may vary its form in, more or less richness and beauty of detail, but here is the focus of what makes life valuable. it is this spirit which makes poverty the best servant to the ideal of human nature. i am content with this type, and will only quote, in addition, a ballad i found in a foreign periodical, translated from chamisso, and which forcibly recalled my own laundress as an equally admirable sample of the same class, the ideal poor, which we need for our consolation, so long as there must be real poverty. "the old washerwoman. "among yon lines her hands have laden, a laundress with white hair appears, alert as many a youthful maiden, spite of her five-and-seventy years; bravely she won those white hairs, still eating the bread hard toll obtained her, and laboring truly to fulfil the duties to which god ordained her. "once she was young and full of gladness, she loved and hoped,--was wooed and won; then came the matron's cares,--the sadness no loving heart on earth may shun. three babes she bore her mate; she prayed beside his sick-bed,--he was taken; she saw him in the church-yard laid, yet kept her faith and hope unshaken. "the task her little ones of feeding she met unfaltering from that hour; she taught them thrift and honest breeding, her virtues were their worldly dower. to seek employment, one by one, forth with her blessing they departed, and she was in the world alone-- alone and old, but still high-hearted. "with frugal forethought; self-denying, she gathered coin, and flax she bought, and many a night her spindle plying, good store of fine-spun thread she wrought. the thread was fashioned in the loom; she brought it home, and calmly seated to work, with not a thought of gloom, her decent grave-clothes she completed. "she looks on them with fond elation; they are her wealth, her treasure rare, her age's pride and consolation, hoarded with all a miser's care. she dons the sark each sabbath day, to hear the word that falleth never! well-pleased she lays it then away till she shall sleep in it forever! "would that my spirit witness bore me. that, like this woman, i had done the work my master put before me duly from morn till set of sun! would that life's cup had been by me quaffed in such wise and happy measure, and that i too might finally look on my shroud with such meek pleasure!" such are the noble of the earth. they do not repine, they do not chafe, even in the inmost heart. they feel that, whatever else may be denied or withdrawn, there remains the better part, which cannot be taken from them. this line exactly expresses the woman i knew:-- "alone and old, but still high-hearted." will any, poor or rich, fail to feel that the children of such a parent were rich when "her virtues were their worldly dower"? will any fail to bow the heart in assent to the aspiration, "would that my spirit witness bore me that, like this woman, i had done the work my maker put before me duly from morn till set of sun"? may not that suffice to any man's ambition? [perhaps one of the most perplexing problems which beset woman in her domestic sphere relates to the proper care and influence which she should exert over the domestic aids she employs. as these are, and long must be, taken chiefly from one nation, the following pages treating of the irish character, and the true relation between employer and employed, can hardly fail to be of interest. they contain, too, some considerations which woman as well as man is too much in danger of overlooking, and which seem, even more than when first urged, to be timely in this reactionary to-day.--ed.] the irish character. in one of the eloquent passages quoted in the "_tribune_" of wednesday, under the head, "spirit of the irish press," we find these words: "domestic love, almost morbid from external suffering, prevents him (the irishman) from becoming a fanatic and a misanthrope, and reconciles him to life." this recalled to our mind the many touching instances known to us of such traits among the irish we have seen here. we have known instances of morbidness like this. a girl sent "home," after she was well established herself, for a young brother, of whom she was particularly fond. he came, and shortly after died. she was so overcome by his loss that she took poison. the great poet of serious england says, and we believe it to be his serious thought though laughingly said, "men have died, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." whether or not death may follow from the loss of a lover or child, we believe that among no people but the irish would it be upon the loss of a young brother. another poor young woman, in the flower of her youth, denied herself, not only every pleasure, but almost the necessaries of life to save the sum she thought ought to be hers before sending to ireland for a widowed mother. just as she was on the point of doing so she heard that her mother had died fifteen months before. the keenness and persistence of her grief defy description. with a delicacy of feeling which showed the native poetry of the irish mind, she dwelt, most of all, upon the thought that while she was working, and pinching, and dreaming of happiness with her mother, it was indeed but a dream, and that cherished parent lay still and cold beneath the ground. she felt fully the cruel cheat of fate. "och! and she was dead all those times i was thinking of her!" was the deepest note of her lament. they are able, however, to make the sacrifice of even these intense family affections in a worthy cause. we knew a woman who postponed sending for her only child, whom she had left in ireland, for years, while she maintained a sick friend who had no one else to help her. the poetry of which i have spoken shows itself even here, where they are separated from old romantic associations, and begin the new life in the new world by doing all its drudgery. we know flights of poetry repeated to us by those present at their wakes,--passages of natural eloquence, from the lamentations for the dead, more beautiful than those recorded in the annals of brittany or roumelia. it is the same genius, so exquisitely mournful, tender, and glowing, too, with the finest enthusiasm, that makes their national music, in these respects, the finest in the world. it is the music of the harp; its tones are deep and thrilling. it is the harp so beautifully described in "the harp of tara's halls," a song whose simple pathos is unsurpassed. a feeling was never more adequately embodied. it is the genius which will enable emmet's appeal to draw tears from the remotest generations, however much they may be strangers to the circumstances which called it forth, it is the genius which beamed in chivalrous loveliness through each act of lord edward fitzgerald,--the genius which, ripened by english culture, favored by suitable occasions, has shed such glory on the land which has done all it could to quench it on the parent hearth. when we consider all the fire which glows so untamably in irish veins, the character of her people, considering the circumstances, almost miraculous in its goodness, we cannot forbear, notwithstanding all the temporary ills they aid in here, to give them a welcome to our shores. those ills we need not enumerate; they are known to all, and we rank among them, what others would not, that by their ready service to do all the hard work, they make it easier for the rest of the population to grow effeminate, and help the country to grow too fast. but that is her destiny, to grow too fast: there is no use talking against it. their extreme ignorance, their blind devotion to their priesthood, their pliancy in the hands of demagogues, threaten continuance of these ills; yet, on the other hand, we must regard them as most valuable elements in the new race. they are looked upon with contempt for their wont of aptitude in learning new things; their ready and ingenious lying; their eye-service. these are the faults of an oppressed race, which must require the aid of better circumstances through two or three generations to eradicate. their virtues are their own; they are many, genuine, and deeply-rooted. can an impartial observer fail to admire their truth to domestic ties, their power of generous bounty, and more generous gratitude, their indefatigable good-humor (for ages of wrong which have driven them to so many acts of desperation, could never sour their blood at its source), their ready wit, their elasticity of nature? they are fundamentally one of the best nations of the world. would they were welcomed here, not to work merely, but to intelligent sympathy, and efforts, both patient and ardent, for the education of their children! no sympathy could be better deserved, no efforts wiselier timed. future burkes and currans would know how to give thanks for them, and fitzgeralds rise upon the soil--which boasts the magnolia with its kingly stature and majestical white blossoms,--to the same lofty and pure beauty. will you not believe it, merely because that bog-bred youth you placed in the mud-hole tells you lies, and drinks to cheer himself in those endless diggings? you are short-sighted, my friend; you do not look to the future; you will not turn your head to see what may have been the influences of the past. you have not examined your own breast to see whether the monitor there has not commanded you to do your part to counteract these influences; and yet the irishman appeals to you, eye to eye. he is very personal himself,--he expects a personal interest from you. nothing has been able to destroy this hope, which was the fruit of his nature. we were much touched by o'connell's direct appeal to the queen, as "lady!" but she did not listen,--and we fear few ladies and gentlemen will till the progress of destiny compels them. the irish character. since the publication of a short notice under this head in the "_tribune_," several persons have expressed to us that their feelings were awakened on the subject, especially as to their intercourse with the lower irish. most persons have an opportunity of becoming acquainted, if they will, with the lower classes of irish, as they are so much employed among us in domestic service, and other kinds of labor. we feel, say these persons, the justice of what has been said as to the duty and importance of improving these people. we have sometimes tried; but the want of real gratitude which, in them, is associated with such warm and wordy expressions of regard, with their incorrigible habits of falsehood and evasion, have baffled and discouraged us. you say their children ought to be educated; but how can this be effected when the all but omnipotent sway of the catholic religion and the example of parents are both opposed to the formation of such views and habits as we think desirable to the citizen of the new world? we answer first with regard to those who have grown up in another land, and who, soon after arriving here, are engaged in our service. first, as to ingratitude. we cannot but sadly smile on the remarks we hear so often on this subject. just heaven!--and to us how liberal! which has given those who speak thus an unfettered existence, free from religious or political oppression; which has given them the education of intellectual and refined intercourse with men to develop those talents which make them rich in thoughts and enjoyment, perhaps in money, too, certainly rich in comparison with the poor immigrants they employ,--what is thought in thy clear light of those who expect in exchange for a few shillings spent in presents or medicines, a few kind words, a little casual thought or care, such a mighty payment of gratitude? gratitude! under the weight of old feudalism their minds were padlocked by habit against the light; they might be grateful then, for they thought their lords were as gods, of another frame and spirit than theirs, and that they had no right to have the same hopes and wants, scarcely to suffer from the same maladies, with those creatures of silk, and velvet, and cloth of gold. then, the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table might be received with gratitude, and, if any but the dogs came to tend the beggar's sores, such might be received as angels. but the institutions which sustained such ideas have fallen to pieces. it is understood, even in europe, that "the rank is but the guinea's stamp, the man's the gowd for a' that, a man's a man for a' that." and being such, has a claim on this earth for something better than the nettles of which the french peasantry made their soup, and with which the persecuted irish, "under hiding," turned to green the lips white before with famine. and if this begins to be understood in europe, can you suppose it is not by those who, hearing that america opens a mother's arms with the cry, "all men are born free and equal," rush to her bosom to be consoled for centuries of woe, for their ignorance, their hereditary degradation, their long memories of black bread and stripes? however little else they may understand, believe they understand well _this much_. such inequalities of privilege, among men all born of one blood, should not exist. they darkly feel that those to whom much has been given owe to the master an account of stewardship. they know now that your gift is but a small portion of their right. and you, o giver! how did you give? with religious joy, as one who knows that he who loves god cannot fail to love his neighbor as himself? with joy and freedom, as one who feels that it is the highest happiness of gift to us that we have something to give again? didst thou put thyself into the position of the poor man, and do for him what thou wouldst have had one who was able to do for thee? or, with affability and condescending sweetness, made easy by internal delight at thine own wondrous virtue, didst thou give five dollars to balance five hundred spent on thyself? did you say, "james, i shall expect you to do right in everything, and to attend to my concerns as i should myself; and, at the end of the quarter, i will give you my old clothes and a new pocket-handkerchief, besides seeing that your mother is provided with fuel against christmas?" line upon line, and precept upon precept, the tender parent expects from the teacher to whom he confides his child; vigilance unwearied, day and night, through long years. but he expects the raw irish girl or boy to correct, at a single exhortation, the habit of deceiving those above them, which the expectation of being tyrannized over has rooted in their race for ages. if we look fairly into the history of their people, and the circumstances under which their own youth was trained, we cannot expect that anything short of the most steadfast patience and love can enlighten them as to the beauty and value of implicit truth, and, having done so, fortify and refine them in the practice of it. this we admit at the outset: first, you must be prepared for a religious and patient treatment of these people, not merely _un_educated, but _ill_-educated; a treatment far more religious and patient than is demanded by your own children, if they were born and bred under circumstances at all favorable. second, dismiss from your minds all thought of gratitude. do what you do for them for god's sake, and as a debt to humanity--interest to the common creditor upon principal left in your care. then insensibility, forgetfulness, or relapse, will not discourage you, and you will welcome proofs of genuine attachment to yourself chiefly as tokens that your charge has risen into a higher state of thought and feeling, so as to be enabled to value the benefits conferred through you. could we begin so, there would be hope of our really becoming the instructors and guardians of this swarm of souls which come from their regions of torment to us, hoping, at least, the benefits of purgatory. the influence of the catholic priesthood must continue very great till there is a complete transfusion of character in the minds of their charge. but as the irishman, or any other foreigner, becomes americanized, he will demand a new form of religion to suit his new wants. the priest, too, will have to learn the duties of an american citizen; he will live less and less for the church, and more for the people, till at last, if there be catholicism still, it will be under protestant influences, as begins to be the case in germany. it will be, not roman, but american catholicism; a form of worship which relies much, perhaps, on external means and the authority of the clergy,--for such will always be the case with religion while there are crowds of men still living an external life, and who have not learned to make full use of their own faculties,--but where a belief in the benefits of confession and the power of the church, as church, to bind and loose, atone for or decide upon sin, with similar corruptions, must vanish in the free and searching air of a new era. * * * * * between employer and employed there is not sufficient pains taken on the part of the former to establish a mutual understanding. people meet, in the relations of master and servant, who have lived in two different worlds. in this respect we are much worse situated than the same parties have been in europe. there is less previous acquaintance between the upper and lower classes. (we must, though unwillingly, use these terms to designate the state of things as at present existing.) meals are taken separately; work is seldom shared; there is very little to bring the parties together, except sometimes the farmer works with his hired irish laborer in the fields, or the mother keeps the nurse-maid of her baby in the room with her. in this state of things the chances for instruction, which come every day of themselves where parties share a common life instead of its results merely, do not occur. neither is there opportunity to administer instruction in the best manner, nor to understand when and where it is needed. the farmer who works with his men in the field, the farmer's wife who attends with her women to the churn and the oven, may, with ease, be true father and mother to all who are in their employ, and enjoy health of conscience in the relation, secure that, if they find cause for blame, it is not from faults induced by their own negligence. the merchant who is from home all day, the lady receiving visitors or working slippers in her nicely-furnished parlor, cannot be quite so sure that their demands, or the duties involved in them, are clearly understood, nor estimate the temptations to prevarication. it is shocking to think to what falsehoods human beings like ourselves will resort, to excuse a love of amusement, to hide ill-health, while they see us indulging freely in the one, yielding lightly to the other; and yet we have, or ought to have, far more resources in either temptation than they. for us it is hard to resist, to give up going to the places where we should meet our most interesting companions, or do our work with an aching brow. but we have not people over us whose careless, hasty anger drives us to seek excuses for our failures; if so, perhaps,--perhaps; who knows?--we, the better-educated, rigidly, immaculately true as we are at present, _might_ tell falsehoods. perhaps we might, if things were given us to do which we had never seen done, if we were surrounded by new arrangements in the nature of which no one instructed us. all this we must think of before we can be of much use. we have spoken of the nursery-maid as _the_ hired domestic with whom her mistress, or even the master, is likely to become acquainted. but, only a day or two since, we saw, what we see so often, a nursery-maid with the family to which she belonged, in a public conveyance. they were having a pleasant time; but in it she had no part, except to hold a hot, heavy baby, and receive frequent admonitions to keep _it_ comfortable. no inquiry was made as to _her_ comfort; no entertaining remark, no information of interest as to the places we passed, was addressed to her. had she been in that way with that family ten years she might have known _them_ well enough, for their characters lay only too bare to a careless scrutiny; but her joys, her sorrows, her few thoughts, her almost buried capacities, would have been as unknown to them, and they as little likely to benefit her, as the emperor of china. let the employer place the employed first in good physical circumstances, so as to promote the formation of different habits from those of the irish hovel, or illicit still-house. having thus induced feelings of self-respect, he has opened the door for a new set of notions. then let him become acquainted with the family circumstances and history of his new pupil. he has now got some ground on which to stand for intercourse. let instruction follow for the mind, not merely by having the youngest daughter set, now and then, copies in the writing-book, or by hearing read aloud a few verses in the bible, but by putting good books in their way, if able to read, and by intelligent conversation when there is a chance,--the master with the man who is driving him, the lady with the woman who is making her bed. explain to them the relations of objects around them; teach them to compare the old with the new life. if you show a better way than theirs of doing work, teach them, too, _why_ it is better. thus will the mind be prepared by development for a moral reformation; there will be some soil fitted to receive the seed. when the time is come,--and will you think a poor, uneducated person, in whose mind the sense of right and wrong is confused, the sense of honor blunted, easier of access than one refined and thoughtful? surely you will not, if you yourself are refined and thoughtful, but rather that the case requires far more care in the choice of a favorable opportunity,--when, then, the good time is come, perhaps it will be best to do what you do in a way that will make a permanent impression. show the irishman that a vice not indigenous to his nation--for the rich and noble who are not so tempted are chivalrous to an uncommon degree in their openness, bold sincerity, and adherence to their word--has crept over and become deeply rooted in the poorer people from the long oppressions they have undergone. show them what efforts and care will be needed to wash out the taint. offer your aid, as a faithful friend, to watch their lapses, and refine their sense of truth. you will not speak in vain. if they never mend, if habit is too powerful, still, their nobler nature will not have been addressed in vain. they will not forget the counsels they have not strength to follow, and the benefits will be seen in their children or children's children. many say, "well, suppose we do all this; what then? they are so fond of change, they will leave us." what then? why, let them go and carry the good seed elsewhere. will you be as selfish and short-sighted as those who never plant trees to shade a hired house, lest some one else should be blest by their shade? it is a simple duty we ask you to engage in; it is, also, a great patriotic work. you are asked to engage in the great work of mutual education, which must be for this country the system of mutual insurance. we have some hints upon this subject, drawn from the experience of the wise and good, some encouragement to offer from that experience, that the fruits of a wise planting sometimes ripen sooner than we could dare to expect. but this must be for another day. one word as to this love of change. we hear people blaming it in their servants, who can and do go to niagara, to the south, to the springs, to europe, to the seaside; in short, who are always on the move whenever they feel the need of variety to reanimate mind, health, or spirits. change of place, as to family employment, is the only way domestics have of "seeing life"--the only way immigrants have of getting thoroughly acquainted with the new society into which they have entered. how natural that they should incline to it! once more; put yourself in their places, and then judge them gently from your own, if you would be just to them, if you would be of any use. educate men and women as souls. had christendom but been true to its standard, while accommodating its modes of operation to the calls of successive times, woman would now have not only equal _power_ with man,--for of that omnipotent nature will never suffer her to be defrauded,--but a _chartered_ power, too fully recognized to be abused. indeed, all that is wanting is, that man should prove his own freedom by making her free. let him abandon conventional restriction, as a vestige of that oriental barbarity which confined woman to a seraglio. let him trust her entirely, and give her every privilege already acquired for himself,--elective franchise, tenure of property, liberty to speak in public assemblies, &c. nature has pointed out her ordinary sphere by the circumstances of her physical existence. she cannot wander far. if here and there the gods send their missives through women as through men, let them speak without remonstrance. in no age have men been able wholly to hinder them. a deborah must always be a spiritual mother in israel. a corinna may be excluded from the olympic games, yet all men will hear her song, and a pindar sit at her feet. it is man's fault that there ever were aspasias and ninons. these exquisite forms were intended for the shrines of virtue. neither need men fear to lose their domestic deities. woman is born for love, and it is impossible to turn her from seeking it. men should deserve her love as an inheritance, rather than seize and guard it like a prey. were they noble, they would strive rather not to be loved too much, and to turn her from idolatry to the true, the only love. then, children of one father, they could not err nor misconceive one another. society is now so complex, that it is no longer possible to educate woman merely as woman; the tasks which come to her hand are so various, and so large a proportion of women are thrown entirely upon their own resources. i admit that this is not their state of perfect development; but it seems as if heaven, having so long issued its edict in poetry and religion without securing intelligent obedience, now commanded the world in prose to take a high and rational view. the lesson reads to me thus:-- sex, like rank, wealth, beauty, or talent, is but an accident of birth. as you would not educate a soul to be an aristocrat, so do not to be a woman. a general regard to her usual sphere is dictated in the economy of nature. you need never enforce these provisions rigorously. achilles had long plied the distaff as a princess; yet, at first sight of a sword, he seized it. so with woman; one hour of love would teach her more of her proper relations than all your formulas and conventions. express your views, men, of what you _seek_ in women; thus best do you give them laws. learn, women, what you should _demand_ of men; thus only can they become themselves. turn both from the contemplation of what is merely phenomenal in your existence, to your permanent life as souls. man, do not prescribe how the divine shall display itself in woman. woman, do not expect to see all of god in man. fellow-pilgrims and helpmeets are ye, apollo and diana, twins of one heavenly birth, both beneficent, and both armed. man, fear not to yield to woman's hand both the quiver and the lyre; for if her urn be filled with light, she will use both to the glory of god. there is but one doctrine for ye both, and that is the doctrine of the soul. part iii. extracts from journals and letters. [the following extract from margaret's journal will be read with a degree of melancholy interest when connected with the eventful end of her eventful life. it was written many years before her journey to europe, and rings in our ears now almost with the tones of prophecy.--ed.] i like to listen to the soliloquies of a bright child. in this microcosm the philosophical observer may trace the natural progression of the mind of mankind. i often silently observe l---, with this view. he is generally imitative and dramatic; the day-school, the singing-school or the evening party, are acted out with admirable variety in the humors of the scene, end great discrimination of character in its broader features. what is chiefly remarkable is his unconsciousness of his mental processes, and how thoughts it would be impossible for him to recall spring up in his mind like flowers and weeds in the soil. but to-night he was truly in a state of lyrical inspiration, his eyes flashing, his face glowing, and his whole composition chanted out in an almost metrical form. he began by mourning the death of a certain harriet whom he had let go to foreign parts, and who had died at sea. he described her as having "blue, sparkling eyes, and a sweet smile," and lamented that he could never kiss her cold lips again. this part, which he continued for some time, was in prolonged cadences, and a low, mournful tone, with a frequently recurring burden of "o, my harriet, shall i never see thee more!" * * * * * extract from journal. * * * * * it is so true that a woman may be in love with a woman, and a man with a man. it is pleasant to be sure of it, because it is undoubtedly the same love that we shall feel when we are angels, when we ascend to the only fit place for the mignons, where "sie fragen nicht nach mann und welb." it is regulated by the same law as that of love between persons of different sexes, only it is purely intellectual and spiritual, unprefaced by any mixture of lower instincts, undisturbed by any need of consulting temporal interests; its law is the desire of the spirit to realize a whole, which makes it seek in another being that which it finds not in itself. thus the beautiful seek the strong; the mute seek the eloquent; the butterfly settles on the dark flower. why did socrates so love alcibiades? why did korner so love schneider? how natural is the love of wallenstein for max, that of madame de stael for de recamier, mine for -----! i loved ---- for a time with as much passion as i was then strong enough to feel. her face was always gleaming before me; her voice was echoing in my ear; all poetic thoughts clustered round the dear image. this love was for me a key which unlocked many a treasure which i still possess; it was the carbuncle (emblematic gem!) which cast light into many of the darkest corners of human nature. she loved me, too, though not so much, because her nature was "less high, less grave, less large, less deep;" but she loved more tenderly, less passionately. she loved me, for i well remember her suffering when she first could feel my faults, and knew one part of the exquisite veil rent away--how she wished to stay apart and weep the whole day. these thoughts were suggested by a large engraving representing madame recamier in her boudoir. i have so often thought over the intimacy between her and madame de stael. madame recamier is half-reclining on a sofa; she is clad in white drapery, which clings very gracefully to her round, but elegantly-slender form; her beautiful neck and arms are bare; her hair knotted up so as to show the contour of her truly-feminine head to great advantage. a book lies carelessly on her lap; one hand yet holds it at the place where she left off reading; her lovely face is turned towards us; she appears to muse on what she has been reading. when we see a woman in a picture with a book, she seems to be doing precisely that for which she was born; the book gives such an expression of purity to the female figure. a large window, partially veiled by a white curtain, gives a view of a city at some little distance. on one side stand the harp and piano; there are just books enough for a lady's boudoir. there is no picture, except one of de recamier herself, as corinne. this is absurd; but the absurdity is interesting, as recalling the connection. you imagine her to have been reading one of de stael's books, and to be now pondering what those brilliant words of her gifted friend can mean. everything in the room is in keeping. nothing appears to have been put there because other people have it; but there is nothing which shows a taste more noble and refined than you would expect from the fair frenchwoman. all is elegant, modern, in harmony with the delicate habits and superficial culture which you would look for in its occupant. * * * * * to her mother. _sept_. , . * * * * * if i stay in providence, and more money is wanting than can otherwise be furnished, i will take a private class, which is ready for me, and by which, even if i reduced my terms to suit the place, i can earn the four hundred dollars that ---- will need. if i do not stay, i will let her have my portion of our income, with her own, or even capital which i have a right to take up, and come into this or some other economical place, and live at the cheapest rate. it will not be even a sacrifice to me to do so, for i am weary of society, and long for the opportunity for solitary concentration of thought. i know what i say; if i live, you may rely upon me. god be with you, my dear mother! i am sure he will prosper the doings of so excellent a woman if you will only keep your mind calm and be firm. trust your daughter too. i feel increasing trust in mine own good mind. we will take good care of the children and of one another. never fear to trouble me with your perplexities. i can never be so situated that i do not earnestly wish to know them. besides, things do not trouble me as they did, for i feel within myself the power to aid, to serve. most affectionately, your daughter, m. * * * * * part of letter to m. _providence_, oct. , . * * * for yourself, dear ------, you have attained an important age. no plan is desirable for you which is to be pursued with precision. the world, the events of every day, which no one can predict, are to be your teachers, and you must, in some degree, give yourself up, and submit to be led captive, if you would learn from them. principle must be at the helm, but thought must shift its direction with the winds and waves. happy as you are thus far in worthy friends, you are not in much danger of rash intimacies or great errors. i think, upon the whole, quite highly of your judgment about people and conduct; for, though your first feelings are often extravagant, they are soon balanced. i do not know other faults in you beside that want of retirement of mind which i have before spoken of. if m------ and a------ want too much seclusion, and are too severe in their views of life and man, i think you are too little so. there is nothing so fatal to the finer faculties as too ready or too extended a publicity. there is some danger lest there be no real religion in the heart which craves too much of daily sympathy. through your mind the stream of life has coursed with such rapidity that it has often swept away the seed or loosened the roots of the young plants before they had ripened any fruit. i should think writing would be very good for you. a journal of your life, and analyses of your thoughts, would teach you how to generalize, and give firmness to your conclusions. do not write down merely that things are beautiful, or the reverse; but _what_ they are, and _why_ they are beautiful or otherwise; and show these papers, at least at present, to nobody. be your own judge and your own helper. do not go too soon to any one with your difficulties, but try to clear them up for yourself. i think the course of reading you have fallen upon, of late, will be better for you than such books as you formerly read, addressed rather to the taste and imagination than the judgment. the love of beauty has rather an undue development in your mind. see now what it is, and what it has been. leave for a time the ideal, and return to the real. i should think two or three hours a day would be quite enough, at present, for you to give to books. now learn buying and selling, keeping the house, directing the servants; all that will bring you worlds of wisdom if you keep it subordinate to the one grand aim of perfecting the whole being. and let your self-respect forbid you to do imperfectly anything that you do at all. i always feel ashamed when i write with this air of wisdom; but you will see, by my hints, what i mean. your mind wants depth and precision; your character condensation. keep your high aim steadily in view; life will open the path to reach it. i think ----, even if she be in excess, is an excellent friend for you; her character seems to have what yours wants, whether she has or has not found the right way. * * * * * to her brother, a. b. f. _providence, feb_. , my dear a.: * * * * * i wish you could see the journals of two dear little girls, eleven years old, in my school. they love one another like bessie bell and mary gray in the ballad. they are just of a size, both lively as birds, affectionate, gentle, ambitious in good works and knowledge. they encourage one another constantly to do right; they are rivals, but never jealous of one another. one has the quicker intellect, the other is the prettier. i have never had occasion to find fault with either, and the forwardness of their minds has induced me to take both into my reading-class, where they are associated with girls many years their elders. particular pains do they take with their journals. these are written daily, in a beautiful, fair, round hand, well-composed, showing attention, and memory well-trained, with many pleasing sallies of playfulness, and some very interesting thoughts. * * * * * to the same. _jamaica plain, dec_. , . * * * * about your school i do not think i could give you much advice which would be of value, unless i could know your position more in detail. the most important rule is, in all relations with our fellow-creatures, never forget that, if they are imperfect persons, they are immortal souls, and treat them as you would wish to be treated by the light of that thought. as to the application of means, abstain from punishment as much as possible, and use encouragement as far as you can _without flattery_. but be even more careful as to strict truth in this regard, towards children, than to persons of your own age; for, to the child, the parent or teacher is the representative of _justice;_ and as that of life is severe, an education which, in any degree, excites vanity, is the very worst preparation for that general and crowded school. i doubt not you will teach grammar well, as i saw you aimed at principles in your practice. in geography, try to make pictures of the scenes, that they may be present to their imaginations, and the nobler faculties be brought into action, as well as memory. in history, try to study and paint the characters of _great men_; they best interpret the leadings of events amid the nations. i am pleased with your way of speaking of both people and pupils; your view seems from the right point. yet beware of over great pleasure in being popular, or even beloved. as far as an amiable disposition and powers of entertainment make you so, it is a happiness; but if there is one grain of plausibility, it is poison. but i will not play mentor too much, lest i make you averse to write to your very affectionate sister, m. * * * * * to her brother, r. i entirely agree in what you say of _tuition_ and _intuition;_ the two must act and react upon one another, to make a man, to form a mind. drudgery is as necessary, to call out the treasures of the mind, as harrowing and planting those of the earth. and besides, the growths of literature and art are as much nature as the trees in concord woods; but nature idealized and perfected. * * * * * to the same. . i take great pleasure in that feeling of the living presence of beauty in nature which your letters show. but you, who have now lived long enough to see some of my prophecies fulfilled, will not deny, though you may not yet believe the truth of my words when i say you go to an extreme in your denunciations of cities and the social institutions. _these_ are a growth also, and, as well as the diseases which come upon them, under the control of the one spirit as much as the great tree on which the insects prey, and in whose bark the busy bird has made many a wound. when we get the proper perspective of these things we shall find man, however artificial, still a part of nature. meanwhile, let us trust; and while it is the soul's duty ever to bear witness to the best it knows, let us not be hasty to conclude that in what suits us not there can be no good. let us be sure there _must_ be eventual good, could we but see far enough to discern it. in maintaining perfect truth to ourselves and choosing that mode of being which suits us, we had best leave others alone as much as may be. you prefer the country, and i doubt not it is on the whole a better condition of life to live there; but at the country party you have mentioned you saw that no circumstances will keep people from being frivolous. one may be gossipping, and vulgar, and idle in the country,--earnest, noble and wise, in the city. nature cannot be kept from us while there is a sky above, with so much as one star to remind us of prayer in the silent night. as i walked home this evening at sunset, over the mill-dam, towards the city, i saw very distinctly that the city also is a bed in god's garden. more of this some other time. * * * * * to a young friend. _concord, may _ , . my dear: i am passing happy here, except that i am not well,--so unwell that i fear i must go home and ask my good mother to let me rest and vegetate beneath her sunny kindness for a while. the excitement of conversation prevents my sleeping. the drive here with mr. e------ was delightful. dear nature and time, so often calumniated, will take excellent care of us if we will let them. the wisdom lies in schooling the heart not to expect too much. i did that good thing when i came here, and i am rich. on sunday i drove to watertown with the author of "nature." the trees were still bare, but the little birds care not for that; they revel, and carol, and wildly tell their hopes, while the gentle, "voluble" south wind plays with the dry leaves, and the pine-trees sigh with their soul-like sounds for june. it was beauteous; and care and routine fled away, and i was as if they had never been, except that i vaguely whispered to myself that all had been well with me. * * * * * the baby here is beautiful. he looks like his father, and smiles so sweetly on all hearty, good people. i play with him a good deal, and he comes so _natural,_ after dante and other poets. ever faithfully your friend. * * * * * to the same. . my beloved child: i was very glad to get your note. do not think you must only write to your friends when you can tell them you are happy; they will not misunderstand you in the dark hour, nor think you _forsaken_, if cast down. though your letter of wednesday was very sweet to me, yet i knew it could not last as it was then. these hours of heavenly, heroic strength leave us, but they come again: their memory is with us amid after-trials, and gives us a foretaste of that era when the steadfast soul shall be the only reality. my dearest, you must suffer, but you will always be growing stronger, and with every trial nobly met, you will feel a growing assurance that nobleness is not a mere _sentiment_ with you. i sympathize deeply in your anxiety about your mother; yet i cannot but remember the bootless fear and agitation about my mother, and how strangely our destinies were guided. take refuge in prayer when you are most troubled; the door of the sanctuary will never be shut against you. i send you a paper which is very sacred to me. bless heaven that your heart is awakened to sacred duties before any kind of gentle ministering has become impossible, before any relation has been broken. [footnote: it has always been my desire to find appropriate time and place to correct an erroneous impression which has gained currency in regard to my father, and which does injustice to his memory. that impression is that he was exceedingly stern and exacting in the parental relation, and especially in regard to my sister; that he forbid or frowned upon her sports;--excluded her from intercourse with other children when she, a child, needed such companionship, and required her to bend almost unceasingly over her books. this impression has, certainly in part, arisen from an autobiographical sketch, never written for publication nor intended for a literal or complete statement of her father's educational method, or the relation which existed between them, which was most loving and true on both sides. while the narrative is true, it is not the all she would have said, and, therefore, taken alone, conveys an impression which misleads those who did not know our father well. perhaps no better opportunity or place than this may ever arise to correct this impression so for us it is wrong. it is true that my father had a very high standard of scholarship, and did expect conformity to it in his children. he was not stern toward them. it is doubtless true, also, that he did not perfectly comprehend the rare mind of his daughter, or see for some years that she required no stimulating to intellectual effort, as do most children, but rather the reverse. but how many fathers are there who would have understood at once such a child as margaret fuller was, or would have done even as wisely as he? and how long is it since a wiser era has dawned upon the world (its light not yet fully welcomed), in which attention first to physical development to the exclusion of the mental, is an axiom in education! was it so deemed forty years ago? nor has it been considered that so gifted a child would naturally, as she did, _seek_ the companionship of those older than herself, and not of children who had little in unison with her. she needed, doubtless, to be _urged_ into the usual sports of children, and the company of those of her own age; if _not_ urged to enter these she was never excluded from either. she needed to be kept from books for a period, or to be led to those of a lighter cost than such as she read, and which usually task the thoughts of mature men. this simply was not done, and the error arose from no lack of tenderness, or consideration, from no lack of the wisdom of those times, but from the simple fact that the laws of physiology as connected with those of mind were not understood then as now, nor was attention so much directed to physical culture as of the primary importance it is now regarded. our father was indeed exact and strict with himself and others; but none has ever been more devoted to his children than he, or more painstaking with their education, nor more fondly loved them; and in later life they have ever been more and more impressed with the conviction of his fidelity and wisdom. that margaret venerated her father, and that his love was returned, is abundantly evidenced in her poem which accompanies this letter. this, too, was not written for the public eye, but it is too noble a tribute, too honorable both to father and daughter, to be suppressed. i trust that none, passing from one extreme to the other, will infer from the natural self-reproach and upbraiding because of short-comings, felt by every true mind when an honored and loved parent departs, that she lacked fidelity in the relation of daughter. she agreed not always with his views and methods, but this diversity of mind never affected their mutual respect and love.--[ed.]] lines written in march, . "i will not leave you comfortless." o, friend divine! this promise dear falls sweetly on the weary ear! often, in hours of sickening pain, it soothes me to thy rest again. might i a true disciple be, following thy footsteps faithfully, then should i still the succor prove of him who gave his life for love. when this fond heart would vainly beat for bliss that ne'er on earth we meet, for perfect sympathy of soul, from those such heavy laws control; when, roused from passion's ecstasy, i see the dreams that filled it fly, amid my bitter tears and sighs those gentle words before me rise. with aching brows and feverish brain the founts of intellect i drain, and con with over-anxious thought what poets sung and heroes wrought. enchanted with their deeds and lays, i with like gems would deck my days; no fires creative in me burn, and, humbled, i to thee return; when blackest clouds around me rolled of scepticism drear and cold, when love, and hope, and joy and pride, forsook a spirit deeply tried; my reason wavered in that hour, prayer, too impatient, lost its power; from thy benignity a ray, i caught, and found the perfect day. a head revered in dust was laid; for the first time i watched my dead; the widow's sobs were checked in vain, and childhood's tears poured down like rain. in awe i gaze on that dear face, in sorrow, years gone by retrace, when, nearest duties most forgot, i might have blessed, and did it not! ignorant, his wisdom i reproved, heedless, passed by what most he loved, knew not a life like his to prize, of ceaseless toil and sacrifice. no tears can now that hushed heart move, no cares display a daughter's love, the fair occasion lost, no more can thoughts more just to thee restore. what can i do? and how atone for all i've done, and left undone? tearful i search the parting words which the beloved john records. "not comfortless!" i dry my eyes, my duties clear before me rise,-- before thou think'st of taste or pride, see home-affections satisfied! be not with generous _thoughts_ content, but on well-doing constant bent; when self seems dear, self-seeking fair; remember this sad hour in prayer! though all thou wishest fly thy touch, much can one do who loveth much. more of thy spirit, jesus give, not comfortless, though sad, to live. and yet not sad, if i can know to copy him who here below sought but to do his father's will, though from such sweet composure still my heart be far. wilt thou not aid one whose best hopes on thee are stayed? breathe into me thy perfect love, and guide me to thy rest above! * * * * * to her brother, r----. * * * mr. keats, emma's father, is dead. to me this brings unusual sorrow, though i have never yet seen him; but i thought of him as one of the very few persons known to me by reputation, whose acquaintance might enrich me. his character was a sufficient answer to the doubt, whether a merchant can be a man of honor. he was, like your father, a man all whose virtues had stood the test. he was no word-hero. * * * * * to a young friend. _providence, june , _. my dear ------: i pray you, amid all your duties, to keep some hours to yourself. do not let my example lead you into excessive exertions. i pay dear for extravagance of this sort; five years ago i had no idea of the languor and want of animal spirits which torment me now. animal spirits are not to be despised. an earnest mind and seeking heart will not often be troubled by despondency; but unless the blood can dance at proper times, the lighter passages of life lose all their refreshment and suggestion. i wish you and ------- had been here last saturday. our school-house was dedicated, and mr. emerson made the address; it was a noble appeal in behalf of the best interests of culture, and seemingly here was fit occasion. the building was beautiful, and furnished with an even elegant propriety. i am at perfect liberty to do what i please, and there are apparently the best dispositions, if not the best preparation, on the part of the hundred and fifty young minds with whom i am to be brought in contact. i sigh for the country; trees, birds and flowers, assure me that june is here, but i must walk through streets many and long, to get sight of any expanse of green. i had no fine weather while at home, though the quiet and rest were delightful to me; the sun did not shine once really warmly, nor did the apple-trees put on their blossoms until the very day i came away. * * * * * sonnet. to the same. although the sweet, still watches of the night find me all lonely now, yet the delight hath not quite gone, which from thy presence flows. the love, the joy that in thy bosom glows, lingers to cheer thy friend. from thy fresh dawn some golden exhalations have i drawn to make less dim my dusty noon. thy tones are with me still; some plaintive as the moans of dryads, when their native groves must fall, some wildly wailing, like the clarion-call on battle-field, strewn with the noble dead. some in soft romance, like the echoes bred in the most secret groves of arcady; yet all, wild, sad, or soft, how steeped in poesy! _providence, april_, . * * * * * to the same. _providence, oct_. , . * * * * i am reminded by what you say, of an era in my own existence; it is seven years bygone. for bitter months a heavy weight had been pressing on me,--the weight of deceived friendship. i could not be much alone,--a great burden of family cares pressed upon me; i was in the midst of society, and obliged to act my part there as well as i could. at that time i took up the study of german, and my progress was like the rebound of a string pressed almost to bursting. my mind being then in the highest state of action, heightened, by intellectual appreciation, every pang; and imagination, by prophetic power, gave to the painful present all the weight of as painful a future. at this time i never had any consolation, except in long solitary walks, and my meditations then were so far aloof from common life, that on my return my fall was like that of the eagle, which the sportsman's hand calls bleeding from his lofty flight, to stain the earth with his blood. in such hours we feel so noble, so full of love and bounty, that we cannot conceive how any pain should have been needed to teach us. it then seems we are so born for good, that such means of leading us to it were wholly unnecessary. but i have lived to know that the secret of all things is pain, and that nature travaileth most painfully with her noblest product. i was not without hours of deep spiritual insight, and consciousness of the inheritance of vast powers. i touched the secret of the universe, and by that touch was invested with talismanic power which has never left me, though it sometimes lies dormant for a long time. one day lives always in my memory; one chastest, heavenliest day of communion with the soul of things. it was thanksgiving-day. i was free to be alone; in the meditative woods, by the choked-up fountain, i passed its hours, each of which contained ages of thought and emotion. i saw, then, how idle were my griefs; that i had acquired _the thought_ of each object which had been taken from me; that more extended personal relations would only have given me pleasures which then seemed not worth my care, and which would surely have dimmed my sense of the spiritual meaning of all which had passed. i felt how true it was that nothing in any being which was fit for me, could long be kept from me; and that, if separation could be, real intimacy had never been. all the films seemed to drop from my existence, and i was sure that i should never starve in this desert world, but that manna would drop from heaven, if i would but rise with every rising sun to gather it. in the evening i went to the church-yard; the moon sailed above the rosy clouds,--the crescent moon rose above the heavenward-pointing spire. at that hour a vision came upon my soul, whose final scene last month interpreted. the rosy clouds of illusion are all vanished; the moon has waxed to full. may my life be a church, full of devout thoughts end solemn music. i pray thus, my dearest child! "our father! let not the heaviest shower be spared; let not the gardener forbear his knife till the fair, hopeful tree of existence be brought to its fullest blossom and fruit!" * * * * * to the same. _jamaica plain, june_, . * * * i have had a pleasant visit at nahant, but was no sooner there than the air braced me so violently as to drive all the blood to my head. i had headache two of the three days we were there, and yet i enjoyed my stay very much. we had the rocks and piazzas to ourselves, and were on sufficiently good terms not to destroy, if we could not enhance, one another's pleasure. the first night we had a storm, and the wind roared and wailed round the house that ossianic poetry of which you hear so many strains. next day was clear and brilliant, with a high north-west wind. i went out about six o'clock, and had a two hours' scramble before breakfast. i do not like to sit still in this air, which exasperates all my nervous feelings; but when i can exhaust myself in climbing, i feel delightfully,--the eye is so sharpened, and the mind so full of thought. the outlines of all objects, the rocks, the distant sails, even the rippling of the ocean, were so sharp that they seemed to press themselves into the brain. when i see a natural scene by such a light it stays in my memory always as a picture; on milder days it influences me more in the way of reverie. after breakfast, we walked on the beaches. it was quite low tide, no waves, and the fine sand eddying wildly about. i came home with that frenzied headache which you are so unlucky as to know, covered my head with wet towels, and went to bed. after dinner i was better, and we went to the spouting-horn. c---- was perched close to the fissure, far above me, and, in a pale green dress, she looked like the nymph of the place. i lay down on a rock, low in the water, where i could hear the twin harmonies of the sucking of the water into the spout, and the washing of the surge on the foot of the rock. i never passed a more delightful afternoon. clouds of pearl and amber were slowly drifting across the sky, or resting a while to dream, like me, near the water. opposite me, at considerable distance, was a line of rock, along which the billows of the advancing tide chased one another, and leaped up exultingly as they were about to break. that night we had a sunset of the gorgeous, autumnal kind, and in the evening very brilliant moonlight; but the air was so cold i could enjoy it but a few minutes. next day, which was warm and soft, i was out on the rocks all day. in the afternoon i was out alone, and had an admirable place, a cleft between two vast towers of rock with turret-shaped tops. i got on a ledge of rock at their foot, where i could lie and let the waves wash up around me, and look up at the proud turrets rising into the prismatic light. this evening was very fine; all the sky covered with crowding clouds, profound, but not sullen of mood, the moon wading, the stars peeping, the wind sighing very softly. we lay on the high rocks and listened to the plashing of the waves. the next day was good, but the keen light was too much for my eyes and brain; and, though i am glad to have been there, i am as glad to get back to our garlanded rocks, and richly-green fields and groves. i wish you could come to me now; we have such wealth of roses. * * * * * to the same. _jamaica plain, aug., _. * * * * i returned home well, full of earnestness; yet, i know not why, with the sullen, boding sky came a mood of sadness, nay, of gloom, black as hades, which i have vainly striven to fend off by work, by exercise, by high memories. very glad was i of a painful piece of intelligence, which came the same day with your letter, to bring me on excuse for tears. that was a black friday, both above and within. what demon resists our good angel, and seems at such times to have the mastery? only _seems_, i say to myself; it is but the sickness of the immortal soul, and shall by-and-by be cast aside like a film. i think this is the great step of our life,--to change the _nature_ of our self-reliance. we find that the will cannot conquer circumstances, and that our temporal nature must vary its hue here with the food that is given it. only out of mulberry leaves will the silk-worm spin its thread fine and durable. the mode of our existence is not in our own power; but behind it is the immutable essence that cannot be tarnished; and to hold fast to this conviction, to live as far as possible by its light, cannot be denied us if we elect this kind of self-trust. yet is sickness wearisome; and i rejoice to say that my demon seems to have been frightened away by this day's sun. but, conscious of these diseases of the mind, believe that i can sympathize with a friend when subject to the same. do not fail to go and stay with ---------; few live so penetrating and yet so kind, so true, so sensitive. she is the spirit of love as well as of intellect. * * * * * * * * * to the same. my beloved child: i confess i was much disappointed when i first received your letter this evening. i have been quite ill for two or three days, and looked forward to your presence as a restorative. but think not i would have had you act differently; far better is it for me to have my child faithful to duty than even to have her with me. such was the lesson i taught her in a better hour. i am abashed to think how often lately i have found excuses for indolence in the weakness of my body; while now, after solitary communion with my better nature, i feel it was weakness of mind, weak fear of depression and conflict. but the father of our spirits will not long permit a heart fit for worship "--------- to seek from weak recoils, exemptions weak, after false gods to go astray, deck altars vile with garlands gay," etc. his voice has reached me; and i trust the postponement of your visit will give me space to nerve myself to what strength i should, so that, when we do meet, i shall rejoice that you did not come to help or soothe me; for i shall have helped and soothed myself. indeed, i would not so willingly that you should see my short-comings as know that they exist. pray that i may never lose sight of my vocation; that i may not make ill-health a plea for sloth and cowardice; pray that, whenever i do, i may be punished more swiftly than this time, by a sadness as deep as now. * * * * * to her brother, r. _cambridge, august_ , . my dear r.: i want to hear how you enjoyed your journey, and what you think of the world as surveyed from mountain-tops. i enjoy exceedingly staying among the mountains. i am satisfied with reading these bolder lines in the manuscript of nature. merely gentle and winning scenes are not enough for me. i wish my lot had been cast amid the sources of the streams, where the voice of the hidden torrent is heard by night, where the eagle soars, and the thunder resounds in long peals from side to side; where the grasp of a more powerful emotion has rent asunder the rocks, and the long purple shadows fall like a broad wing upon the valley. all places, like all persons, i know, have beauty; but only in some scenes, and with some people, can i expand and feel myself at home. i feel all this the more for having passed my earlier life in such a place as cambridgeport. there i had nothing except the little flower-garden behind the house, and the elms before the door. i used to long and sigh for beautiful places such as i read of. there was not one walk for me, except over the bridge. i liked that very much,--the river, and the city glittering in sunset, and the lively undulating line all round, and the light smokes, seen in some weather. * * * * * letter to the same. _milwaukie, july _ , . dear r.: * * * daily i thought of you during my visit to the rock-river territory. it is only five years since the poor indians have been dispossessed of this region of sumptuous loveliness, such as can hardly be paralleled in the world. no wonder they poured out their blood freely before they would go. on one island, belonging to a mr. h., with whom we stayed, are still to be found their "caches" for secreting provisions,--the wooden troughs in which they pounded their corn, the marks of their tomahawks upon felled trees. when he first came, he found the body of an indian woman, in a canoe, elevated on high poles, with all her ornaments on. this island is a spot, where nature seems to have exhausted her invention in crowding it with all kinds of growths, from the richest trees down to the most delicate plants. it divides the river which there sweeps along in clear and glittering current, between noble parks, richest green lawns, pictured rocks crowned with old hemlocks, or smooth bluffs, three hundred feet high, the most beautiful of all. two of these,--the eagle's nest, and the deer's walk, still the resort of the grand and beautiful creature from which they are named,--were the scene of some of the happiest hours of my life. i had no idea, from verbal description, of the beauty of these bluffs, nor can i hope to give any to others. they lie so magnificently bathed in sunlight, they touch the heavens with so sharp and fair a line. this is one of the finest parts of the river; but it seems beautiful enough to fill any heart and eye all along its course, nowhere broken or injured by the hand of man. and there, i thought, if we two could live, and you could have a farm which would not cost a twentieth part the labor of a new england farm, and would pay twenty times as much for the labor, and have our books and, our pens and a little boat on the river, how happy we might be for four or five years,--at least, _as_ happy as fate permits mortals to be. for we, i think, are congenial, and if i could hope permanent peace on the earth, i might hope it with you. you will be glad to hear that i feel overpaid for coming here. much is my life enriched by the images of the great niagara, of the vast lakes, of the heavenly sweetness of the prairie scenes, and, above all, by the heavenly region where i would so gladly have lived. my health, too, is materially benefited. i hope to come back better fitted for toil and care, as well as with beauteous memories to sustain me in them. affectionately always, &c. * * * * * to miss r. _chicago_, _august_ , . i have hoped from time to time, dear ----, that i should receive a few lines from you, apprizing me how you are this summer, but a letter from mrs. f---- lately comes to tell me that you are not better, but, at least when at saratoga, worse. so writing is of course fatiguing, and i must not expect letters any more. to that i could make up my mind if i could hear that you were well again. i fear, if your malady disturbs you as much as it did, it must wear on your strength very much, and it seems in itself dangerous. however, it is good to think that your composure is such that disease can only do its legitimate work, and not undermine two ways,--the body with its pains, and the body through the mind with thoughts and fears of pains. i should have written to you long ago except that i find little to communicate this summer, and little inclination to communicate that little; so what letters i have sent, have been chiefly to beg some from my friends. i have had home-sickness sometimes here, as do children for the home where they are even little indulged, in the boarding-school where they are only tolerated. this has been in the town, where i have felt the want of companionship, because the dissipation of fatigue, or expecting soon to move again, has prevented my employing myself for myself; and yet there was nothing well worth looking at without. when in the country i have enjoyed myself highly, and my health has improved day by day. the characters of persons are brought out by the little wants and adventures of country life as you see it in this region; so that each one awakens a healthy interest; and the same persons who, if i saw them at these hotels, would not have a word to say that could fix the attention, become most pleasing companions; their topics are before them, and they take the hint. you feel so grateful, too, for the hospitality of the log-cabin; such gratitude as the hospitality of the rich, however generous, cannot inspire; for these wait on you with their domestics and money, and give of their superfluity only; but here the master gives you his bed, his horse, his lamp, his grain from the field, his all, in short; and you see that he enjoys doing so thoroughly, and takes no thought for the morrow; so that you seem in fields full of lilies perfumed with pure kindness; and feel, verily, that solomon in all his glory could not have entertained you so much to the purpose. travelling, too, through the wide green woods and prairies, gives a feeling both of luxury and repose that the sight of highly-cultivated country never can. there seems to be room enough for labor to pause and man to fold his arms and gaze, forgetting poverty, and care, and the thousand walls and fences that in the cultivated region must be built and daily repaired both for mind and body. nature seems to have poured forth her riches so without calculation, merely to mark the fulness of her joy; to swell in larger strains the hymn, "the one spirit doeth all things veil, for its life is love." i will not ask you to write to me now, as i shall so soon be at home. probably, too, i shall reserve a visit to b---- for another summer; i have been so much a rover that when once on the road i shall wish to hasten home. ever yours, m. * * * * * to the same. _cambridge, january_ , . my dear ------: i am anxious to get a letter, telling me how you fare this winter in the cottage. your neighbors who come this way do not give very favorable accounts of your looks; and, if you are well enough, i should like to see a few of those firm, well-shaped characters from your own hand. is there no chance of your coming to boston all this winter? i had hoped to see you for a few hours at least. i wrote you one letter while at the west; i know not if it was ever received; it was sent by a private opportunity, one of those "traps to catch the unwary," as they have been called. it was no great loss, if lost. i did not feel like writing letters while travelling. it took all my strength of mind to keep moving and to receive so many new impressions. surely i never had so clear an idea before of the capacity to bless, of mere _earth_, when fresh from the original breath of the creative spirit. to have this impression, one must see large tracts of wild country, where the traces of man's inventions are too few and slight to break the harmony of the first design. it will not be so, long, even where i have been now; in three or four years those vast flowery plains will be broken up for tillage,--those shapely groves converted into logs and boards. i wished i could have kept on now, for two or three years, while yet the first spell rested on the scene. i feel much refreshed, even by this brief intimacy with nature in an aspect of large and unbroken lineaments. i came home with a treasure of bright pictures and suggestions, and seemingly well. but my strength, which had been sustained by a free, careless life in the open air, has yielded to the chills of winter, and a very little work, with an ease that is not encouraging. however, i have had the influenza, and that has been about as bad as fever to everybody. _now_ i am pretty well, but much writing does not agree with me. * * * i wish you were near enough for me to go in and see you now and then. i know that, sick or well, you are always serene, and sufficient to yourself; but now you are so much shut up, it might animate existence agreeably to hear some things i might have to tell. * * * * * * * * to the same. * * * . just as i was beginning to visit the institutions here, of a remedial and benevolent kind, i was stopped by influenza. so soon as i am quite well i shall resume the survey. i do not expect to do much, practically, for the suffering, but having such an organ of expression as the _tribune_, any suggestions that are well grounded may be of use. i have always felt great interest for those women who are trampled in the mud to gratify the brute appetites of men, and i wished i might be brought, naturally, into contact with them. now i am so, and i think i shall have much that is interesting to tell you when we meet. i go on very moderately, for my strength is not great; but i am now connected with a person who is anxious i should not overtask it. i hope to do more for the paper by-and-by. at present, besides the time i spend in looking round and examining my new field, i am publishing a volume, of which you will receive a copy, called "woman in the nineteenth century." a part of my available time is spent in attending to it as it goes through the press; for, really, the work seems but half done when your book is _written_. i like being here; the streams of life flow free, and i learn much. i feel so far satisfied as to have laid my plans to stay a year and a half, if not longer, and to have told mr. g---- that i probably shall do so. that is long enough for a mortal to look forward, and not too long, as i must look forward in order to get what i want from europe. mr. greeley is a man of genuine excellence, honorable, benevolent, of an uncorrupted disposition, and of great, abilities. in modes of life and manners he is the man of the people, and of the _american_ people. * * * i rejoice to hear that your situation is improved. i hope to pass a day or two with you next summer, if you can receive me when i can come. i want to hear from you now and then, if it be only a line to let me know the state of your health. love to miss g----, and tell her i have the cologne-bottle on my mantle-piece now. i sent home for all the little gifts i had from friends, that my room might look more homelike. my window commands a most beautiful view, for we are quite out of the town, in a lovely place on the east river. i like this, as i can be in town when i will, and here have much retirement. you were right in supposing my signature is the star. ever affectionately yours. * * * * * to her brother, r. _fishkill-landing, nov , ._ dear r.: * * * * * the seven weeks of proposed abode here draw to a close, and have brought what is rarest,--fruition, of the sort proposed from them. i have been here all the time, except that three weeks since i went down to new york, and with ---- visited the prison at sing-sing. on saturday we went up to sing-sing in a little way-boat, thus seeing that side of the river to much greater advantage than we can in the mammoth boats. we arrived in resplendent moonlight, by which we might have supposed the prisons palaces, if we had not known too well what was within. on sunday ---- addressed the male convicts in a strain of most noble and pathetic eloquence. they listened with earnest attention; many were moved to tears,--some, i doubt not, to a better life. i never felt such sympathy with an audience;--as i looked over that sea of faces marked with the traces of every ill, i felt that at least heavenly truth would not be kept out by self-complacency and a dependence on good appearances. i talked with a circle of women, and they showed the natural aptitude of the sex for refinement. these women--some black, and all from the lowest haunts of vice--showed a sensibility and a sense of propriety which would not have disgraced any place. returning, we had a fine storm on the river, clearing up with strong winds. * * * * * to her brother, a. b. f. _rome, jan._ , . my dear a.: your letter and mother's gave me the first account of your illness. some letters were lost during the summer, i do not know how. it did seem very hard upon you to have that illness just after your settlement; but it is to be hoped we shall some time know a good reason for all that seems so strange. i trust you are now becoming fortified in your health, and if this could only be, feel as if things would go well with you in this difficult world. i trust you are on the threshold of an honorable and sometimes happy career. from many pains, many dark hours, let none of the progeny of eve hope to escape! * * * * meantime, i hope to find you in your home, and make you a good visit there. your invitation is sweet in its tone, and rouses a vision of summer woods and new england sunday-morning bells. it seems to me that mother is at last truly in her sphere, living with one of her children. watch over her carefully, and don't let her do too much. her spirit is only all too willing,--but the flesh is weak, and her life so precious to us all! * * * * * * * * * to mazzini. "al cittadino reppresentante del popolo romano." _rome, march_ , . dear mazzini: though knowing you occupied by the most important affairs, i again feel impelled to write a few lines. what emboldens me is the persuasion that the best friends, in point of sympathy and intelligence,--the only friends of a man of ideas and of marked character,--must be women. you have your mother; no doubt you have others, perhaps many. of that i know nothing; only i like to offer also my tribute of affection. when i think that only two years ago you thought of coming into italy with us in disguise, it seems very glorious that you are about to enter republican rome as a roman citizen. it seems almost the most sublime and poetical fact of history. yet, even in the first thrill of joy, i felt "he will think his work but beginning, now." when i read from your hand these words, "ii lungo esilio teste ricominciato, la vita non confortata, fuorche d'affetti lontani e contesi, e la speranza lungamente protrata, e il desiderio che comincia a farmi si supremo, di dormire finalmente in pace, da che non ho potuto, vivere in terra mia,"--when i read these words they made me weep bitterly, and i thought of them always with a great pang at the heart. but it is not so, dear mazzini,--you do not return to sleep under the sod of italy, but to see your thought springing up all over the soil. the gardeners seem to me, in point of instinctive wisdom or deep thought, mostly incompetent to the care of the garden; but on idea like this will be able to make use of any implements. the necessity, it is to be hoped, will educate the men, by making them work. it is not this, i believe, which still keeps your heart so melancholy; for i seem to read the same melancholy in your answer to the roman assembly, you speak of "few and late years," but some full ones still remain. a century is not needed, nor should the same man, in the same form of thought, work too long on an age. he would mould and bind it too much to himself. better for him to die and return incarnated to give the same truth on yet another side. jesus of nazareth died young; but had he not spoken and acted as much truth as the world could bear in his time? a frailty, a perpetual short-coming, motion in a curve-line, seems the destiny of this earth. the excuse awaits us elsewhere; there must be one,--for it is true, as said goethe, "care is taken that the tree grow not up into the heavens." men like you, appointed ministers, must not be less earnest in their work; yet to the greatest, the day, the moment is all their kingdom, god takes care of the increase. farewell! for your sake i could wish at this moment to be an italian and a man of action; but though i am an _american_, i am not even _a woman of action_; so the best i can do is to pray with the whole heart, "heaven bless dear mazzini!--cheer his heart, and give him worthy helpers to carry out his holy purposes." * * * * * to mr. and mrs. spring. _florence, dec._ , . dear m. and r.: * * * your letter, dear r, was written in your noblest and most womanly spirit. i thank you warmly for your sympathy about my little boy. what he is to me, even you can hardly dream; you that have three, in whom the natural thirst of the heart was earlier satisfied, can scarcely know what my one ewe-lamb is to me. that he may live, that i may find bread for him, that i may not spoil him by overweening love, that i may grow daily better for his sake, are the ever-recurring thoughts,--say prayers,--that give their hue to all the current of my life. but, in answer to what you say, that it is still better to give the world a living soul than a portion of my life in a printed book, it is true; and yet, of my book i could know whether it would be of some worth or not; of my child, i must wait to see what his worth will be. i play with him, my ever-growing mystery! but from the solemnity of the thoughts he brings is refuge only in god. was i worthy to be parent of a soul, with its eternal, immense capacity for weal and woe? "god be merciful to me a sinner!" comes so naturally to a mother's heart! * * * * * what you say about the peace way is deeply true; if any one see clearly how to work in that way, let him, in god's name! only, if he abstain from fighting against giant wrongs, let him be sure he is really and ardently at work undermining them, or, better still, sustaining the rights that are to supplant them. meanwhile, i am not sure that i can keep my hands free from blood. cobden is good; but if he had stood in kossuth's place, would he not have drawn his sword against the austrian? you, could you let a croat insult your wife, carry off your son to be an austrian serf, and leave your daughter bleeding in the dust? yet it is true that while moses slew the egyptian, christ stood still to be spit upon; and it is true that death to man could do him no harm. you have the truth, you have the right, but could you act up to it in all circumstances? stifled under the roman priesthood, would you not have thrown it off with all your force? would you have waited unknown centuries, hoping for the moment when you could see another method? yet the agonies of that baptism of blood i feel, o how deeply! in the golden june days of rome. consistent no way, i felt i should have shrunk back,--i could not have had it shed. christ did not have to see his dear ones pass the dark river; he could go alone, however, in prophetic spirit. no doubt he foresaw the crusades. in answer to what you say of ----, i wish the little effort i made for him had been wiselier applied. yet these are not the things one regrets. it does not do to calculate too closely with the affectionate human impulse. we must be content to make many mistakes, or we should move too slowly to help our brothers much. * * * * * to her brother, r. _florence, jan._ , . my dear r.: * * * * the way in which you speak of my marriage is such as i expected from you. now that we have once exchanged words on these important changes in our lives, it matters little to write letters, so much has happened, and the changes are too great to be made clear in writing. it would not be worth while to keep the family thinking of me. i cannot fix precisely the period of my return, though at present it seems to me probable we may make the voyage in may or june. at first we should wish to go and make a little visit to mother. i should take counsel with various friends before fixing myself in any place; see what openings there are for me, &c. i cannot judge at all before i am personally in the united states, and wish to engage myself no way. should i finally decide on the neighborhood of new york, i should see you all, often. i wish, however, to live with mother, if possible. we will discuss it on all sides when i come. climate is one thing i must think of. the change from the roman winter to that of new england might be very trying for ossoli. in new york he would see italians often, hear his native tongue, and feel less exiled. if we had our affairs in new york and lived in the neighboring country, we could find places as quiet as c------, more beautiful, and from which access to a city would be as easy by means of steam. on the other hand, my family and most cherished friends are in new england. i shall weigh all advantages at the time, and choose as may then seem best. i feel also the great responsibility about a child, and the mixture of solemn feeling with the joy its sweet ways and caresses give; yet this is only different in degree, not in kind, from what we should feel in other relations. we may more or less impede or brighten the destiny of all with whom we come in contact. much as the child lies in our power, still god and nature are there, furnishing a thousand masters to correct our erroneous, and fill up our imperfect, teachings. i feel impelled to try for good, for the sake of my child, most powerfully; but if i fail, i trust help will be tendered to him from some other quarter. i do not wish to trouble myself more than is inevitable, or lose the simple, innocent pleasure of watching his growth from day to day, by thinking of his future. at present my care of him is to keep him pure, in body and mind, to give for body and mind simple nutriment when he requires it, and to play with him. now he learns, playing, as we all shall when we enter a higher existence. with him my intercourse thus far has been precious, and if i do not well for _him_, he at least has taught _me_ a great deal. i may say of ossoli, it would be difficult to help liking him, so sweet is his disposition, so disinterested without effort, so simply wise his daily conduct, so harmonious his whole nature. and he is a perfectly unconscious character, and never dreams that he does well. he is studying english, but makes little progress. for a good while you may not be able to talk freely with him, but you will like showing him your favorite haunts,--he is so happy in nature, so sweet in tranquil places. * * * * * to ------. what a difference it makes to come home to a child! how it fills up all the gaps of life just in the way that is most consoling, most refreshing! formerly i used to feel sad at that hour; the day had not been nobly spent,--i had not done my duty to myself or others, and i felt so lonely! now i never feel lonely; for, even if my little boy dies, our souls will remain eternally united. and i feel _infinite_ hope for him,--hope that he will serve god and man more loyally than i have done; and seeing how full he is of life, how much he can afford to throw away, i feel the inexhaustibleness of nature, and console myself for my own incapacities. madame arconati is near me. we have had some hours of great content together, but in the last weeks her only child has been dangerously ill. i have no other acquaintance except in the american circle, and should not care to make any unless singularly desirable; for i want all my time for the care of my child, for my walks, and visits to objects of art, in which again i can find pleasure, end in the evening for study and writing. ossoli is forming some taste for books; he is also studying english; he learns of horace sumner, to whom he teaches italian in turn. * * * * * to mr. and mrs. s. _florence_, feb. , . my dear m. and r.: you have no doubt ere this received a letter written, i think, in december, but i must suddenly write again to thank you for the new year's letter. it was a sweet impulse that led you all to write together, and had its full reward in the pleasure you gave! i have said as little as possible about ossoli and our relation, wishing my old friends to form their own impressions naturally, when they see us together. i have faith that all who ever knew me will feel that i have become somewhat milder, kinder, and more worthy to serve all who need, for my new relations. i have expected that those who have cared for me chiefly for my activity of intellect, would not care for him; but that those in whom the moral nature predominates would gradually learn to love and admire him, and see what a treasure his affection must be to me. but even that would be only gradually; for it is by acts, not by words, that one so simple, true, delicate and retiring, can be known. for me, while some of my friends have thought me exacting, i may say ossoli has always outgone my expectations in the disinterestedness, the uncompromising bounty, of his every act. he was the same to his father as to me. his affections are few, but profound, and thoroughly acted out. his permanent affections are few, but his heart is always open to the humble, suffering, heavy-laden. his mind has little habitual action, except in a simple, natural poetry, that one not very intimate with him would never know anything about. but once opened to a great impulse, as it was to the hope of freeing his country, it rises to the height of the occasion, and stays there. his enthusiasm is quiet, but unsleeping. he is very unlike most italians, but very unlike most americans, too. i do not expect all who cared for me to care for him, nor is it of importance to him that they should. he is wholly without vanity. he is too truly the gentleman not to be respected by all persons of refinement. for the rest, if my life is free, and not too much troubled, if he can enjoy his domestic affections, and fulfil his duties in his own way, he will be content. can we find this much for ourselves in bustling america the next three or four years? i know not, but think we shall come and try. i wish much to see you all, and exchange the kiss of peace. there will, i trust, be peace within, if not without. i thank you most warmly for your gift. be assured it will turn to great profit. i have learned to be a great adept in economy, by looking at my little boy. i cannot bear to spend a cent for fear he may come to want. i understand now how the family-men get so mean, and shall have to begin soon to pray against that danger. my little nino, as we call him for house and pet name, is in perfect health. i wash, and dress, and sew for him; and think i see a great deal of promise in his little ways, and shall know him better for doing all for him, though it is fatiguing and inconvenient at times. he is very gay and laughing, sometimes violent,--for he is come to the age when he wants everything in his own hands,--but, on the whole, sweet as yet, and very fond of me. he often calls me to kiss him. he says, "kiss," in preference to the italian word bacio. i do not cherish sanguine visions about him, but try to do my best by him, and enjoy the present moment. it was a nice account you gave of miss bremer. she found some "neighbors" as good as her own. you say she was much pleased by ----; could she know her, she might enrich the world with a portrait as full of little delicate traits as any in her gallery, and of a higher class than any in which she has been successful. i would give much that a competent person should paint ----. it is a shame she should die and leave the world no copy. * * * * * to mr. cass, charge d'affaires des etats unis d'amerique. _florence, may_ , . dear mr. cass: i shall most probably leave florence and italy the th or th of this month, and am not willing to depart without saying adieu to yourself. i wanted to write the th of april, but a succession of petty interruptions prevented. that was the day i saw you first, and the day the french first assailed rome. what a crowded day that was! i had been to visit ossoli in the morning, in the garden of the vatican. just after my return you entered. i then went to the hospital, and there passed the eight amid the groans of many suffering and some dying men. what a strange first of may it was, as i walked the streets of rome by the early sunlight of the nest day! those were to me grand and impassioned hours. deep sorrow followed,--many embarrassments, many pains! let me once more, at parting, thank you for the sympathy you showed me amid many of these. a thousand years might pass, and you would find it unforgotten by me. i leave italy with profound regret, and with only a vague hope of returning. i could have lived here always, full of bright visions, and expanding in my faculties, had destiny permitted. may you be happy who remain here! it would be well worth while to be happy in italy! i had hoped to enjoy some of the last days, but the weather has been steadily bad since you left florence. since the th of april we have not had a fine day, and all our little plans for visits to favorite spots and beautiful objects, from which we have long been separated, have been marred! i sail in the barque elizabeth for new york. she is laden with marble and rags--a very appropriate companionship for wares of italy! she carries powers' statue of calhoun. adieu! remember that we look to you to keep up the dignity of our country. many important occasions are now likely to offer for the american (i wish i could write the columbian) man to advocate,--more, to _represent_ the cause of truth and freedom in the face of their foes. remember me as their lover, and your friend, m. o. * * * * * to ------. _florence_, _april_ , . * * * there is a bark at leghorn, highly spoken of, which sails at the end of this month, and we shall very likely take that. i find it imperatively necessary to go to the united states to make arrangements that may free me from care. shall i be more fortunate if i go in person? i do not know. i am ill adapted to push my claims and pretensions; but, at least, it will not be such slow work as passing from disappointment to disappointment here, where i wait upon the post-office, and must wait two or three months, to know the fate of any proposition. i go home prepared to expect all that is painful and difficult. it will be a consolation to see my dear mother; and my dear brother e., whom i have not seen for ten years, is coming to new england this summer. on that account i wish to go _this_ year. * * * * * _may_ .--my head is full of boxes, bundles, phials of medicine, and pots of jelly. i never thought much about a journey for myself, except to try and return all the things, books especially, which i had been borrowing; but about my child i feel anxious lest i should not take what is necessary for his health and comfort on so long a voyage, where omissions are irreparable. the unpropitious, rainy weather delays us now from day to day, as our ship; the elizabeth,--(look out for news of shipwreck!) cannot finish taking in her cargo till come one or two good days. i leave italy with most sad and unsatisfied heart,--hoping, indeed, to return, but fearing that may not be permitted in my "cross-biased" life, till strength of feeling and keenness of perception be less than during these bygone rich, if troubled, years! i can say least to those whom i prize most. i am so sad and weary, leaving italy, that i seem paralyzed. * * * * * to the same. _ship elizabeth, off gibraltar, june_ , . my dear m----: you will, i trust, long ere receiving this, have read my letter from florence, enclosing one to my mother, informing her under what circumstances i had drawn on you through ----, and mentioning how i wished the bill to be met in case of any accident to me on my homeward course. that course, as respects weather, has been thus far not unpleasant; but the disaster that has befallen us is such as i never dreamed of. i had taken passage with captain hasty--one who seemed to me one of the best and most high-minded of our american men. he showed the kindest interest in us. his wife, an excellent woman, was with him. i thought, during the voyage, if safe and my child well, to have as much respite from care and pain as sea-sickness would permit. but scarcely was that enemy in some measure quelled, when the captain fell sick. at first his disease presented the appearance of nervous fever. i was with him a great deal; indeed, whenever i could relieve his wife from a ministry softened by great love and the courage of womanly heroism: the last days were truly terrible with disgusts and fatigues; for he died, we suppose,--no physician has been allowed to come on board to see the body,--of confluent small-pox. i have seen, since we parted, great suffering, but nothing physical to be compared to this, where the once fair and expressive mould of man is thus lost in corruption before life has fled. he died yesterday morning, and was buried in deep water, the american consul's barge towing out one from this ship which bore the body, about six o'clock. it was sunday. a divinely calm, glowing afternoon had succeeded a morning of bleak, cold wind. you cannot think how beautiful the whole thing was:--the decent array and sad reverence of the sailors; the many ships with their banners flying; the stern pillar of hercules all bathed in roseate vapor; the little white sails diving into the blue depths with that solemn spoil of the good man, so still, when he had been so agonized and gasping as the last sun stooped. yes, it was beautiful; but how dear a price we pay for the poems of this world! we shall now be in quarantine a week; no person permitted to come on board until it be seen whether disease break out in other cases. i have no good reason to think it will _not_; yet i do not feel afraid. ossoli has had it; so he is safe. the baby is, of course, subject to injury. in the earlier days, before i suspected small-pox, i carried him twice into the sick-room, at the request of the captain, who was becoming fond of him. he laughed and pointed; he did not discern danger, but only thought it odd to see the old friend there in bed. it is vain by prudence to seek to evade the stern assaults of destiny. i submit. should all end well, we shall be in new york later than i expected; but keep a look-out. should we arrive safely, i should like to see a friendly face. commend me to my dear friends; and, with most affectionate wishes that joy and peace may continue to dwell in your house, adieu, and love as you can, your friend, margaret. * * * * * letter from hon. lewis cass, jr., united states charge d'affaires at rome, to mrs. e. k. channing. _legation des etats unis d'amerique, rome, may_ , . madame: i beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the ---- ult., and to express my regret that the weak state of my eyesight has prevented me from giving it an earlier reply. in compliance with your request, i have the honor to state, succinctly, the circumstances connected with my acquaintance with the late madame ossoli, your deceased sister, during her residence in rome. in the month of april, , rome, as you are no doubt aware, was placed in a state of siege by the approach of the french army. it was filled at that time with exiles and fugitives who had been contending for years, from milan in the north to palermo in the south, for the republican cause; and when the gates were closed, it was computed that there were, of italians alone, thirteen thousand refugees within the walls of the city, all of whom had been expelled from adjacent states, till rome became their last rallying-point, and, to many, their final resting-place. among these was to be seen every variety of age, sentiment, and condition,--striplings and blanched heads; wild, visionary enthusiasts; grave, heroic men, who, in the struggle for freedom, had ventured all, and lost all; nobles and beggars; bandits, felons and brigands. great excitement naturally existed; and, in the general apprehension which pervaded all classes, that acts of personal violence and outrage would soon be committed, the foreign residents, especially, found themselves placed in an alarming situation. on the th of april the first engagement took place between the french and roman troops, and in a few days subsequently i visited several of my countrymen, at their request, to concert measures for their safety. hearing, on that occasion, and for the first time, of miss fuller's presence in rome, and of her solitary mode of life, i ventured to call upon her, and offer my services in any manner that might conduce to her comfort and security. she received me with much kindness, and thus an acquaintance commenced. her residence on the piazzi barberini being considered an insecure abode, she removed to the casa dies, which was occupied by several american families. in the engagements which succeeded between the roman and french troops, the wounded of the former were brought into the city, and disposed throughout the different hospitals, which were under the superintendence of several ladies of high rank, who had formed themselves into associations, the better to ensure care and attention to those unfortunate men. miss fuller took an active part in this noble work; and the greater portion of her time, during the entire siege, was passed in the hospital of the trinity of the pilgrims, which was placed under her direction, in attendance upon its inmates. the weather was intensely hot; her health was feeble and delicate; the dead and dying were around her in every stage of pain and horror; but she never shrank from the duty she had assumed. her heart and soul were in the cause for which those men had fought, and all was done that woman could do to comfort them in their sufferings. i have seen the eyes of the dying, as she moved among them, extended on opposite beds, meet in commendation of her universal kindness; and the friends of those who then passed away may derive consolation from the assurance that nothing of tenderness and attention was wanting to soothe their last moments. and i have heard many of those who recovered speak with all the passionate fervor of the italian nature, of her whose sympathy and compassion, throughout their long illness, fulfilled all the offices of love and affection. mazzini, the chief of the triumvirate, who, better than any man in rome, knew her worth, often expressed to me his admiration of her high character; and the princess belgiojoso. to whom was assigned the charge of the papal palace, on the quirinal, which was converted on this occasion into a hospital, was enthusiastic in her praise. and in a letter which i received not long since from this lady, who was gaining the bread of an exile by teaching languages in constantinople, she alludes with much feeling to the support afforded by miss fuller to the republican party in italy. here, in rome, she is still spoken of in terms of regard and endearment, and the announcement of her death was received with a degree of sorrow not often bestowed upon a foreigner, especially one of a different faith. on the th of june, the bombardment from the french camp was very heavy, shells and grenades falling in every part of the city. in the afternoon of the th, i received a brief note from miss fuller, requesting me to call at her residence. i did so without delay, and found her lying on a sofa, pale and trembling, evidently much exhausted. she informed me that she had sent for me to place in my hand a packet of important papers, which she wished me to keep for the present, and, in the event of her death, to transmit it to her friends in the united states. she then stated that she was married to marquis ossoli, who was in command of a battery on the pincian hill,--that being the highest and most exposed position in rome, and directly in the line of bombs from the french camp. it was not to be expected, she said, that he could escape the dangers of another night, such as the last; and therefore it was her intention to remain with him, and share his fate. at the ave maria, she added, he would come for her, and they would proceed together to his post. the packet which she placed in my possession, contained, she said, the certificates of her marriage, and of the birth and baptism of her child. after a few words more, i took my departure, the hour she named having nearly arrived. at the porter's lodge i met the marquis ossoli, and a few moments afterward i saw them walking toward the pincian hill. happily, the cannonading was not renewed that night, and at dawn of day she returned to her apartments, with her husband by her side. on that day the french army entered rome, and, the gates being opened, madame ossoli, accompanied by the marquis, immediately proceeded to rieti, where she had left her child in the charge of a confidential nurse, formerly in the service of the ossoli family. she remained, as you are no doubt aware, some months at rieti, whence she removed to florence, where she resided until her ill-fated departure for the united states. during this period i received several letters from her, all of which, though reluctant to part with them, i enclose to your address in compliance with your request. i am, madame, very respectfully, your obedient servant, lewis cass, jr. appendix. a. apparition of the goddess isis to her votary, from apulelus. "scarcely had i closed my eyes, when, behold (i saw in a dream), a divine form emerging from the middle of the sea, and raising a countenance venerable even to the gods themselves. afterward, the whole of the most splendid image seemed to stand before me, having gradually shaken off the sea. i will endeavor to explain to you its admirable form, if the poverty of human language will but afford me the power of an appropriate narration; or if the divinity itself, of the most luminous form, will supply me with a liberal abundance of fluent diction. in the first place, then, her most copious and long hairs, being gradually intorted, and promiscuously scattered on her divine neck, were softly defluous. a multiform crown, consisting of various flowers, bound the sublime summit of her head. and in the middle of the crown, just on her forehead, there was a smooth orb, resembling a mirror, or rather a white refulgent light, which indicated that she was the moon. vipers, rising up after the manner of furrows, environed the crown on the right hand and on the left, and cerealian ears of corn were also extended from above. her garment was of many colors, and woven from the finest flax, and was at one time lucid with a white splendor, at another yellow, from the flower of crocus, and at another flaming with a rosy redness. but that which most excessively dazzled my sight, was a very black robe, fulgid with a dark splendor, and which, spreading round and passing under her right side, and ascending to her left shoulder, there rose protuberant, like the centre of a shield, the dependent part of her robe falling in many folds, and having small knots of fringe, gracefully flowing in its extremities. glittering stars were dispersed through the embroidered border of the robe, and through the whole of its surface, and the full moon, shining in the middle of the stars, breathed forth flaming fires. a crown, wholly consisting of flowers and fruits of every kind, adhered with indivisible connection to the border of conspicuous robe, in all its undulating motions. "what she carried in her hands also consisted of things of a very different nature. her right hand bore a brazen rattle, through the narrow lamina of which, bent like a belt, certain rods passing, produced a sharp triple sound through the vibrating motion of her arm. an oblong vessel, in the shape of a boat, depended from her left hand, on the handle of which, in that part which was conspicuous, an asp raised its erect head and largely swelling neck. and shoes, woven from the leaves of the victorious palm-tree, covered her immortal feet. such, and so great a goddess, breathing the fragrant odor of the shores of arabia the happy, deigned thus to address me." the foreign english of the translator, thomas taylor, gives this description the air of being itself a part of the mysteries. but its majestic beauty requires no formal initiation to be enjoyed. * * * * * b. i give this in the original, as it does not bear translation. those who read italian will judge whether it is not a perfect description of a perfect woman. lodi e preghiere a maria. vergine bella che di sol vestita, coronata di stelle, al sommo sole piacesti si, che'n te sua luce ascose; amor mi spinge a dir di te parole; ma non so 'ncominciar senza tu' alta, e di coiul che amando in te si pose. invoco lei che ben sempre rispose, chi la chiamo con fede. vergine, s'a mercede miseria extrema dell' smane cose giammal tivoise, al mio prego t'inohina; soccorri alla mia guerra; bench' l' sia terra, e tu del oiel regina. vergine saggia, e del bel numero una delle beata vergini prudenti; anzi la prima, e con piu chiara lampa; o saldo scudo dell' afflitte gente contra colpi di morte e di fortuna, sotto' l' quai si trionfu, non pur scampa: o refrigerio alcieco ardor ch' avvampa qui fra mortali schiocchi, vergine, que' begli occhi che vider tristi la spietata stampa ne' dolci membri del tuo caro figlio, volgi ai mio dubbio stato; che sconsigliato a te vien per consiglio. vergine pura, d'ognti parte intera, del tuo parto gentil figlluola e madre; che allumi questa vita, e t'altra adorni; per te il tuo figlio e quel del sommo padre, o finestra del ciel lucente altera, venne a salvarne in su gli estremi giorni, e fra tutt' i terreni altri soggiorni sola tu fusti eletta, vergine benedetta; che 'l pianto d' eva in allegrezza torni'; fammi; che puoi; della sua grazia degno, senza fine o beata, gla coronata nel superno regno. vergine santa d'ogni grazia piena; che per vera e altissima umiltate. salisti al ciel, onde miel preghi ascolti; tu partoristi il fonte di pietate, e di giustizia il sol, che rasserena il secol pien d'errori oscuri et tolti; tre dolci et cari nomi ha' in te raccolti, madre, figliuola e sposa: vergine gloriosa, donna del re che nostri lacci a sciolti e fatto 'l mondo libero et felice, nelle cui sante piaghe prego ch'appaghe il cor, vera beatrice. vergine sola al mondo senza exempio che 'l ciel di tue bellezze innamorasti, cui ne prima fu simil ne seconda, santi penseri, atti pietosi et casti al vero dio sacrato et vivo tempio fecero in tua verginita feconda. per te po la mia vita esser ioconda, sa' tuoi preghi, o maria, vergine dolce et pia, ove 'l fallo abondo, la gratia abonda. con le ginocchia de la mente inchine, prego che sia mia scorta, e la mia torta via drizzi a buon fine. vergine chiara et stabile in eterno, di questo tempestoso mare stella, d'ogni fedel nocchier fidata guida, pon' mente in che terribile procella i' mi ritrovo sol, senza governo, et o gia da vicin l'ultime strida. ma pur in te l'anima mia si fida, peccatrice, i' nol nego, vergine; ma ti prego che 'l tuo nemico del mio mal non rida: ricorditi che fece il peccar nostro prender dio, per scamparne, umana carne al tuo virginal chiostro. vergine, quante lagrime ho gia sparte, quante lusinghe et quanti preghi indarno, pur per mia pena et per mio grave danno! da poi ch'i nacqui in su la riva d'arno; cercando or questa ed or quell altra parte, non e stata mia vita altro ch'affanno. mortal bellezza, atti, o parole m' hanno tutta ingombrata l'alma, vergine sacra, ed alma, non tardar; ch' i' non forse all' ultim 'ann, i di miel piu correnti che saetta, fra mierie e peccati sonsen andati, e sol morte n'aspetta. vergine, tale e terra, e posto ha in doglia lo mio cor; che vivendo in pianto il tenne; e di mille miel mali un non sapea; e per saperlo, pur quel che n'avvenne, fora avvento: ch' ogni altra sua voglia era a me morte, ed a lei fama rea or tu, donna del ciel, tu nostra dea, se dir lice, e convicusi; vergine d'alti sensi, tu vedi il tutto; e quel che non potea far oltri, e nulla a e la tua gran virtute; pon fine al mio dolore; ch'a te onore ed a mo fia salute. vergine, in cui ho tutta mia speranza che possi e vogli al gran bisogno altarme; non mi lasciare in su l'estremo passo; non guardar me, ma chi degno crearme; no'l mio valor, ma l'alta sua sembianza; che in me ti mova a curar d'uorm si basso. medusa, e l'error mio lo han fatto un sasso d'umor vano stillante; vergine, tu di sante lagrime, e pie adempi 'l mio cor lasso; ch' almen l'ultlmo pianto sia divoto, senza terrestro limo; come fu'l primo non d'insania voto. vergine umana, e nemica d'orgoglio, del comune principio amor t'induca; miserere d'un cor contrito umile; che se poca mortal terra caduca amar con si mirabil fede soglio; che devro far di te cosa gentile? se dal mio stato assai misero, e vile per le tue man resurgo, vergine; e sacro, e purgo al tuo nome e pensieri e'ngegno, o stile; la lingua, o'l cor, le lagrime, e i sospiri, scorgimi al migilor guado; e prendi in grado i cangiati desiri. il di s'appressa, e non pote esser lunge; si corre il tempo, e vola, vergine unica, e sola; e'l cor' or conscienza, or morte punge. raccommandami al tuo figiluol, verace uomo, e veraco dio; ch'accolga i mio spirto ultimo in pace. as the scandinavian represented frigga the earth, or world-mother, knowing all things, yet never herself revealing them, though ready to be called to counsel by the gods, it represents her in action, decked with jewels and gorgeously attended. but, says the mythes, when she ascended the throne of odin, her consort (heaven), she left with mortals her friend, the goddess of sympathy, to protect them in her absence. since, sympathy goes about to do good. especially she devotes herself to the most valiant and the most oppressed. she consoles the gods in some degree even for the death of their darling baldur. among the heavenly powers she has no consort. * * * * * c. the wedding of the lady theresa. from lockhart's spanish ballads. 'twas when the fifth alphonso in leon held his sway, king abdulla of toledo an embassy did send; he asked his sister for a wife, and in an evil day alphonso sent her, for he feared abdalla to offend; he feared to move his anger, for many times before he had received in danger much succor from the moor. sad heart had fair theresa, when she their paction knew; with streaming tears she heard them tell she 'mong the moors must go; that she, a christian damsel, a christian firm and true, must wed a moorish husband, it well might cause her woe; but all her tears and all her prayers they are of small avail; at length she for her fate prepares, a victim sad and pale. the king hath sent his sister to fair toledo town, where then the moor abdalla his royal state did keep; when she drew near, the moslem from his golden throne came down, and courteously received her, and bade her cease to weep; with loving words he pressed her to come his bower within; with kisses he caressed her, but still she feared the sin. "sir king, sir king, i pray thee,"--'twas thus theresa spake,-- "i pray thee, have compassion, and do to me no wrong; for sleep with thee i may not, unless the vows i break, whereby i to the holy church of christ my lord belong; for thou hast sworn to serve mahoun, and if this thing should be, the curse of god it must bring down upon thy realm and thee. "the angel of christ jesu, to whom my heavenly lord hath given my soul in keeping, is ever by my side; if thou dost me dishonor, he will unsheathe his sword, and smite thy body fiercely, at the crying of thy bride; invisible he standeth; his sword like fiery flame will penetrate thy bosom the hour that sees my shame." the moslem heard her with a smile; the earnest words she said he took for bashful maiden's wile, and drew her to his bower: in vain theresa prayed and strove,--she pressed abdalla's bed, perforce received his kiss of love, and lost her maiden flower. a woeful woman there she lay, a loving lord beside, and earnestly to god did pray her succor to provide. the angel of christ jesu her sore complaint did hear, and plucked his heavenly weapon from out his sheath unseen: he waved the brand in his right hand, and to the king came near, and drew the point o'er limb and joint, beside the weeping queen: a mortal weakness from the stroke upon the king did fall; he could not stand when daylight broke, but on his knees must crawl. abdalla shuddered inly, when he this sickness felt, and called upon his barons, his pillow to come nigh; "rise up," he said, "my liegemen," as round his bed they knelt, "and take this christian lady, else certainly i die; let gold be in your girdles, and precious stones beside, and swiftly ride to leon, and render up my bride." when they were come to leon theresa would not go into her brother's dwelling, where her maiden years were spent; but o'er her downcast visage a white veil she did throw, and to the ancient nunnery of las huelgas went. there, long, from worldly eyes retired, a holy life she led; there she, an aged saint, expired; there sleeps she with the dead. * * * * * d. the following extract from spinoza is worthy of attention, as expressing the view which a man of the largest intellectual scope may take of woman, if that part of his life to which her influence appeals has been left unawakened. he was a man of the largest intellect, of unsurpassed reasoning powers; yet he makes a statement false to history, for we well know how often men and women have ruled together without difficulty, and one in which very few men even at the present day--i mean men who are thinkers, like him--would acquiesce. i have put in contrast with it three expressions of the latest literature. first, from the poems of w. e. channing, a poem called "reverence," equally remarkable for the deep wisdom of its thought and the beauty of its utterance, and containing as fine a description of one class of women as exists in literature. in contrast with this picture of woman, the happy goddess of beauty, the wife, the friend, "the summer queen," i add one by the author of "festus," of a woman of the muse, the sybil kind, which seems painted from living experience. and, thirdly, i subjoin eugene sue's description of a wicked but able woman of the practical sort, and appeal to all readers whether a species that admits of three such varieties is so easily to be classed away, or kept within prescribed limits, as spinoza, and those who think like him, believe. spinoza. tractatus politici de democratia. caput xi. perhaps some one will here ask, whether the supremacy of man over woman is attributable to nature or custom? since, if it be human institutions alone to which this fact is owing, there is no reason why we should exclude women from a share in government. experience most plainly teaches that it is woman's weakness which places her under the authority of man. it has nowhere happened that men and women ruled together; but wherever men and women are found, the world over, there we see the men ruling and the women ruled, and in this order of things men and women live together in peace and harmony. the amazons, it is true, are reputed formerly to have held the reins of government, but they drove men from their dominions; the male of their offspring they invariably destroyed, permitting their daughters alone to live. now, if women were by nature upon an equality with men, if they equalled men in fortitude, in genius (qualities which give to men might, and consequently right), it surely would be the case, that, among the numerous and diverse nations of the earth, some would be found where both sexes ruled conjointly, and others where the men were ruled by the women, and so educated as to be mentally inferior; and since this state of things nowhere exists, it is perfectly fair to infer that the rights of women are not equal to those of men; but that women must be subordinate, and therefore cannot have an equal, far less a superior place in the government. if, too, we consider the passions of men--how the love men feel towards women is seldom anything but lust and impulse, and much less a reverence for qualities of soul than an admiration of physical beauty; observing, too, the jealousy of lovers, and other things of the same character--we shall see at a glance that it would be, in the highest degree, detrimental to peace and harmony, for men and women to possess on equal share in government. reverence. as an ancestral heritage revere all learning, and all thought. the painter's fame is thine, whate'er thy lot, who honorest grace. and need enough in this low time, when they, who seek to captivate the fleeting notes of heaven's sweet beauty, must despair almost, so heavy and obdurate show the hearts of their companions. honor kindly then those who bear up in their so generous arms the beautiful ideas of matchless forms; for were these not portrayed, our human fate,-- which is to be all high, majestical, to grow to goodness with each coming age, till virtue leap and sing for joy to see so noble, virtuous men,--would brief decay; and the green, festering slime, oblivious, haunt about our common fate. o, honor them! but what to all true eyes has chiefest charm, and what to every breast where beats a heart framed to one beautiful emotion,--to one sweet and natural feeling, lends a grace to all the tedious walks of common life, this is fair woman,--woman, whose applause each poet sings,--woman the beautiful. not that her fairest brow, or gentlest form, charm us to tears; not that the smoothest cheek, wherever rosy tints have made their home, so rivet us on her; but that she is the subtle, delicate grace,--the inward grace, for words too excellent; the noble, true, the majesty of earth; the summer queen; in whose conceptions nothing but what's great has any right. and, o! her love for him, who does but his small part in honoring her; discharging a sweet office, sweeter none, mother and child, friend, counsel and repose; naught matches with her, naught has leave with her to highest human praise. farewell to him who reverences not with an excess of faith the beauteous sex; all barren he shall live a living death of mockery. ah! had but words the power, what could we say of woman! we, rude men of violent phrase, harsh action, even in repose inwardly harsh; whose lives walk blustering on high stilts, removed from all the purely gracious influence of mother earth. to single from the host of angel forms one only, and to her devote our deepest heart and deepest mind, seems almost contradiction. unto her we owe our greatest blessings, hours of cheer, gay smiles, and sudden tears, and more than these a sure perpetual love. regard her as she walks along the vast still earth; and see! before her flies a laughing troop of joys, and by her side treads old experience, with never-failing voice admonitory; the gentle, though infallible, kind advice, the watchful care, the fine regardfulness, whatever mates with what we hope to find, all consummate in her--the summer queen. to call past ages better than what now man is enacting on life's crowded stage, cannot improve our worth; and for the world blue is the sky as ever, and the stars kindle their crystal flames at soft fallen eve with the same purest lustre that the east worshipped. the river gently flows through fields where the broad-leaved corn spreads out, and loads its ear as when the indian tilled the soil. the dark green pine,--green in the winter's cold,-- still whispers meaning emblems, as of old; the cricket chirps, and the sweet eager birds in the sad woods crowd their thick melodies; but yet, to common eyes, life's poetry something has faded, and the cause of this may be that man, no longer at the shrine of woman, kneeling with true reverence, in spite of field, wood, river, stars and sea, goes most disconsolate. a babble now, a huge and wind-swelled babble, fills the place of that great adoration which of old man had for woman. in these days no more is love the pith and marrow of man's fate. thou who in early years feelest awake to finest impulses from nature's breath, and in thy walk hearest such sounds of truth as on the common ear strike without heed, beware of men around thee! men are foul with avarice, ambition and deceit; the worst of all, ambition. this is life, spent in a feverish chase for selfish ends, which has no virtue to redeem its toil, but one long, stagnant hope to raise the self. the miser's life to this seems sweet and fair; better to pile the glittering coin, than seek to overtop our brothers and our loves. merit in this? where lies it, though thy name ring over distant lands, meeting the wind even on the extremest verge of the wide world? merit in this? better be hurled abroad on the vast whirling tide, than, in thyself concentred, feed upon thy own applause. thee shall the good man yield no reverence; but, while the idle, dissolute crowd are loud in voice to send thee flattery, shall rejoice that he has 'scaped thy fatal doom, and known how humble faith in the good soul of things provides amplest enjoyment. o, my brother if the past's counsel any honor claim from thee, go read the history of those who a like path have trod, and see a fate wretched with fears, changing like leaves at noon, when the new wind sings in the white birch wood. learn from the simple child the rule of life, and from the movements of the unconscious tribes of animal nature, those that bend the wing or cleave the azure tide, content to be, what the great frame provides,--freedom and grace. thee, simple child, do the swift winds obey, and the white waterfalls with their bold leaps follow thy movements. tenderly the light thee watches, girding with a zone of radiance, and all the swinging herbs love thy soft steps. description of angela, from "festus." i loved her for that she was beautiful, and that to me she seemed to be all nature and all varieties of things in one; would set at night in clouds of tears, and rise all light and laughter in the morning; fear no petty customs nor appearances, but think what others only dreamed about; and say what others did but think; and do what others would but say; and glory in what others dared but do; it was these which won me; and that she never schooled within her breast one thought or feeling, but gave holiday to all; that she told me all her woes, and wrongs, and ills; and so she made them mine in the communion of love; and we grew like each other, for we loved each other; she, mild and generous as the sun in spring; and i, like earth, all budding out with love. * * * * * the beautiful are never desolate; for some one alway loves them; god or man; if man abandons, god himself takes them; and thus it was. she whom i once loved died; the lightning loathes its cloud; the soul its clay. can i forget the hand i took in mine, pale as pale violets; that eye, where mind and matter met alike divine?--ah, no! may god that moment judge me when i do! o! she was fair; her nature once all spring and deadly beauty, like a maiden sword, startlingly beautiful. i see her now! wherever thou art thy soul is in my mind; thy shadow hourly lengthens o'er my brain and peoples all its pictures with thyself; gone, not forgotten; passed, not lost; thou wilt shine in heaven like a bright spot in the sun! she said she wished to die, and so she died, for, cloudlike, she poured out her love, which was her life, to freshen this parched heart. it was thus; i said we were to part, but she said nothing; there was no discord; it was music ceased, life's thrilling, bursting, bounding joy. she sate, like a house-god, her hands fixed on her knee, and her dark hair lay loose and long behind her, through which her wild bright eye flashed like a flint; she spake not, moved not, but she looked the more, as if her eye were action, speech, and feeling. i felt it all, and came and knelt beside her, the electric touch solved both our souls together; then came the feeling which unmakes, undoes; which tears the sea-like soul up by the roots, and lashes it in scorn against the skies. * * * * * it is the saddest and the sorest sight, one's own love weeping. but why call on god? but that the feeling of the boundless bounds all feeling; as the welkin does the world; it is this which ones us with the whole and god. then first we wept; then closed and clung together; and my heart shook this building of my breast like a live engine booming up and down; she fell upon me like a snow-wreath thawing. never were bliss and beauty, love and woe, ravelled and twined together into madness, as in that one wild hour to which all else the past is but a picture. that alone is real, and forever there in front. * * * * * * * * after that i left her, and only saw her once again alive. "mother saint perpetua, the superior of the convent, was a tall woman, of about forty years, dressed in dark gray serge, with a long rosary hanging at her girdle. a white mob-cap, with a long black veil, surrounded her thin, wan face with its narrow, hooded border. a great number of deep, transverse wrinkles ploughed her brow, which resembled yellowish ivory in color and substance. her keen and prominent nose was curved like the hooked beak of a bird of prey; her black eye was piercing and sagacious; her face was at once intelligent, firm, and cold. "for comprehending and managing the material interests of the society, mother saint perpetua could have vied with the shrewdest and most wily lawyer. when women are possessed of what is called _business talent_, and when they apply thereto the sharpness of perception, the indefatigable perseverance, the prudent dissimulation, and, above all, the correctness and rapidity of judgment at first sight, which are peculiar to them, they arrive at prodigious results. "to mother saint perpetua, a woman of a strong and solid head, the vast moneyed business of the society was but child's play. none better than she understood how to buy depreciated properties, to raise them to their original value, and sell them to advantage; the average purchase of rents, the fluctuations of exchange, and the current prices of shares in all the leading speculations, were perfectly familiar to her. never had she directed her agents to make a single false speculation, when it had been the question how to invest funds, with which good souls were constantly endowing the society of saint mary. she had established in the house a degree of order, of discipline, and, above all, of economy, that were indeed remarkable; the constant aim of all her exertions being, not to enrich herself, but the community over which she presided; for the spirit of association, when it is directed to an object of _collective selfishness_, gives to corporations all the faults and vices of individuals." * * * * * e. the following is an extract from a letter addressed to me by one of the monks of the nineteenth century. a part i have omitted, because it does not express my own view, unless with qualifications which i could not make, except by full discussion of the subject. "woman in the nineteenth century should be a pure, chaste, holy being. "this state of being in woman is no more attained by the expansion of her intellectual capacity, than by the augmentation of her physical force. "neither is it attained by the increase or refinement of her love for man, or for any object whatever, or for all objects collectively; but "this state of being is attained by the reference of all her powers and all her actions to the source of universal love, whose constant requisition is a pure, chaste and holy life. "so long as woman looks to man (or to society) for that which she needs, she will remain in an indigent state, for he himself is indigent of it, and as much needs it as she does. "so long as this indigence continues, all unions or relations constructed between man and woman are constructed in indigence, and can produce only indigent results or unhappy consequences. "the unions now constructing, as well as those in which the parties constructing them were generated, being based on self-delight, or lust, can lead to no more happiness in the twentieth than is found in the nineteenth century. "it is not amended institutions, it is not improved education, it is not another selection of individuals for union, that can meliorate the said result, but the _basis_ of the union must be changed. "if in the natural order woman and man would adhere strictly to physiological or natural laws, in physical chastity, a most beautiful amendment of the human race, and human condition, would in a few generations adorn the world. "still, it belongs to woman in the spiritual order, to devote herself wholly to her eternal husband, and become the free bride of the one who alone can elevate her to her true position, and reconstruct her a pure, chaste, and holy being." f. i have mislaid an extract from "the memoirs of an american lady," which i wished to use on this subject, but its import is, briefly, this: observing of how little consequence the indian women are in youth, and how much in age, because in that trying life, good counsel and sagacity are more prized than charms, mrs. grant expresses a wish that reformers would take a hint from observation of this circumstance. in another place she says: "the misfortune of our sex is, that young women are not regarded as the material from which old women must be made." i quote from memory, but believe the weight of the remark is retained. * * * * * g. euripides. sophocles. as many allusions are made in the foregoing pages to characters of women drawn by the greek dramatists, which may not be familiar to the majority of readers, i have borrowed from the papers of miranda some notes upon them. i trust the girlish tone of apostrophising rapture may be excused. miranda was very young at the time of writing, compared with her present mental age. _now_, she would express the same feelings, but in a worthier garb--if she expressed them at all. iphigenia! antigone! you were worthy to live! _we_ are fallen on evil times, my sisters; our feelings have been checked; our thoughts questioned; our forms dwarfed and defaced by a bad nurture. yet hearts like yours are in our breasts, living, if unawakened; and our minds are capable of the same resolves. you we understand at once; those who stare upon us pertly in the street, we cannot--could never understand. you knew heroes, maidens, and your fathers were kings of men. you believed in your country and the gods of your country. a great occasion was given to each, whereby to test her character. you did not love on earth; for the poets wished to show us the force of woman's nature, virgin and unbiased. you were women; not wives, or lovers, or mothers. those are great names, but we are glad to see _you_ in untouched flower. were brothers so dear, then, antigone? we have no brothers. we see no men into whose lives we dare look steadfastly, or to whose destinies we look forward confidently. we care not for their urns; what inscription could we put upon them? they live for petty successes, or to win daily the bread of the day. no spark of kingly fire flashes from their eyes. none! are there _none_? it is a base speech to say it. yes! there are some such; we have sometimes caught their glances. but rarely have they been rocked in the same cradle as we, and they do not look upon us much; for the time is not yet come. thou art so grand and simple! we need not follow thee; thou dost not need our love. but, sweetest iphigenia! who knew _thee_, as to me thou art known? i was not born in vain, if only for the heavenly tears i have shed with thee. she will be grateful for them. i have understood her wholly, as a friend should; better than she understood herself. with what artless art the narrative rises to the crisis! the conflicts in agamemnon's mind, and the imputations of menelaus, give us, at once, the full image of him, strong in will and pride, weak in virtue, weak in the noble powers of the mind that depend on imagination. he suffers, yet it requires the presence of his daughter to make him feel the full horror of what he is to do. "ah me! that breast, those cheeks, those golden tresses!" it is her beauty, not her misery, that makes the pathos. this is noble. and then, too, the injustice of the gods, that she, this creature of unblemished loveliness, must perish for the sake of a worthless woman. even menelaus feels it the moment he recovers from his wrath. "what hath she to do, the virgin daughter, with my helena! * * its former reasonings now my soul foregoes. * * * * for it is not just that thou shouldst groan, while my affairs go pleasantly, that those of thy house should die, and mine see the light." indeed, the overwhelmed aspect of the king of men might well move him. "_men_. brother, give me to take thy right hand. _aga_. i give it, _for_ the victory is thine, and i am wretched. i am, indeed, ashamed to drop the tear, and not to drop the tear i am ashamed." how beautifully is iphigenia introduced; beaming more and more softly on us with every touch of description! after clytemnestra has given orestes (then an infant) out of the chariot, she says: "ye females, in your arms receive her, for she is of tender age. sit here by my feet, my child, by thy mother, iphigenia, and show these strangers how i am blessed in thee, and here address thee to thy father. _iphi_. o, mother! should i run, wouldst thou be angry? and embrace my father heart to heart?" with the same sweet, timid trust she prefers the request to himself, and, as he holds her in his arms, he seems as noble as guido's archangel; as if he never could sink below the trust of such a being! the achilles, in the first scene, is fine. a true greek hero; not too good; all flushed with the pride of youth, but capable of godlike impulses. at first, he thinks only of his own wounded pride (when he finds iphigenia has been decoyed to aulis under the pretest of becoming his wife); but the grief of the queen soon makes him superior to his arrogant chafings. how well he says, "_far as a young man may_, i will repress so great a wrong!" by seeing him here, we understand why he, not hector, was the hero of the iliad. the beautiful moral nature of hector was early developed by close domestic ties, and the cause of his country. except in a purer simplicity of speech and manner, he might be a modern and a christian. but achilles is cast in the largest and most vigorous mould of the earlier day. his nature is one of the richest capabilities, and therefore less quickly unfolds its meaning. the impression it makes at the early period is only of power and pride; running as fleetly with his armor on as with it off; but sparks of pure lustre are struck, at moments, from the mass of ore. of this sort is his refusal to see the beautiful virgin he has promised to protect. none of the grecians must have the right to doubt his motives, how wise and prudent, too, the advice he gives as to the queen's conduct! he will cot show himself unless needed. his pride is the farthest possible remote from vanity. his thoughts are as free as any in our own time. "the prophet? what is he? a man who speaks, 'mong many falsehoods, but few truths, whene'er chance leads him to speak true; when false, the prophet is no more." had agamemnon possessed like clearness of sight, the virgin would not have perished, but greece would have had no religion and no national existence. when, in the interview with agamemnon, the queen begins her speech, in the true matrimonial style, dignified though her gesture be, and true all she says, we feel that truth, thus sauced with taunts, will not touch his heart, nor turn him from his purpose. but when iphigenia, begins her exquisite speech, as with the breathings of a lute,-- "had i, my father, the persuasive voice of orpheus, &c. compel me not what is beneath to view. i was the first to call thee father; me thou first didst call thy child. i was the first that on thy knees fondly caressed thee, and from thee received the fond caress. this was thy speech to me:-- 'shall i, my child, e'er see thee in some house of splendor, happy in thy husband, live and flourish, as becomes my dignity?' my speech to thee was, leaning 'gainst thy cheek, (which with my hand i now caress): 'and what shall i then do for thee? shall i receive my father when grown old, and in my house cheer him with each fond office, to repay the careful nurture which he gave my youth?' these words are in my memory deep impressed; thou hast forgot them, and will kill thy child." then she adjures him by all the sacred ties, and dwells pathetically on the circumstance which had struck even menelaus. "if paris be enamored of his bride, his helen,--what concerns it me? and how comes he to my destruction? look upon me; give me a smile, give me a kiss, my father; that, if my words persuade thee not, in death i may have this memorial of thy love." never have the names of father and daughter been uttered with a holier tenderness than by euripides, as in this most lovely passage, or in the "supplicants," after the voluntary death of evadne. iphis says: "what shall this wretch now do? should i return to my own house?--sad desolation there i shall behold, to sink my soul with grief. or go i to the house of capaneus? that was delightful to me, when i found my daughter there; but she is there no more. oft would she kiss my check, with fond caress oft soothe me. to a father, waxing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter! sons have spirits of higher pitch, but less inclined to sweet, endearing fondness. lead me then, instantly lead me to my house; consign my wretched age to darkness, there to pine and waste away. old age, struggling with many griefs, o, how i hate thee!" but to return to iphigenia,--how infinitely melting is her appeal to orestes, whom she holds in her robe! "my brother, small assistance canst thou give thy friends; yet for thy sister with thy tears implore thy father that she may not die. even infants have a sense of ills; and see, my father! silent though he be, he sues to thee. be gentle to me; on my life have pity. thy two children by this beard entreat thee, thy dear children; one is yet an infant, one to riper years arrived." the mention of orestes, then an infant, though slight, is of a domestic charm that prepares the mind to feel the tragedy of his after lot. when the queen says, "dost thou sleep, my son? the rolling chariot hath subdued thee; wake to thy sister's marriage happily." we understand the horror of the doom which makes this cherished child a parricide. and so, when iphigenia takes leave of him after her fate is by herself accepted,-- "_iphi_. to manhood train orestes. _cly_. embrace him, for thou ne'er shalt see him more. _iphi_. (_to orestes_.) far as thou couldst, thou didst assist thy friends,"-- we know not how to blame the guilt of the maddened wife and mother. in her last meeting with agamemnon, as in her previous expostulations and anguish, we see that a straw may turn the balance, and make her his deadliest foe. just then, came the suit of aegisthus,--then, when every feeling was uprooted or lacerated in her heart. iphigenia's moving address has no further effect than to make her father turn at bay and brave this terrible crisis. he goes out, firm in resolve; and she and her mother abandon themselves to a natural grief. hitherto nothing has been seen in iphigenia, except the young girl, weak, delicate, full of feeling, and beautiful as a sunbeam on the full, green tree. but, in the next scene, the first impulse of that passion which makes and unmakes us, though unconfessed even to herself, though hopeless and unreturned, raises her at once into the heroic woman, worthy of the goddess who demands her. achilles appears to defend her, whom all others clamorously seek to deliver to the murderous knife. she sees him, and, fired with thoughts unknown before, devotes herself at once for the country which has given birth to such a man. "to be too fond of life becomes not me; nor for myself alone, but to all greece, a blessing didst thou bear me. shall thousands, when their country's injured, lift their shields? shall thousands grasp the oar and dare, advancing bravely 'gainst the foe, to die for greece? and shall my life, my single life, obstruct all this? would this be just? what word can we reply? nay more, it is not right that he with all the grecians should contest in fight, should die, _and for a woman_. no! more than a thousand women is one man worthy to see the light of day. * * * for greece i give my life. slay me! demolish troy! for these shall be long time my monuments, my children these, my nuptials and my glory." this sentiment marks woman, when she loves enough to feel what a creature of glory and beauty a true _man_ would be, as much in our own time as that of euripides. cooper makes the weak hetty say to her beautiful sister: "of course, i don't compare you with harry. a handsome man is always far handsomer than any woman." true, it was the sentiment of the age, but it was the first time iphigenia had felt it. in agamemnon she saw _her father_; to him she could prefer her claim. in achilles she saw a _man_, the crown of creation, enough to fill the world with his presence, were all other beings blotted from its spaces. [footnote: men do not often reciprocate this pure love. "her prentice han' she tried on man, and then she made the lasses o'," is a fancy, not a feeling, in their more frequently passionate and strong than noble or tender natures.] the reply of achilles is as noble. here is his bride; he feels it now, and all his vain vaunting are hushed. "daughter of agamemnon, highly blest some god would make me, if i might attain thy nuptials. greece in thee i happy deem, and thee in greece. * * * in thy thought revolve this well; death is a dreadful thing." how sweet it her reply,--and then the tender modesty with which she addresses him here and elsewhere as "_stranger_" "reflecting not on any, thus i speak: enough of wars and slaughters from the charms of helen rise; but die not thou for me, o stranger, nor distain thy sword with blood, but let me save my country if i may. _achilles_. o glorious spirit! naught have i 'gainst this to urge, since such thy will, for what thou sayst is generous. why should not the truth be spoken?" but feeling that human weakness may conquer yet, he goes to wait at the alter, resolved to keep his promise of protection thoroughly. in the next beautiful scene she shows that a few tears might overwhelm her in his absence. she raises her mother beyond weeping them, yet her soft purity she cannot impart. "_iphi_. my father, and my husband do not hate; _cly_. for thy dear sake fierce contest must he bear. _iphi_. for greece reluctant me to death he yields; _cly_. basely, with guile unworthy atreus' son." this is truth incapable of an answer, and iphigenia attempts none. she begins the hymn which is to sustain her: "lead me; mine the glorious fate, to o'erturn the phrygian state." after the sublime flow of lyric heroism, she suddenly sinks back into the tenderer feeling of her dreadful fate. "o my country, where these eyes opened on pelasgic skies! o ye virgins, once my pride, in mycenae who abide! chorus. why of perseus, name the town, which cyclopean ramparts crown? iphigenia me you reared a beam of light, freely now i sink in night." _freely_; as the messenger afterwards recounts it. * * * * * "imperial agamemnon, when he saw his daughter, as a victim to the grave, advancing, groaned, and, bursting into tears, turned from the sight his head, before his eyes, holding his robe. the virgin near him stood, and thus addressed him: 'father, i to thee am present; for my country, and for all the land of greece, i freely give myself a victim: to the altar let them lead me, since such the oracle. if aught on me depends, be happy, and obtain the prize of glorious conquest, and revisit safe your country. of the grecians, for this cause, let no one touch me; with intrepid spirit silent will i present my neck.' she spoke, and all that heard revered the noble soul and virtue of the virgin." how quickly had the fair bud bloomed up into its perfection! had she lived a thousand years, she could not have surpassed this. goethe's iphigenia, the mature woman, with its myriad delicate traits, never surpasses, scarcely equals, what we know of her in euripides. can i appreciate this work in a translation? i think so, impossible as it may seem to one who can enjoy the thousand melodies, and words in exactly the right place, and cadence of the original. they say you can see the apollo belvidere in a plaster cast, and i cannot doubt it, so great the benefit conferred on my mind by a transcript thus imperfect. and so with these translations from the greek. i can divine the original through this veil, as i can see the movements of a spirited horse by those of his coarse grasscloth muffler. besides, every translator who feels his subject is inspired, and the divine aura informs even his stammering lips. iphigenia is more like one of the women shakspeare loved than the others; she is a tender virgin, ennobled and strengthened by sentiment more than intellect; what they call a woman _par excellence_. macaria is more like one of massinger's women. she advances boldly, though with the decorum of her sex and nation: "_macaria_. impute not boldness to me that i come before you, strangers; this my first request i urge; for silence and a chaste reserve is woman's genuine praise, and to remain quiet within the house. but i come forth, hearing thy lamentations, iolaus; though charged with no commission, yet perhaps i may be useful." * * her speech when she offers herself as the victim is reasonable, as one might speak to-day. she counts the cost all through. iphigenia is too timid and delicate to dwell upon the loss of earthly bliss and the due experience of life, even as much as jephtha'a daughter did; but macaria is explicit, as well befits the daughter of hercules. "should _these_ die, myself preserved, of prosperous future could i form one cheerful hope? a poor forsaken virgin who would deign to take in marriage? who would wish for sons from one so wretched? better then to die, than bear such undeserved miseries; one less illustrious this might more beseem. * * * * * i have a soul that unreluctantly presents itself, and i proclaim aloud that for my brothers and myself i die. i am not fond of life, but think i gain an honorable prize to die with glory." still nobler when iolaus proposes rather that she shall draw lots with her sisters. "by _lot_ i will not die, for to such death no thanks are due, or glory--name it not. if you accept me, if my offered life be grateful to you, willingly i give it for these; but by constraint i will not die." very fine are her parting advice and injunctions to them all: "farewell! revered old man, farewell! and teach these youths in all things to be wise, like thee, naught will avail them more." macaria has the clear minerva eye; antigone's is deeper and more capable of emotion, but calm; iphigenia's glistening, gleaming with angel truth, or dewy as a hidden violet. i am sorry that tennyson, who spoke with such fitness of all the others in his "dream of fair women," has not of iphigenia. of her alone he has not made a fit picture, but only of the circumstances of the sacrifice. he can never have taken to heart this work of euripides, yet he was so worthy to feel it. of jephtha's daughter he has spoken as he would of iphigenia, both in her beautiful song, and when "i heard him, for he spake, and grief became a solemn scorn of ills. it comforts me in this one thought to dwell-- that i subdued me to my father's will; because the kiss he gave me, ere i fell, sweetens the spirit still. moreover it is written, that my race hewed ammon, hip and thigh, from arroer or arnon unto minneth. here her face glowed as i looked on her. she looked her lips; she left me where i stood; 'glory to god,' she sang, and past afar, thridding the sombre boskage of the woods, toward the morning-star." in the "trojan dames" there are fine touches of nature with regard to cassandra. hecuba shows that mixture of shame and reverence that prose kindred always do, towards the inspired child, the poet, the elected sufferer for the race. when the herald announces that she is chosen to be the mistress of agamemnon, hecuba answers indignant, and betraying the involuntary pride and faith she felt in this daughter. "the virgin of apollo, whom the god, radiant with golden looks, allowed to live. in her pure vow of maiden chastity? _tal_. with love the raptured virgin smote his heart. _hec_. cast from thee, o my daughter, cast away thy sacred wand; rend off the honored wreaths, the splendid ornaments that grace thy brows." but the moment cassandra appears, singing wildly her inspired song, hecuba, calls her "my _frantic_ child." yet how graceful she is in her tragic phrenzy, the chorus shows-- "how sweetly at thy house's ills thou smilest, chanting what haply thou wilt not show true!" but if hecuba dares not trust her highest instinct about her daughter, still less can the vulgar mind of the herald (a man not without tenderness of heart, but with no princely, no poetic blood) abide the wild, prophetic mood which insults his prejudices both as to country and decorums of the sex. yet agamemnon, though not a noble man, is of large mould, and could admire this strange beauty which excited distaste in common minds. "_tal_. what commands respect, and is held high as wise, is nothing better than the mean of no repute; for this most potent king of all the grecians, the much-honored son of atreus, is enamored with his prize, this frantic raver. i am a poor man, yet would i not receive her to my bed." cassandra answers, with a careless disdain, "this is a busy slave." with all the lofty decorum of manners among the ancients, how free was their intercourse, man to man, how full the mutual understanding between prince and "busy slave!" not here in adversity only, but in the pomp of power it was so. kings were approached with ceremonious obeisance, but not hedged round with etiquette; they could see and know their fellows. the andromache here is just as lovely as that of the iliad. to her child whom they are about to murder, the same that was frightened at the "glittering plume," she says, "dost thou weep, my son? hast thou a sense of thy ill fate? why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why hold my robes, and shelter thee beneath my wings, like a young bird? no more my hector comes, returning from the tomb; he grasps no more his glittering spear, bringing protection to thee." * * * * * * * "o, soft embrace, and to thy mother dear. o, fragrant breath! in vain i swathed thy infant limbs, in vain i gave thee nurture at this breast, and tolled, wasted with care. _if ever_, now embrace, now clasp thy mother; throw thine arms around my neck, and join thy cheek, thy lips to mine." as i look up, i meet the eyes of beatrice cenci, beautiful one! these woes, even, were less than thine, yet thou seemest to understand them all. thy clear, melancholy gaze says, they, at least, had known moments of bliss, and the tender relations of nature had not been broken and polluted from the very first. yes! the gradations of woe are all but infinite: only good can be infinite. certainly the greeks knew more of real home intercourse and more of woman than the americans. it is in vain to tell me of outward observances. the poets, the sculptors, always tell the truth. in proportion as a nation is refined, women _must_ have an ascendency. it is the law of nature. beatrice! thou wert not "fond of life," either, more than those princesses. thou wert able to cut it down in the full flower of beauty, as an offering to _the best_ known to thee. thou wert not so happy as to die for thy country or thy brethren, but thou wert worthy of such an occasion. in the days of chivalry, woman was habitually viewed more as an ideal; but i do not know that she inspired a deeper and more home-felt reverence than iphigenia in the breast of achilles, or macarla in that of her old guardian, iolaus. we may, with satisfaction, add to these notes the words to which haydn has adapted his magnificent music in "the creation." "in native worth and honor clad, with beauty, courage, strength adorned, erect to heaven, and tall, he stands, a man!--the lord and king of all! the large and arched front sublime of wisdom deep declares the seat, and in his eyes with brightness shines the soul, the breath and image of his god. with fondness leans upon his breast the partner for him formed,--a woman fair, and graceful spouse. her softly smiling virgin looks, of flowery spring the mirror, bespeak him love, and joy and bliss." whoever has heard this music must have a mental standard as to what man and woman should be. such was marriage in eden when "erect to heaven _he_ stood;" but since, like other institutions, this must be not only reformed, but revived, the following lines may be offered as a picture of something intermediate,--the seed of the future growth:-- h. the sacred marriage. and has another's life as large a scope? it may give due fulfilment to thy hope, and every portal to the unknown may ope. if, near this other life, thy inmost feeling trembles with fateful prescience of revealing the future deity, time is still concealing; if thou feel thy whole force drawn more and more to launch that other bark on seas without a shore; and no still secret must be kept in store; if meannesses that dim each temporal deed, the dull decay that mars the fleshly weed, and flower of love that seems to fall and leave no seed-- hide never the full presence from thy sight of mutual aims and tasks, ideals bright, which feed their roots to-day on all this seeming blight. twin stars that mutual circle in the heaven, two parts for spiritual concord given, twin sabbaths that inlock the sacred seven; still looking to the centre for the cause, mutual light giving to draw out the powers, and learning all the other groups by cognizance of one another's laws. the parent love the wedded love includes; the one permits the two their mutual moods; the two each other know, 'mid myriad multitudes; with child-like intellect discerning love, and mutual action energising love, in myriad forms affiliating love. a world whose seasons bloom from pole to pole, a force which knows both starting-point and goal, a home in heaven,--the union in the soul. liberty in the nineteenth century by frederic may holland by preface this book is a result of having studied the development of political and religious liberty for forty years. how well i have selected my authorities the reader can judge. i will merely say that i have mentioned no writer whom i have not studied carefully. the sun-dial has been so far my model that victories in the cause of freedom are more prominent than defeats in the pages that follow. it did not seem necessary to give much space to familiar authors, though i should have liked to do justice to buckle, george eliot, and swinburne. i regret that i have been unable to tell at any adequate length how the republic which was proclaimed at paris in has survived longer than any other government set up in france during the century. its enemies have been voted down repeatedly everywhere; the schools have been made free from ecclesiastical control; and the hostility of the clergy has been suppressed by the pope. the french are still too fond of military glory, and too ignorant of the value of personal liberty and local self-government; but rapid advance in freedom is already possible under the constitution of . not only france, but also great britain, canada, and australia, give proof that the time has gone by when americans had any right to claim, as they did in my boyhood, to be the only people able to govern themselves. if any nation can maintain a free press, just laws, and elections of local magistrates, it ought to enjoy these rights, however slight may be its fitness for becoming a real republic; and the suppression of such rights by cromwell and napoleon cannot be pardoned consistently by any friend to liberty. napoleon's chief guilt, as i must here mention, was in ordering the expulsion from office by soldiers, in , of representatives of the people who were striving to maintain liberty at home and establish peace abroad. if there were any necessity for his usurpation two years later, it was largely of his own making. despotism had already been made tolerable, however, even during the first republic, by the national fondness for war. this is according to a principle which is taught by herbert spencer, and which is illustrated in the following pages by many instances from the history of france and other nations. the horrors of the reign of terror may be explained, though not excused, by the greatness of the danger from invaders as well as rebels. and there were very few cases of punishing differences merely about religion by the guillotine. i have also tried to show how the centralising tendencies of a government are strengthened by the wish of its citizens to gain private advantages by state aid. john stuart mill and herbert spencer have published timely warnings against the danger of checking the development of individual energy and ability by meddlesome laws. whether the power of the government ought to be reduced to the narrow limits proposed by these great thinkers, is a question which has been discussed at some length in my last chapter. it is there suggested that such a reduction would be much more practicable in the case of national than of local governments. it is not likely to be made anywhere at present; but it might be well for reformers to try to restrict the operations of governments according to the following rule: nothing to be undertaken by a national government which can be done as well by municipalities; and nothing to be attempted by either a local or central government which can be done as well by private citizens, acting singly or in voluntary associations. this rule would justify towns and cities in taking such care of roads, streets, and schools as is not sanctioned by spencer; but it would leave municipalities free to decide the question whether they ought to carry on gas- and water-works, electric roads, and other enterprises according to the merits of each special case. here in america internal improvements seem to be the proper charge of the state, rather than of the nation; but whether the former has any right to enforce sunday laws, and the latter to impose protective tariffs, are questions which i have taken the liberty of discussing thoroughly. herbert spencer should not be held responsible for any opinions not printed plainly as his. most of the instances of the working of sunday statutes were taken from a religious newspaper entitled the american sentinel. among very recent cases are these. a georgian was sentenced on may , , to pay a fine of twenty dollars or spend six months in the chain-gang for working on his farm. that same month a clergyman was arrested in mississippi, merely for taking a little exercise with a hoe in his garden. in , a farmer in the state of new york was arrested for picking a few apples from one of his own trees. the total number of sabbath-breakers arrested that year in new york city is estimated at a thousand; and there were nearly four thousand arrests for sunday trading in england and wales in . the principle of giving each citizen every opportunity of development compatible with the general welfare, is so plainly irreconcilable with socialism, that i have thought it well to give several instances of the fact that a man seldom does his best work except for his own benefit and that of his family. even the exceptionally energetic and conscientious founders of new england did not raise food enough until it was agreed that "they should set corne, every man for his own particular." another difficulty in the way of state socialism is that the requisite number of competent managers could not be found after the abolition of the competitive system. it is that which brings forward men of unusual ability and energy, though scarcely in sufficient numbers. socialism would increase the demand, but lessen the supply. spencer calls it "the coming slavery." it might better be called a slavery which is becoming obsolete. our existing system of industry certainly needs improvement; but this will have to be made by following the laws of social science. their action has done much during the present century to improve the condition of the poor; and we may trust that it will do more hereafter. the nineteenth might be called the philanthropic century, if that title did not belong also to the eighteenth. the latter has the peculiar merit of doing so much to abolish persecution that there have been comparatively few instances during the period covered by this book. much more has been done during the last hundred years to extend political than religious liberty; but i have not neglected to mention the most active champions of the great principle, that human rights ought not to be affected by individual differences about theology. if there is too little agitation at present for this principle in the united states, it is largely on account of an unfortunate occurrence of which i have written at some length in the last chapter but one. here i had the valuable assistance of francis e. abbot, ph.d., author of _scientific theism_, and benjamin f. underwood. if the words, "militant liberals," had been used in this chapter, they would express my meaning more plainly than the term "aggressive." the least pleasant part of my work has been the pointing out defects in a system of philosophy, ethics, and theology which i once delighted to honour. as valuable results may have been reached by the metaphysical method as by the scientific; but if the latter is right the former is certainly wrong. when we find so consistent and warmhearted a transcendentalist as miss cobbe placing pantheism and scepticism among "the greatest of sins" (see her _religious duty_, pp. , , and ), we may suspect that this philosophy aggravated carlyle's natural bitterness against opponents. there has been comparatively little intolerance among american intuitionalists, thanks to the genial influence of emerson. f. m. h. august, . liberty in the nineteenth century chapter i. napoleon and his work i. france had been freed by the revolution from many ghosts of kingly, feudal, and priestly privileges; but she was still the prey of the most deadly of vampires,--military glory. the followers of this fatal guide had driven the party of peace and liberty from power by force and fraud, and found a ruler after their own hearts in the conqueror who, in , became the emperor napoleon. thus was established what some metaphysicians suppose to be the best form of government,--an enlightened despotism. the autocrat knew that he had risen to power as the most popular champion of political equality; and he gave this democratic principle such additional authority that it has continued supreme in france. her sons are still equals before the law, owners of the land they till, exempt from taxes levied for the benefit of any privileged class, and free to choose their own career and mode of worship. this is due in great part to the usurper who reduced representative government to an empty shell, and who centralised the administration of schools, police, streets, roads, and bridges, and all other local concerns even more completely than had ever been done before the revolution. he knew the real needs of france well enough to give her peace with all her enemies; but scarcely had he signed the last treaty when he took possession of switzerland, and continued to annex territory, in defiance of the protests of the british ministers that he was making peace impossible. war was declared by them in and kept up against him for eleven years continuously, with occasional assistance from russia, austria, prussia, spain, and other countries. this was a period of great glory for france, but also of great suffering. her boundaries were enlarged; but her most patriotic citizens were slaughtered in foreign lands; her shipping was swept away by british cruisers; her people were hindered in obtaining american grain, british cloth, and other necessaries of life, in exchange for wine, silk, lace, and other luxuries; the emperor could not supervise the prefects who managed, or mismanaged, all internal interests, and who were responsible to him alone; freedom of the press was prohibited; and all the arts of peace decayed. this was the price which france paid for auster-litz, jena, and other famous victories over russia, austria, and prussia, which in brought peace with every enemy but england, and made napoleon master, either directly through his prefects, or indirectly through tributary kings, not only of france but of the netherlands, denmark, switzerland, spain, venice with the rest of italy, and about three-fourths of germany, including one-half of what had formerly been prussian territory. eight years from the usurpation in brought him to his zenith: eight years later, he was at saint helena. his german, swiss, and italian subjects gained political equality, and also the permanent advantage of the code which bears his name. it had really been made by his lawyers, on foundations laid by the convention. throughout his dominions, jew, catholic, and protestant became equals before the law. the fact that these reforms survived his authority proves that they could have been established without it. they were unavoidable results of the eighteenth century. how little he was influenced by philanthropy is shown by his driving into exile a statesman named stein, who had abolished serfdom in prussia, and made it equally possible for the members of all classes to buy land and choose occupations. the establishment of the empire had been preceded by the revival of slavery in several colonies where it had been abolished by the convention. it was for helping the haytians preserve their independence by heroic resistance, that toussaint was sent by napoleon to die in prison. the conquered nations in europe were handed over from one master to another, without being even invited to consent; but what was still more oppressive was inability to exchange their own products for cloth and hardware from england, grain from the united states, coffee and sugar from the west indies, and many other articles whose lack was keenly felt. this trouble was largely due to the blockade kept up by british ships; but napoleon was so ignorant of the advantage of commerce to both parties engaged in it as to suppose he could conquer england by a plan which really injured only himself and his subjects. he forbade all importation from great britain and her colonies wherever he had power or even influence; and many of the prohibited goods were taken from merchants and destroyed without compensation. germany suffered also from having her manufactures forbidden to compete with the french. the latter asked in vain for freer trade, and were told by napoleon that he understood their business better than they did. countless outrages on prominent individuals helped the growth of disaffection. ii. the british ministry retaliated against napoleon's attack on the right to trade freely, with a success which led to a great outrage on individual liberty in the united states. the war with europe gave much of the world's commerce to american ships; but they were forbidden by great britain, in , to trade with some of their best customers unless they stopped to pay tribute in her ports. the seizures for disobedience increased the anger which had been long felt against the british for impressing sailors on board of american ships. three thousand citizens of the united states had been forced into a hostile navy before the refusal of our frigate, _chesapeake_, in , to submit to a search brought on a bloody contest. napoleon was then at the height of his power; and great britain was fighting against him single-handed. it was an unusually good time for declaring a war which soon proved inevitable in defence of merchants' and sailors' rights. jefferson preferred to violate those rights himself, as had been done by the federalists in , and congress aided him in forbidding american ships to sail for foreign ports. this embargo was so plainly unnecessary that every captain who was able to get out of new york harbour did so at once without caring what crew, cargo, or papers he had on board. fifty million dollars' worth of shipping was kept idle for more than a year; a hundred thousand sailors and mechanics were thrown out of work; farms and plantations ceased to be profitable; clothing and tools became ruinously dear; thirteen hundred new yorkers, who had been ruined by the embargo, were imprisoned for debt; and laws for protection against creditors were passed by the southern and western states. no one gained by the embargo except the smugglers; and attempts to suppress them called out dangerous manifestations of popular discontent. no one suffered less than the british merchants. iii. meantime, napoleon took the first step towards ruin in placing his brother on the throne of spain. the spaniards had borne patiently the loss of ships, commerce, and colonies; but this fresh wrong stirred up insurrection. the new king was brought to madrid by french troops; but not a single spaniard would enter his service; and he was soon obliged to leave the city. he said to his brother, "your glory will be wrecked in spain"; but napoleon kept on sending in armies, whose victories made him hated, but not obeyed. he offered to abolish feudal privileges, the inquisition, and the tariffs which separated province from province. the only result was to make reform odious to a people which cared much more for nationality than progress. the clergy encouraged the peasants to keep up a guerilla war, in which his veterans perished ignominiously; and british auxiliaries won victories which made wellington famous. austria took advantage of the situation to try to reconquer the lost provinces. the tyrolese had been made subjects of the king of bavaria; but they rose at the call of hofer, and gained glorious victories over french and bavarian soldiers. other defeats were suffered by napoleon; but he soon succeeded in forcing austria to grant him, not only much more of her territory, but the hand of a young princess, who had never thought of him but with abhorrence. this involved his divorce from the loving josephine. he pleaded desire for a son who might succeed him; but he was not likely to live until any child who might be born after this would be old enough to keep together an empire whose basis was conquest. the austrian princess had been demanded before napoleon's application for a russian one had been answered decisively; his plans for restoring poland had given additional offence to the czar; and the welfare of russia demanded freedom to use the products of her forests, fields, and mines in buying british goods. this right was insisted upon by the czar; and napoleon had only abuse for the friends who warned him that defeat in russia would call all germany to arms against him. he was already so unpopular at paris, that he had to remove with his court. the enormous army with which he invaded russia might easily have taken possession of her polish provinces, where the people were friendly. he preferred to march a thousand miles, through a hostile and barren country, to moscow. the city was set on fire at his arrival; but he wasted so much time there, that winter helped the russians turn his retreat into a rout. hundreds of thousands of soldiers perished miserably. the prussians flew to arms; and austria demanded restoration of her provinces. he replied that he should not yield an inch, and cared nothing for the loss of a million lives. he was driven out of germany by "the battle of the nations," which was won at leipsic, in october, , by zealous cooperation of the russians with prussians, austrians, bavarians, and other germans. one result was described by saying that "the dutch have taken holland." need of a strong government in time of war had given a power almost monarchical to the successors of that prince of orange who had saved his republic from philip ii. one of these princes was driven out by a democratic rebellion in , but restored by a prussian army. the french revolution enabled holland to return to republicanism; but alliance with the directory meant continual spoliation; and there were grievous conscriptions under napoleon, whose rule was extremely unpopular in a nation which lived by commerce. when the dutch heard of his defeat at leipsic, they rose against him without waiting for auxiliaries; and the french garrisons were soon driven out by the help of soldiers from russia, prussia, and england. the rulers of these countries sanctioned the desire of the orange faction to make the prince a king. the people were not consulted, but were reconciled by a constitution, under which there was a legislature with some power, local self-government, freedom of worship, political equality, and liberty in commerce. napoleon might have remained emperor; but he refused to make any concessions, and kept on fighting until his generals abandoned him, and his deposition was voted by the senate. the people would not rise for him, as they had done for the republic; and the parisians refused to cry "vive l'empereur" as he returned from elba, to be overthrown at waterloo. three million frenchmen perished in his wars; and he left france smaller than he found her. his restrictions on commerce were removed so suddenly as to destroy the industries which he had tried to foster; and the proportion of paupers to the population was three times as great as in . france was still desirous that the press should be free, and that taxation should be controlled by representatives of the people. louis xviii. had to promise that he would respect these rights which his predecessors had violated. toleration continued; and the peasants kept the property and equality which the revolution had given them, and which no sovereign could take away. napoleon is the most famous of generals; but his greatness as a statesman would have been plainer if he had not undertaken so many showy enterprises which had little chance of success. he failed signally in founding a dynasty, in making france the greatest of manufacturers, and in giving her an invincible navy, though he might have gained the first of these objects by peace, and the last by free trade. he could not even leave to his successor the territory which had been conquered by the revolution. yet these were his dearest purposes, except the wild dream of humbling england. was he the greatest of architects, every one of whose colossal structures fell under their own weight before they could be used? greater is he who builds what lasts for ages. napoleon made the twenty years ending with more glorious than any later period, and much more wretched. western europe was afflicted by bloody wars, and impoverished by restrictions on commerce. if his reign had been peaceable, he might have deprived france much more completely of what liberty she had enjoyed under the directory. every despot, however enlightened and benevolent, must necessarily interfere so much with the liberty of his subjects as to hinder their making themselves happy. france and germany lost nothing in freedom and gained much in prosperity by his defeat; for it gave the world many years of peace. what he brought of political and religious equality to prussia, western germany, and switzerland survived him; for it was part of his inheritance from the revolution which he closed treacherously. france had received her legacy without his help; and she retained much of it in spite of his interference. his victories over hereditary monarchs were so suggestive that books about him are still prohibited in russia; but no people lost much by his overthrow except the italians. iv. waterloo might have been called a "of the nations" as well as leipsic; but the best fighting was under the british flag. the english had suffered much from napoleon, in spite of his never succeeding in making an invasion. the worst injury he did was in forcing them to remain in that absorption in war which had checked the growth of toleration, democracy, and prosperity in . george iii. was personally popular; but his weak, unprincipled successor was merely a figurehead. two-thirds of the members of the house of commons in had been appointed by the ministry, or by some nobleman, and most of the others owned or rented some pocket-borough almost destitute of inhabitants. the house of lords was overwhelmingly opposed to government by the people; and no tories were more consistent than those sons or protégés of noblemen, the bishops. the successors of the apostles had no sympathy with the struggle of the cross against the crescent in lands where paul had preached. they helped to vote down propagation of the gospel in india, as well as enfranchisement of roman catholics, and mitigation of laws which punished pilfering with death. they tried in vain to save the slave-trade from prohibition; and most of the clerical and lay members of both houses were in league to keep the tax on importation of wheat heavy enough to give them large incomes from their real estate. this tariff and the depreciation of currency made food excessively dear. the country labourer was often unable to earn more than the price of a loaf a day. employers agreed on wages so low that the peasants had to ask continually for parochial relief, and could not afford to go out of the parish to seek higher pay. their degradation was increased by their almost universal illiteracy; and their misdemeanours, especially poaching, were punished cruelly; for the rural magistrate was either the squire or his ally, the parson. there was little chance of justice for the poor against the rich; the rural labourer could seldom improve his position; and the bad harvests of , , and helped to make him worse off than ever before or since. the operatives had higher wages, but suffered under the friction of an industrial revolution, which has done more than any political convulsion for human happiness. the factory had been enabled by the invention of the steam-engine and other machines, shortly before , to take the place of the cottages in making cloth. british goods were in great demand abroad during the war, and had to be carried in british ships. improved roads and canals led merchants and manufacturers to opulence. the rich grew richer, as has usually been the case; but there were some exceptional years during which the poor really grew poorer. one man could make as much cotton cloth in a day as two hundred could have done before; but what was to become of the one hundred and ninety-nine? demand for factory labour kept increasing until ; but population grew faster still. wages were already falling; the return of peace lessened the demand abroad; and hundreds of thousands of discharged soldiers and sailors were added to the multitude of unemployed. labourers were forbidden either to emigrate or to combine in order to keep up wages; and their earnings were lowest at the time when bread was the highest. meat, sugar, foreign fruit, and many other articles now in common use were almost unattainable by the poor until late in the century. there was much more intelligence in the towns than in the country; but there were no opportunities of education in in england for one-half of the children. boys and girls entered the factory at the age of six, and often from the poor-house, where they had been sold into slavery. the regular time was fourteen hours a day; sitting down was seldom permitted; food was scanty and bad; punishment was constant and cruel; deformity and disease were frequent; and the death-rate was unusually high. terrible cases occurred of pauper children, kept sixteen hours at a stretch without rest or food, driven by hunger to rob the troughs in the pig-sty, tortured merely for amusement by the overseer, and even advertised for sale with the mill. the middle class differed much more widely than at present, both from the masses on one hand and from the aristocracy on the other, as regards food, dress, culture, amusements, and political liberty. taxation was heavy and vexatious; representation in parliament was notoriously inadequate; and honest men and women were still liable to imprisonment for debt. no one but an episcopalian had a right to study at a university, enter parliament, or hold any civil, naval, or military office in england; and neither dissenters nor catholics could marry without going through ceremonies which conscience forbade. the press was fettered by laws which kept leigh hunt imprisoned for two years, on account of an article acknowledging the unpopularity of the prince regent. cobbett underwent an equally long imprisonment in newgate for blaming the cruelty of sentencing insubordinate militiamen to be flogged five hundred lashes. no plays could be performed in london in until they had been read and licensed by the lord chamberlain's deputy. as soon as a strong government ceased to be needed for protection against napoleon, there broke out much agitation for relief of the disfranchised as well as of the destitute. there was an unprecedented circulation of the cheap pamphlets in which cobbett advised the discontented to abstain from lawless violence, which could only give them another robespierre, and devote themselves to striving peaceably for their political rights. among these he asserted that of every man who paid taxes to vote for members of parliament. the serious riots which took place in many parts of great britain, even london, made the aristocracy consider all opportunities of addressing the people dangerous. the ministry were empowered in to arrest speakers and authors without any warrant, and keep them in prison without a trial. prohibition of public meetings was made possible by an act which extended to reading-rooms, debating societies, even among students at cambridge, and scientific lectures. the mounted militia was sent to disperse a meeting of fifty thousand unarmed men and women at manchester, on august , , in behalf of parliamentary reform. the people were packed together so closely that they were unable to separate quickly. fear that some of the young gentlemen who had ridden into the throng might get hurt led the magistrates to order several hundred hussars to charge, without notice, into the dense crowd. the meeting was soon reduced to heaps of fallen men and women, who had been overthrown in the general struggle to escape or cut down by the soldiers; and the field was covered with bloody hats, shawls, and bonnets. six people were killed, and more than thirty others wounded severely. there was indignation everywhere against this wanton cruelty; and the common council of london voted their censure; but parliament passed laws that same year which made public meetings almost impossible, and put cheap pamphlets under a prohibitory tax, by requiring that they must have such an expensive stamp as kept newspapers beyond the reach of people generally. arrests for printing and selling unstamped publications were thenceforward frequent. there were many bloody riots; and a conspiracy for assassinating the ministry was organised in . a dangerous revolution might then have broken out, if food had not been made plenty by abundant harvests. roman catholics were still forbidden to hold any office under the british government. they could not sit in either house of parliament, or be married legally in ireland, where they formed four-fifths of the population, and almost all the offices on that island were filled by protestants who had been sent over from england, or else elected by close corporations containing scarcely any catholics. the disfranchised nation was all the more indignant on account of such facts as that two-thirds of the soil of ireland had been taken away without compensation by english invaders before , and that the share of the irish in was only one-tenth. this was held mostly in great estates, as was the rest of the island. rents were everywhere high and wages low, for population was superabundant; manufactures had been crushed by laws to protect british interests; the people were left ignorant, even of agriculture; and there were frequent famines. both the land and the government were mismanaged by an anti-irish minority which took little pains to keep its own partisans from lawless violence, but did its utmost to extort money for a legion of priests, who were merely servants of oppression to nine-tenths of the people. how little they cared about their professed duty may be judged from the case mentioned by a traveller named inglis (vol. i., p. ), of a bishop who drew four or five hundred pounds a year for calling himself rector of a parish where there was no pretence of any public worship but the catholic. indignation of irish presbyterians had been one main cause of the bloody rebellion of ; and all patriotic irishmen were exasperated at the oppression of the poor by the rich. removal of religious disabilities was urgently demanded, and most of the men were members in of an independent association, which could easily have turned the island into one vast camp. v. germany had been devastated by twenty years of battles; and many thousand germans had perished, either in defending their homes against napoleon, or in serving under him in russia. his overthrow left them in deeper subjection than ever to a league of despots, who differed in pomp of title and extent of territory, but agreed in obstinately denying any political liberty to the people. the servitude of germany was confirmed by the agreement of clergymen and philosophers, that absolute monarchy was "ordained of god." the ban of church and university was on the revolutionary rationalism which had inspired the eighteenth century. the predominant philosophy during the first half of the nineteenth century insisted on the infallibility of what was called intuition, but was often merely tradition. this was already the case in germany, where moribund ideas of politics and theology were worshipped as the loftiest revelations of pure reason. devout disciples still hold that all established institutions are justified and all knowledge revealed by hegel's method of deduction from his own peculiar definition of the infinite. that definition seems self-contradictory; but this is only a trifle, compared with the method's permitting the master to prefer absolute monarchy, and forcing him to deny that any nation, not extremely limited in area, can long remain a democracy. hegel's indifference to the existence of the united states was like his asserting, after the discovery of ceres, that the place where it had been found, and where hundreds of other planets are now known to exist, must be empty. among other results of his system were a denial that lightning is electricity, and an assertion that rain is merely a change of air into water. neither liberty nor knowledge gains by disregard of experience in favour of deductions from imaginary intuitions. unfortunately, the experience of europe under napoleon, as well as during the revolution, seemed to justify restoration of old institutions as well as of former boundaries. the latter purpose was ostensibly that for which the conquerors of napoleon met at vienna, soon after he had retired to elba; but their real object was to divide the spoils among themselves. the emperors of russia and austria had the assistance, or opposition, of five kings, and of so many princes and nobles that three hundred carriages of state were kept in constant readiness. lovely ladies of high rank came from many lands; and it seemed to the uninitiated as if nothing was going on but masked balls, private theatricals, hunting parties, stately dinners, and concerts. beethoven was among the musicians. there was no general meeting of the monarchs and ambassadors; but there were frequent conferences of those most interested in one point or another; and the name of congress of vienna was amply justified by the number of bargains and compromises. the only persons never consulted were the thirty millions whose masters were thus selected. belgium, for instance, was forced into a union with holland, which led to civil war; and the norwegians were put under subjection to the swedes, against whom they had just been fighting. ten millions more of poles were made subjects of the czar; and his original wish to rule mildly was frustrated by their rebellion. the italians had been brought by napoleon into such unity and sense of nationality as they had not felt for many centuries. offers of greater liberty made lombardy and venice take sides against him; they were rewarded by being put under the most hated of rulers, the austrians; and the latter were made virtually masters of all italy. when all the plunder had been divided, the royal robbers united in a declaration, acknowledging jesus as the only sovereign and recommending the daily and universal practice of religion. the only sovereign who kept his promise, that he would give his subjects a new constitution if they would help him conquer napoleon, was goethe's patron at weimar. he presided over the university of jena, which schiller, fichte, and other professors had made the centre of democratic influence in germany. a secret political society was formed by students who had fought at waterloo; and all the universities were invited to help celebrate, on october , , the anniversary, not only of the victory at leipsic, but of the opening of the protestant reformation. five hundred students from various parts of germany met in the wartburg, the castle where luther found refuge after bidding defiance at worms to both pope and emperor. it was agreed that the new society should extend through all the universities, and should have banners of black, red, and yellow. these henceforth were the colours of liberty in germany. napoleon had reduced prussia's army to a minimum; among the preparations for breaking his yoke had been the practice of such gymnastics as are still kept up by the turners; and a public exhibition was given that evening near the castle, before an immense bonfire. reference was made there to kings who broke their word; and as the audience broke up, some of the students fed the blaze with various emblems of despotism, such as the canes with which soldiers were flogged by corporals. then they burned a number of blank books, with titles copied from those of pamphlets recently published in opposition to progress. the king of prussia had taken some steps towards constitutional liberty, but these boyish freaks brought him completely under the influence of prince metternich. this crafty but kind-hearted austrian worked steadily, from to , at much sacrifice of ease and pleasure, in hope of preserving civilisation and religion from being destroyed by any new revolution. he was now the real emperor of germany; the british ministry was in sympathy; and the czar, who had at first been an admirer of parliamentary government, was converted by an outrage in the name of liberty on the right of free speech. one of the literary champions of russian autocracy, kotzebue, was assassinated, early in , by a divinity student who had been at the wartburg. that same year the representatives of the leading german states met at carlsbad, and agreed, with the czar's approval, that all german journals and universities should be under strict supervision, that political offenders should be tried by a special central tribunal, and that the new colours should be prohibited. vi. louis xviii. cared as little as charles ii. of england about promises, but was quite as unwilling to have to travel abroad. he dissolved a legislature which was too reactionary; subsequent elections returned liberal candidates, though only one man in a hundred could vote; the national guard was revived; and progressive ideas were expressed freely. france was moving forwards until february , , when a bonapartist murdered the king's nephew, in hope of cutting off the succession. the legislature was obliged, two days later, to let the press be muzzled; sanctions of individual liberty were thrown aside; and a law was passed to give rich men two votes apiece. the liberal ministry was dismissed; and its successor put all education under control of the priests, forbade cousin and guizot to lecture, and sent béranger to prison for publishing incendiary songs. louis xviii., like charles ii., left the crown to a bigoted brother, who had been taught by the jesuits to care much more for religion than human rights, or the duty of chastity; and charles x. did his utmost to make himself an absolute monarch. still worse results of assassination in the name of liberty had already been suffered in spain and italy. no people had really lost much by the overthrow of napoleon except the italians. they were learning how to love each other as fellow-citizens of one common country, and how to care more for the welfare of the people than for that of the priests. the congress of vienna restored the supremacy of the clergy, and cut up italy once more into little principalities, whose stupid and cruel despots were guided by metternich. the people were already conscious of the tie of nationality, desirous to be governed with some regard to their own welfare, and destitute of faith in the divine right of kings. few of them have been so plainly not "ordained of god" as ferdinand of naples and sicily. he had run away basely from the invaders, and been brought back to promise amnesty, and to massacre men, women, and children by thousands. no criminals but patriots were watched closely; and brigands defied the government. there was no pretence of liberty, even on the stage; and the jesuits kept literature and education down to merely nominal existence. the only refuge of freedom was among the carbonari, or members of a secret society, half a million strong. their flags of black, red, and blue were hoisted in many towns and villages on july , , when the army led the revolt. the king swore on the bible, and after hearing mass, that he would establish a constitution like the french one of , and then asked help from metternich. the latter brought the austrian, russian, and prussian monarchs together at troppau, silesia, where they agreed, on december , , to put down all rebels, especially in italy. an austrian army won a decisive victory next march over the neapolitans, whose best troops were fighting against an attempt at secession in sicily. austria took part, a month later, in suppressing a revolt which had just broken out against the petty despot nicknamed "king of sardines." his first step on his restoration, in , had been to reappoint every man who had been in office in ; and napoleon's code gave way to ancient statutes which, for instance, forbade the piedmontese to send wheat they could not use themselves to the savoyards, who were starving. he was forced to abdicate by a revolt of citizens who wanted a constitution and of soldiers who wished to free lombardy from austria. her help enabled his successor to keep the monarchy absolute; and her influence became paramount in sardinia, as elsewhere in italy. vii. the month of april, , brought an end of rebellion in italy, and the outbreak of a ferocious revolution in greece. the turkish rule was intolerant, and intentionally oppressive. exportation of food and clothing, for instance, was forbidden in hope of keeping down prices; and the result was to check production. the country was full of brigands; and the worst of wrongs were inflicted on unbelievers by the officials. priests and rulers in other lands refused to help their fellow-christians against moslem tyrants; and the famous victory won by bozzaris was over roman catholics. the new republic had only nominal authority. independent bands of patriots fought desperately; and the crescent soon gave place to the cross in the archipelago as well as in the morea, once famous as the peloponnesus; but the cause was continually disgraced by pillage, perfidy, massacre, and civil war. several millions of contributions, mainly english, were squandered by the captains. byron sacrificed his life in a vain attempt to create military discipline; and lack of any permitted the morea to be conquered in by the regular army sent over by the pasha of egypt. all resistance, north of the isthmus of corinth, was soon suppressed by the co-operation of egyptians and turks; and the islanders could do nothing better than ask help from foreigners. the only government which had thus far aided greece was the american; and congress had done much less than the people to relieve distress. an alliance between great britain, france, and russia, for preventing extermination of the greeks, was brought about by canning. the sovereigns of turkey and egypt were so obstinate that their ships were destroyed by the allied fleet at navarino, messenia, on october , . the egyptians were driven out of the morea by french soldiers; and northern greece rose against the turks with a success which secured the present boundary. the greeks were not permitted to establish a republic; but the monarchy finally became constitutional under the pressure of insurrection. viii. no nation had been less capable than the spanish of appreciating the advantage, either of a vigorous government, or of toleration, freedom of the press, political equality, and personal liberty. all the time-honoured abuses abolished by napoleon had been at once restored with the help of the populace; but nothing effective was done to suppress the insurrections which had broken out, during the war, in mexico and south america. up to that time, the indians were serfs and the negroes were slaves. all political power was monopolised by officials sent over from spain. spanish interests were protected so thoroughly that all domestic industries were crippled, and goods often cost six times as much as in europe. schools and newspapers were almost unknown; no books but religious ones could be bought; and heresy was punished pitilessly. the invasion of spain by napoleon gave opportunity for several simultaneous insurrections. that in venezuela was crushed by a great earthquake, which was accepted as a sign of divine wrath. among the leaders was bolivar, who retreated to colombia. a spanish version of paine's _rights of man_ had been circulated there, and the patriots were fighting gallantly. there were many bloody battles in venezuela and colombia; but both countries were finally made free by the battle of carabolo, won on june , , by bolivar. on july th, in that same year, the independence of peru was proclaimed by general san martin, who had liberated chili, three years previously, with an army which he led from the argentine republic across the andes by paths never used thus before. his decisive victories were won by the help of emancipated slaves. chili would have made him her ruler; but he asked only her help against the spaniards, who were concentrated in peru. there he found such disorder as led him to declare himself protector; but this made him so unpopular that he resigned his power and left the continent which he had done more than anyone else to liberate. the war went on until the hold of spain on america was broken forever by a battle fought, , feet above the sea, on december , , at ayacucho, a name given long before by indians who had fought there among themselves, and meaning "the corner of death." constitutions like that of the united states had already been proclaimed; too much power was held by bolivar and other despots; but they did not keep the people in such poverty, ignorance, and apathy as had been inflicted by spain. paraguay, however, had a tyrant who dressed himself after a caricature of napoleon, and tried to imitate his despotism, but had nothing of his genius. francia was one of carlyle's model rulers, perhaps because he allowed no elections, juries, public meetings, or newspapers, and sent everyone who talked politics to prison. men who would not take off their hats to him were cut down by his guards; and timid boys were seen running through the streets with no other article of dress. there were no imports or exports, except by special permission; and goods cost ten times as much as at buenos ayres. equality of races was sought by degrading the whites; but francia's reign had the one merit of peace. ix. intelligent spaniards were provoked at their king's failure to suppress the rebellion; and the soldiers who were called together for this purpose in had been so badly paid that they plotted with the friends of progress. a revolt broke out in the camp on the first day of ; and it was soon followed by one at madrid, where the dungeon of the inquisition was broken open. the king was forced to restore the constitution which had been framed by the patriots in , after the model of the french instrument of . the prospect of freedom in religion made the clergy and peasantry mutinous. the reactionists in france and spain found favour with the sovereigns of russia, austria, and prussia. the liberal government was overthrown in april, , by a french army. the peasants took sides with the invaders, and many patriots were massacred by the populace. absolute monarchy and other ancient iniquities were restored, but not the inquisition. france would have gone on to subdue the rebels in south america for her own benefit; but this was prevented by the british ministry, which was now showing the liberalising influence of peace. napoleon's despotism had the awful and baneful grandeur of an eruption of vesuvius; but his despicable enemies merely kept up the oppression of his empire without its glory. their work completed his, as the last of the petty emperors at rome and constantinople showed the legitimate tendency of the political system of the mighty founder. caesar and napoleon had much in common as conquerors; but it showed far more greatness to found an empire which endured for fifteen centuries, than one which held together for scarcely as many years. even that length of despotism was sadly too long for the welfare of mankind. chapter ii. fruits of peace exigencies of war had given the british nobles a despotic power, which they retained long after it ceased to be needed for the nation's safety. the king was their puppet and parliament their property. the laws were framed and administered for their protection and emolument. clergy, army, militia, and police were all organised for keeping the people down; and education could do nothing to raise the lowly. pensions and salaries, even in the church, were reserved for members and servants of the aristocracy, with little care for the public good. wages were low, food dear, illiteracy common, and paupers numerous. even the middle class was in great part disfranchised; taxation was needlessly severe; the press was restricted grievously; and ireland was shamefully oppressed. i. as public attention ceased to be absorbed by victorious generals, it turned to the miseries of the poor; and there was much discussion of plans for their relief. early in the century it became generally known that robert owen's factories were unusually profitable, on account of what he did for the intelligence, health, and happiness of the operatives. his pamphlet, published in , and often reprinted as a _new view of society_ argued strongly for universal education as the remedy for poverty and crime; public opinion was much enlightened on the continent, as well as in england; but a sagacious member of the british aristocracy said to him: "oh, i see it all! nothing could be more complete for the working-classes; but what will become of us?" owen complained in this pamphlet that sabbatarianism denied "innocent and cheerful recreation to the labouring man"; and he spoke in public of the influence of religion on progress, with a hostility which sadly injured his popularity. his life was examined with a jealousy which brought to light only its elevation. the opposition of people who thought themselves respectable drove him into agitation for what he was the first to call "socialism." he published on may , , his plan for forming villages, where the people were to work under the supervision of the eldest, and "be freely permitted to receive from the general store of the community whatever they might require." these last words contain the characteristic principle of socialism, that every labourer is to be paid according to his needs, whatever the value of the work. a dozen such experiments were made in the united states, about ; but it was found impossible to unlearn the experience of the race. progress has consisted in bringing each man's welfare into more exact proportion to the value of his work. this tendency has never safely been suspended, except under such coercion as has kept up industry and economy among monks, rappites, shakers, and other docile enthusiasts. the cooperative stores which owen was among the first to open seem to have failed because the salaries were not high enough to secure skilful managers. ii. the proof that a reformer was before his age is the fact that later years caught up with him; and this is by no means so true of owen as of bentham, who declared socialism impracticable. he was one of the first to advocate woman suffrage (_works_, vol. iii., p. ), savings banks, cheap postage, collection of statistics, direction of punishment towards reformation, and repeal of usury laws. his bulky volumes are in great part occupied with suggestions for making the courts of justice less dilatory and uncertain, less expensive to the poor, and less partial to the rich. his _principles of morals and legislation_ declared, in , that the sole end of a ruler ought to be the happiness of all the people, and that this rule should be the basis of ethics as well as politics. one of his publications in claimed the suffrage for every man and woman who could read, but insisted that this would be "worse than nothing" without that "shield to freedom," the secret ballot. an opponent who feared that this would destroy private property was answered thus: "has he ever heard of pennsylvania?" the complaint that freedom of the press to expose corrupt officials might weaken the government was met by showing that there can be no good government without it. to think our ancestors wiser than us, he says, is to take it for granted that it is not experience but inexperience that is the "mother of wisdom." bentham's best work was in sowing seed that his friends might reap the harvest. other authors were generously assisted by his manuscripts, purse, and library; and there has been no stronger advocate of reform than the _westminster review_, which he founded in . the first number showed that the whigs were too much like the tories. their leaders were noblemen or millionaires; their favourite measure, abolition of rotten boroughs, was mainly in the interest of the middle class; and their policy towards the masses was a seesaw between promising elevation and permitting oppression. this article was by james mill, who showed in a later number that any church which was established must, on that account, be bigoted. his essay _on government_ urges that the masses cannot be protected unless fully represented. they had not yet found out all they needed; but education would teach it; and occasional mistakes would not be so bad as systematic oppression. among his ablest books is a defence of the rationalism, bequeathed by the eighteenth century, against transcendentalism, which eclipsed it during the first half of the nineteenth. the inspiration of the new philosophy was added to that of many new reforms; and a glorious literature blossomed in the long summer of peace. wordsworth's fear of "too much liberty" did not prevent his encouraging intellectual independence most impressively. scott tried "to revive the declining spirit of loyalty"; but the result was universal admiration of rebels and sympathy with peasants. many authors who adapted themselves much more closely and intentionally to the needs of the age ceased long ago, for this very reason, to find readers. this, for instance, was the fate of the indefatigable cobbett. landor, on the other hand, was unpopular from the first, because devotion to greek and latin literature made his style as well as some of his favourite topics uninteresting, except for scholarly people who were soon offended by such remarks as "law in england and in most other countries is the crown of injustice. according to her laws and usages, brutus would have been hanged at newgate; cato buried with a stake through his body in the highroad; cicero transported to botany bay." "certain i am, that several of the bishops would not have patted cain upon the back while he was about to kill abel." "a peerage i consider as the park-paling of despotism." in his _imaginary conversations_, hofer and metternich, the emperors of russia and china, the kings of spain and portugal, the spanish priest, merino, and many other extraordinary personages tell how badly england was governed by "the hereditarily wise," and what a misfortune it was for all europe, to have her rulers enjoy such an intimate and universal friendship as was never known among their predecessors. no writer has spoken more mightily than byron against the "blasphemy" of ascribing divine authority to these "royal vampires." he knew that napoleon had been "the scourge of the world"; but he was indignant to see the men who had struck down the lion kneeling before wolves; and yet he looked forward to the reign everywhere of "equal rights and laws." he spoke freely of the "sacerdotal gain but general loss" in superstition; and his own highest faith was that "they who die in a great cause" would "augment the deep and sweeping thoughts which overpower all others and conduct the world at last to freedom." his poems revealed the grandeur of scenery, as well as history, and made delight in mountains and thunderstorms felt as an ennobling influence. his speeches in the house of lords were pleas for parliamentary reform, catholic emancipation, and mercy to rioters infuriated by famine. in , he was one of the leading carbonari in italy; he gave his life to help the greeks become free; and his name is still a watchword of revolution. his friend, shelley, went so far in the same direction as to call himself a republican, as well as an atheist. his life was pure in his own eyes; but his opinions about divorce were punished by a decision in chancery that he was unfit to be trusted with his own children. he had consecrated himself in boyhood to war against all oppressors; and his position to the last was that of his own prometheus, suffering continually with the enslaved, but consoled by faith that his sympathy will hasten the glorious day when every man shall be "king over himself," when women, free "from custom's evil taint," shall make earth like heaven, when "thrones, altars, judgment-seats, and prisons" shall seem as antiquated as the pyramids, and when human nature shall be "its own divine control." he took the side of the poor against the rich in a drama which was suppressed on account of its severity against george iv., and which ends with a portentous scene, where "freedom calls famine, her eternal foe, to brief alliance." he spoke as well as wrote for the independence of ireland; and he would have done much for that of greece, if he had not died soon after publishing a magnificent tragedy, in which he showed what cruel massacres were perpetrated while the rulers of christendom refused to help christian patriots against the turks. byron is called the poet of revolution; but shelley was the poet of liberty. one was like a painter who captivated the multitude, sometimes by his brilliancy of colour, sometimes by his tragic pathos, and sometimes by his amorous warmth. the other was like a sculptor who left a few statues and tablets, fanciful in design and majestic in execution, for the delight of connoisseurs. fortunately the marble is likely to outlast the canvas. iii. these poets and philanthropists helped the people of england contrast the wrongs they were suffering with the rights they ought to have. that love of liberty which drove out the stuarts revived, as despotism was seen to increase pauperism and excite more crime than it suppressed. the conflict between republicanism and monarchy in europe had changed to one between despotism and constitutionalism; and peace made england free to resume the advanced position she had held in the eighteenth century. the declaration of president monroe, in december, , that the united states would not permit the south american republics to be overthrown by any despot in europe, gained much authority from the concurrence of the british ministry; and the latter was induced by canning to form that alliance with france and russia which gave independence to greece. the attack on the slave-trade, which began while england was at peace with her neighbours, had slackened in the shadow of the long war. the wicked traffic was prohibited in ; but little more could be done before . then an appeal for emancipation in the west indies was made to parliament by wilberforce and other organised abolitionists; and the agitation went on until victory was made possible by the rescue of the house of commons from the aristocrats. the acts forbidding workingmen to combine for higher wages, or to emigrate were repealed in . the criminal laws had already been mitigated, and some protection given to children in factories; and the duties on wool and raw silk were now reduced, to the common benefit of consumer, manufacturer, and operative. the whigs were strong enough in to repeal the test act, which had been passed in , for the purpose of enabling the episcopalians to hold all the offices, but had become a dead letter so far as regarded protestants. the house of lords gave way unwillingly; and one of the bishops secured such a compromise as kept jews out of parliament for the next thirty years. conscientious scruples against taking oaths were treated at this time with due respect; and all british protestants became equals before the law. canning had already made the house of commons willing to emancipate catholics; but neither this reform nor that of abolishing rotten boroughs could pass the bench of bishops; and the church stood in the way of a plan for free public schools. it was the organised resistance of all ireland to disfranchisement of catholics which won toleration from a tory ministry. its leader, wellington, cared nothing for public opinion or the people's rights; but he was too good a general to risk a war with a united nation. even the minister whose sympathy with orangemen had won the nickname of "orange peel" declared that it was time to yield. popular prejudice against romanism had been much diminished by gratitude for the aid given by catholic allies against napoleon. the bishops rallied around the king, who had never before been influenced by what he called religion; but he was forced to sign, on april , , the bill which ended a strife that had cursed europe for three hundred years. two-thirds of the bishops resisted to the last; and the tory party was so badly divided as to be unable to prevent england from following the example set next year by france. iv. by the constitution of , the power belonged mainly to the parisian bankers, merchants, and manufacturers. these men preferred constitutional monarchy to either democracy or military despotism; but they meant to maintain their own rights; and they were much offended at the attempts of charles x. to check mental progress and revive superstition. his plans for fettering the press were voted down in the chamber of nobles; journalists prosecuted by his orders were acquitted by the courts; and he could not enforce a law under which burglars who robbed a catholic church would have mounted the guillotine. early in , he dissolved the legislature for declaring that he was not governing according to the wish of the people. the candidates next elected were two to one against him. on monday, july , appeared his ordinances forbidding publication of newspapers without his permission, unseating all the deputies just chosen, and threatening that subsequent elections would be empty formalities. the plan was like that of ; but this time the soldiers in paris were few in number and ill-supplied with provisions, while their general was not even notified of his appointment. the police allowed the journalists to spread the news throughout paris and publish a protest declaring that they would not obey the ordinances and appealing to the people for support. the leader, thiers, had already called for a king who would reign but not govern. lawyers and magistrates pronounced the ordinances illegal. printers and other employers told their men that the next day would be a holiday. on tuesday, the crowds of operatives, clerks, students, ragged men and boys could not be dispersed by the police. marmont took command of the troops that afternoon, and shot a few insurgents. that night all the street-lamps were put out; thousands of barricades went up, after plans but recently invented; and gun-shops, powder-magazines, arsenals, and even museums were broken open. on wednesday, there was a new city government in the hôtel de ville; everywhere hung the tri-coloured banner of napoleon and the republic; and the tocsin called out a hundred thousand rebels in arms. the weapons of crusaders were seen side by side with the bayonets and uniforms of the national guard, which had been revived by napoleon but disbanded by charles x. marmont's orders were to clear the streets that afternoon; but the soldiers were met everywhere by a heavy fire and a shower of paving stones and furniture. one patriotic girl was said to have sacrificed her piano. all the detachments were finally hemmed in between barricades and crowds of rebels with pikes, muskets, and bayonets. during the night they were concentrated around the tuileries, where they suffered greatly from hunger and thirst, as they had done during the day. their ammunition was almost exhausted; and new barricades were put up around them. marmont ordered that there should be no more firing, except in self-defence, and tried in vain to make truce with the rebels. the latter were joined on thursday by the regiments in the place vendôme. this position was entrusted to part of the swiss who had defended the louvre; but the others were soon driven out by men and boys who swarmed in at unguarded doors and windows. all the soldiers took flight that noon from paris. all this time the king was amusing himself at st. cloud, and boasting that there would be no concessions. he now offered to dismiss his ministry and revoke the ordinances; but more than a thousand lives had been lost. the parisians marched against him: he abdicated and fled: the bourbons had ceased to reign. the men who had fought against him called for a republic with universal suffrage and no state church; but the wealthier citizens were afraid of war with russia and austria. a descendant of louis xiii. and a friend of thiers was made king by the legislature. he called himself louis philippe, and promised cordially to carry out the constitution, which now meant freedom of the press, and equal privileges for all christian churches. the supremacy of rome in france was at an end. seats in the upper house could no longer be inherited; and the right to vote for deputies was given to twice as many frenchmen as before. patriots in all nations were encouraged; and the swiss cantons became more democratic; but hegel was frightened to death. among other results were unsuccessful revolts in rome and warsaw, with successful ones in brussels, cassell, and dresden. the subjection to holland, which had been imposed by the congress of vienna, was hated by the belgians, partly because it made education secular, and partly because it gave them only half the legislature, and very few offices elsewhere, although they formed three-fifths of the population. priests were active in stirring up the revolt which began at brussels on august , , after the performance of an opera telling how masaniello had set naples free. the dutch were driven out; belgium was made a separate constitutional monarchy by the vote of a convention of deputies; france and england helped her maintain political independence; but it was to the loss of intellectual liberty. v. the success of rebellion with the pressure of hard times enabled the whigs to carry england for parliamentary reform. peel and wellington hastened their fall by boasting that there could be no improvement of a legislature which accepted members for places without any inhabitants, but not for birmingham, leeds, manchester, or some parts of london, and which actually enabled one scotchman to elect himself as sole representative of fourteen thousand people, in a district where he was the only voter. the people were so discontented with the whole system of church and state, that thousands of sympathisers gathered around cobbett in july, , when he was tried for printing a statement that riots of farm hands were doing good in forcing the clergy to reduce their tithes. lord brougham, who had been made chancellor, was among the witnesses to the generally pacific tendency of cobbett's writings. the jury did not agree; and the government gave up the case. there was but little more political persecution of british authors. reform triumphed that autumn in the house of commons. the house of lords would then have been conquered, if the bishops had acted like successors of the apostles; but twenty-one out of twenty-three voted for prolonging their own dominion. their conduct made it unsafe for them to wear their peculiar costume in the streets. bells tolled, and newspapers put on mourning. there were riots in all the cathedral towns. a duke's castle was burned, because he insisted that the votes of his tenants were his private property, and attempts to punish the incendiaries brought bristol, one sunday, into the hands of a mob which burned the bishop's palace, the custom-house, and many other buildings. it was agreed by a meeting of a hundred thousand people at birmingham, that no more taxes should be paid until parliament was reformed; and on very many houses, especially in london, there was the following notice: "to save the collector unnecessary trouble, he is informed that no taxes on this house will be paid, until the reform bill pass into a law." it was at a meeting to encourage this course that sydney smith, who had done good service for catholic emancipation, told how vainly mrs. partington tried to sweep back the atlantic, during a great storm, and added: "be quiet and steady. you will beat mrs. partington." the episcopal partingtons continued to be even more hostile than the lay members of the house of lords; but all finally yielded to the threat that there would be new peers enough created to vote them down. a popular song made the reform bill boast that, "twenty peers shall carry me, if twenty won't, then forty will; for i 'm his majesty's bouncing bill." the throne was then filled by william iv., who reigned from to , and who gave his consent, though sometimes unwillingly, to several of the greatest reforms ever passed in england. the bill which he signed on june , , enabled members of parliament to be elected by populous districts hitherto unrepresented, instead of by little boroughs where the voters were so few as to be bought up easily, or else intimidated constantly; and the franchise was also much extended, though not outside of the middle class. thus great britain ceased to be governed by a league of irresponsible nobles, bishops, and other lords of vast estates. vi. they had kept the lower classes ignorant, in order to secure obedience; and their methods were not given up at once. newspapers had already become the chief teachers of politics; and therefore they were under a triple tax. a duty on paper added one-fourth to the cost of publication. there was also a tax of three-and-sixpence on each advertisement; and more of this lucrative business was done by the publishers in new york city than by all those in great britain. a third exaction was that of fourpence for a stamp on every copy; and prices were thus prevented from falling below seven-pence, except in case of violation of the laws. these threatened fine or imprisonment to whoever should publish or sell any periodical costing less than sixpence, and containing "news, intelligence, occurrences, and remarks and observations thereon, tending to excite hatred and contempt of the government and constitution of this country as by law established, and also to vilify religion." this purpose was avowed explicitly, in so many words, by _the poor man's guardian_, which announced that it was published "contrary to law" and would be sold for one penny. the circulation was twice that of _the times_, and the language often violent. the publisher, hetherington, was sent twice to prison for six months; and could not go about except disguised as a quaker. his papers were packed in chests of tea, by an agent who was afterwards mayor of manchester. another publisher, who devoted himself to reports of criminal trials, used to send them out in coffins. many unstamped periodicals were in circulation. some dealers carried them about in their hats and pockets. others hawked them in the streets, and declared, when sentenced to prison, that they should resume the business on the same spot as soon as they were released. paid informers and spies helped the whig government carry on more than two hundred prosecutions in , and more than five hundred previously. subscription boxes for the relief of the martyrs could be seen everywhere. remonstrances were signed and indignation meetings held in london and manchester. "the society for the repeal of all taxes on knowledge" kept up a vigorous agitation, which was aided by bulwer in parliament. at last the publishers who bought stamps found they could not compete with men who bought none. this duty, and also that on advertisements, were reduced in ; and the result was so gratifying, even to publishers of the best periodicals, that all these taxes have been abolished. protestant bigotry had not prevented unsectarian public schools from being opened in ireland in ; and that year is also memorable for the abolition of slavery in the west indies, the extension of universal suffrage in scotland, the beginning of free trade with india and china, the removal of disability for office from hindoo subjects of great britain, the protection of children from being overworked in factories, and the suppression of supernumerary bishops and rectors in ireland. during the next three years, the local government of most english towns and cities, though not yet of london, was taken from corrupt oligarchies and given to all inhabitants who paid even a moderate rent; seamen ceased to be impressed; irish catholics and english dissenters were enabled to marry without apostasy; vexatious methods of collecting tithes were abolished in england; the poor-laws were made less favourable to the increase of pauperism; and the growth of prosperity and independence among the poor was assisted by the introduction of a system of unsectarian education, in , though the bishops would have preferred that one-third of the people of england should remain illiterate. penny postage was established in , the last year when great britain was governed by the whigs. parliament was so philanthropic and tolerant as to reject repeatedly a proposal to impose heavy fines for attending secular meetings, visiting eating-houses, travelling, fishing, or hiring horses on sunday. labour, too, was to be forbidden, but not that of "menial servants." this bill would have prevented the poor from enjoying their only holiday; but there was to be no interference with the pleasures of the rich; and the fact was pointed out by a young man, whose _pickwick papers_ had just begun to appear in monthly parts. his illustrated pamphlet is entitled: _sunday as it is; as sabbath bills would make it; as it might be made_. it has been reprinted with his plays and poems. he tells how much was done for the health and happiness of london by those privileges which the sabbatarians were trying to abolish; and he shows what gain there would be in knowledge and virtue from opening all the museums and galleries sunday afternoons. the pamphlet shows that delight in the bright side of life, and that sympathy with the pleasures of the poor, which won popularity for _the pickwick papers_ in , and afterwards for _the old curiosity shop_ and the _christmas carol_. the novels most like _sunday as it is_, however, are such protests against bigotry and cruelty as _oliver twist, nicholas nickleby, and barnaby rudge_. powerful pictures of the gloom of that british sabbath which locked up everything "that could by any possibility afford relief to an overworked people," may be found in _little dorrit_; and the plot turns on the sabbatarianism of a cruel fanatic who had made felony part of her religion. much was done by this novel, as well as by _pickwick_ and _nicholas nickleby_ towards the abolition of imprisonment for debt in . his tone was very mild, compared with that of the popular orators. resistance to bad laws was urged by richard carlile; and a clergyman named taylor, who held the gospel to be a solar myth, was imprisoned on october , , for saying that the first martyrs for jesus christ were the gadarene pigs. another london lecturer declared on sunday evening, december , , that "the elective franchise should belong to women, as a part of the people," and again that "women are qualified to elect and to be elected to all public offices." "any argument for exclusion is of that kind which has justified every tyranny," says this discourse, which was printed for the first time, on may , , in an american newspaper, _the free enquirer_. its columns show that a young lady had already presented very advanced ideas as a lecturer at the rotunda in london; but the general opinion of the sex was expressed by the wife of the rev. john sandford, whose popular book declared that "there is something unfeminine in independence. a really sensible woman... is conscious of inferiority." the irish have supported themselves so successfully in america, and obeyed the laws so generally, as to prove that failure to do either in ireland should not be attributed to their race or their religion, but wholly to their oppression. memory of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was all the more bitter in the nineteenth, because the destitution of the peasantry was increasing hopelessly. removal of religious disabilities and reform of parliament did not prevent bands of armed peasants from fighting against attempts to take away their cattle in payment of the tithes exacted by well-paid dignitaries of the hated church. it sometimes happened that a dozen of the combatants were killed. sydney smith estimated that this way of keeping up a state church cost a million lives, from first to last, and ireland had to be as heavily garrisoned as india, until a less vexatious system was established in . municipal government was wholly in the hands of little corporations, which had the sole power of electing new members and seldom admitted a catholic. the ruling oligarchy was to the population as one to two hundred in limerick, and only as one to twenty-five hundred in protestant belfast. the right of local self-government was given to the people of these cities and a few others in ; but even this small and tardy justice provoked an english bishop to threaten that it would call down vengeance from god. full municipal suffrage throughout the island and a domestic parliament were demanded by all ireland, under the guidance of the mighty orator o'connell; but the prejudice against his cause in great britain was made invincible by his denouncing "the saxons," as he called the english, for the crimes of their ancestors. vii. all reforms stopped in , when the whigs lost the supremacy. it was not their fault that excess in speculation on both sides of the atlantic had brought on a panic which threw thousands of people out of work in the factory towns, and reduced other thousands to earning only twopence a day. a succession of bad harvests, just before , made wages very low on the farms, and food too dear everywhere. bread was sold in halfpenny slices; labourers robbed pigs of swill; children fought with dogs for bones in the streets; one person in every eleven was a pauper; and england seemed to dickens like one vast poorhouse. the old ways of giving charity had been so lavish and indiscriminate as to encourage pauperism; the new system of relief proved really kinder; but at first it was administered too slowly and cautiously for the emergency; and there was some ground for the complaints in _oliver twist_. knowledge that paupers were neglected strengthened the belief of the working-men, that all they needed to make them as well off as their brethren in america was the ballot. paine, cobbett, and hetherington were widely read; manhood suffrage and a secret ballot were called "the people's charter"; and there were more than a million signatures to the chartist petition in . these demands were just; but about one englishman in three was unable to write his name at this time; and many who had acquired this accomplishment knew dangerously little about politics. when we think how much mischief has recently been done in the united states by illiterate and venal votes, we cannot blame englishmen of the upper and middle classes for delaying to grant universal suffrage. they ought to have made rapid preparation for it, by liberal encouragement of popular education through free schools and a cheap press; but even the whigs were too indignant at the violence of the chartists, who made bloody riots in . how ignorant these men were was shown by their doing their worst that year to help carry the elections against the whigs, who were much less hostile to chartism than the conservatives, as those tories were called who still condescended to politics. the most culpable blunder of the whigs had been that of allowing the revenue to fall below the expenses; and the policy they had proposed for making up the deficit was too much like that halfhearted way of dealing with slavery which brought ruin upon the party of the same name in america. the british tariff was raised by the war against napoleon, as the american was under similar pressure afterwards, so high as in some cases to prohibit imports and actually check revenue. either tariff could have been used as an almost complete list of the world's products; and both were framed on the principle of protecting everybody, except consumers, against competition. great britain unfortunately could produce only part of the food needed by the people; and the tariff was so much in the interest of owners of land as to make bread and meat dearer than if the island had been barren. importation of cattle was prohibited; and that of wheat and other grain was not permitted until prices were high enough to cause famine. then importation would begin slowly, and keep increasing until the supply of both foreign- and home-grown wheat would become large enough to glut the market and make farmers bankrupt. these duties on grain, which were known as the corn laws, acted with similar taxes on all other necessaries of life in impoverishing factory hands and other members of the working class. they were told that the laws which kept living dear kept wages high; but we shall see that this turned out not to be the fact. the only real gainers by the corn laws were those wealthy owners of great estates of whom parliament was composed entirely, with the exception of a few members of the house of commons. that body allowed manchester and other factory towns to send representatives who had found out the tendency of protectionism from their own business experience, as well as from study of political economy. among these men was cobden, who had already planted himself in the road to wealth, but who preferred to remain poor that he might make england rich. he and his associates knew that imports are paid for by exporting what can be produced most profitably; that nothing is imported which could be produced as cheaply at home; that large imports make large exports; that the average englishman knows how to carry on his own business; and that the government could not encourage any otherwise unprofitable industry without checking the really profitable ones. on these facts were based the following predictions. in the first place, free trade in grain and cattle would lower the average price of food in england, and make the supply so regular that there would be no more famines. second, those countries which were allowed to send grain and cattle, cotton and other raw materials, etc., to england would buy british manufactures in return. third, removal of duties from raw materials would enable factories to produce goods more cheaply, and sell larger quantities at home as well as abroad. then, fourth, this increased activity in manufacturing would raise wages, while remission of duties would make all the necessaries of life cheaper, so that pauperism would diminish and prosperity become more general in the working class. and finally, the commerce of england with other countries would grow rapidly to their mutual benefit; and thus international relations would be kept friendly by free trade. in this faith the reformers at manchester and birmingham asserted the right of all men to buy and sell freely, and demanded the removal of all duties except those best adapted to bring in necessary revenue. they were wise enough to attack the monstrous tariff at its weakest point, the tax on bread. the anti-corn-law league was organised in ; the spot where the peterloo massacre had been perpetrated, twenty years before, was soon used for a free trade banquet in which five thousand working-men took part; and appeals to the people were made in all parts of england. the conservatives were all protectionists; and so many whigs were on that side that those leaders who were opposed to the bread tax did not dare to come out against it. they did propose in to meet the deficit in the revenue by reducing some duties which were so high as to prevent importation, for instance, the tax on all sugar not grown in british colonies. the protectionist whigs voted with the conservatives against the ministry; and it had to go out of office without having done enough against the corn laws to secure the support of the league. protectionists, chartists, and opponents of the new poor-law helped to give the conservatives control of the next parliament, where the free-traders were one to four. such was the state of things in october, , when the league went to work more vigorously than before in educating the people, and especially voters of the poorer class. during the next twelve months, half a million dollars was spent in this work. in , there were fourteen regular lecturers in the field, besides countless volunteers, and five hundred distributors of tracts. the annual number of publications was about ten million copies; and the annual weight exceeded a hundred tons. the dissenting ministers did good work for reform; but the episcopalian clergy were too friendly to a tax which kept up the value of tithes. the league soon had the support of john bright, who was one of the greatest of british orators. prominent among opponents was the chartist leader, feargus o'connor; and those chartists who were not protectionists held that their cause ought to take the lead. public opinion was so strongly for free trade in that parliament took off the duties from cotton and other raw materials, in hope of conciliating the manufacturers; but these latter redoubled their efforts to abolish the tax on food. subscriptions were larger than ever; and much land was bought by free-traders who wished to qualify themselves as voters for members of the next parliament, which would have to be elected in or before . reform seemed still distant, when shelley's prophecy was fulfilled. freedom's eternal foe, famine, came suddenly to her help. dearness of wheat and meat had obliged half of the irish and many of the english to live entirely on potatoes. wages were often paid in ireland by loan of land for raising this crop. the rot which began in august, , soon became so destructive that peel, who was then prime minister, proposed in october that grain should be made free of duty. wellington and other members of the cabinet demurred; and the question had to be submitted to parliament. disraeli insisted to the last on keeping up the tariff; but famine was increasing; and both houses finally agreed, after long debate, to accept peel's proposal, that not only the duties on food and raw materials, but most of the others, should be either reduced or abolished. his conservatism did not keep him from seeing that the whole system of protecting home industries must stand or fall together. prominent among obstructionists were the bishops. the house of lords did not agree before june , , to the reform which had been accepted on may th by the house of commons, and which was publicly acknowledged by wellington to be inevitable. such was the exasperation of the protectionists that they helped the opponents, of coercion in ireland to drive peel out of office, by a vote which was taken in the house of commons on the very day when his plan of tariff reform gained that victory in the house of lords which made free trade for ever the system of great britain. about one-half of the import duties are now levied on tobacco, one-fourth more on wine and strong drink; and most of the rest on tea and other groceries. duties on articles which could be produced in great britain are offset by internal-revenue taxes. no monopoly is given to farm or factory; no necessary article is made too dear for the poor; and there are no needless violations of the right of the labourer to spend his wages in the best market. this reform made the relief of ireland possible, though the loss of life was terrible. never again has england been so near to a famine as in . food is now so plenty that five times as much sugar is used in proportion to population as in , and more than twice as much butter and eggs. this does not mean that the millionaire eats five times as much sugar, or twice as many eggs, as before, but that poor people can now buy freely what formerly were almost unattainable luxuries. the proportion of money in savings banks in england and wales has doubled; and that of paupers sank from in in to in in . wages have risen fifty per cent., while other prices have fallen; and british workmen are better off than any others in europe. the annual value of english exports declined steadily from to ; but it is now four times as great as in the latter year; and it is more than twice as large in proportion to population as in those highly protected countries, the united states and france. low tariffs also enable belgium to export nearly three times as much for each inhabitant as france, and new south wales to export five times as much as the united states. large exports do not depend on density of population but on ability to import freely. readiness of any country to buy freely of her neighbours keeps them able and willing to buy whatever she has to sell. free trade has given great britain, new south wales, and belgium their choice of the world's markets. great britain has also been enabled to keep up much more friendly relations with the rest of europe than would otherwise have been the case. liberty of commerce has helped her enjoy peace; and peace has preserved free institutions. the reforms which culminated in free trade showed englishmen that they could right any wrong without resort to violence. the attempt of the chartists to overawe parliament in was seen to be inexcusable; and it failed ridiculously. never since then has insurrection in england been even possible. the atmosphere of thought has been so quiet that suffrage was greatly extended in , and made practically universal in . voters gained the protection of a secret ballot in ; and municipal self-government was given in to every part of england where it had not already been established. no wonder that there is little of the revolutionary ardor of shelley and byron in tennyson, browning, and other recent poets. they have delighted in progress; but they have seen that it must come through such peaceable changes in public opinion, and then in legislation, as are caused by free discussion. the benign influence of peace has enabled them to display such brilliancy as had not been seen in england for more than two hundred years. no other writers ever paid so much attention to public health and the general happiness. the ablest thought of the century has been devoted to enriching human life, and not to destroying it. this has enabled science to make unprecedented progress. a new period of intellectual history has been opened by spencer and darwin. viii. prominent among reformers who had no wish for revolution, and no respect for science, were dickens and carlyle. the latter's ("former's" ed.) aversion to political economy as "the dismal science" was echoed in the pages of _hard times_; and the absence of any reference in _dombey and son_ to the great movement against the corn laws is characteristic of a novelist whose _pickwick papers_ made fun of scientific investigation. what was there called the "tittlebat" is really that nest-building fish, the stickleback. passages ridiculing the use of statistics might be quoted at great length from both authors. dickens had too much sympathy with paupers, especially those who suffered under the poor-law of ; and carlyle had much too little. they agreed in opposition to model prisons and other new forms of philanthropy. perhaps it was mainly the habit of indiscriminate ridicule which suggested such caricatures as mrs. jellaby and mrs. pardiggle. carlyle's belief that abolitionism was "an alarming devil's gospel" and his denunciation of "the sugary, disastrous jargon of philanthropy" were legitimate results of idolatry of what he called "early, earnest times," namely the dark ages. his sympathy with mediaeval methods was so narrow that he spoke of a poet of weak health and high culture, whom he saw suffering under a sentence of two years in a pestilential prison, forbidden books or writing materials, kept most of the time alone and on bread and water, but guilty of nothing worse than a chartist speech, as "master of his own time and spiritual resources to, as i supposed, a really enviable extent." dickens shows much more appreciation of the real superiority of modern times, though personal disappointments, during his visit to america, prevented him from acknowledging the merits of democracy. carlyle's reverence for the early hebrews and other primitive barbarians made him present hero-worship as the only secure corner-stone of politics. his receipt for a perfect government is this: "find in any country the ablest man that exists there; raise him to the supreme place; and loyally reverence him." "such a government is not to be improved by voting or debating." "neither except in obedience to the heaven-chosen is freedom so much as conceivable." this theory showed its own absurdity in prompting eulogies on francia and other despots; but carlyle's apologies for cromwell were of some service to the cause of liberty fifty years ago, when england had forgotten to honour the champions of the long parliament. dickens thought more about the asceticism than the independence of the puritans. he and carlyle have dispelled some of the prejudices against the heroes of the first republic; but they perpetuated others. carlyle's best work was in encouraging the readers of his first books to think for themselves. the power of dickens to call out sympathy with the unfortunate will never cease to bless mankind. as much pity for the outcast has been shown by his great rival, victor hugo, and even more fellow-feeling with the oppressed. the spirit which has made france free animates all his writings, especially those grand poems which were called out by the usurpation of louis napoleon bonaparte. his early dramas dealt so vigorously with royal weakness and vice that _marion de lorme_ was suppressed by charles x. and _le roi s'amuse_ by louis philippe. the work which has made him best known, and which appeared in in nine languages, is a plea for mercy to criminals, or in his own words, to "the miserable." the chief aim is to show "the oppression of laws," and the mistake of aiding the tyranny of the police by thinking too severely of the fallen. he finds an opportunity to introduce an enthusiastic panegyric on the victories of napoleon, closing with the question: "what could be more grand?" "to be free," is the reply. full justice to the french revolution is done by that most dramatic of novels, _ninety-three_. here he says: "the agony of the nations ended with the fall of the bastile." "perhaps the convention is the culmination of history." "it declared poverty and disability sacred." "it branded the slave-trade, and freed the blacks." "it decreed gratuitous education." "the object of two-thirds of its decrees was philanthropic." such facts are all the more worthy of mention, because they were omitted by carlyle. supplement to chapter ii i. thomas carlyle's prejudice against democracy was strengthened by the failure of the revolutions of . constitutional monarchy was as hostile to reform in france as it was friendly in england. only one frenchman in thirty could vote; and the legislature cared nothing for public opinion. louis philippe was hated for habitual dishonesty. there had been several attempts at regicide and some bloody revolts. one of the latter gave a basis from history for victor hugo's _misérables_. restrictions on the press and on public meetings increased the unwillingness of the working-men at paris to be governed by the rich. socialism was popular, and employment insufficient. the prohibition of a reform banquet caused barricades to be thrown up on february d in paris. the militia took sides with the populace; the king fled to england; and all france accepted the republic, which was proclaimed on february th. slavery had been reestablished in the colonies by napoleon; but it was now abolished; and so was capital punishment for political offences. the example of paris was followed in march by successful insurrections at berlin, vienna, and other german cities, as well as in lombardy and venice. home rule was demanded by hungary and bohemia, and constitutional governments were soon established there as well as in austria, prussia, and other german states, and in every part of italy. the king of sardinia took the lead in a war for driving back the austrians across the alps. co-operation of french, german, hungarian, and italian patriots might have made all these countries permanently free. such a union would have been difficult on account of international jealousies; and it was made impossible by the socialists at paris. scarcely had a provisional government been set up, when recognition of "the right of employment" was demanded by a workman, who came musket in hand, and was supported by a multitude of armed artisans. they extorted a decree which promised every citizen work enough for his support. a ten-hour law was passed. co-operative factories were started with aid from the city authorities, and had some success. opening national workshops was not advised by leading socialists; but it was considered necessary by some of the ministry in order to keep the unemployed from revolt. every applicant drew money constantly, even if not at work. what little labour was actually performed was done so lazily, and paid so highly, that the number of men soon rose to , . the expenses became enormous; and the tax-payers insisted that they too had rights. in order to be able to employ all the labourers a government would have to own all the property; and it would also have to be strong enough to enforce industry. even victor hugo admitted that the experiment had failed. the national assembly, of which he was a member, notified the men in the shops that they must enlist in the army, or go to work at a safe distance from paris on state pay, or look out for themselves. they rose in arms against the republic, and took possession of nearly one-half of the city on june , . "bread or lead" was the motto on their red flags; and two of their terrible barricades are described at the beginning of the last part of _les misérables_. they held out against regular troops and cannon during four days of such fighting as had never been seen before in paris. more frenchmen are supposed to have fallen than in any of napoleon's battles. two thousand of the soldiers were slain; but no one knows how many times that number of insurgents perished in the fight or in penal colonies. thenceforth the french government was much more desirous to repress insurrection at home than to sustain it abroad. louis napoleon bonaparte was elected president that same year, partly on account of his name, and partly on account of his promise that he would defend the right of private property against socialism. austrian generals of the rough and reckless type which carlyle loved forced lombardy and bohemia back into the empire, and restored absolute monarchy at vienna, while the king of sardinia was obliged to abdicate after such a defeat in march, , as almost extinguished liberty in italy. venice alone held out against them under that purest of patriots, manin, and suffered terribly during a siege of twenty-one weeks. hungary was subdued that summer with the aid of russia. france did nothing except to revive the papal despotism at rome. mazzini's republic was crushed by that which had a bonaparte for president. his power had been increased by the disfranchisement of several million french voters of the poorer class. his promise to restore universal suffrage joined with memory of the massacres of june, , in preventing much resistance to his usurpation of absolute power on december , . there was a monstrous vote, next november, for an empire, where the centralisation of administration was complete, and the legislature merely ornamental. thus the liberation of europe was prevented, partly by race prejudices, but mainly by attempts to benefit the poor by overtaxing the rich. france and hungary were left with less political liberty than before; and italy gained very little; but some of the constitutional freedom acquired in was retained in prussia and other parts of western germany. ii. it was contrary to the general tendency of wars, that those of the latter half of the century aided the growth of free institutions in italy. an honoured place among nations was given by the crimean war to sardinia. then her patriotic statesman, cavour, persuaded napoleon iii. to help him rescue lombardy from austria. garibaldi took the opportunity to liberate naples; and victor emanuel made himself king over all italy except rome and venice. the latter city also was brought under a constitutional and friendly government by a third great war, which made the king of prussia and his successors emperors of germany, while austria was compelled to grant home rule to hungary. the liberation and secularisation of italy were completed in by the expulsion from rome of the french garrison. the emperor had lost his throne by waging war wantonly against a united germany. iii. the third republic was soon obliged to fight for her life against the same enemy which had wounded her sister mortally. socialism was still the religion of the working-men of paris, who now formed the majority of the national guard. indignation at the failure of the new government to repulse the prussians led, on march , , to the capture of all paris by what was avowedly the revolution of the workmen against the shopkeepers, "in the name of the rights of labour," for "the suppression of all monopolies," "the reign of labour instead of capital," and "the emancipation of the worker by himself." this was in harmony with the teaching of the international working-men's association, which endorsed the insurrection fully and formally, and which held with karl marx that wealth is produced entirely by labour and belongs only to the working class. socialists were active in the rebellion; but property-holders in paris took no part; and all the rest of france took sides with the government. what professed to be the rising of the many against the few turned out to be that of the few against the many. impressment was necessary for manning the barricades, and pillage for raising money. the general closing of stores, factories, and offices showed that capital had been frightened away by the red flag. one of the last decrees of its defenders was, "destroy all factories employing more than fifteen workers. this monopoly crushes the artisan." this spirit would have caused the confiscation of the funds of the national bank, if the managers had not said: "if you do that, you will turn the money your own comrades have in their pockets to waste paper." the priceless pictures and statues in the louvre were condemned to destruction because they represented "gods, kings, and priests." millions of dollars worth of works of art perished in company with docks, libraries, and public buildings; but this vandalism, like the massacre of prisoners, was largely the work of professional criminals. the capture of paris, late in may, was accompanied with pitiless slaughter of the rebels, though many lives were saved by victor hugo. since then the french republic has been able to keep down not only the socialists but the bonapartists and royalists. it has also succeeded, with the help of writers like renan, in checking the ambition of the clergy. continuance of peace in europe has assisted the growth of local self-government in france, and also in germany. the famous prussian victories seem, however, to have increased the power of the german emperor; and there is still danger that the growth of standing armies may check that of free institutions. chapter iii. democrats and garrisonians i. the fall of the english aristocracy was hastened by the success of democracy in america. nowhere were the masses more willing to obey the law; and nowhere else were they so intelligent and prosperous. the gains of the many made the country rich; territory and population increased rapidly; and britannia found a dangerous competitor on every sea. political liberty and equality were secured by the almost uninterrupted supremacy of the democratic party from to . twelve presidential elections out of fifteen were carried by jefferson and his successors; and the congress whose term began in was the only one out of the thirty in which both houses were anti-democratic. political equality was increased in state after state by dispensing with property qualifications for voting or holding office. jefferson and his successor, madison, refused to appoint days for fasting and giving thanks, or grant any other special privileges to those citizens who held favoured views about religion. congress after congress refused to appoint chaplains; so did some of the states; and a national law, still in force, for opening the post-offices on every day of the week, was passed in . many attempts were made by sabbatarians to stop the mails; but the senate voted in , that "our government is a civil, and not a religious institution"; and the lower house denied next year that the majority has "any authority over the minority except in matters which regard the conduct of man to his fellow-man." the opposition made by the federalists to the establishment of religious equality in connecticut, in , increased the odium which they had incurred by not supporting the war against great britain. four years later, the party was practically extinct; and the disestablishment of congregationalism as the state church of massachusetts, in , was accomplished easily. the northern states were already so strong in congress that they might have prevented missouri from entering the union that year without any pledge to emancipate her slaves. the sin of extending the area of bondage so far northwards was scarcely palliated by the other conditions of the compromise. the admission of maine gave her citizens no privileges beyond what they had previously as citizens of massachusetts; and the pledge that slavery should not again be extended north of latitude thirty-six, thirty, proved worthless. the north was so far from being united in that it was not even able to raise the tariff. new york, pennsylvania, and ohio wished to exclude foreign competition in manufacturing; but the embargo was too recent for new england to forget the evils of restricting commerce. the salem merchants petitioned for "free trade" "as the sure foundation of national prosperity"; and the solid men of boston declared with webster that "a system of bounties and protection" "would have a tendency to diminish the industry, impede the prosperity, and corrupt the morals of the people." ii. the dark age of american literature had ended in . before that date there were few able books except about theology; and there were not many during the next sixty years except about politics. the works of franklin, jefferson, and other statesmen were more useful than brilliant. sydney smith was not far wrong in , when he complained in the _edinburgh review_ that the americans "have done absolutely nothing for the sciences, for art, for literature." he went on to ask, "in the four quarters of the globe, who reads an american book?" his question was answered that same year by the publication in london of irving's _rip van winkle_ and _legend of sleepy hoi-low_. bryant's first volume of poems appeared next year, as did cooper's popular novel, _the spy_; and the _north american review_ had begun half a dozen years before. but even in , channing could not claim that there really was any national literature, or much devotion of intellectual labour to great subjects. "shall america," he asked, "be only an echo of what is thought and written in the aristocracies beyond the ocean?" this was published during the very year in which president monroe declared that the people of the united states would look upon attempts of european monarchs "to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and liberty." channing was much interested in the study of german philosophy; but he rested his "chief hopes of an improved literature," on "an improved religion." he maintained that no man could unfold his highest powers until he had risen above "the prevalent theology, which has come down to us from the dark ages," and which was then "arrayed against intellect, leagued with oppression, fettering inquiry, and incapable of being blended with the sacred dictates of reason and conscience." unitarianism claimed for every individual, what protestantism had at most asked for the congregation,--the right to think for one's self. this right was won earlier in europe than in america, for here the clergy kept much of their original authority and popularity. their influence over politics collapsed with federalism. on all other subjects they were still listened to as "stewards of the mysteries of god," who had been taught all things by the holy spirit, and were under a divine call to preach the truth necessary for salvation. the clergyman was supposed to have acquired by his ordination a peculiar knowledge of all the rights and duties of human life. no one else, however wise and philanthropic, could speak with such authority about what books might be read and what amusements should be shunned. scientific habits of thought, free inquiry about religion, and scholarly study of the bible were put under the same ban with dancing, card-playing, reading novels, and travelling on sunday. the pulpit blocked the path of intellectual progress. its influence on literature was wholly changed by the unitarian controversy, which was at its height in . still more beneficial controversies followed. the trinitarian clergymen tried to retain their imperilled supremacy by getting up revivals. one of these, in the summer of , was carried so far at cincinnati that many a woman lost her reason or her life. these excesses confirmed the anti-clerical suspicions of frances wright, who had come over from england to study the negro character, and had failed, after much labour and expense, to find the slaves she bought for the purpose capable of working out their freedom. she had made up her mind that slavery is only one of many evils caused by ignorance of the duties of man to man, that these duties needed to be studied scientifically, and that scientific study, especially among women, was dangerously impeded by the pulpit. that autumn she delivered the first course of public lectures ever given by a woman in america. anne hutchinson and other women had preached; but she was the first lecturer. the men and women of cincinnati crowded to hear the tall, majestic woman, who stood in the court-house, plainly dressed in white. her style was ladylike throughout; but she complained of the many millions wasted on mere teachers of opinions, whose occupation was to set people by the ears, and whose influence was stifling the breath of science. "listen," she said, "to the denunciations of fanaticism against pleasures the most innocent, recreations the most necessary to bodily health." "see it make of the people's day of leisure a day of penance." her main theme was the necessity of establishing schools to teach children trades, and also halls of science with museums and public libraries. this course was repeated in baltimore, philadelphia, new york, boston, and other cities. her audiences were always large, but she charged no admission fee. what were called "fanny wright societies" were formed in many places. a baptist church in new york city was turned into a hall of science, which remained open for three years, beginning with the last sunday of april, . it contained a hall for scientific lectures and theological discussions, a free dispensary, a gymnasium, and a bookstore. here was published _the free enquirer_, the only paper in america which permitted the infallibility of christianity to be called in question. the principal editor, robert dale owen, son of the famous socialist, claimed to have twenty thousand adherents in that city, and a controlling influence in buffalo. celebrations of paine's birthday were now frequent. it was fortunate for the clergy that controversies about religion soon lost their interest in the fierce struggle about politics. iii. the fame won by jackson as a conqueror of british invaders in , blinded americans to a fact which had been made manifest by both napoleon and wellington, as it is said to have been still more recently by grant. the habit of commanding an army has a tendency to create scorn of public opinion, and also of those restrictions on arbitrary authority which are necessary for popular government, as well as for individual liberty. jackson had the additional defect of holding slaves; and it is probable that if he had never done so, nor even had soldiers under his orders, he would have been sadly indifferent to the rights of his fellow-citizens and to the principles of free government. he was elected in , and proved enough of a democrat to renounce the policy, which had recently become popular, of making local improvements at the national expense; but he was the first president who dismissed experienced officials, in order to appoint his own partisans without inquiry as to their capacity to serve the nation. he was especially arbitrary about a problem not yet fully solved, namely, what the government should do with the banks. the public money was then deposited in a national bank whose constitutionality was admitted by the supreme court. its stock was at a premium and its notes at par in ; and it had five hundred officials in various states. jackson thought it had opposed his election; and he suggested that the public money should be removed to the custody of a branch of the treasury, to be established for that purpose. the plan has since been adopted; but his friends were too much interested in rival banks, and his opponents thought only of preventing his re-election in . they could not, however, prevent his obtaining a great majority as "the poor man's champion." the bank had spent vast sums in publishing campaign documents, and even in bribery; and jackson suspected that it would try to buy a new charter. he decided, with no sanction from congress, and against the advice of his own cabinet, that the public money already in the bank should be drawn out as fast as it could be spent, and that no more should be deposited there. he removed the secretary of the treasury for refusing to carry out this plan; and obliged his successor to set about it before he was confirmed by the senate. to all remonstrances he replied, "i take the responsibility"; and he met the vote of the senators, that he was assuming an authority not conferred by the constitution, by boasting that he was "the direct representative of the american people." webster replied that this would reduce the government to an elective monarchy; and the opponents to what they called jackson's toryism agreed to call themselves whigs. their leader was henry clay; and they believed, like the federalists, in centralisation, internal improvements, and protective tariffs. jackson was sustained by the democrats; but their quarrel with the whigs prevented congress from providing any safe place for the public money. it was loaned to some of the state banks; and all these institutions were encouraged to increase their liabilities enormously. speculation was active and prices high. that of wheat in particular rose so much after the bad harvest of that there was a bread riot in new york city. scarcely had jackson closed his eight years of service, in , when the failure of a business firm in new orleans brought on so many others that all the banks suspended payment. prices of merchandise fell so suddenly as to make the dealers bankrupt; many thousand men were thrown out of employment; and so much public money was lost that there was a deficit in the treasury, where there had been a surplus. iv. these bad results of jackson's administration strengthened the whigs. they had not ventured to make protectionism the main issue in ; and clay had acknowledged that all the leading newspapers and magazines were against it in . its adoption that year was by close votes, and in spite of webster's insisting that american manufactures were growing rapidly without any unnatural restrictions on commerce. the duties were raised in to nearly five times their average height in ; and there was so much discontent at the south, that some slight reductions had to be made in the summer of ; but the protectionist purpose was still predominant. if the opponents of all taxation except for revenue had done nothing more than appeal to the people that autumn, they would have had congress with them; jackson was already on their side; and the question might have been decided on its merits after full discussion. the threat of south carolina to secede caused the reduction, which was actually made in , to appear too much like a concession made merely to avoid civil war; and this second attempt to preserve the union by a compromise was a premium upon disloyalty. this bargain, like that of , was arranged by henry clay; and one condition was that the rates should fall gradually to a maximum of twenty per cent. before that process was completed, the treasury was exhausted by bad management; and additional revenue had to be obtained by raising the tariff in . the whigs were then in power; but they were defeated in the presidential election of , when the main issue was protectionism. the tariff was reduced in by a much larger majority than that of in the house of representatives; and the results were so satisfactory that a further reduction to an average of twenty per cent, was made in , with the general approval of members of both parties. the revenue needed for war had to be procured by increase of taxation in ; but the country had then had for twenty-eight years an almost uninterrupted succession of low tariffs. the universal prosperity in america between and is mentioned by a french traveller, chevalier, by a german philanthropist, dr. julius, by miss martineau, lyell, and dickens. the novelist was especially struck by the healthy faces and neat dresses of the factory girls at lowell, where they began to publish a magazine in . lyell said that the operatives in that city looked like "a set of ladies and gentlemen playing at factory for their own amusement." our country had seven times as many miles of railroads in as in ; our factories made more than nine times as many dollars' worth of goods in as in ; and they sold more than three times as many abroad as in . twice as much capital was invested in manufacturing in as in ; the average wages of the operatives increased sixteen per cent, during these ten years; america became famous for inventions; her farms doubled in value, as did both her imports and her exports; and the tonnage of her vessels increased greatly. such are the blessings of liberty in commerce. especially gratifying is the growth of respect for the right of free speech. the complaints by dickens, chevalier, and miss martineau of the despotism of the majority were corroborated by tocqueville, who travelled here in and published in a very valuable statement of the results and tendencies of democracy. the destruction that year of a catholic convent near boston by a mob is especially significant, because the anniversary was celebrated next year as a public holiday. the worst sufferers under persecution at that time were the philanthropists. v. in order to do justice to all parties in this controversy we should take especial notice of the amount of opposition to slavery about in what were afterwards called the border states. here all manual labour could have been done by whites; and much of it was actually, especially in kentucky. there slaves never formed a quarter of the population; and in maryland they sank steadily from one-fourth in to one-eighth in . of masters over twenty or more bondmen in , there were only in kentucky and in maryland. it was these large holders who monopolised the profits, as they did the public offices. white men with few or no slaves had scarcely any political power; and their chance to make money, live comfortably, and educate their children, was much less than if all labour had become free. such a change would have made manufacturing prosper in both kentucky and maryland; but all industries languished except that of breeding slaves for the south. the few were rich at the expense of the many. only time was needed in these and other states to make the majority intelligent enough to vote the guilty aristocrats down. two thousand citizens of baltimore petitioned against admitting missouri as a slave state in ; and several avowed abolitionists ran for the legislature shortly before . at this time there were annual anti-slavery conventions in baltimore, with prominent whigs among the officers, and nearly two hundred affiliated societies in the border states. there were fifty in north carolina, where two thousand slaves had been freed in , and three-fifths of the whites were reported as favourable to emancipation. henry clay was openly so in ; and the kentucky colonisation society voted in that the disposition towards voluntary emancipation was strong enough to make legislation unnecessary. the abolition of slavery as "the greatest curse that god in his wrath ever inflicted upon a people" was demanded by a dozen members of the virginia legislature, as well as by the _richmond inquirer_, in ; and similar efforts were made shortly before in kentucky, delaware, maryland, western virginia, western north carolina, eastern tennessee, and missouri. from to the senate was equally divided between free and slave states; and any transfer, even of delaware, from one side to the other would have enabled the north to control the upper house as well as the lower. the plain duty of a northern philanthropist was to co-operate with the southern emancipationists and accept patiently their opinion that abolition had better take place gradually, as it had done in new york, and, what was much more important, that the owner should have compensation. this had been urged by wilberforce in , as justice to the planters in the west indies; the legislatures of ohio, pennsylvania, and new. jersey recommended, shortly before , that the nation should buy and free the slaves; and compensation was actually given by congress to loyal owners of the three thousand slaves in the district of columbia emancipated in . who can tell the evils which we should have escaped, if slavery could have continued after to be abolished gradually by state after state, with pecuniary aid from congress or the north? this was the hope of benjamin lundy, who passed much of his life in the south, though he was born in new jersey. he had advocated gradual emancipation in nearly every state, visiting even texas and missouri, organising anti-slavery societies, and taking subscriptions to his _genius of universal emancipation_, which was founded in tennessee in , but afterwards was issued weekly at baltimore. he published the names of nine postmasters among his agents, and copied friendly articles from more than forty newspapers. one of his chief objects was to prevent that great extension of slavery, the annexation of texas. vi. the election of the first pro-slavery president, jackson, in , discouraged the abolitionists; and lundy was obliged to suspend his paper for lack of subscribers early next year. when he resumed it in september, he took an assistant editor, who had declared on the previous fourth of july, in a fashionable boston church: "i acknowledge that immediate and complete emancipation is not desirable. no rational man cherishes so wild a vision." before garrison set foot on slave soil, it occurred to him that every slave had a right to instant freedom, and also that no master had any right to compensation. these two ideas he advocated at once, and ever after, as obstinately as george the third insisted on the right to tax america. garrison, of course, was a zealous philanthropist; and he was as conscientious as paul was in persecuting the christians. but he seems to have been more anxious to free his own conscience than to free the slaves. immediate emancipation had been advocated in lundy's paper at much length, and even as early as , but so mildly as to call out little opposition. insisting on no compensation was much more irritating; and garrison's writings show that his mind was apt to free itself in bitter words, even against such men as whittier, channing, longfellow, douglass, and sumner. he had been but three months in baltimore when he published a censure by name of the owner and captain of one of the many vessels which were permitted by law to carry slaves south, as "highway robbers and murderers," who "should be sentenced to solitary confinement for life," and who deserved "to occupy the lowest depths of perdition." he was found guilty of libel, and imprisoned for seven weeks because he could not pay a moderate fine. the money was given by a generous new yorker; but garrison's work in the south was over, and lundy's was of little value thenceforth. the man who brought the libel suit was an influential citizen of massachusetts; and boston pulpits were shut against garrison on his return. he could not pay for a hall; but one was given him without cost by the anti-clerical society, whose leader, abner knee-land, was imprisoned thirty days in for a brief expression of atheism which would not now be considered blasphemous. two weeklies, which were unpopular from the first, began to be published at boston early in . kneeland's _investigator_ was pledged "to contend for the abolition of slavery" and "advocate the rights of women." it was friendly to labour reform as well as to scientific education, and opposed capital punishment, imprisonment for debt, and legislation about religion; but its predominant tone has been skeptical to the present day. garrison was too orthodox in to favour the emancipation of women; he was in sympathy with other reforms; but his chief theme was the "pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition." the next mistake of his _liberator_ was the prominence given to negro insurrection and other crimes against whites. the southerners were naturally afraid to have such subjects mentioned, even in condemnation; and guilty consciences made slave-holders think the danger much greater than it was. the first number of the _liberator_ contained garrison's verses about the horrors of the revolt which might bring emancipation. he announced at the same time that he was going to review a recent pamphlet which he described thus: "a better promoter of insurrection was never sent forth to an oppressed people." his contributors spoke often of the right of slaves to resist, and asked, "in god's name, why should they not cut their masters' throats?" many women and children were massacred by rebel slaves in virginia that autumn; and garrison promptly declared that the assassins "deserve no more blame than our fathers did for slaughtering the british," and that "when the contest shall have again begun, it must again be a war of extermination." similar language was often used in the _liberator_ afterwards. garrison was too firm a non-resistant to go further than this; but the majority of northerners would have agreed with the reverend doctor wayland, president of brown university, who declared slavery "very wicked," but declined to have the _liberator_ sent him, and wrote to mr. garrison that its tendency was to incite the slaves to rebellion. of course this was not the editor's intention; but history deals mainly with causes and results. the consequences were especially bad at the south. calhoun and other democrats were striving to unite all her people in resistance to emancipation, as well as to protectionism. they appealed to the insurrection in , and to the treatment of this subject in the _liberator_, as proofs that abolitionism was incendiary; and the feeling was so intense in georgia, that the governor was authorised by the legislature, before the end of , to offer five thousand dollars for the head of the editor or of any of his agents in that state. southerners were generally provoked at such comparisons of slave-holders to thieves as were often made in the _liberator_ and were incorporated into the formal declaration made by garrison and the other founders of the new england anti-slavery society at boston early in . planters friendly to emancipation were discouraged by garrison's insisting that they ought not to have compensation, an opinion which was adopted by the american anti-slavery society at its organisation at philadelphia in . such protests on moral grounds were of great use to politicians who opposed any grant of money for emancipation, because they wished to preserve slavery. the national constitution provided that emancipation should not take place in any state which did not give its consent; and this was much less attainable in than it had been ten years earlier. so fierce was the hatred of anti-slavery periodicals, that many pounds of them were taken from the charleston post-office and burned by the leading citizens in july, ; and this action was praised by a public meeting, which was attended by all the clergy. the papers were printed in new york, and do not seem to have been destroyed on account of their own mistakes, but of those made by the liberator. southern postmasters refused after this to deliver any anti-slavery matter; and their conduct was approved by the postmaster-general, as well as by the president. the legislatures of north carolina and virginia demanded, in the session of and , that all such publications be suppressed legally by the northern states. south carolina, georgia, and alabama took the same course; and it was agreed everywhere that abolitionists were to be lynched. loyalty to slavery was required of all preachers and editors; no other qualification for every office, in the service either of the nation or of the state, was exacted so strictly; other controversies lost interest; and men who would have gained greatly from the introduction of free labour helped the slave-holders silence those intelligent southerners who knew what urgent need there was in their section of emancipation for the general welfare. garrison, meantime, made both friends and enemies at the north. he had the support of nearly four hundred anti-slavery societies in ; but some of these had been founded in ohio by lundy on the principle of gradual emancipation, and others in new york by jay, whose main objects were repeal of the fugitive slave act and emancipation in the district of columbia. agitation for immediate abolition without compensation was nowhere active at that time, except in new england. the highest estimate of its partisans in was only two hundred thousand; most of them had already renounced the leadership of garrison; and there is no reason to believe that the number of his thorough going followers ever reached one hundred thousand. most of the original abolitionists were church members; and the agitation was never opposed, even at first, by so large a proportion of the clergy at the north as of the people generally. several ministers joined garrison at once; enrolled their names for publication as abolitionists in ; and two years later he had the open support of the new england methodist conference, the maine baptist convention, and the detroit presbytery, as well as of many congregationalists, and of most of the quakers, unitarians, and free-will baptists. preaching against slavery was not common in denominations where the pastor was more liable to be gagged by ecclesiastical superiors. one reason that this authority, as well as that of public opinion in the northern cities, was directed against agitation, was the pressure of business interests. the south sent most of her products, especially cotton, to manufacturers or merchants in philadelphia, new york, and new england. this region in return supplied her with clothes, tools, and furniture. much of her food came from the western farmers; and these latter were so unable to send grain or cattle eastward until after , that the best road for most of them to market was the mississippi. the slave-holders were such good customers, that people along the ohio river, as well as in eastern seaports and factory towns, were slow to see how badly the slaves were oppressed. enlightenment on this subject, as well as about capacity for free labour, was also delayed by prejudices of race and colour, while there was much honest ignorance throughout the north. what was best understood about slavery was that it was merely a state institution, not to be abolished or even much ameliorated by the national government. the main responsibility rested accordingly upon the southern states; and the danger that these might be provoked to secede could not be overlooked. these considerations prevented the majority of the northerners, and especially the leading members of every sect, from opposing slavery as actively as they would otherwise have been glad to do. the most active partisan of the slave-holders was the politician who knew they had votes in congress and in the electoral college for all the whites in the south and also for three-fifths of the coloured people. the views of the democratic party about the tariff, the bank, and state rights had made it in victorious everywhere south of maryland and kentucky; and its preponderance in the cotton states, as well as in virginia, enabled it long to resist the growing disaffection at the north. the whigs went far enough in the same course for their own destruction; and the principle of individual liberty found few champions. vii. politicians and merchants worked together in getting up the series of mobs against abolitionists, which began in , under the lead of a methodist bishop in new york, and kept breaking out in that city, philadelphia, cincinnati, boston, and less important places, until they culminated in the burning of pennsylvania hall in . after that year, they were neither frequent nor violent. the worst crime of the rioters was murdering a clergyman named lovejoy in for trying to save his printing-press. most of the baptist, methodist, and presbyterian preachers and editors were now doing what they could to suppress the agitation; but the riots called out no indignation like that which had poured forth from all the churches in against sunday mails. there was little freedom of speech for unpopular opinions in america in , when channing declared that the mob against garrison had made abolitionism "the cause of freedom." there were many readers, even in the south, for the little book in which he insisted that "slavery ought to be discussed." he protested against depriving the slave of his right to improve and respect himself, and vindicated "the sacredness of individual man." he was the first to appeal from the fugitive slave law to that "everlasting and immutable rule of right revealed in conscience." and few other clergymen gave such help to john quincy adams, who was then asserting the right of petition and of discussion in congress. memorials with a hundred and fifty thousand signatures had been presented against the annexation of texas, and in favour of emancipation in the district of columbia, when it was voted by all the southern representatives, as well as by the northern democrats, in january, , that all petitions relating to slavery "shall be laid on the table and no action taken thereon." the ex-president, who was then a representative from massachusetts, protested indignantly, as did other whigs, and they continued to plead for the constitutional rights of the north until , when the gag-rule was abolished. on july , , adams told the people that "freedom of speech is the only safety-valve which, under the high pressure of slavery, can preserve your political boiler from a fearful explosion." the number of names, including many repetitions, signed in the next two years to anti-slavery petitions was two millions. emancipation in the district of columbia was out of the question, if only because the south chose half the senate. the north was strong enough in the house of representatives to prevent any pro-slavery legislation; and the annexation of texas was actually postponed until , in consequence partly of the petitions and partly of remonstrances from the legislatures of massachusetts, new york, pennsylvania, ohio, and other states. these bodies also protested against the neglect of petitions in congress. the subsidence of mobs after was due to a general feeling at the north, not only that the rioters were too violent, but also that the south was too dictatorial in gagging congress, in tampering with the mails, in asking northern legislatures to suppress public meetings, and in trying to annex texas. viii. on all these points the whigs were so far in advance of the democrats in , as to receive much support from abolitionists. these last, however, were widely and unfortunately divided among themselves. many of the men still called themselves democrats; for the old party which had been founded by jefferson had liberal members, who had formerly been called "fanny wright men," and were now known as "loco focos." a few abolitionists took the gospel aphorisms about non-resistance so blindly as to say it would be a sin for them to vote. garrison renounced the franchise "for conscience" sake and the slave's; but it is hard to see precisely what any slave gained by his friends' refusing to vote for adams, sumner, or lincoln. the most consistent abolitionists voted regularly, and selected a candidate for his work in the cause, without regard to his party record. the democrats took decided ground in the national convention of and afterwards against abolitionism. their nominee, van buren, was then at the head of a corrupt administration. the whig candidate, harrison, was in favour of free speech and honest government. he had been chosen in preference to clay, because of the latter's attacking the abolitionists. another slave-holder who wanted to lynch them, had, however, been nominated by acclamation for vice-president at the whig convention; and the party had no platform. it is hard to see what ought to have been done under these circumstances by abolitionists. some who were afterwards known as "liberty men" set up an independent ticket, headed by a martyr to the cause. they had quite as much right to do this as garrison had to refuse to vote. he had hitherto taken little responsibility for the proceedings of the national society; but when the annual meeting was held at new york in may, , he brought on more than five hundred of his own adherents from new england, in order to pack the convention. thus he secured the passage of a declaration that the independent nominations were "injurious to the cause" and ought not to be supported. garrison has justly been compared to luther, and this was like luther at his worst. most of the officers and members seceded and organised a rival society which did good work in sympathy not only with the liberty men but with the free soilers; and these parties gained most of the new converts to abolitionism. in the _liberator_ published without comment an estimate that it did not represent the views of one active abolitionist in ten; and a coloured clergyman of high ability, dr. garnett, declared in that the proportion was less than one per cent. most of the clergymen who were friendly to garrison before were thenceforth against him. so many pulpits were suddenly closed against the agitators, that one of them, named foster, kept insisting on speaking in meeting without leave in various parts of new england. he was usually dragged out summarily, and often to the injury of his coat-tails, though never of his temper. boston was one of the most strongly anti-slavery cities; but twenty pastors out of forty-four refused to asked the people to pray for a fugitive slave who was imprisoned illegally in . those who complied had comparatively little influence. the rural clergy in new england, new york, michigan, and northern ohio, had much more sympathy with reform than their brethren to the southward, especially in large cities. garrison's personal unpopularity in the churches had been much increased by his violent language against them, and also by his asserting the injustice of sunday laws, as well as the right of women to speak for the slave. his position on these points will be considered later. ix. his worst mistake was the demand, which he published in the _liberator_, in may, , for "a repeal of the union between northern liberty and southern slavery." this he called "essential" for emancipation. in january, , the massachusetts anti-slavery society passed the resolution which was afterwards published regularly in the _liberator_ as the garrisonist creed. it declared the union "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell" which "should be immediately annulled." this position was held by garrison, phillips, and their adherents until . it was largely due, like their refusal to vote, to indignation at the support given to slavery by the national constitution, the fugitive slave act, and some recent legislation at washington. garrison was also confident, as he said at a disunion convention in , that if the south were to secede, she would not "be able to hold a single slave one hour after the deed is done." phillips, too, declared that "all the slave asks of us is to stand out of his way." "let no cement of the union bind the slave, and he will right himself." it is true that secession brought on emancipation; but it would not have done so if phillips and garrison had succeeded in quenching love of the union in the north. that patriotic feeling burst out in a fierce flame; and it was the restoration of the union which abolished slavery. another important fact is that the chief guilt of slavery rested on the south. the national government was only an accessory at worst. no northerner was responsible for any clause in the constitution which he had not sanctioned, or for any action of congress which he had done his best to prevent. the best work against slavery which could be done in and was to defeat a new attempt to annex texas. this scheme was avowedly for the extension of slavery over a great region where it had been prohibited by mexico. there would probably be war with that country; and success would increase the power of the slave-holders in the senate. one half of its members were from the slave states in ; but annexation was rejected in june by a vote of two to one; and the house of representatives was plainly on the same side, though otherwise controlled by the democrats. public warning of the danger to liberty had been given by adams and other whigs in congress early in ; but little heed was taken either by the clergy or by the garrisonists. both were too busy with their own plans. channing died in ; and parker went to europe in september, . it was not until two months later that the _liberator_ found room for texas. garrison never spoke against annexation until too late; and it was scarcely mentioned in the may meetings of at new york and boston, in the one hundred anti-slavery conventions which were held that summer in western new york, ohio, and indiana, with the powerful aid of frederick douglass, or in the one hundred conventions in massachusetts early in . at the may meeting in new york, foster said he should rejoice to see texas annexed; and phillips exulted in the prospect that this would provoke the north to trample on the constitution. annexation had been opposed by three candidates for the presidency: birney, who had already been selected by the "liberty men"; van buren, who was rejected soon after on this account by the democrats; and clay, who had already been accepted by the whigs. all three were formally censured, under various pretexts, in company with john quincy adams, at this and other gatherings of the garrisonians. their convention soon after in boston voted ten to one for disunion, and closed on june st with the presentation to garrison of a red flag bearing on one side the motto, "no union with slave-holders," and on the other an eagle wrapped in the american flag and trampling on a prostrate slave. two months later, and three before the election, this banner was carried through gaily decorated streets in hingham, amid ringing of church bells, to a meeting attended by several thousand disunionists. the garrisonians thought so much about getting out of the union, that they had nothing to say in favour of keeping out texas. among the few abolitionists who saw the duty of the hour were whittier and lowell. the full force of their poetry was not much felt before ; but among the stirring publications early in was a _rallying-cry for new england against the annexation of texas_, which lowell sent forth anonymously. it was reprinted in _harper's weekly_ for april , , but not in the earlier editions of the poems. among the most striking lines are these: "rise up new england, buckle on your mail of proof sublime, your stern old hate of tyranny, your deep contempt of crime. one flourish of a pen, and fetters shall be riveted on millions more of men. one drop of ink to sign a name, and slavery shall find for all her surplus flesh and blood a market to her mind. awake new england! while you sleep, the foe advance their lines, already on your stronghold's wall their bloody banner shines. awake and hurl them back again in terror and despair! the time has come for earnest deeds: we 've not a man to spare." if the whigs had nominated webster that may, on a platform opposing both annexation and disunion, they would have gained more votes at the north than they would have lost at the south. they might possibly have carried that election; and their strength in the border states would have enabled them, sooner or later, to check the extension of slavery without bringing on civil war. their platform was silent about texas, as well as about the union; their chief candidate, clay, had already made compromises in the interest of the south in and ; he did so again in ; and he admitted, soon after the convention, that he "should be glad to see" texas annexed, if it could be done without war. this failure of the whigs to oppose the extension of slavery, together with their having made the tariff highly protective in , cost them so many votes in new york and michigan that they lost the election. negligence and dissension at the north had enabled the south to set aside van buren in favour of polk at the democratic convention. the party was pledged to annex texas; and northern members were appeased by a crafty promise that all which was worth having in british america, west of the rocky mountains, should be acquired also. the declaration in the platform of , that the government ought not "to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of others," was repeated in , as often afterwards, but it was so cunningly explained away in pennsylvania that this state voted for the president who signed the low-tariff bill of . the election of strengthened the influence of the south. texas was soon annexed by the same congress which had refused to do so previously, and was admitted like florida, as a slave state, in spite of remonstrances made by the legislatures of massachusetts and vermont, as well as by two-thirds of the unitarian ministers. in march, , polk's army invaded mexico; her soldiers resisted; the democrats in congress voted that she had begun the war, which lasted for the next eighteen months; and the whigs assented reluctantly. most of the volunteers were southerners, and there was much opposition at the north to warfare for the extension of slavery. the indignation was increased by the publication of whittier's pathetic poem, _the angels of buena vista_, as well as of that series of powerful satires, lowell's _biglow papers_, the greatest achievement of literary genius thus far in america was the creation of _birdofre-dom sawin_; and no book except mrs. stowe's famous novel did so much for emancipation. a foremost place among abolitionists was taken by parker in , when he began to preach in boston. his first sermon against the war with mexico was delivered the same month as the publication of the first of the _biglow papers_, june, . early in he spoke with such severity, at an indignation meeting in faneuil hall, that his life was threatened by drunken volunteers. other preachers that year in massachusetts followed his example so generally as to win praise from the garrisonians, as well as from the most patriotic abolitionists; and great effect was produced by his _letter to the people_, which showed, early in , that slavery was ruining the prosperity, as well as the morals, of the south. more about his work may be found in chapter v. there we shall see how active the transcendentalists were in carrying on the revolt begun by channing. the most important victory for liberty recorded in this chapter was that of over the protectionists. the defeat of the garrisonians was due largely to their mistakes; and there was urgent need of a new anti-slavery movement on broader ground. chapter iv. emancipation the revolutionary movements of did much to encourage love of liberty in america, where the anti-slavery agitation was now becoming prominent in politics. the indignation against the mexican war increased as it was found that nothing would be done to keep the promise of , that great britain should be excluded from the pacific. the purpose of the south, to enlarge the area of slavery but not that of freedom, was so plain that the northern democrats proposed the wilmot proviso, by which slavery would have been forbidden in all territory acquired from mexico; and they actually carried it through the house of representatives, with the help of the whigs, in . similar action was taken by the legislatures of new york, ohio, pennsylvania, delaware, and seven other states. the senate was so unwilling to have slavery prohibited anywhere as to oppose, merely on this account, a bill for giving a territorial government to oregon. i. many of the new york delegates to the national democratic convention in came pledged to "uncompromising hostility to the extension of slavery," and were so badly treated that they withdrew. cass was nominated as a friend to the south; the mexican war was declared "just and necessary"; and abolitionism was denounced, as it had been in and . van buren was nominated soon after by the anti-slavery democrats. a similar movement had already been made by sumner, wilson, and other men who were known as "conscience whigs," and who had some support from clay and webster. both these candidates for the presidency were set aside in favour of a slave-holder, who had been very successful in conquering mexico, but never cast a vote. in fact, general taylor had taken so little interest in politics, that he was supported in the north as a friend, and in the south as an enemy, to the wilmot proviso. no opinion on this or any other question could be extorted from the majority; wilson declared in the convention that he should do all he could to defeat its nominee; the conscience whigs made an alliance with the van buren democrats; and the new movement was joined by the "liberty men," whose vote of sixty thousand had decided the election of . thus was formed the free soil party, whose fundamental idea, like that afterwards held by the republicans, was preservation of the union by checking the extension of slavery. douglass and other garrisonists were present at the free soil convention, where he was invited to speak. the new party pledged itself to "free soil, free speech, free labour, and free men." the national government was to relieve itself of "all responsibility for slavery," and begin by prohibiting its extension. there should be "no more slave states," "no more slave territory," and "no more compromises with slavery." the convention also demanded that oregon should be organised as a territory with free labour only; and this was granted at once by president polk and both houses of congress. most of the members of the convention were transcendental enough to think that wisdom must be spontaneous; and their scorn of political machinery left it to be used for making van buren the candidate. lowell, who was then at his height of productiveness, complained that, "he aint half anti-slav'ry 'nough"; but whittier exclaimed, that september: "now joy and thanks forever more! the dreary night has well-nigh passed: the slumbers of the north are o'er: the giant stands erect at last!" the anti-slavery vote was nearly five times as large as in . cass would have been elected if the free soilers had supported him in new york. their hostility gave that state, as well as vermont and massachusetts, to taylor, who thus became president. he also carried georgia and seven other southern states; but the west was solidly democratic. it was not an anti-slavery victory, but a pro-slavery defeat. ii. the first question before the new president and congress was about california. the discovery of gold, before the country was ceded by mexico, had brought in crowds of settlers, but scarcely any slaves. unwillingness to have another free state prevented polk and his senate from allowing california to have any better government than a military one; and this was deprived of all authority by the desertion of the soldiers to the diggings. the settlers knew the value of a free government, and made one independently. the constitution which they completed in october, , was so anti-slavery that it was not sanctioned for nearly two years by congress. meantime there was no legal authority in california to levy taxes, or organise fire departments, or arrest criminals. robberies and conflagrations were numerous; the mushroom cities were not graded, paved, or lighted; the uncertainty of titles to land caused fights in which lives were lost; and criminals became so desperate that several were lynched by a vigilance committee. the duty of admitting california as a free state was urged upon the new congress in december, , by taylor, who promised to make an unexpectedly good president. this plan had become so popular at the north that it was recommended by the democratic state conventions of massachusetts and wisconsin, as well as by the legislature of every northern state, except iowa. the house of representatives could easily have been carried; for the whigs and free soilers constituted a majority, and would have had some help from northern democrats. the senate would probably not have consented until after another appeal to the people; but this might have been made with success at the elections of . taylor had carried kentucky, tennessee, louisiana, florida, georgia, north carolina, maryland, and delaware. the last two states had permitted some free soil votes to be cast; this was also the case in virginia; and anti-slavery meetings had been held publicly in st. louis. the pro-slavery defeat in encouraged southerners who knew the advantage of free labour to agitate for emancipation. the convention held for this purpose in kentucky, in , was attended by delegates from twenty-four counties; and its declaration that slavery was "injurious to the prosperity of the commonwealth," was endorsed by southern newspapers. clay himself proposed a plan of gradual emancipation; and such a measure was called for, according to the _richmond southerner_ (quoted in hoist's _constitutional history_, vol. iii., p. ), by "two-thirds of the people of virginia." admissions that "kentucky must be free," that "delaware and maryland are now in a transition, preparatory to becoming free states," and that "emancipation is inevitable in all the farming states, where free labour can be advantageously used," were published in , at new orleans, in de bow's _industrial resources of the southern and western states_ (vols. i., p. ; ii., p. ; hi., p. ). a book which was written soon after by a north carolinian named helper, and denounced violently in congress, shows how much those southerners who did not hold slaves would have gained by emancipation; and what was so plainly for the interest of the majority of the voters would have been established by them, sooner or later, if it had not been for the breaking out of civil war. how much danger there was, even in , to slave-holders is shown by their threats to secede. they wished to increase the hostility between north and south in order to check the spread southwards of northern views. it was in this spirit that senators and representatives from the cotton states demanded a more efficient law for returning fugitives. most of the thirty thousand then at the north had come from maryland, virginia, kentucky, and missouri; and these states were invited to act with their southern neighbours against abolitionism. there were very few secessionists at this time, except in south carolina, mississippi, and texas. president taylor was so popular at the south, and so avowedly ready to take command himself against rebels, that no army could have been raised to resist him. webster declared, in february, , that there was no danger of secession; and the same opinion was held by benton of missouri, seward, and other senators. there was not enough alarm at the north to affect the stock-market. all that the whigs needed to do for the union was to sustain it with all the strength which they could use for that purpose at the south. if they had also insisted that california should be admitted unconditionally, they would soon have had support enough from northern democrats in congress. the demand for a national party of freedom was urgent. the free soilers were too sectional; but the whigs had so much influence at the south that they could have checked the extension of slavery without bloodshed; and this would have ensured the progress of emancipation. iii. all this might have been done if clay's hatred of the abolitionists, who had refused to make him president, had not made him try to cripple them by another compromise. he proposed that california should be admitted at once and without slavery; that it should be left to the settlers in utah and new mexico to decide whether these territories should ultimately become free or slave states; that texas should receive a large sum of money, as well as a great tract of land which she had threatened to take from new mexico by force; and, worst of all, that a new fugitive-slave bill should be passed. the law then on the statute books left the question whether the defendant should be enslaved to be decided by a magistrate elected by the people or appointed by the governor; and the court was so apt to be restricted by local legislation or public opinion, that recovery of fugitives was practically impossible in new england. the new law retained the worst provision of the old one; namely, that no jury could be asked to decide whether the defendant had ever been a slave. the principal change was that the judge was to come into such close relations with the national administration as to be independent of the people of the state. in short, fugitive slaves were to be punished, and disloyal texans rewarded, in order that california might get her rights. this plan was approved by webster, who hoped that the grateful south would make him president, and then help him restore those protective duties which had been removed in . other northerners called the compromise one-sided; and so did men from those cotton states which were to gain scarcely anything. president taylor would yield nothing to threats of rebellion. it was not until after his death that clay's proposals could be carried through congress; and it was necessary to present them one by one. the bill by which california was admitted, in september, , was sandwiched in between those about texas and the fugitives. the latter were put under a law by which their friends were liable to be fined or imprisoned; but the new fugitive slave act had only three votes from the northern whigs in the house of representatives; and there were only four senators who actually consented to all clay's propositions. the compromise seemed at first to have silenced both secessionists and abolitionists. the latter were assailed by worse mobs in boston and new york than had been the case in these cities for many years. the rioters were sustained by public opinion; enthusiastic union meetings were held in the large cities; and webster's course was praised by leading ministers of all denominations, even the unitarian. abolitionism had apparently been reduced to such a position that it could lead to nothing but civil war. parker complained, in may, , that the clergy were deserting the cause. phillips spoke at this time as if there were no anti-slavery ministers left. i once heard friendly hearers interrupt him by shouting out names like parker's and beecher's. he smiled, and began counting up name after name on the fingers of his left hand; but he soon tossed it up, and said with a laugh, "i have not got one hand full yet." webster's friends boasted that satan was trodden underfoot; but the compromise was taken as an admission by the whigs that their party had cared too little about slavery. many of its adherents went over, sooner or later, to the democratic party, which had at least the merit of consistency. about half of the free soilers deserted what seemed to be a lost cause; but few if any went back to help the whigs. the latter did not elect even three-fourths as many members of congress in november, , as they did in ; and they fared still worse in . democratic aid enabled the free soilers in to send sumner to represent them in the senate, in company with hale and chase. seward had already been sent there by the anti-slavery whigs, and had met webster's plea for the constitutionality of the new fugitive slave law by declaring that "there is a higher law than the constitution." sumner maintained in washington, as he had done in boston, that the constitution as well as the moral law forbade helping kidnappers. he was never a disunionist; but he insisted that "unjust laws are not binding"; and he was supported by the mighty influence of emerson. the effects of transcendentalism will be so fully considered in the next chapter but one, that i need speak here merely of what it did to encourage resistance to the new law which made philanthropy a crime. the penalties on charity to fugitives were so severe as to call out much indignation from the rural clergy at the north. in november, , the methodist ministers of new york city agreed to demand the repeal of the law; and parker wrote to fillmore, who had been made president by taylor's death, that among eighty protestant pastors in boston there were not five who would refuse hospitality to a slave. the first hunters of men who came there met such a resistance that they did not try to capture the fugitives. a negro who was arrested was taken by coloured friends from the court-house; and a second rescue was prevented only by filling the building with armed hirelings, surrounding it with heavy chains under which the judges were obliged to stoop, and finally calling out the militia to guard the victim through the streets of boston. a slaveholder who was supposed to be trying to drag his own son back to bondage, was shot dead by coloured men in pennsylvania. other fugitives were rescued in milwaukee and syracuse. the new law lost much of its power in twelve months of such conflicts; and it was reduced almost to a dead letter by personal liberty bills, which were enacted in nearly every northern state. the compromise was not making the north and south friends, but enemies. the hostility was increased by the publication of the most influential book of the century. _uncle tom's cabin_ had attracted much attention as a serial; and three thousand copies were sold on the day it appeared in book form, march , . there was a sale that year of two hundred thousand copies, which were equally welcome in parlour, nursery, and kitchen. dramatic versions had a great run; and one actress played "little eva" at more than three hundred consecutive performances. some of the most effective scenes were intended to excite sympathy with fugitive slaves. the total number of votes for all parties did not increase one-third as fast between and as between and , when many of "uncle tom's" admirers went to the polls for the first time. the whigs were so much ashamed of their party, that they permitted every state, except massachusetts, vermont, kentucky, and tennessee to be carried by the democrats. the latter had the advantage, not only of unity and consistency as regards slavery, but of having made their low tariff so much of a success that there was another reduction in . the two parties had been made nearly equal in congress by the election of ; but the proportion was changed four years later, to two to one, and the beaten party soon went to pieces. the free soil candidates and platform were singularly good in ; yet the vote was but little more than one-half as large as in . there was no election between and when anti-slavery votes seemed so little likely to do any immediate good. the compromise looked like an irreparable error; and many reformers thought they could do nothing better than vote with the democrats for free trade. iv. the victors in might have had many years of supremacy, if they had kept true to the jeffersonian principle of state rights. they were consistent in holding that the position of coloured people in each state ought to be determined by the local majority. the rights of northerners had been invaded by the new law, which forbade hospitality to fugitives and demanded participation in kidnapping; but this wrong might have been endured if the south had not denied the right of kansas to become a free state. this was guaranteed by the compromise of , which had been kept by the north. early in , senator douglas of illinois proposed that the compact should be repudiated, and that it should be left for future settlers to decide whether there should be freedom or slavery in a region ten times as large as massachusetts, with a fertile soil and a climate warm enough for negro labour. there was such prompt and intense indignation throughout the north at this breach of faith, that douglas said he could find his way from chicago to boston by the light of the bonfires in which he was burned in effigy. the difference of opinion between city and country clergy ceased at once. an episcopalian bishop headed the remonstrance which was signed by nearly every minister in new york city. two other bishops signed the new england protest in company with the presidents of yale, brown, williams, and amherst, with the leaders of every protestant sect, and with so many other clergymen that the sum total rose above three thousand, which was four-fifths of the whole number. five hundred ministers in the north-west signed a remonstrance which douglas was obliged to present; and so many such memorials came in from all the free states, as to show that there was very little pro-slavery feeling left among the clergy, except in the black belt north of the ohio. one-half of the northern democrats in the house of representatives refused to follow douglas. leading men from all parties united to form the new one, which took the name of republican on july , , and gained control of the next house of representatives. it was all the more popular because it began "on the sole basis of the non-extension of slavery." victory over the south could be gained only by uniting the north; but garrison still kept on saying, "if we would see the slave-power overthrown, the union must be dissolved." on july , , two days before the republican party adopted its name, he burned the constitution of the united states amid several thousand spectators. then it was that thoreau publicly denied his allegiance to massachusetts, which was already doing its best to save kansas. emigrants from new england were sent into that territory so rapidly that the douglas plan seemed likely to hasten the time when it would be a free state. the south had insisted on the rights of the settlers; but they were outvoted, in november, , and afterwards, by bands of armed missourians, who marched off when they had carried the election. the free state men were then supplied with rifles; and an anti-slavery constitution was adopted by the majority of actual residents. the minority were supported by the president, as well as by the "border-ruffians"; two rival governments were set up; and civil war began early in . lawrence, the principal town in kansas, was sacked by command of the united states marshal, the most important buildings burned, and much private property stolen. five settlers, whose threats of violence had offended john brown, were slain in cold blood by him and his men, in retaliation for the lawrence outrage, in may, . anarchy continued; but the new state was not admitted until . prominent among the northerners who insisted on the right of kansas to govern herself, was sumner. his speech in the senate in may, , was so powerful that half a million copies were printed as campaign literature, and whittier said, "it has saved the country." the orator had attacked some of his colleagues with needless severity; and on the day after the sack of lawrence, he was assaulted by a representative from south carolina in the senate chamber with such ferocity that he could not return to his seat before . this cruel outrage against freedom of speech was universally applauded throughout the south. there was indignation enough at the north in to have given the election to the republicans, if the field had been clear; but protestant bigotry enabled the south to choose the president who failed to oppose rebellion. the catholics had objected as early as to the protestantism which was taught, in part at their expense, to their children in the public schools. some ways in which this was done then have since been abandoned; but the principal controversy has been about using a book which is universally acknowledged to be a bulwark of protestantism. there would not be so much zeal at present for having it read daily in the schools, if it has no religious influence; and our catholic citizens have a right to prefer that their children should be taught religion in ways not forbidden by their church. pupils have not had much moral or even religious benefit from school-books against which their conscience rebelled, however unreasonably. the catholic position in , according to bishop hughes, afterwards archbishop, was this: "we do not ask money from the school fund;--all our desire is that it should be administered in such a way as to promote the education of all" and "leave the various denominations each in the full possession of its religious rights over the minds of its own children. if the children are to be educated promiscuously, as at present, let religion in every shape and form be excluded." the catholics soon changed their ground, and demanded that their parochial schools should be supported by public money. this called out the opposition of a secret society, which insisted on keeping the bible in the schools and excluding catholics from office. the know nothings had the aid of so many whigs in as to elect a large number of candidates, most of whom were friendly to the republicans. the leaders wished to remain neutral between north and south; but it is hard to say whether the pledge of loyalty to the union did not facilitate the capture of the organisation by the insatiable south early in . beecher had already declared that the know nothing lodges were "catacombs of freedom" in which indignation against slavery was stifled. the presidential election showed that the outburst of bigotry had done more harm to friends than enemies of liberty. the democrats lost maryland, but gained pennsylvania and four other northern states. this enabled them to retain the presidency and the senate, as well as to recover the house of representatives, where they had become weaker than the republicans. the party of freedom polled eight times as many votes as in , and made its first appearance in the electoral colleges. it carried eleven states. the whigs had accepted the know nothing nominee; and both these neutral parties soon dissolved. anarchy in kansas had been suppressed by united states dragoons; but they did not prevent the adoption of a pro-slavery constitution by bogus elections. buchanan promptly advised congress to admit kansas as a slave state, and declared she was already as much one as georgia or south carolina. this opinion he based on the dred scott decision by the supreme court, that congress had no power to prohibit slavery in any territory. douglas insisted on the right of the people of kansas to "vote slavery up or down." they were enabled by the joint efforts of republicans and northern democrats to have a fair chance to say whether they wished to become a slave state or remain a territory; and the latter was preferred by four-fifths of the voters. v. the south called douglas a traitor; but leading republicans helped the illinois democrats, in , to elect the legislature which gave him another term in the senate. he might have become the next president if his opponent in the senatorial contest, abraham lincoln, had not led the republican party into the road towards emancipation. on june , , he said, in the state convention: "a house divided against itself cannot stand. i believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. i do not expect the union to be dissolved--i do not expect the house to fall--but i do expect it will cease to be divided. it will become all one thing or all the other." seward took the same position, four months later, in his speech about the "irrepressible conflict." lincoln held that summer and autumn a series of joint debates with his opponent, before audiences one of which was estimated at twenty thousand. the speeches were circulated by the republicans as campaign documents; and lincoln's were remarkable, not only for his giving no needless provocation to the south, but for his proving that slavery ought not to be introduced into any new territory or state by local elections. he represented douglas as really holding that if one man chooses to enslave another no third man has any business to interfere; and he repudiated the decision in the dred scott case, that coloured people "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." he had more votes that fall than douglas; but the latter's friends were enabled by the district system to control the legislature. douglas was sent back to the senate. lincoln gained the national reputation which made him president. the congressional elections were more favourable to the republicans than in , for northern indignation was growing under the stimulus, not only of the new wrong to kansas, but of attempts to annex cuba and revive the slave trade. plans for emancipation were still discussed in the south; and the agitation had reached even texas. helper's _impending crisis_ had gained circulation enough in his own state, north carolina, to alarm the slaveholders. they knew that they constituted only three-tenths of the southern voters, and that the proportion was less than one-sixth in maryland. helper proved that emancipation would be greatly to the advantage of many men who held slaves, as well as of all who did not. when this was found out by the majority in any southern state, slavery would begin to fall by its own weight. it had been kept up by popular ignorance; but the prop was crumbling away. this way of emancipation might have been long; but it would have led to friendly relations between whites and blacks, as well as between north and south. what was most needed in was that all friends of freedom should work together, and that no needless pretext should be given for secession. garrison still insisted on disunion, and predicted that the south would not "be able to hold a single slave one hour after the deed is done," but he also maintained, as most abolitionists did, that nothing would be more foolish than trying to excite a slave insurrection. precisely this greatest of blunders was committed at harper's ferry. if the attempt had been made six months later, or had had even a few weeks of success, it might have enabled the slaveholders to elect at least one more president. the bad effect, in dividing the north, was much diminished by john brown's heroism at his trial and execution; but great provocation was given to the south, and especially to virginia, which soon turned out to be the most dangerous of the rebel states. business men were driven north by the dozen from cities which were preparing for war. the quarrel between northern and southern democrats kept growing fiercer; and the party broke up at the convention for into two sectional factions with antagonistic platforms and candidates. douglas still led the opposition to those southerners who maintained that the nation ought to protect slavery in the territories. a third ticket was adopted by neutrals who had been whigs or know nothings, and who now professed no principle but a vague patriotism. the republicans remained pledged to exclude slavery from the territories; but they condemned john brown, and said nothing against the fugitive slave law or in favour of emancipation in the district of columbia. their leaders had favoured free trade in ; but the platform was now made protectionist, in order to prevent pennsylvania from being carried again by the democrats. illinois and indiana were secured by the nomination of lincoln. he was supported enthusiastically by the young men throughout the north: public meetings were large and frequent; torchlight processions were a prominent feature of the campaign. the wealth and intellect of the nation, as well as its conscience, were now arrayed against slavery; but the clergy are said to have been less active than in . lincoln had the majority in every northern state, except new jersey, california, and oregon. he also had , votes in missouri, and in other slave states which had sent delegates to the republican convention. not one of the southern electors was for lincoln; but he would have become president if all his opponents had combined against him. vi. the south had nothing to fear from congress before , but she had lost control of the north. kansas would certainly be admitted sooner or later; and there would never be another slave state, for the republican plan for the territories was confirmed by their geographical position. the free states might soon become so numerous and populous as to prohibit the return of fugitives, abolish slavery in the district of columbia, repeal the clause of the constitution which allowed representation for slaves, and forbid their transportation from state to state. it was also probable, in the opinion of salmon p. chase, afterwards secretary of the treasury, and of many leading southerners, that under federal patronage there might soon be a majority for emancipation in maryland, kentucky, and other states (see _life of theodore parker_, by weiss, vol. ii., pp. , ). the vote of thanks given to parker in by the hearers of his anti-slavery lecture in delaware, showed that abolitionism would eventually become predominant in the senate, as it was already in the house of representatives. this prospect was especially alarming to the comparatively few men who owned so many slaves that they could not afford emancipation on any terms. their wealth and leisure gave them complete control of politics, business, public opinion, and social life in the cotton states; where both press and pulpit were in bondage. their influence was much less in the farming states than in ; but they had since come into such perfect union among themselves, as to constitute the most powerful aristocracy then extant. their number may be judged from the fact that there were in about six thousand people in the cotton states who owned fifty slaves or more each. it was in the interest of these barons of slavery that south carolina seceded soon after the election, and that her example was followed by georgia and all the gulf states before lincoln was inaugurated. the garrisonists wished to have them depart in peace; but there was a strong and general preference for another compromise. lincoln and other republicans insisted that the territories should be kept sacred to freedom, and that "the union must be preserved." the question was settled by those aggressions on national property which culminated in the bombardment of fort sumter. lincoln's call to arms was answered by a great uprising of the united north. loyalty to the nation burst forth in so fierce a flame that abolitionists who had been trying for many years to extinguish it now welcomed it as the destined destroyer of slavery. war had been declared for the sole purpose of suppressing rebellion; and nothing more could at first have been attempted without violating the constitution. fugitives were sent back promptly by federal generals, and anti-slavery songs forbidden in the camps. this policy seemed necessary to keep the north united, and prevent secession of doubtful states. some of those already in revolt might thus, it was hoped, be induced to return voluntarily, or be conquered easily. these expectations were soon disappointed. a few of the slave states were kept in subjection by military force; but the people of the others united in a desperate resistance, with the aid of the slaves, who supplied the armies with food and laboured without complaint in camps and forts. but little was accomplished by the immense armies raised at the north; for the discipline was at first lax, and the generals were inefficient. many defeats of union armies by inferior forces showed how difficult it is for a nation that has enjoyed many years of peace to turn conqueror. vii. the innate incompatibility of war and liberty was disclosed by the unfortunate fact that even lincoln was obliged to consent unwillingly to war measures of a very questionable sort; for instance, the conscription and that legal tender act which was really a forced loan, and which has done much to encourage subsequent violations of the right of property by both republicans and democrats in congress. more harm than good was done to the union cause by arbitrary arrests for talking and writing against the war. phillips declared, in december, , that "the right of free meetings and a free press is suspended in every square mile of the republic." "at this moment one thousand men are bastilled." hale and other republican senators remonstrated; and so patriotic an author as holmes said that teapots might be dangerous, if the lids were shut. all political prisoners but spies were released by the president early in ; and there were no more arbitrary arrests except under plea of military necessity. failures of union generals encouraged opposition to the war from men who still preferred compromise; and their disaffection was increased by the passage, in march, , of a bill establishing a conscription and putting all the people under martial law. the commander of the military district that included ohio issued orders which forbade "declaring sympathy for the enemy," and threatened with death "all persons within our lines who harbour, protect, feed, clothe, or in any way aid the enemies." these orders were denounced as unconstitutional at a public meeting before more than ten thousand citizens. many wore badges cut from the large copper coins then in use and bearing the sacred image and superscription of liberty. this practice brought the nickname "copperheads" upon people who longed to have the south invited back on her own terms. such a policy was recommended at the meeting by vallandigham, who had recently represented ohio in congress. he called upon the people to vote against the "wicked war," and said he would never obey orders aimed against public discussion. for this speech he was arrested at night, by soldiers who broke into his house, tried by court-martial, and sentenced on may , , to imprisonment during the remainder of the war. a writ of _habeas corpus_ was refused by the united states court, which admitted itself "powerless to enforce obedience." at the clang of war, laws are silent. indignation meetings in great cities voted that "the union cannot be restored without freedom of speech." loyal newspapers regretted that vallandigham was under "a penalty which will make him a martyr." a petition for his release was sent to lincoln, who had not ordered the arrest and admitted that it was not justified by the speech. he concluded that the culprit's behaviour towards the army had been so dangerous that he had better be sent south, beyond the lines. this was done at once; but the agitator was allowed to return through canada in the last summer of the war. even lincoln found it difficult to respect individual liberty under the pressure of military necessity. a strong government was needed; and that fact has opened the way for congress to interfere with private business, for instance in changing the tariff, during the latter part of the century much more frequently and extensively than had been done before. another significant fact is that the old controversy about internal improvements has died away since our government was centralised by war; and much money is wasted under that pretext by congress. viii. the impossibility of putting down the rebellion without interfering with slavery gradually became plain, even to men who had formerly hated abolitionism. the only question was how to turn what was the strength of the confederacy into its weakness. in march, , congress forbade the army to return fugitives; and many thousand fled into the union camps, where they did good service, not only as teamsters and labourers, but even as soldiers. the number under arms amounted finally to more than a hundred thousand; and they did some of the best fighting that took place during the war. the colour prejudice at the north yielded slowly; but the leading republicans saw not only the need of more soldiers, but the justice of setting free the wives and children of men who were risking death for the nation. an emancipation league was formed during the first gloomy winter of the war; and frederick douglass said on the fourth of july amid great applause: "you must abolish slavery, or abandon the union"; "for slavery is the life of the rebellion." lincoln was already thinking of setting free the slaves in all the states which should continue in rebellion after the close of the year; and his draft of a proclamation, announcing this purpose, was read to the cabinet on july , . the army in virginia had been so unfortunate that summer as to cause a postponement; but the victory of antietam was followed by the publication, on september d, of the formal notice that emancipation might be proclaimed on the st of january. how welcome the new policy was to loyal citizens may be judged from the approbation expressed by the clergy of all denominations, even the new school presbyterian, episcopalian, and roman catholic. when new year's day dawned there was much doubt whether the promise would be fulfilled. abolitionists and coloured people met in boston and other cities, and waited hour after hour, hoping patiently. it was evening before the proclamation began to pass over the wires. it promised freedom to all slaves in arkansas, texas, mississippi, alabama, florida, georgia, south carolina, and north carolina, besides most of those in louisiana and virginia. tennessee and some other states were not mentioned, because held to have been brought back into the union. there was to be freedom thenceforth wherever the stars and stripes waved. no wonder that the news caused great audiences to shout or weep with joy, and many to spend the night in praise and prayer. the north was now inspired by motives amply sufficient to justify even a war of conquest; and her men and money were given freely, until superiority in resources enabled general grant to close the war in april, . the revolted states came back, one by one, and left slavery behind. even where it had not been formally abolished, it was practically extinct. douglass was right in saying "it was not the destruction, but the salvation of the union, that saved the slave." an amendment to the constitution, which swept away the last vestiges of slavery, and made it for ever impossible in the united states, was adopted on december , . it had been proposed two years before; but the assent of several states then actually in revolt would have been necessary to secure the majority of three-fourths necessary for adoption of an amendment. it was by no means certain that even the nominally loyal states would all vote unanimously for emancipation. in order to increase the majority for the thirteenth amendment, the admission of nevada and colorado as states was voted by congress, despite some opposition by the democrats, in march, . nevada had a population of less than , in . there were not , people there in , and there had been a decline since . it is not likely that her inhabitants will ever be numerous enough to justify her having as much power in the senate as new york or pennsylvania. senators who represent millions of constituents have actually been prevented from passing necessary laws by senators who did not represent even twenty-five thousand people each. nevada is still the worst instance of such injustice; but it is by no means the only one; and these wrongs can never be righted, for the constitution provides that. "no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate." the thirteenth amendment did not, i think, come into force a day earlier than it would have done if nevada had never been admitted, for the _bona-fide_ states came forward with unexpected willingness. colorado was not fully admitted before . lincoln's favouring the bills for admitting these states was a serious error, though the motive was patriotic. his beauty and grandeur of character make the brightest feature of those dark, sad years. no name stands higher among martyrs for freedom. ix. there is no grander event in all history than the emancipation of four million slaves. this was all the more picturesque because done by a conquering army; but it was all the more hateful to the former owners. they refused to educate or enfranchise the freedmen, and tried to reduce them to serfdom by heavy taxes and cruel punishments for petty crimes. the states which had seceded were kept under military dictators after the war was over; and their people were forced to accept the fourteenth amendment, which gave protection to coloured people as citizens of the united states. in there were twenty-one northern states; but only maine, new hampshire, and vermont gave the ballot freely to illiterate negroes without property. massachusetts had an educational test for all voters; there were other restrictions elsewhere; and no coloured men could vote in pennsylvania, new jersey, or the north-west. in fact, very few had ever voted anywhere when congress gave the suffrage to all the freed men for their own protection, with no discrimination against illiteracy. the result of this measure in the district of columbia was that unscrupulous politicians gained strong support from needy and ignorant voters of all colours. public money was spent recklessly; taxation became oppressive; and the public debt grew to alarming size. on june , , when grant was president and each branch of congress was more than two-thirds republican, the house of representatives voted, ten to one, in favour of taking away the suffrage, not only from the blacks who had received it seven years before, but even from the whites who had exercised it since the beginning of the century. all local government was entrusted to three commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. there was no opposition; for the arrangement seemed only temporary. it proved permanent. even taxation without representation has been thought better than negro suffrage; and the citizens of the national capital remain in without any voice in their own municipal government. the problem has been still more difficult in those eleven states which had to accept negro suffrage, in or after , as a condition of restoration to the union. the extension of franchise made in all the states by the fifteenth amendment, in , seemed such a blessing to the republicans that frederick douglass was much censured for holding that it might possibly have been attained without special supernatural assistance. it soon became plain, however, that congress ought to have given the spelling-book earlier than the ballot. the suffrage proved no protection to the freedman; for his white neighbours found that he could be more easily intimidated than educated. congress tried to prevent murder of coloured voters by having the polls guarded by federal troops and the elections supervised by united states marshals. the _habeas corpus_ act was suspended by president grant in districts where the blacks outnumbered the whites. it was hard to see what liberty had gained. the negro's worst enemies were his own candidates. they had enormous majorities in south carolina; and there, as blaine admits, they "brought shame upon the republican party," "and thus wrought for the cause of free government and equal suffrage in the south incalculable harm." between and they added ten millions by wanton extravagance to the state debt. large sums were stolen; taxes rose to six per cent.; and land was assessed far above its value, with the avowed purpose of taking it away from the whites. such management was agreed at a public meeting of coloured voters under federal protection, in charleston, in , to have "ruined our people and disgraced our state." negro suffrage was declared by the new york evening post to have resulted in "organising the ignorance and poverty of the state against its property and intelligence." this took place all over the south, and also in philadelphia, new york, and other northern cities. here the illiterate vote was largely european; and the corruption of politics was facilitated by the absorption of property-holders in business. there was great need that intelligent citizens of all races, parties, and sections should work together to reform political methods sufficiently to secure honest government. some progress has already been made, but by no means so much as might have been gained if the plundered taxpayers at the south had made common cause with those at the north in establishing constitutional bulwarks against all swindlers whose strength was in the illiterate and venal vote. unfortunately, prejudice against negroes encouraged intimidation; and fraud was used freely by both parties. when elections were doubted, republican candidates were seated by federal officials and united states soldiers. these latter were not resisted; but the southern democrats made bloody attacks on the negro militia. one such fight at new orleans, on september , , cost nearly thirty lives. what was called a republican administration collapsed that day throughout louisiana; but it was soon set up again by the army which had brought it into power. at last the negroes found out that, whoever might conquer in this civil war, they would certainly lose. they grew tired of having hostile parties fighting over them, and dropped out of politics. the republicans held full possession of the presidency, both branches of congress, the federal courts, the army, the offices in the nation's service, and most of the state governments; but they could not prevent the south from becoming solidly democratic. the new governments proved more economical, and the lives of the coloured people more secure. the last important result of negro suffrage in south carolina and louisiana was an alarming dispute as to who was elected president in . the ballot has not been so great a blessing to the freedmen as it might have been if it had been preceded by national schools, and given voluntarily by state after state. these considerations justify deep regret that emancipation was not gained peaceably and gradually. facts have been given to show that it might have been if there had been more philanthropy among the clergy, more principle among the whigs, and more wisdom among the abolitionists. chapter v. emerson and other transcendentalists i. the best work for liberty has been done by men who loved her too wisely to vituperate anyone for differing from them, or to forestall the final verdict of public opinion by appealing to an ordeal by battle. such were the men who took the lead in establishing freedom of thought in america. very little individual independence of opinion was found there by tocqueville in ; and the flood of new ideas which had already burst forth in england was not as yet feeding the growth of originality in american literature. this sterility was largely due to preoccupation with business and politics; but even the best educated men in the united states were repressed by the dead weight of the popular theology; and channing complained that the orthodox churches were "arrayed against intellect." the silence of the pulpit about slavery is only one instance of the general indifference of the clergy to new ideas. we shall see that at least one other reform was opposed much more zealously. the circulation of new books and magazines from europe was retarded by warnings against infidelity; and colleges were carefully guarded against the invasion of new truth. intercourse with europe was fortunately close enough for the brightness of her literature and art to attract many longing eyes from new england. goethe, schiller, fichte, jean paul, mme. de stâel, and rousseau won readers in the original, as well as in translations; and the influence of shelley, wordsworth, coleridge, and carlyle increased rapidly. plato and kant found many worshippers, and a few students. the plain incapacity of orthodoxy to solve the pressing moral and intellectual problems of the day permitted young people who knew nothing about science to welcome the idea that the highest truth is revealed by intuitions which transcend experience and should supersede logic. this system is peculiarly that of schelling, who was then expounding it in germany; but the credit for it in america was given to his disciples, and especially to coleridge. a few admirers of these authors formed the transcendental club in boston, in september, ; and the new philosophy made converts rapidly. severity of climate and lack of social amusements favoured introspection. thinkers welcomed release from the tyranny of books. lovers of art were glad of the prospect of a broader culture than was possible in the shadow of puritanism. reformers seized the opportunity of appealing from pro-slavery texts and constitutions to a higher law. friends of religion hoped that the gloom of the popular theology would be dispelled by a new revelation coming direct from god into their souls. ii. a mighty declaration of religious independence was made on july , , when emerson said to the unitarian ministers: "the need was never greater of new revelation than now." "it cannot be received at second hand." there has been "noxious exaggeration about the person of jesus." "cast aside all conformity, and acquaint men at first hand with deity." "the old is for slaves." much controversy was called out by the publication of this address. it was preceded by another in which educated men were told that they must believe themselves "inspired by the divine soul which inspires all men." "there can be no scholar without the heroic mind." "each age must write its own books." emerson had also sent out in a pamphlet entitled _nature_; and one of its first readers has called it "an 'open sesame' to all thought, and the first we had ever had." still more important were the essays on "heroism" and "self-reliance," which were part of a volume published in . then emerson's readers were awakened from the torpor of submission to popular clergymen and politicians by the stern words: "whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." "insist on yourself: never imitate." "the soul looketh steadily forwards." "it is no follower: it never appeals from itself." the russian government was so well aware of the value of these essays as to imprison a student for borrowing them. a lord mayor in england acknowledged that their influence had raised him out of poverty and obscurity. bradlaugh's first impulse to do battle for freedom in religion came from emerson's exhortation to self-reliance. the author's influence was all the greater, because he was already an impressive lecturer. there was much more demand, both in england and in america, between and , for literary culture and useful knowledge than was supplied by the magazines and public libraries. the americans were peculiarly destitute of public amusements. dancing, playing cards, and going to the theatre were still under the ban; and there was not yet culture enough for concerts to be popular. there was at the same time much more interest, especially in new england, in the anti-slavery movement than has been called out for later reforms; for these have been much less picturesque. the power with which phillips and parker pleaded for the slave was enough to make lectures popular; but i have known courses attended, even in , by young people who went merely because there was nowhere else to go, and who came away in blissful ignorance of the subjects. deeper than all other needs lay that of a live religion. emerson was among the first to satisfy this demand. his earliest lecture, in , took a scientific subject, as was then customary; but he soon found that he had the best possible opportunity for declaring that "from within, or from behind, a light shines through upon things and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all." invitations were frequent as early as , though the audience was usually small; and his genius became generally recognised after his return, in , from a visit to england. there scholarship was high enough to give him, as early as , thousands of readers for that little book on _nature_, of which only a few hundred copies had been sold in america. invitations to lecture came from all parts of great britain, and in such numbers that many had to be declined. the aristocracy of rank as well as of intellect helped to crowd the halls in manchester, edinburgh, and london. once at least, he had more than two thousand hearers. the newspapers reported his lectures at such length that much of his time was spent in writing new ones. he had not intended to be anyone's guest; but invitations were so numerous and cordial, that he could seldom escape into solitude. he wrote to his wife, "my reception here is really a premium on authorship." success in england increased his opportunities, as well as his courage, to speak in america. invitations grew more and more frequent, and compensation more liberal. his thrilling voice was often heard, thenceforth, in the towns and cities of new england. in , he went to lecture at st. louis, and met audience after audience on the way. during the next twenty years he spent at least two months of discomfort, every winter, lecturing in city after city throughout the free states. everywhere he gave his best thought, and as much as possible of it, in every lecture. logical order seemed less important; and he spent much more time in condensing than in arranging the sentences selected from his note-books. strikingly original ideas, which had flashed upon him at various times, were presented one after another as if each were complete in itself. the intermixture of quotations and anecdotes did not save the general character from becoming often chaotic; but the chaos was always full of power and light. star after star rose rapidly upon his astonished and delighted hearers. they sometimes could not understand him; but they always felt lifted up. parker described him in as pouring forth "a stream of golden atoms of thought"; and lowell called him some twenty years later "the most steadily attractive lecturer in america." these young men and others of like aspirations walked long distances to visit him or hear him speak in public. the influence of his lectures increased that of the books into which they finally crystallised. in , he had made his way of thinking so common that his _conduct of life_ had a sale of copies in two days. his readers were nowhere numerous, outside of boston; but they were, and are, to be found everywhere. lovers of liberty on both sides of the atlantic were brought into closer fellowship by books singularly free from anti-british prejudice; but he was so thoroughly american that he declared, even in london, that the true aristocracy must be founded on merit, for "birth has been tried and failed." this lecture was often repeated, and was finally given in as his last word in public. introspective and retiring habits kept him for some time from engaging actively in the reforms which were in full blast about ; but lowell said he was "the sleeping partner who has supplied a great part of their capital." his words about slavery were few and cold before the fugitive slave bill was passed in . indignation at this command to kidnap made him publicly advise his neighbours to break the wicked law. he spoke in support of a free soil candidate in , and for the republican party in ; but john brown called out much more of his praise than any other abolitionist. the attempt of the garrisonians to persuade the north to suffer the seceders to depart in peace won his active aid; but the speech which he tried to deliver on their platform, early in , was made inaudible by a mob of enthusiasts for maintaining the union by war. he rejoiced in emancipation; but it was not achieved until he had lost much of his mental vigour. this, in fact, was at its height between and . his last volumes were in great part made up of his earliest writings. there was no change in his opinions; and his address in was fully approved by him when he re-read it shortly before his death. his most useful contribution to the cause of reform was the characteristic theory which underlies all he wrote. in the essays published in , he states it thus: "every man knows that to his involuntary perceptions a perfect faith is due."... "we know truth when we see it." from first to last he held that "books are for the scholar's idle hours."... "a sound mind will derive its principles from insight."... "truth is always present; it only needs to lift the iron lids of the mind's eye to read its oracles." this was a doctrine much more revolutionary than luther's. emerson proclaimed independence of the bible as well as of the church. his innate reverence was expressed in such sayings as "the relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure, that it is profane to interpose helps." love of spontaneity made him declare that "creeds are a disease of the intellect." it was in his indignation at the fugitive-slave law that he said, "we should not forgive the clergy for taking on every issue the immoral side." his treatment of religious institutions was not perfectly consistent; but the aim of all his writings was to encourage heroic thought. he wrote the gospel of nonconformity. personal knowledge of his influence justified bishop huntington in saying that he has "done more to unsettle the faith of the educated young men of our age and country in the christianity of the bible than any other twenty men combined." how desirous emerson was to have the inner light obeyed promptly and fully may be judged from his describing his own habit of writing as follows: "i would not degrade myself by casting about for a thought, nor by waiting for it."... "if it come not spontaneously, it comes not rightly at all." much of the peculiar charm of his books is due to his having composed them thus. again and again he says: "it is really of little importance what blunders in statement we make, so only that we make no wilful departure from the truth."... "why should i give up my thought, because i cannot answer an objection to it?"... "with consistency, a great soul has simply nothing to do."... "speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said to-day."... "i hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency. let the words be"... "ridiculous henceforward." this is not meant for mere theory. we are told often that "virtue is the spontaneity of the will."... "our spontaneous action is always the best."... "the only right is what is after my own constitution, the only wrong what is against it." iii. the passages quoted in the last paragraph are of great importance; for they did more than any others to abolish slavery. its defenders appealed to the bible as confidently as to the national constitution; but the garrisonians declared with emerson, that "the highest virtue is always against the law." they were confident that they knew the truth as soon as they saw it, and had no need to answer objections. the same faith in spontaneous impressions inspired the suffragists, of whom the next chapter will give some account. agitations against established institutions sprang up thickly under the first step of transcendentalism. church, state, family ties, and business relations seemed all likely to be broken up. lowell says that "everybody had a mission (with a capital m) to attend to everybody else's business."... "conventions were held for every hitherto inconceivable purpose." "communities were established where everything was to be in common but common sense." the popular authors about were mostly transcendentalists; and nearly every transcendentalist was a socialist. some forty communities were started almost simultaneously; but not one-half lasted through the second year. one of the first failures was led by a man who had been working actively against slavery, but who had come to think that the only way to attack it was to try to do away with all private property whatever. brook farm lasted half a dozen years, with a success due partly to the high culture of the inmates, and partly to some recognition of the right of private ownership. the general experience, however, was that a transcendentalist was much more willing to make plans for other people, than to conform in his own daily life to regulations proposed by anyone else. the very multiplicity of the reforms, started in the light of the new philosophy, did much to prevent most of them from attaining success. we have seen how slavery was abolished; but no one should regret the failure of most of the transcendentalist schemes. the subsidence of socialism was especially fortunate on account of the frankness with which matrimony was repudiated by the system most in vogue, that of fourier. he had followed the spontaneous and instinctive impulses of man with the utmost consistency. other socialists have been more cautious; but the problem of reconciling family ties with communal life has not been solved. some of the english transcendentalists published a pamphlet recommending systematic encouragement of licentiousness; and an american philosopher, who turned roman catholic in , declared that free love was "transcendentalism in full bloom." the term "higher law" was used to support the pretence of some obligation more binding than marriage. a free-love convention was held in new york about ; and very lax ideas had been already announced by active apostles of spontaneity known as spiritualists. no writer has done more to encourage purity of thought than emerson. his life was stainless; but perhaps the best proof of this is his saying, "our moral nature is vitiated by any interference of our will"; and again, "if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him." no man ever wrote thus who was not either notoriously corrupt or singularly innocent. policemen and jailers exist largely for the purpose of preventing people from planting themselves on their instincts--for instance, those which lead to theft, drunkenness, and murder. socialism would perhaps be practicable if industry were as natural as laziness. almost all moralists have thought it necessary to insist on constant interference with the instincts. so earnest and able a transcendentalist as miss cobbe gives these definitions in her elaborate treatise on _intuitive morals_: "happiness is the gratification of all the desires of our nature." "virtue is the renunciation of such of them as are forbidden by the moral law." theodore parker insisted on the duty of subordinating "the low qualities to the higher," but emerson held, as already mentioned, that "virtue is the spontaneity of the will." such language was largely due to his perception that all activity, however innocent, of thought and feeling had been too much repressed by the puritanical churches, in whose shadow he was brought up. the same mistake was made in the dark ages; and the reaction from that asceticism was notorious during the renaissance. the early unitarians overrated human nature in their hostility to the trinitarians, who underrated it; and emerson went beyond his original associates in the unitarian ministry because he was more transcendental. the elevation of his own character encouraged him to hope that our higher qualities are so strong as to need only freedom to be enabled to keep all impure desire in subjection. it was a marked change of tone when in he allowed these words to be printed in one of his books: "self-control is the rule. you have in you there a noisy, sensual savage which you are to keep down, and turn all his strength to beauty." similar passages, especially a censure of the pruriency of fourierism, occur in essays which were probably written some years earlier, but were not published until after his death. most of the transcendentalists have fortunately acknowledged the duty of self-control much more plainly and readily. it is a fair question whether they were more consistent. how does anyone know which of his instincts and impulses to control and which to cultivate? what better light has he than is given either by his own experience or by that of his parents and other teachers? i acknowledge the power of conscience; but its dictates differ so much in different individuals as to be plainly due to early education. thus even a transcendentalist has to submit himself to experience; as he would not do if it were really transcended by his philosophy. emerson himself was singularly fortunate in his "involuntary perceptions." those of most men are dark with superstition and prejudice. it is what we have heard earliest and oftenest that recurs most spontaneously. if all mankind had continued satisfied to "trust the instinct to the end though it can render no reason," we should still believe in the divine right of kings, and the supremacy of evil spirits. there would have been very little persecution if men could have known truth when they saw it. parker believed devoutly in the intuitions, but he said that emerson exaggerated their accuracy to such an extent that he "discourages hard and continuous thought." "some of his followers will be more faithful than he to the false principles which he lays down, and will think themselves wise because they do not study, and inspired because they say what outrages common sense." the danger of following instinctive impressions in regard to the currency has been shown in recent american politics. anyone who is familiar with scientific methods will see where emerson's failed. it is true that he prized highly many of the results of science, especially the theory of evolution as it was taught by lamarck and other forerunners of darwin. his inability to see the value of investigation and verification is disclosed plainly; and he preferred to have people try to "build science on ideas." he acknowledged that too much time was given to latin and greek in college; but his wishes in regard to study of the sciences were so old-fashioned as to call out a remonstrance from agassiz. iv. how little scientific culture there was before may be judged from the rapid growth of spiritualism. transcendentalism had shown tremendous strength in helping people escape from the old churches; but it was of little use in building new ones. churches exist for the express purpose of enabling believers in a common faith to unite in public worship. no society could be so holy as solitude to a sincere transcendentalist; and the beliefs of his neighbours seemed much less sacred than his own peculiar intuitions. exceptional eloquence might make him pastor of a large society; but it began to decline when he ceased to speak. transcendentalism was excellent material for weathercocks, but it had to be toughened by adulteration with baser metal before it supplied any solid foundation for a new temple. most of the people who had lost faith in the old churches were longing after some better way of receiving knowledge about the heavenly world. millions of americans and europeans rejoiced to hear that spirits had begun to communicate by mysterious raps at rochester, n. y., on the last day of march, . messages from the departed were soon received in many places; but the one thing needful was that the room be filled with believers; and a crowded hall was peculiarly likely to be favoured with strange sounds and sights. here was the social element necessary for founding a new religion. it appealed as confidently as its rivals to miracles and prophecies, while it had the peculiar attraction of being preached mainly by young women. instinctive impulses were regarded as revelations from the spirit-land, but not considered infallible except by the very superstitious. the highest authority of an intelligent spiritualist has usually been his own individual intuition. some of the earliest lectures on that platform had little faith in anything but science, and put their main strength into announcing those revelations of geology which have dethroned genesis. one of the first teachers of evolution in america was a spiritualist named denton, who held a public debate in ohio, in , when he defended the theory of man's gradual development from lower animals against a preacher named garfield, who became president of the united states. some eminent scientists have become converts to spiritualism; but its general literature has shown little influence from scientific methods of thought. the advocates of the new religion have owed much of their success to impassioned eloquence. opposition to christianity has been expressed boldly and frequently. girls of seventeen have declared, before large audiences, that all the creeds and ceremonies of the churches are mere idolatry. among the earliest communications which were published as dictated by angels in the new dispensation were denials of the miracles of jesus, and denunciations of the clergy as "the deadliest foes of progress." an eminent unitarian divine declared in , that "the doctrines professedly revealed by a majority of the spirits, whose words we have seen quoted, are at open war with the new testament." some moderate spiritualists have kept in friendly relations with liberal churches; but many others have been in active co-operation with the most aggressive of unbelievers in religion. the speakers at the spiritualist anniversary in said to one another, "you and i are christs, just as jesus was," and claimed plainly that "our religion" was distinct from every "christian denomination." spiritualists have all, i think, been in favour of woman suffrage; and the majority were abolitionists. some of garrison's companions, however, deserted in the heat of the battle, saying that there was nothing more to do, for the spirits would free the slaves. anti-slavery lecturers in the north-west found themselves crowded out of halls and school-houses by trance-speakers and mediums. one of the most eminent of converts made by the latter, judge edmonds, was prominent among the defenders of slavery in the free states. freedom from any definite creed or rigid code of morality joined with the constant supply of ever-varying miracles in attracting converts. those in the united states were soon estimated in millions. spiritualism swept over great britain so rapidly that it was declared by the _westminster review_ to give quite as much promise as christianity had done, at the same age, of becoming a universal religion. no impartial observer expects that now. believers are still to be found in all parts of europe and south america, and they are especially numerous in the united states. proselytes do not seem to be coming in anywhere very thickly; and the number of intelligent men and women who have renounced spiritualism, after a brief trial, is known to be large. the new religion has followed the old ones into the policy of standing on the defensive. one instance of this is the opposition to investigation. a mediums' national defence association was in open operation before . a leading spiritualist paper suggested in , that the would-be inquirer should be "tied securely hand and foot, and placed in a strong iron cage, with a rope or small chain put tightly about his neck, and fastened to an iron ring in the wall." early in , some young men who claimed to have exposed an impostor, before a large audience in the spiritualist temple in boston, were prosecuted by his admirers on the charge of having disturbed public worship. v. during the last quarter of the century, free love has been much less prominent than before in spiritualistic teachings; but the only americans who were able to proclaim liberty without encouraging self-indulgence, prior to , were the logical and scholarly transcendentalists. theodore parker, for instance, is to be reckoned among the followers of hegel rather than of schelling; for he tried by hard study and deep thought to build up a consistent system of religion and morality by making deductions from a few central principles which he revered as great primary intuitions, held always and everywhere sacred. his faith in his ideas of god, duty, and immortality was very firm; and he did his best to live and think accordingly. he began to preach in , the year of the publication of emerson's first book, but soon found his work hindered by an idolatry of the bible, then prevalent even among unitarians. familiarity with german scholarship enabled him to teach his people to think rationally. his brethren in the unitarian ministry were alarmed; and a sermon which he preached in boston against the mediatorship of jesus made it impossible for him to occupy an influential pulpit. the lectures which he delivered that year in a hall in the city, and published in , won the support of many seekers for a new religion. they voted that he should "have a chance to be heard in boston"; and on february , , he preached in a large hall to what soon became a permanent and famous congregation. thither, as parker said, he "came to build up piety and morality; to pull down only what cumbered the ground." his main purpose to the last was to teach "the naturalness of religion," "the adequacy of man for his functions" without priestly aid, and, most important of all, that superiority of the real deity to the pictures drawn in the orthodox creeds, which parker called "the infinite perfection of god." he was singularly successful in awakening the spirit of religion in men who were living without it, but the plainness with which he stated his faith, in sermons which had a large circulation, called out many attacks. prayers were publicly offered up in boston, asking that the lord would "put a hook in this man's jaws, so that he may not be able to preach, or else remove him out of the way and let his influence die with him." no controversy hindered his labouring systematically for the moral improvement of his hearers, who sometimes amounted to three thousand. his sermons are full of definite appeals for self-control and self-culture; and his personal interest in every individual who could be helped was so active that he soon had seven thousand names on his pastoral visiting list. appeals for advice came from strangers at a distance, and were never neglected. not one of the great national sins, however popular, escaped his severe rebuke; and he became prominent as early as among the preachers against slavery. he was active in many ways as an abolitionist, but was not a disunionist. he seldom quitted his pulpit without speaking for the slave; and every phase of the anti-slavery movement is illustrated in his published works. pro-slavery politicians were as bitter as orthodox clergymen against him; and he describes himself as "continually fired upon for many years from the barroom and pulpit." his resistance to the fugitive slave law caused him to be arrested and prosecuted, in company with wendell phillips, by the officials of the national government. desire to awaken the people to the danger that lay in the growth of the national sin made him begin to lecture in . invitations flowed in freely; and he said, after he had broken down under the joint burden of overwork and of exposure in travelling: "since , i have lectured eighty or a hundred times each year, in every northern state east of the mississippi,--once also in a slave state and on slavery itself." this was his favourite subject, but he never missed an opportunity of encouraging intellectual independence; and he found he could say what he pleased. the total number of hearers exceeded half a million; among them were the most influential men in the north; and he never failed to make himself understood. no one else did so much to develop that love of the people for union and liberty which secured emancipation. his works have no such brilliancy as emerson's; but they burned at the time of need with a much more warm and steady light. no words did more to melt the chains of millions of slaves. no excess of individualism made him shrink back, like emerson, from joining the abolitionists; or discredit them, as thoreau did, by publicly renouncing his allegiance to massachusetts in , when that state stood foremost on the side of freedom. the account of a solitary life in the woods, which thoreau published that year, has done much to encourage independence of public opinion; and americans of that generation needed sadly to be told that they took too little amusement, especially out of doors, and made too great haste to get rich. their history, however, like that of the swiss, scotch, and ancient athenians, proves that it is the industrious, enterprising, money-making nations that are best fitted for maintaining free institutions. as for individual independence of thought and action, the average man will enjoy much more of it, while he keeps himself in comfortable circumstances by regular but not excessive work, than he could if he were to follow the advice of an author who prided himself on not working more than "about six weeks in a year," and on enduring privations which apparently shortened his days. thoreau's self-denial was heroic; but he sometimes failed to see the right of his neighbours to indulge more expensive tastes than his own. the necessary conditions of health and comfort for different individuals vary much more than he realised. many a would-be reformer still complains of the "luxury" of people who find physical rest or mental culture in innocent ways, not particularly to his own fancy. such censures are really intolerant. they are survivals of that meddlesome disposition which has sadly restricted freedom of trade, amusement, and worship. we have had only one emerson; but many scholarly transcendentalists have laboured to construct the new morality needed in the nineteenth century. parker's work has peculiar interest, because done in a terrible emergency; but others have toiled as profitably though less famously. the search after fundamental intuitions has led to a curious variety of statements which agree only in the assumption of infallibility; but the result has been the general agreement of liberal preachers in teaching a system of ethics at once free from superstition, bigotry, or asceticism, and at the same time vigorous enough to repress impure desire and encourage active philanthropy. theology has improved in liberality, as well as in claiming less prominence. thus the clergy have come into much more friendly relations with the philosophers than in the middle of the century. our popular preachers quote emerson; but really they follow, though often unconsciously, the methods of hegel and kant. this increases their sympathy with parker, who has the advantage over emerson of having believed strongly in personal immortality. his works are circulated by the very denomination which cast him out. the most popular preachers in many sects openly accept him and emerson among their highest authorities. transcendentalism has become the foundation of liberal christianity. this agreement is not, however, necessary and may not be permanent. hegel's great success was in bringing forward the old dogmas with new claims to infallibility. when some of his disciples showed that his methods were equally well adapted for the destruction of orthodoxy, schelling gave his last lectures in its defence. the singular fitness of traditions for acceptance as intuitions has been proved, late in the century, by the rev. joseph cook in boston as well as by many speakers at the concord school of philosophy. the reactionary tendency is already so strong that it may yet become predominant. we must not forget that shelley called himself an atheist, or that among hegel's most famous followers were strauss and renan. who can say whether unbelief, orthodoxy, or liberal christianity is the legitimate outcome of this ubiquitous philosophy? transcendentalism has been the inspiration of the century. its influence has been mighty in behalf of political liberty and social progress. but there was no inconsistency in hegel's opposing the education of women, and denying the possibility of a great republic, or in carlyle's defending absolute monarchy and chattel slavery, or in parker's successor in boston trying to justify the russian despotism. transcendentalism is a swivel-gun, which can be fired easily in any direction. perhaps it can be used most easily against science. the difference in methods, of course, is irreconcilable, as is seen in emerson; and the brilliant results attained by herbert spencer have been sadly disparaged by leading transcendentalists in the conventions of the free religious association, as well as in sessions of the concord school of philosophy. vi. the necessary tendency of transcendentalism may be seen in the agitation against vivisection, which was begun in by miss cobbe. she was aided by carlyle, browning, ruskin, lecky, mar-tineau, and other transcendentalists, one of whom, rev. w. h. channing, had been prominent in america about . most of the active anti-vivisectionists, however, belong to the sex which has been peculiarly ready to adopt unscientific methods of thought. it is largely due to women with a taste for metaphysics or theology that the agitation still goes on in great britain and the united states. attempts ought certainly to be made to prevent torture of animals by inexperienced students, or by teachers who merely wish to illustrate the working of well-known laws. there ought to be little difficulty in securing the universal adoption of such statutes as were passed by parliament in . vivisection was then forbidden, except when carried out for the purpose of important discoveries, by competent investigators duly licensed, and in regular laboratories. it was further required that complete protection against suffering pain be given by anaesthetics, though these last could be dispensed with in exceptional cases covered by a special license. the animal must at all events be killed as soon as the experiment was over. this law actually put a stop to attempts to find some antidote to the poison of the cobra, which slays thousands of hindoos annually. professor ferrier, who was discovering the real functions of various parts of the brain, was prosecuted in by the anti-vivisection society for operating without a license upon monkeys; but the charge turned out to be false. the real question since has been as to whether vivisection should be tolerated as an aid to scientific and medical discovery. darwin's opinion on this point is all the more valuable, because he hated all cruelty to animals. in april, , he wrote to _the times_ as follows: "i know that physiology cannot possibly progress except by means of experiments on living animals; and i feel the deepest conviction that he who retards the progress of physiology commits a crime against mankind.... no one, unless he is grossly ignorant of what science has done for mankind, can entertain any doubt of the incalculable benefits which will hereafter be derived from physiology, not only by man but by the lower animals. look, for instance, at pasteur's results in modifying the germs of the most malignant diseases, from which, as it so happens, animals will in the first place receive more relief than man. let it be remembered how many lives, and what a fearful amount of suffering, have been saved by the knowledge gained of parasitic worms, through the experiments of virchow and others upon living animals." another high authority, carpenter, says that vivisection has greatly aided physicians in curing heart disease, as well as in preventing blood-poisoning by taking antiseptic precautions. much has been learned as to the value of hypodermic injections, and also of bromide of potassium, chloral, salicylic acid, cocaine, amyl, digitalis, and strychnia. some of these drugs are so poisonous that they would never have been administered to human beings if they could not have been tried previously on the lower animals. the experiments in question have recently assisted in curing yellow fever, sunstroke, diabetes, epilepsy, erysipelas, cholera, consumption, and trichinosis. the german professors of medicine testified in a body that vivisection has regenerated the healing art. similar testimony was given in by the three thousand members of the international medical congress; and the british medical association has taken the same position. the facts are so plain that an english judge, who was a vice-president of miss cobbe's society, admitted that "vivisection enlarges knowledge"; but he condemned it as ''displeasing to almighty god.'' it was said to go "hand in hand with atheism"; and several of the episcopalian bishops, together with cardinal manning, opposed it as irreligious. transcendentalists are compelled by their philosophy to decide on the morality of all actions solely by the inner light, and not permitted to pay any attention to consequences. many of them in england and america agreed to demand the total suppression of vivisection, "even should it chance to prove useful." this ground was taken in by miss cobbe's society; and she declared, five years later, in _the fortnightly_, that she was determined "to stop the torture of animals, a grave moral offence, with the consequences of which--be they fortunate or the reverse--we are no more concerned than with those of any other evil deed." later she said: "into controversies concerning the utility of vivisection, i for one refuse to enter"; and she published a leaflet advising her sisters to follow her example. ruskin took the same ground. these hasty enthusiasts were equally indifferent to another fact, which ought not to have been overlooked, namely, that suffering was usually prevented by the use of anaesthetics, which are indispensable for the success of many experiments. the bill for prohibiting any vivisection was brought into the house of lords in ; but was opposed by a nobleman who presided over the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals; and it was lost by votes against . the house of commons refused even to take action on the subject, despite four years of agitation. thus the right of scientific research was finally secured. miss cobbe was one of the noblest of women; but even she was made blind by her philosophy to the right of people who prefer scientific methods to act up to their convictions. garrison, too, was notoriously unable to do justice to anyone, even an abolitionist, who did not agree with him. there is nothing in transcendentalism to prevent intolerance. this philosophy has done immense service to the philanthropy as well as the poetry of the nineteenth century; but human liberty will gain by the discovery that no such system of metaphysics can be anything better than a temporary bridge for passing out of the swamps of superstition, across the deep and furious torrent of scepticism, into a land of healthy happiness and clear, steady light. chapter vi. platform versus pulpit during the nineteenth century the authority of preachers and pastors has diminished plainly; and this is largely due to a fact of which emerson spoke thus: "we should not forgive the clergy for taking on every issue the immoral side." this was true in england, where the great reforms were achieved for the benefit of the masses, and against the interest of the class to which most clergymen belonged. the american pastor seldom differed from his parishioners, unless he was more philanthropic. he was usually in favour of the agitation against drunkenness; and he had a right to say that the disunionism of phillips and garrison, together with their systematically repelling sympathy in the south, went far to offset their claim for his support. it was difficult, during many years, to see what ought to be done in the north. when a practical issue was made by the attack on kansas, the clergy took the side of freedom almost unanimously in new england, and quite generally in rural districts throughout the free states. the indifference of the ministers to abolitionism, before , was partly due, however, to their almost universal opposition to a kindred reform, which they might easily have helped. i. it was before garrison began his agitation that frances wright denounced the clergy for hindering the intellectual emancipation of her sex; and her first ally was not _the liberator_, but _the investigatory_ though both began almost simultaneously. she pleaded powerfully for the rights of slaves, as well as of married women, before large audiences in the middle states as early as , when these reforms were also advocated by mrs. ernestine l. rose, a liberal jewess. these ladies spoke to men as well as women; and so next summer did miss angelina grimké, whose zeal against slavery had lost her her home in south carolina. her first public lecture was in massachusetts; and the congregationalist ministers of that state promptly issued a declaration that they had a right to say who should speak to their parishioners, and that the new testament forbade any woman to become a "public reformer." their action called out the spirited poem in which whittier said: "what marvel if the people learn to claim the right of free opinion? what marvel if at times they spurn the ancient yoke of your dominion?" garrison now came out in favour of "the rights of women," and thus lost much of the support which he was receiving from the country clergy generally in new england. the final breach was in may, , at the meeting of the national association of abolitionists in new york city. there came garrison with more than five hundred followers from new england. they gained by a close vote a place on the business committee for that noble woman, abby kelley. ministers and church members seceded and started a new anti-slavery society, which carried away most of the members and even the officers of the old one. the quarrel was embittered by the vote of censure, passed at this meeting upon those abolitionists who had dared to nominate a candidate of their own for the presidency without leave from mr. garrison; but the chief trouble came from the prejudice which, that same summer, caused most of the members of the world's anti-slavery convention in london, to refuse places to harriet martineau and other ladies as delegates. this exclusion was favoured by all the eight clergymen who spoke, and by no other speakers so earnestly. among the rejected delegates were mrs. lucretia mott and mrs. elizabeth cady stanton; and they resolved, that night, to hold a convention for the benefit of their sex in america. the volume of essays which emerson published in praised "the new chivalry in behalf of woman's rights"; and the other transcendentalists in america came, one after another, to the same position. mrs. stanton and mrs. mott called their convention in that year of revolutions, , on july th. the place was the methodist church at seneca falls, in central new york. the reformers found the door locked against them; and a little boy had to climb in at the window. the declaration of independence, adopted on july , , furnished a model for a protest against the exclusion of girls from high schools and colleges, the closing of almost every remunerative employment against the sex, and the laws forbidding a married woman to own any property, whether earned or inherited by her, even her own clothing. this declaration was adopted unanimously; but a demand for the suffrage had only a small majority. not a single minister is known to have been present; but there were two at a second convention, that august, in rochester, where the unitarian church was full of men and women. there were more than twenty-five thousand ministers in the united states; but only three are mentioned among the members of the national convention, held at worcester, massachusetts, in october, , by delegates from eleven states. as phillips was returning from this meeting, theodore parker said to him, "wendell, why do you make a fool of yourself?" the great preacher came out a few years later in behalf of the rights of women; but it was long before a single religious newspaper caught up with _the investigator_. how the clergy generally felt was shown in , at akron, in northern ohio. there episcopalian, presbyterian, baptist, methodist, and universalist ministers appealed to the bible in justification of the subjugation of women. there was no reply until they began to boast of the intellectual superiority of their own sex. then an illiterate old woman who had been a slave arose and said: "what 's dat got to do with women's rights, or niggers' rights either? if my cup won't hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, would n't ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" the convention was with her; but the bible argument was not to be disposed of easily. the general tone of both testaments is in harmony with the familiar texts attributed to paul and peter. these latter passages were written, in all probability, when the position of women was changing for the better throughout the roman empire: and the original words, asserting the authority of husbands, are the same as are used in regard to the power of masters over slaves. such language had all the more weight, because the ministers had been brought up as members of the ruling sex. they may have also been biassed by the fact that their profession depends, more than any other, for success upon the unpaid services in many ways of devoted women. emancipation was by no means likely to promote work for the church. there was an audience of two thousand at syracuse, in , when what was called the "bloomer convention," on account of the short dresses worn by some members, took up a resolution, declaring that the bible recognises the rights of women. mrs. rose said that the reform had merits enough of its own, and needed no justification by any book. a letter was read from mrs. stanton, saying that "among the clergy we find our most violent enemies, those most opposed to any change in woman's position." the accuracy of this statement was readily admitted, after a reverend gentleman had denounced the infidelity of the movement, in a speech described as "indecent" and "coarsely offensive" in the new york herald; and the resolution was lost. the lady who offered it was ordained soon after for the congregationalist ministry; but she was obliged to confess, at the woman's rights' convention, in , that "the church has so far cast me off, that to a great extent i have been obliged to go to just such infidels as those around me for aid to preach my christian views." it was at this meeting that a doctor of divinity, and pastor of a prominent society, denounced the reform so violently that mr. garrison called him a blackguard and a rowdy, with the result of having his nose pulled by the champion of the church militant. there were many such unseemly manifestations of clerical wrath. the _history of woman suffrage_, which was edited by mrs. stanton and other leading reformers, said, in : "the deadliest opponents to the recognition of the equal rights of women have ever been among the orthodox clergy." the unitarians were more friendly; but i do not think that the reform was openly favoured, even as late as , by one clergyman in a thousand out of the whole number in the united states. the proportion was even smaller in europe. even as late as , it was resolved by the woman suffrage convention at rochester, n. y., "that as the first duty of every individual is self-development, the lessons of self-sacrifice and obedience taught woman by the christian church have been fatal, not only to her own vital interests but through her to those of the race." influences were already at work, however, which have made the relations of platform and pulpit comparatively friendly in this respect. the women of the north showed their patriotism, during the great war, by establishing and managing the sanitary commission, the freedman's bureau, and the woman's loyal national league. important elections were carried in by the eloquence of anna e. dickinson, for the republican party; and it has often since had similar help. the success of the women's christian temperance union and other partly philanthropic and partly religious organisations, has proved the ability of women to think and act independently. many of their demands have been granted, one by one; and public opinion has changed so much in their favour, that they ceased long ago to encounter any general hostility from the clergy in the northern states. even there, however, women still find it much too difficult for them to enter a peculiarly easy, honourable, and lucrative profession. their elocutionary powers are shown on the stage as well as the platform. their capacity for writing sermons is plain to every one familiar with recent literature. their ability to preach is recognised cordially in the salvation army, as well as by spiritualists, quakers, unitarians, and universalists. much of the pastoral work is done by women, in actual fact; and more ought to be. the sunday-school, choir, social gathering, and other important auxiliaries to the pulpit are almost entirely in female hands. women enjoy practically the monopoly of those kinds of church work for which there is no pay; and their exclusion from the kind which is paid highly, in the largest and wealthiest denominations, looks too much like a preference of clergymen to look after the interest of their own sex. the most orthodox churches are the most exclusive; and the same forces which are driving bigotry out of the pulpits are bringing women in. this reform is one of many in which a much more advanced position has been taken by new england and the far west than by the south; and the american transcendentalists led public opinion in the section where most of them lived. in great britain the struggle has been carried on in the interest of the middle and lower classes, and under much opposition from the class to which most admirers of philosophy belonged. no wonder that one of the keenest critics of transcendentalism was prominent among the champions in england of the oppressed sex. john stuart mill declared, in his widely circulated book on _the subjection of women_, that "nobody ever arrived at a general rule of duty by intuition." he held that the legal subjection of wives to husbands bore more resemblance, as far as the laws were concerned, to slavery, than did any other relationship existing in great britain in . he did not argue from any theory of natural rights, but pointed out the advantage to society of women's developing their capacities freely. he also insisted on the duty of government not to restrict the liberty of any woman, except when necessary to prevent her diminishing that of her neighbours. this last proposition will be examined in the next chapter. the fact that mill's great work for freedom was done through the press, and not on the platform, makes it unnecessary to say more about him in this place. ii. clergymen, like transcendentalists, in england were generally conservative, or reactionary; and the friends of reform were much more irreligious than in america. their appeal against the authority of church and bible was not to intuition but to science; and they were aided by lyell's demonstration, in , that geology had superseded genesis. working-men were warned in lectures, tracts, and newspapers against immorality in the old testament; and even the new was said to discourage resistance to oppression and efforts to promote health, comfort, and knowledge. the most popular of these champions against superstition and tyranny was bradlaugh. he began to lecture in , when only seventeen, and continued for forty years to speak and write diligently. his atheism obliged him to undergo poverty for many years, and much hardship. he charged no fee for lecturing, went willingly to the smallest and poorest places, and was satisfied with whatever was brought in by selling tickets, often for only twopence each. he once travelled six hundred miles in forty-eight hours, to deliver four lectures which did not repay his expenses. many a hall which he had engaged was closed against him; and he was thus obliged to speak in the open air one rainy sunday, when he had two thousand hearers. at such times his voice pealed out like a trumpet; his information was always accurate; opposition quickened the flow of ideas; and he had perfect command of the people's english. his great physical strength was often needed to defend him against violence, sometimes instigated by the clergy. he had much to say against the old testament; but no struggle for political liberty, whether at home or abroad, failed to receive his support; and he was especially active for that great extension of suffrage which took place in . his knowledge that women would vote against him did not prevent his advocating their right to the ballot; but it was in the name of "the great mass of the english people" that he was an early supporter of the cause of union and liberty against the slave-holders who seceded. in he became president of the national society of secularists, who believe only in "the religion of the present life." most of the members were agnostics; and one of bradlaugh's many debates was with holyoake, the founder of secularism, on the question whether that term ought to be used instead of atheism. the society was so well organised that only a telegram from the managers was needed to call out a public meeting anywhere in england. among bradlaugh's hearers in america in were emerson, sumner, garrison, phillips, and o. b. frothingham. he won soon after a powerful ally in a clergyman's wife, who had been driven from her home by her husband because she would not partake of the communion. mrs. besant began to lecture in , and with views like bradlaugh's; but her chief interest was in woman suffrage. both held strict views about the obligation of marriage; and their relations were blameless. bradlaugh's place in history is mainly as a champion of the right of atheists to sit in parliament. he was elected by the shoemakers of northampton in , when oaths of allegiance were exacted in the house of commons. quakers, however, could affirm; and he asked the same privilege. as this was refused, he offered to take the oath, and declared that the essential part would be "binding upon my honour and conscience." this, too, was forbidden; but there was much discussion, not only in parliament but throughout england, as to his right to affirm. his friends held two hundred public meetings in a single week, and sent in petitions with two hundred thousand signatures during twelve months. the liberal newspapers were on his side; but the methodist and episcopalian pulpits resounded with denials of the right of atheists to enter parliament on any terms. among the expounders of this view in leading periodicals were cardinal manning and other prominent ecclesiastics. they had the support of the archbishop of canterbury, as well as of many petitions from sunday-schools. public opinion showed itself so plainly that brad-laugh was finally allowed by a close vote to make affirmation and take his seat. he was soon forced to leave it by an adverse decision of the judges, but was promptly re-elected. again he offered in vain to take the oath. after several months of litigation, and many appeals to audiences which he made almost unanimous, he gave notice that he should try to take his seat on august , , unless prevented by force. it took fourteen men to keep him out; and he was dragged down-stairs with such violence that he fainted away. his clothes were badly torn; and the struggle brought on an alarming attack of erysipelas. a great multitude had followed him to westminster hall, and there would have been a dangerous riot, if it had not been for the entreaties of mrs. besant, who spoke at bradlaugh's request. his next move was to take the oath without having it properly administered. he was expelled in consequence, but re-elected at once. thus the contest went on, until the speaker decided that every member had a right to take the oath which could not be set aside. bradlaugh was admitted accordingly, on january , ; and two years later he brought about the passage of a bill by which unbelievers were enabled to enter parliament by making affirmation. the irish members had tried to keep him out; but this did not prevent his advocating home rule for ireland, and also for india. from first to last he fought fearlessly and steadily for freedom of speech and of the press. his beauty of character increased his influence. mrs. besant is right in saying: "that men and women are now able to speak as openly as they do, that a broader spirit is visible in the churches, that heresy is no longer regarded as morally disgraceful--these things are very largely due to the active and militant propaganda carried on under the leadership of charles bradlaugh." iii. similar ideas to his have been presented ever since to immense audiences, composed mostly of young men, in chicago, new york, boston, and other american cities, by robert g. ingersoll. burning hatred of all tyranny and cruelty often makes him denounce the bible with a pathos like rousseau's or a brilliancy like voltaire's. he was decidedly original when he asked why jesus, if he knew how christianity would develop, did not say that his followers ought not to persecute one another. in protesting against subordinating reason to faith, ingersoll says: "ought the sailor to throw away his compass and depend entirely on the fog?" among other characteristic passages are these: "banish me from eden when you will, but first let me eat of the tree of knowledge!"... "religion has not civilised man: man has civilised religion."... "miracles are told simply to be believed, not to be understood." ingersoll is not merely a destroyer but an earnest pleader for what he calls the gospel of cheerfulness and good health, "the gospel of water and soap," the gospels of education, liberty, justice, and humanity. he regards "marriage as the holiest institution among men"; but holds that "the woman is the equal of the man. she has all the rights i have and one more; and that is the right to be protected." he believes fully "in the democracy of the family," and "in allowing the children to think for themselves." he is not so much interested as bradlaugh was in political reform and social progress, but has often taken the conservative side; and his speaking in public has been more like an occasional recreation than a life-work. some of his lectures have had an immense circulation as pamphlets; and his biblical articles in the _north american review_ attracted much notice. he is never at his best, however, without an audience before him; and he sometimes writes too rapidly to be strictly accurate. iv. a better parallel to bradlaugh is furnished by mr. b. f. underwood, who was only eighteen when he began to lecture in rhode island. the great revival of was in full blast; and he showed its evils with an energy which called down much denunciation from the pulpit. he spoke from the first as an evolutionist, though darwin had not yet demonstrated the fact. to and fro through the connecticut valley went the young iconoclast, speaking wherever he could find hearers, asking only for repayment of expenses, and sometimes failing to receive even that. his work was interrupted by the war, in which he took an active and honourable part. when peace was restored, he studied thoroughly the _origin of species_ and the _descent of man_; and he began in to give course after course of lectures on darwinism in new england, new york, and pennsylvania. the new view had been nine years before the public, but had received little or no support from any clergyman in the united states, or any journal except _the investigator_. for thirty years mr. underwood has been busily propagating evolutionism on the platform, as well as in print. no other american has done so much to make the system popular, or has reproduced herbert spencer's statements with such fidelity. he has taken especial pains to prove that "evolution disposes of the theory that the idea of god is innate," as well as of the once mighty argument from design. he has said a great deal about the bible and christianity, but in a more constructive spirit than either bradlaugh or ingersoll. he has discredited old books by unfolding new truth. among his favourite subjects have been: "what free thought gives us in place of the creeds," "the positive side of modern liberal thought," "if you take away religion, what will you give in its place?" "the influence of civilisation on christianity." he has always shown himself in favour of the interests of working-men, and also of women's rights and other branches of political reform. during the twelve years ending in , he lectured five or six times a week for at least nine months out of twelve, often travelling from canada to arkansas and oregon. occasionally he spoke every night for a month; but he has seldom lectured in summer, except when on the pacific coast. his lectures in oregon in on evolution awoke much opposition in the pulpits. two years afterwards he held a debate in that state against a clergyman who was president of a college, and who denounced evolution as in conflict with "the word of god." such views were then prevalent in that city; but in it was found by mr. underwood to have become the seat of the state university, where the new system was taught regularly. underwood, like bradlaugh, has always challenged discussion, and he has held over a hundred public debates. the first was in ; and some have occupied twenty evenings. most of his opponents have been clergymen; and a hundred and fifty of the profession were in the audience at one contest in illinois in . how much public opinion differs in various states of the union is shown by the fact that nine years later the doors of a hall which had been engaged for him in pennsylvania were closed against him, merely because he was "an infidel." his friends broke in without his consent; and he was fined $ . the first lecture which he tried to give in canada was prevented by similar dishonesty. another hall was hired for the next night at great expense; but much interruption was made by clergymen; and when suit was brought for damages through breach of contract, the courts decided that bargains with unbelievers were not binding in canada. both bradlaugh and underwood have usually spoken _extempore_, but both have been busy journalists. the american agitator wrote as early as for both _the liberator_ and _the investigator_. his connection with the latter paper lasted until the time when a serious difference of opinion arose between those aggressive unbelievers who called themselves "freethinkers," or even "infidels," and those moderate liberals who belong to the free religious association, and formerly supported _the index_. this journal came in under the management of mr. underwood. his colleague, rev. w. j. potter, was nominally his equal in authority; but i know, from personal acquaintance with both gentlemen, that the real editor from first to last was mr. underwood. it was mainly due to him that much attention was given, both in the columns of the journal and in the meetings of the association, to efforts for secularising the state. he was in charge of _the index_ until it stopped at the end of . in he held a discussion in boston with the president of williams college, and professor gray, the great botanist, on the relations between evolution and "evangelical religion." about four hundred orthodox clergymen were present. in mr. underwood was still in his original occupation. early that year he lectured in illinois, indiana, michigan, ohio, new york, connecticut, rhode island, massachusetts, and canada. he now believes, like emerson, in "a higher origin for events than the will i call mine." v. the difference of opinion among liberals, just referred to, grew out of the agitation for a free sunday, which had been begun by frances wright in . a call for "an anti-sabbath convention" in boston was issued by some transcendentalists in , when men had recently been imprisoned in massachusetts for getting in hay, and in pennsylvania for selling anti-slavery books. churches were closed on sunday against lecturers for any reform, however popular; and even the most innocent amusement was prohibited by public opinion. only a moderate protest had any chance of a hearing; but garrison and the other managers insisted in the call that "the first day of the week is no holier than any other," and refused to allow anyone who did not believe this to speak. very little was said about what the sunday laws really were; but most of the time was occupied with arguments that the sabbath was only for the jews, and that keeping sunday is not a religious duty. this last assertion called out an earnest remonstrance from theodore parker; but his resolutions were voted down. the garrisonians insisted, as usual, that the big end of the wedge ought to go in first; and their convention was a failure. twenty-eight years went by without any protest of importance against sunday laws in america. meantime the free religious association was organised in boston by unitarian clergymen who were indignant at the recent introduction into their denomination of a doctrinal condition of fellowship. the first public meeting, on may , , called out an immense audience. emerson was one of the speakers; and he held his place among the vice-presidents as long as he lived. a similar position was offered to lucretia mott, but she declined on the platform. her reason was that practical work was subordinated to theological speculation by the announcement in the constitution that the association was organised "to promote the interests of pure religion, to encourage the scientific study of theology, and to increase fellowship in the spirit." these phrases were altered afterwards; but the association has always been, in the words of one of its leading members "a voice without a hand." free religious conventions have regularly increased the confusion of tongues in that yearly boston babel called "anniversary week"; and there have been many similar gatherings in various cities; but not one in four of these meetings has given much attention to any practical subject, like the use of the bible in the public schools. a vigorous discussion of the sunday laws of massachusetts took place in , under peculiar circumstances to be described in the next section; but there was no other until . _the index_ started in ; but it was largely occupied with vague speculations about theology; and its discontinuance in left the association without any organ of frequent communication among its members, or even an office for business. dr. adler, who became president in , tried to awaken an interest in unsectarian education, and especially in ethical culture; but he resigned on account of lack of support; and the ethical culture societies were started outside of the association. comparatively few of its members took any interest in the petitions presented by its direction to the massachusetts legislature in and , asking for taxation of churches, protection of witnesses from molestation on account of unbelief, and rescue of the sunday law from giving sanctuary to fraud. the president acknowledged in that there had been a "general debility for practical work." there seems to have been a lack of energy among the managers; and some of the members were too anxious to preserve their individuality, while others had too much regard for ecclesiastical interests. the parliament of religions next year, however, showed what good the association had done by insisting continually on fellowship in religion, and keeping its platform open to jews, hindoos, and unbelievers, as well as to christians of every sect. vi. prominent among the founders of the free religious association was francis e. abbot, who lost his place soon after as pastor of an independent society, because the supreme court of new hampshire decided, on the request of some unitarians for an injunction against him, that his opinions were "subversive of the fundamental principles of christianity. he was the first editor of _the index_; and there appeared in april, , his statement of what are generally recognised as "the demands of liberalism " . we demand that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall no longer be exempt from just taxation. " . we demand that the employment of chaplains in congress, in state legislatures, in the navy and militia, and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions supported by public money, shall be discontinued. " . we demand that all public appropriations for educational and charitable institutions of a sectarian character shall cease. " . we demand that all religious services now sustained by the government shall be abolished; and especially that the use of the bible in the public schools, whether ostensibly as a text-book or avowedly as a book of religious worship, shall be prohibited. " . we demand that the appointment, by the president of the united states, or by the governors of the various states, of all religious festivals and fasts shall wholly cease. " . we demand that the judicial oath in the courts and in all other departments of the government shall be abolished, and that simple affirmation under the pains and penalties of perjury shall be established in its stead. " . we demand that all laws directly or indirectly enforcing the observance of sunday as the sabbath shall be repealed. " . we demand that all laws looking to the enforcement of "christian" morality shall be abrogated, and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of natural morality, equal rights, and impartial liberty. " . we demand that not only in the constitutions of the united states, and of the several states, but also in the practical administration of the same, no privilege or advantage shall be conceded to christianity or any other special religion; that our entire political system shall be founded and administered on a purely secular basis; and that whatever changes shall prove necessary to this end shall be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly made." he knew how unlikely it was that the association would agitate for anything; and in january, , he published a call for organisation of liberal leagues, in order to obtain the freedom already asked. such leagues were soon formed in most of the states, as well as in germany and canada. among the members were phillips, garrison, lucretia mott, higginson, and other famous abolitionists, karl heinzen and other radical germans, several rabbis and editors of jewish papers, inger-soll, underwood, the editor of _the investigatory_ and other active agitators, several wealthy men of business, collyer, savage, and other unitarian clergymen. hundreds of newspapers supported the movement; and eight hundred members had been enrolled before a convention of the national liberal league met in philadelphia, on the first four days of july, . the managers of the international exhibition in that city had already decided that it should be closed on sunday, in violation of the rights, and against the wishes, of the jews, unbelievers, and many other citizens. the free religious association had been requested in vain, at a recent meeting, to remonstrate against this iniquity. the league passed a strong vote of censure without opposition, and appointed a committee to present a protest which had been circulated during the convention. resolutions were also passed asserting the right of all americans to enjoy on sunday the public libraries, museums, parks, and similar institutions "for the support of which they are taxed," and demanding "that all religious exercises should be prohibited in the public schools." it was under the influence of this example that the free religious association held a special convention on november , , to protest against the sunday laws of massachusetts. a jewish rabbi complained that more than two thousand hebrew children in boston were prevented from keeping holy the day set apart for rest and worship in exodus and deuteronomy, and many of them actually obliged by their teachers to break the sabbath. this was the effect of the law commanding them to go to school on saturday, which is that "seventh day" whose observance is required by the fourth commandment. other speakers declared that no legislation was needed to ensure sunday's remaining a day of rest. mention was made of the fact that "any game, sport, play, or public diversion," not specially licensed, on saturday evening, made all persons present liable to be fined. this was already a dead letter; and the theatres had announced with perfect safety twenty years before, in their playbills, "we defy the law." a few months after this convention, its influence was shown in the opening of the art museum free of charge to the people of boston, sunday afternoons. thus the association began to co-operate with the national league; and the latter soon had the support of more than sixty local organisations. the movement for establishing "equal rights in religion" was uniting liberal christians, jews, independent theists, spiritualists, materialists, evolutionists, agnostics, and atheists. all were willing to call themselves "freethinkers" and work together as they have never done since . then the league felt itself strong enough to call for "taxation of church property," "secularisation of public schools," "abrogation of sabbatarian laws," and also for woman suffrage, as well as compulsory education throughout the united states. steps were taken towards nominating ingersoll on this platform for president of the republic. these plans had to be abandoned; the agitation subsided; and the harmony between lovers of liberty from various standpoints was lost. a fatal difference of opinion was manifest in , in regard to those acts of congress called "the comstock laws." these statutes forbade sending obscene literature through the mails; and there had been more than a hundred recent convictions. some of the prosecutions were said to have been prompted by religious bigotry; and there seems to have been unjustifiable examination of mail matter. the most important question was whether the laws ought to be enforced against newspapers and pamphlets about free love and marital tyranny, which were not meant to be indecent but really were so occasionally. a publisher in massachusetts was sentenced in june, , to two years of imprisonment for trying to mail such a pamphlet; but he was soon released. more severe punishment has been inflicted recently for similar offences. the majority of people in america and england favoured the exclusion by law of indecent literature from circulation; and this course has been considered necessary on account of the known frailty of human nature. the members of the free religious association were willing to have the comstock laws changed, but not repealed; and they voted, early in , to take no part in what threatened to be an unfortunate controversy. the league, however, was divided on the question whether these laws ought to be amended or repealed. abbot, underwood, and other prominent members declared that literature ought to be excluded from the mails or admitted according as it was intentionally and essentially indecent, or only accidentally so. thus ingersoll said: "we want all nastiness suppressed for ever; but we also want the mails open to all decent people." other members held that the comstock laws ought to be repealed entirely, and no restriction put on the circulation of any literature except by public opinion. this must be admitted to agree with the principle that each one ought to have all the liberty consistent with the equal liberty of everyone else; but this application of the theory cannot be considered politic in agitating for religious freedom. the _investigator, truthseeker_, and other aggressive papers, however, called for complete repeal; and a petition with this object received seventy thousand signatures. the national league had voted, in , that legislation against obscene publications was absolutely necessary, but that the existing laws needed amendment. the question whether this position should be maintained, was announced as the principal business to be settled in the convention which met at syracuse on october , . mr. abbot, the president, and other prominent officers declared that they should not be candidates for re-election if the position assumed two years before was not kept. scarcely had the convention met, when its management passed into the hands of the friends of repeal. they allowed judge hurlbut, formerly on the bench in the supreme court of the state, to argue in favour of closing the mails against publications "manifestly designed or mainly tending to corrupt the morals of the young." much respect was due to the author of a book which declared, in , that married women had a right to vote and hold property, as well as that the state "cannot rightfully compel any man to keep sunday as a religious institution; nor can it compel him to cease from labour or recreation on that day; since it cannot be shown that the ordinary exercise of the human faculties on that day is in any way an infringement upon the rights of mankind." on sunday morning, october th, it was agreed that the question of repeal or reform should be postponed until the next annual convention; but the decision was made a foregone conclusion that afternoon, when three-fifths of the members voted not to re-elect mr. abbot and other champions of reform. the defeated candidates left the convention at once, as did mr. underwood and many other members, judge hurlbut taking the lead. a new league was organised by the seceders; but it was not a success. the movement for amending, but not repealing, the comstock laws was given up; and most of those who had favoured it took sides with those who had refused to agitate. there was little interest in "the demands of liberalism" thenceforth among the liberal christians, reformed jews, transcendentalists, and evolutionists. these and other moderate liberals refuse to call themselves "freethinkers"; and they make little attempt at collective and distinctive action. the free religious association did nothing towards secularising the laws of massachusetts between and . the agitation which began in the latter year ended on may , , when the sunday laws were discussed at boston in a large and enthusiastic convention. the legislature had just passed a bill to legalise saturday evening amusements, as well as boating, sailing, driving, use of telegraph, and sale of milk, bread, newspapers, and medicines on sunday; the signature of the governor had not yet been given; but it was agreed that these changes must be made, and for the reason that the old restrictions could not be enforced. judge putnam, of the state district court, told the convention that "the sunday law, so called, has not in a long, long time been enforced," except by "a prosecution here and there"; and that if it were to be enforced strictly, the prosecutions would occupy nearly all the week. he opposed any restraint on "entertainments not of an immoral tendency." mr. garrison, son of the famous abolitionist, declared that sunday ought to be "the holiday of the week." captain adams, of montreal, said: "this is not a mere question how much men may do or enjoy on sunday: it is a question of human liberty, a question whether ecclesiastical tyranny shall still put its yoke on our necks." the tone was bold, but thoroughly practical from first to last. an earnest protest against closing the chicago exposition on the people's day of leisure was made by the f. r. a., in may, ; and an important victory in behalf of religious liberty was won in in massachusetts. the sunday laws of this state have been so improved as to permit what are called "charity concerts," and are not made up entirely of ecclesiastical music, to be given for the pecuniary benefit of charitable and religious societies on sunday evenings. the legislature which met early in was asked by representatives of the monday conference of unitarian ministers, the women's christian temperance union, and several other religious organisations to alter the law so as to prevent any but "sacred music" from being heard on the only evening when many people in boston can go to concerts. the officers of the f. r. a. made a formal request to be heard by a committee of the legislature through counsel, who proved that the "charity concerts" were really unobjectionable, and that the opposition to them was due entirely to zeal for an ancient text forbidding hebrews to labour on saturday in palestine. the injustice of stretching this prohibition so far as to try to stop concerts on sunday evenings in america was pointed out by representatives, not only of the f. r. a., but also of the international religious liberty association, which has been formed to protect christians who have kept the sabbath on the original day set apart in exodus and deuteronomy, from being punished for not prolonging their rest from honest labour over an additional day, first selected by an emperor whose decrees are not worthy of reverence. this association has offices in chicago, new york city, toronto, london, basel, and other cities; and its principles are ably advocated in a weekly paper entitled the _american sentinel_. representatives of this organisation assisted those of the f. r. a. in forcing the "charity concerts" question to be decided on its own merits, independent of ancient texts. the members of the legislative committee made a unanimous report against suppressing these harmless amusements; and their opinion was sustained by their colleagues. this victory was duly celebrated at the annual convention of the f. r. a., in boston, on may , . among the speakers that afternoon was the secretary of the i.r.l. a., who said: "if any nation under heaven has the right to confiscate one-seventh of my time, and tell how i shall and how i shall not use that, then the whole principle of inherent rights is denied, and it now is simply a matter of policy whether it shall not confiscate two-sevenths, three-sevenths, or seven-sevenths, and take away all my liberty." since , the agitation for religious equality has been carried on mainly by materialistic atheists and agnostics, with some assistance from spiritualists. these aggressive liberals continue to call themselves to liberty in the nineteenth century. "freethinkers," and to support the _investigatory truthseeker_, and other papers which have much to say against sunday laws, religious use of the bible in public schools, and exemption of churches from taxation. they often reprint "the demands of liberalism"; and one of these requests has been so amended in canada as to ask for the repeal of "all laws directly or indirectly enforcing the observance of sunday or the sabbath." the attack on the comstock laws has subsided; and no reference was made to them in in the call for a convention of the organisation which took the place of the whole system of national and local leagues in . the name then chosen was "the american secular union." the words, "and freethought federation" were added in , when two kindred associations were consolidated. it was under strong and constant pressure from these aggressive liberals that the great museums of art and natural history in new york were thrown open on sundays to longing crowds. one of the petitions was signed by representatives of a hundred and twelve labour organisations. the trustees of the art museum were induced to open it in the summer of by the contribution of $ , which had been collected by some young ladies for meeting extra expenses. thirty-eight thousand people took advantage, in august, , of their first opportunity to visit the museum of natural history on their one day of leisure; and these visitors were remarkable for good behaviour. there has been a similar experience in the boston art museum ever since the sunday opening in . vii. an exciting contest took place at chicago in . more than fifty nations were co-operating with the people of every one of the united states in commemorating the discovery of america. disreputable politicians had persuaded congress to pass a bill, by which closing the exposition on sundays was made a condition of receiving aid from the national treasury. the people of chicago had given three times as much, however, as congress; and there was much dissatisfaction among those citizens who had bought stock in the enterprise. the grounds had been kept open to visitors for some months, sunday after sunday, until the buildings were formally thrown open on may st; and the receipts had been liberal enough to prove that continuance of this course would be greatly to the advantage of these shareholders, while sunday closing might result in heavy loss. during the first three sundays of may the gates were kept shut by order of the board of national commissioners, made up of members from every state. their action and that of congress had been sanctioned by petitions bearing millions of signatures; but it is a significant fact that the alleged signers in pennsylvania were three times as many as the entire population of the state. many people had been counted again and again as members of different organisations; and this fraud was committed in other parts of the country. no attempt to find out what the people really wished was made except in texas; and there the majority was in favour of opening the gates. sabbatarians acknowledged publicly that they got little support from the secular press; and much opposition was made to them by some of the great dailies, as well as by the organs of aggressive liberalism. sunday after sunday in may the gates were surrounded by immense crowds who waited there vainly, hour after hour. many of them could evidently not come on other days; and the number was so large that the local directors, who had been elected by the shareholders, voted on may th for opening both gates and doors. this action was warmly approved by the leading citizens of chicago at a public meeting; but sabbatarians demanded that visitors be kept out by federal bayonets. the national commissioners, however, permitted the entrance of a hundred and fifty thousand people on the last sunday of may. on monday, the th, a judge of hebrew race, in a state court, pronounced the contract with congress null and void, because the money had not been fully paid. he decided, accordingly, that there was no excuse for violating the illinois law, which guaranteed the right of the citizens to visit on sunday the park where the exposition was held. this ensured the admission of visitors on june th, and for twenty of the remaining twenty-one sundays. the government buildings and many others, however, were closed; numerous exhibits, for instance, one of bibles, were shrouded in white; machinery was not allowed to run; there were no cheap conveyances about the ground; and there was little opportunity to get food or drink. no wonder that the sunday attendance was comparatively small; but there were one hundred and forty thousand paying visitors on october d and th. this was a victory of the press rather than the platform. there has been no successor to the original liberty league, and no rival to the sunday society. the latter was organised in in england, where there has been constant agitation since for opening the british museum, crystal palace, and other public institutions to their owners on sunday. dean stanley was president of this society; and among its members have been herbert spencer, huxley, tyndall, charles reade, lecky, miss cobbe, mrs. craik, and many prominent clergymen. the real issue was stated clearly at one of the public meetings by tyndall as follows: "we only ask a part of the sunday for intellectual improvement." the justice of this request has been so far admitted that on may , , all the national museums and galleries in london were opened for the first time on sunday. among these educational institutions from which the owners are no longer shut out are the national gallery and the south kensington, british, and natural history museums. many libraries and museums in other parts of england were opened some years earlier. viii. nowhere has the platform done so much to regenerate the pulpit as in chicago. religious history has been largely a record of strife. there was little brotherly feeling between clergymen of different sects in america before ; but they were often brought into co-operation by the great war. even unitarians were shocked to hear emerson speak with reverence of zoroaster in ; but he won only applause in when he spoke of the charm of finding "identities in all the religions of men." this was at a convention of the free religious association, which has pleaded from the first for "fellowship in religion," and often made this real upon its platform. the secretary, mr. potter, said in , that some of his hearers would live to see "a peace convention" "of representatives from all the great religions of the globe." chicago was so peculiarly cosmopolitan that the local managers of the columbian exposition were glad to have products of the various intellectual activities of mankind exhibited freely. ample provision was made for conventions in behalf of education and reform; but what was to be done for religion? an orthodox citizen of chicago, mr. charles carroll bonney, took counsel in with rev. j. li. jones, a unitarian, who has been preaching for twenty years the essential oneness of all religions. rabbis, bishops, and doctors of divinity were consulted also; and thus was formed the committee which invited "the leading representatives of the great historic religions of the world for the first time in history," to meet in friendly conference and show what they "hold and teach in common," as well as "the important distinctive truths" claimed for each religion. thus the columbian exposition offered an opportunity "to promote and deepen the spirit of human brotherhood among religious men of diverse faiths," "to inquire what light each religion has afforded or may afford to the other religions of the world," and, finally, "to bring the nations of the earth into a more friendly fellowship in the hope of securing a permanent international peace." thus was announced the "parliament of religions." all the members were to meet as equals; and there was to be neither controversy nor domination. the archbishop of canterbury and some leading protestants in america protested against abandoning the exclusive claims made for christianity; and similar objections were offered by the sultan of turkey. the jews, buddhists, and other believers in the ancient religions welcomed the invitation, as did the dignitaries of the greek church, and also the protestants on the continent of europe, and many members of every christian sect in the united states. the catholic archbishops of america appointed a delegate; and many methodist and episcopalian bishops agreed to attend the parliament. the sessions were held in the permanent building erected in the centre of chicago to accommodate the intellectual portion of the exposition. four thousand people assembled on monday, september , , to see a roman catholic cardinal mount the platform at a.m., in company with the shinto high-priest, an archbishop of the greek church, a hindoo monk, a confucian mandarin, and a long array of buddhists and taoists from the far east. all these dignitaries wore gorgeous robes of various colours. with them were a parsee girl, a theosophist, a moslem magistrate from india, a catholic archbishop from new zealand, a russian and an african prince, a negro bishop, several episcopalian prelates, rabbis, and jewesses, missionaries returned from many lands, doctors of divinity of various protestant sects, and the lady managers of the great fair. a prominent presbyterian pastor took the chair, and cordial declarations of the brotherhood of religions were made by catholic archbishops, the shinto high-priest, a buddhist delegate, and the confucian sent by the emperor of china. full hearing was given in subsequent sessions to advocates of the jain religion, which is perhaps the oldest, as well as of the parsee, jewish, moslem, taoist, and vedic faiths, besides a score of the leading christian denominations. the parliament lasted seventeen days; and the audiences were so large that most of the essays were repeated in overflow meetings. there were also some forty congresses held in smaller halls for speakers who could not find room on the great platforms. one of these meetings was held by jewesses, of whom nineteen spoke. some of them were also heard from the platform of the parliament; as were many clergy women. mr. underwood presided at the congress of evolutionists. there was also a convention of the free religionists, in connection with the parliament which they had made possible; but "the freethought federation" could get no chance to meet in the great building, or even to sell pamphlets. mr. bonney had proposed a union of all religions against irreligion; and this would have been in harmony with the policy adopted by many states of the american union. their sunday laws and similar statutes show a purpose of encouraging all the popular sects alike, with little regard for the rights of citizens outside of these favoured associations. most of the speakers in the parliament, especially the buddhists, were so zealous for the brotherhood of man, that they protested against any discrimination on account of theology. the great audiences gave most applause to the broadest declarations; and the few utterances of protestant bigotry were plainly out of place. the general tendency of the parliament was strongly in favour of recognising the equal rights of all mankind, without regard to belief or unbelief. all legislation inconsistent with this principle will be swept away, sooner or later, by that great wave of public opinion which broke forth during the parliament of religions. there the golden age of religion began, and war must give place to peace. chapter vii. the evolutionists we have seen how the transcendentalists tried to suppress vivisection, in spite of all it has done for the health and happiness of mankind. the sanguinary intolerance of robespierre and other disciples of rousseau was described earlier in this volume. and the notorious inability of carlyle and garrison to argue calmly with those who differed with them further illustrates the tendency of confidence in one's own infallibility. only he who knows that he may be wrong can admit consistently that those who reject his favourite beliefs may be right. the parliament of religions showed that there has been a growing conviction of the equal rights of holders of all forms of belief and unbelief; this conviction has been promoted by recognition of two great facts: first, that knowledge is based upon experience, and, second, that no one's life is so complete that he has nothing to learn from other people. if they do not believe as he does, it may be merely because experience has taught them truth which he still needs to learn. each one knows only in part; and therefore no one can afford to take it for granted that anyone else is completely in error. i. this tolerant method of thought has gained greatly in popularity since darwin proved its capacity to solve the problem of the origin of man. the possibility that all forms of life, even the highest, are results of a natural process of gradual development has often been suggested by poets and philosophers. the probability was much discussed by men of science early in the nineteenth century; but it was not until that sufficient evidence was presented to justify acceptance of evolution as anything better than merely a theory. twenty-one years had then elapsed since darwin began a long series of investigations. in the first place, he collected an irresistible number of cases of the influence of environment in causing variations in structure, and of the tendency of such variations to be inherited. most men who accepted these propositions admitted their insufficiency to account for the multiplicity of species; but the explanation became complete when darwin discovered that any plant or animal which is peculiarly fit for survival in the continual struggle for existence is likely to become largely represented in the next generation. a spontaneous variation which prolongs the life of its possessor may thus become not only more common but more firmly fixed in successive generations, until a new species is established. to this tendency darwin gave the name "natural selection"; but this term literally implies a deliberate choice by some superhuman power. herbert spencer proposed the phrase, "survival of the fittest"; but it must be remembered that the fitness is not necessarily that of greater moral worth. there may be merely such a superiority in strength and cunning as enables savages to devour a missionary. spencer says that "the expression, 'survival of the fittest,'" merely means "the leaving alive of those which are best able to utilise surrounding aids to life, and best able to combat or avoid surrounding dangers." weeds are fitter than flowers for natural growth; and joan of arc proved unfit to survive in the contest against wicked men. this discovery of darwin's made it his duty to avow a view which was so unpopular that he felt as if he were about "confessing a murder." he was making "a big book" out of the facts he had collected, when a manuscript statement of conclusions like his own was sent him by wallace, who had discovered independently the great fact of the survival of the fittest. darwin wished at first to resign all claim to originality; but his friends insisted on his taking a share of the honour of the discovery. accordingly an essay, which he had written in , was read in company with that sent him by wallace before the linnæan society, in london, on july , . the importance of the new view was so well understood that the entire first edition, amounting to copies, of darwin's _origin of species_, which book he wrote soon after, was sold on the day of publication, november , . other editions followed rapidly, with translations into many languages. no book of the century has been more revolutionary. ii. theologians still insisted on the supernatural creation of each species of plant or animal, and especially of the human race, in its final form. the inference that man had been developed by natural processes out of some lower animal, was easily drawn from the _origin of species_, though not expressly stated therein; and there was great alarm among the clergy. an anglican bishop, who was nicknamed "soapy sam" on account of his subserviency to public opinion, declared in a leading quarterly that darwin held views "absolutely incompatible" with the bible, and tending to "banish god from nature." other prominent episcopalians called the new book "an attempt to dethrone god," and propagate infidelity. cardinal manning denounced the "brutal philosophy" which taught that "there is no god, and the ape is our adam." both catholics and protestants started anti-darwinian societies in london, and, in , huxley saw "the whole artillery of the pulpit brought upon the doctrine of evolution and its supporters." the example of england was followed promptly by france and germany. america was distracted by civil war; and her men of science were so few and timid that the denunciations of darwinism which were prompted by the theological and metaphysical prejudices of agassiz were generally accepted as final decisions. the position of the unitarians and transcendentalists may be judged from the fact that, during a period of nearly three years after the publication of the _origin of species_, nothing was said about darwinism in the extremely liberal divinity school where i was then a student. evolutionism had to look for advocates in america to spiritualists like denton or unbelievers like underwood at that period. clerical opposition increased the general unwillingness of scientific men to snatch up new views. as early as , however, darwin received the support of the famous geologist, lyell, as well as of a younger naturalist destined to achieve even more brilliant success. huxley has distinguished himself in arguments against the scientific value of the bible. among his other exploits was a demonstration that a chain, in which no link is missing, connects the horse with a small, extinct quadruped possessed of comparatively few equine peculiarities. in this case, transformation of species is an undeniable fact. other young naturalists in england, as well as in germany, gradually became willing to push the new view to its last results; and darwin was encouraged to publish, in , his elaborate account of the origin of our race, entitled _the descent of man_. the wrath of the churches blazed forth once more; and gladstone entered the arena. englishmen ventured no longer to say much about the differences between moses and darwin; for the obvious retort would have been, "so much the worse for moses." a german lutheran, however, bade his congregation choose between christ and darwin; and the infallibility of moses was asserted so zealously by a parisian catholic as to win formal thanks from the pope. america was now wide awake; irreligious tendencies were assigned to evolutionism by the president of yale, as well as by some princeton professors; and one of these latter warned believers in the development of man that they would be punished as infidels after death. the verdict of men of science has at last been pronounced so plainly as to be accepted by thoroughly educated people in the northern states; but the southerners are more bigoted. even so late as , a professor of biology at the university of texas was dismissed, in violation of contract, for teaching evolutionism. a similar offence had been found sufficient, ten years before, by the presbyterians of south carolina, for driving a devout member of their own sect from his chair in a theological seminary. that popular writer on geology, winchell, was requested in by a methodist bishop to resign a professorship at nashville, tennessee, where he had expressed doubt of the descent of all men from adam. the geologist refused to resign, and the chair was suppressed. voltaire's chief grievance was the intolerance of christianity. paine and bradlaugh complained that there was much immorality in the old testament. the most damaging of recent attacks have been made in the name of science. genesis and geology had been found irreconcilable before the appearance of darwinism; but the new system widened the breach. the most serious offence to the theologian, however, was that he could not longer point without danger of contradiction to beneficial peculiarities in the structure of plants and animals, as marks of the divine hand. the old argument about design was met by a demonstration that such peculiarities were apt to arise spontaneously, and become permanent under the pressure of the struggle for existence. the theologian has had to retreat to the position that darwinism has not accounted for the soul, the intellect, and especially the intuitions. iii. whether darwin succeeded or not in this part of his work is not so important as the fact that, several years before he announced his great discovery, an elaborate account of the process by which the powers of thought and feeling have been developed gradually out of the lowest forms of consciousness was given by herbert spencer. the first edition of his _principles of psychology_, published in , carried the explanation so far as to show the real origin and value of the intuitions. their importance had been almost ignored by thinkers who relied entirely on individual experience, and greatly overrated by the transcendentalists; but neither set of philosophers could explain these mysterious ideas. the infallibility of conscience is not to be reconciled with such facts as that paul thought it his duty to persecute the christians, or that garrison, sumner, john brown, and stonewall jackson were among the most conscientious men of the century. the ancient greeks agreed in recognising justice, but not benevolence, among the cardinal virtues; precisely the opposite error was made by kant and miss cobbe; and a tabular view of all the lists of fundamental intuitions which have been made out by noted metaphysicians might be mistaken for a relic from the tower of babel. emerson's religious instincts were not so much impressed as parker's with the personality of god and immortality; but the difference seems almost insignificant when we remember what ideas of theology arose spontaneously in new zealand. how widely the intuition of beauty varies may be judged from the inability of aesthetic chinamen to admire the white teeth and rosy cheeks of an english belle. intuition is plainly not an infallible oracle; but is it merely a misleading prejudice? the puzzle was solved when spencer showed that intuition is a result of the experience of the race. courage, for instance, was so important for the survival of a primitive tribe in the struggle against its neighbours, that every man found his comfort and reputation depend mainly on his prowess. if he fought desperately he gained wealth, honour, and plenty of wives; but cowards were maltreated by other men and scorned even by the women. the bravest man left the largest number of offspring; and every boy was told so early and earnestly to be courageous as to develop a pugnacious instinct, which has come down to the present day in much greater strength than is needed for the ordinary demands of civilised life. we love war too much, because our ancestors were in danger of not loving it enough for their own safety. as courage ceased to be the one all-important excellence, industry, fidelity, and honesty were found so useful as to be encouraged with a care which has done much to mould conscience into its present shape. other virtues were inculcated in the same way. the welfare of the family was found to depend largely on the fidelity of wife to husband; and the result was that chastity has held a much higher place in the feminine than in the masculine conscience. so our religious instincts owe much of their strength to the zeal with which our ancestors sought to avert the divine wrath. thus we have ideas which were originally only vague inferences from primitive experience, but which have gradually gained such strength and definiteness, that they have much more power than if we had thought them out unaided by the past. spencer himself says, "there have been, and still are, developing in the race certain fundamental moral intuitions" which "are the results of accumulated experiences of utility, gradually organised and inherited," but "have come to be quite independent of conscious experience." they "have no apparent basis in the individual experiences of utility"; and thus conscience has acquired its characteristic disinterestedness. when we feel this inner prompting to a brave or honest action which must be done promptly or left undone, it is our duty to act without hesitation or regard to our own interest. we are serving our race in the way which its experience has taught. suppose, however, that there is time enough for deliberation, and that we see a possibility of harm to our neighbours, our family, or even to our own highest welfare. in this case, we ought to compare the good and evil results carefully. we should also do well to consider what was the decision of the consciences of the best and wisest men under similar circumstances. if we neglect these precautions, we may be in danger of following not conscience but passion. there is also a possibility that conscience may embody only such primitive ideas of duty as have since been found incorrect. this has often been the case with persecutors and monarchists. generosity is still too apt to take an impulsive and reckless form which perpetuates pauperism. spencer has taught us that conscience is worthy not only of obedience, but of education. spencer's attempt to substitute a thoughtful for a thoughtless goodness of character has been much aided by his protest against such undiscriminating exhortations to self-sacrifice as are constantly heard from the pulpit. good people, and especially good women, welcome the idea of giving up innocent pleasure and enduring needless pain. the glory of martyrdom blinds them to the fact that, as spencer says in his _psychology_, "pains are the correlatives of actions injurious to the organism, while pleasures are the correlatives of actions conducive to its welfare." in other words, "pleasures are the incentives to life-supporting acts, and pains the deterrents from life-destroying acts." abstinence from pleasure may involve loss of health. self-sacrifice is scarcely possible without some injury to mind or body; as is the case with people who make it a religious duty to read no interesting books and take scarcely any exercise on sunday. it is further true that "the continual acceptance of benefits at the expense of a fellow-being is morally injurious"; as "the continual giving up of pleasures and continual submission to pains are physically injurious." blind self-sacrifice "curses giver and receiver--physically deteriorates the one and morally deteriorates the other," "the outcome of the policy being destruction of the worthy in making worse the unworthy." no wonder that men are stronger, and also more selfish, than women. almost all self-sacrifice involves loss of individual liberty. the subjection of women has been deepened by their readiness to sacrifice themselves to those they love; their fondness for martyrdom often leads them into the sin of marrying without love; and generosity of heart facilitates ruin. women would really be more virtuous if they felt less obligation to their lovers and more to their race. iv. spencer's psychological discoveries were corollaries to that great principle of evolution of which he made the following announcement as early as in the _westminster review_. after declaring his belief in "that divergence of many races from one race which we inferred must have continually been occurring during geologic time," he stated that "the law of all progress is to be found in these varied evolutions of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous," or in other words, "out of the simple into the complex." the discoveries of darwin and wallace were not announced before , but spencer avowed in his belief in "the theory of evolution" or "development hypothesis," according to which "complex organic forms may have arisen by successive modifications out of simple ones." it was without any aid or suggestion from darwin that spencer's statement of the law of evolution was brought into the final form published in . evolution was then described as change, not only from the simple to the complex, but also from the chaotic to the concentric and consolidated, or, in spencer's own words, "from an indefinite incoherent homogeneity to a definite coherent heterogeneity." progress, he says, consists in integration as well as differentiation. there is an increase in permanence and definiteness as well as in variety. higher forms are not only more complex and unlike than lower ones, but also more stable and more strongly marked. spencer has been represented by some transcendentalists as darwin's pupil; but the whole system just described would, in all probability, have been built up in substantially its present form, if both darwin and wallace had kept their discoveries to themselves. the only difference would have been that spencer could not have been sustained by such a great mass of evidence. all these facts were collected by darwin merely to prove the physical development of men and other animals from lower forms of life; but spencer showed that all the phenomena of thought and feeling, as well as of astronomy, geology, and chemistry, are results of the great laws of integration and differentiation. all human history and social relations can be accounted for in this way. and if this extension had not been given to the principle of evolution, darwin's discoveries might soon have ceased to have much interest, except for students of natural history. each of the two great evolutionists helped the other gain influence; but their co-operation was almost as unintentional as that of two luminaries which form a double star. v. spencer has done much to diminish intolerance, by teaching, as early as , that all religions are necessary steps in the upward march of evolution. he has also attempted to reconcile religion and science, by teaching that the one all-essential belief is in a great unknowable reality, which is not only inscrutable but inconceivable. in writing about this supreme power, he uses capitals with a constancy which would look like an assumption of knowledge, if the same habit were not followed in regard to many other words of much less importance. he admits that "we cannot decide between the alternative suppositions, that phenomena are due to the variously conditioned workings of a single force, and that they are due to the conflict of two forces." "matter cannot be conceived," he says, "except as manifesting forces of attraction and repulsion"; but he also says that these antagonistic and conflicting forces "must not be taken as realities but as our symbols of the reality," "the forms under which the workings of the unknowable are cognisable." this creed is accepted by many american evolutionists. it is the doctrine of one of spencer's most elaborate and brilliant interpreters, professor john fiske, of such popular clergymen as doctors minot j. savage and lyman abbott, and of many of the members of that energetic organisation, "the brooklyn ethical association." _the open court_ of chicago and other periodicals are working avowedly for "the religion of science"; but that is not to be established without much closer conformity to the old-fashioned creeds and ceremonies than has been made by spencer. his later works seem more orthodox than his earlier ones; but his final decision is that "the very notions, origin, cause, and purpose, are relations belonging to human thought, which are probably irrelevant to the ultimate reality." he has also admitted that the proposition, "evolution is caused by mind," "cannot be rendered into thought." and he is right in saying that he has nowhere suggested worship. whether he has proposed a reconciliation, or only a compromise, whether evolutionism will ever be as popular in the pulpit as transcendentalism, and whether there is not more reality in the forces of attraction and repulsion than in spencer's great unknowable, are problems which i will not discuss. darwin was an agnostic like huxley, who held that "we know nothing of what may be beyond phenomena," and "science commits suicide when she adopts a creed." huxley pronounced the course of nature "neither moral nor immoral, but non-moral," and declared that "the ethical progress of society depends not on imitating the cosmic process but on combating it." the severity of his criticism of the gospel narratives called out threats of prosecution for blasphemy. he avowed "entire concurrence" with haeckel, who holds that belief in a personal god and an immortal soul are incompatible with the fundamental principles of evolution. the german scientist argues in his elaborate history of the development of animals, that life is no manifestation of divine power, working with benevolent purpose, but merely the necessary result of unconscious forces, inherent in the chemical constitution and physical properties of matter, and acting mechanically according to immutable laws. the position of haeckel and huxley is all the more significant because frederic harrison knows of "no single thinker in europe who has come forward to support this religion of an unknown cause." vi. a much more important controversy has been called out by spencer's theory of the limits of government. as early as he proposed "the limitation of state action to the maintenance of equitable relations among citizens." his _social statics_ demanded, in , as a necessary condition of high development, "the liberty of each, limited only by the like liberty of all." his ideal would be a government where "every man has freedom to do all he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man." these propositions are repeated in the revised edition of , which differs from the earlier one in omitting a denial of the right of private property in land, and also a demand for female suffrage. how far spencer had changed his views may be seen in his volume on _justice_. both editions of _social statics_ deny the right of governments to support churches, public schools, boards of health, poorhouses, lighthouses, or mints. spencer would have titles to land guaranteed by the state, and property-holders protected against unjust lawsuits; but otherwise the government ought to confine itself, he thinks, to managing the army, navy, and police. this position is defended by an appeal to the fact that the citizen is most energetic and intelligent where he is most free to act for himself. no american is as helpless before pestilence or famine as a russian peasant, or as afraid to go to a burning house until summoned by the police. a despotism may begin with a strong army; but it ends, like the roman empire, in the weakness which it has brought on by crushing the spirit of its soldiers. strong governments make weak men. never was there a mightier army than was given by the french republic to napoleon. industrial prosperity depends even more closely than military glory on the energy of men who have been at liberty to think and act freely. people develop most vigorously where they are least meddled with. the average man knows much more than his rulers do about his own private business; and he is active to promote it in ways which secure the general welfare. great stress is laid not only in _social statics_ but in spencer's book on _the man versus the state_, and in several essays, on the many times that the british government has increased an evil by trying to cure it. what is said about its extravagance will not surprise any american who remembers what vast sums are squandered by congress. the post-office is often spoken of as proof that our government could run our railroads; but one of boston's best postmasters said, "no private business could be managed like this without going into bankruptcy." the british government has a monopoly of the telegraph; and introduction of the telephone was very difficult in consequence. in victoria, the postmaster-general has abused his privileges so much as to appoint a "sporting agent" to telegraph the results of a horse-race; and this same highly protectionist colony has had laws forbidding any shop to be open after p.m., except on saturday, and any woman to work more than forty-eight hours a week in any factory. how governments interfered in former centuries with people's right to feed, clothe, employ, and amuse themselves, seems almost inconceivable at present. persecution was one among many forms of mischievous meddling. locke, in arguing for toleration in , was obliged to take the ground that "the whole jurisdiction of the magistrate reaches only" to securing unto all the people "life, liberty, health," and also "outward things such as money, lands, houses, furniture, and the like." "government," he said, "hath no end but preservation, and therefore can never have a right to destroy, enslave, or designedly to impoverish the subject." clearer language was used by those french patriots who declared in the constitution of that liberty consists in ability to do everything which brings no harm to others; and, two years afterwards, that the liberty of each citizen should extend to where that of some other citizen begins. nearly fifty years later, a theory very like spencer's was published by wilhelm von humboldt, brother of the great naturalist. among the many writers who have held that government ought not to be merely limited but repudiated totally was thoreau. it was in that this zealous abolitionist publicly renounced his allegiance to a great anti-slavery commonwealth, and that he asserted, in _walden_, the necessity of preserving individual liberty by conforming as little as possible to any social usages, even that of working regularly in order to support one's self and family in comfort. that same year, spencer showed in his essay on _manners and fashion_ the difference between a regulation by which public opinion tries to prevent rude people from making themselves unnecessarily disagreeable to their neighbours, and one which encourages dissipation by arbitrarily check-ing innocent amusement. even in the latter case, however, there is, as he says, but little gain from any solitary nonconformity. reform must be carried on in co-operation. that powerful assailant of transcendentalism, john stuart mill, was not an evolutionist; but it was largely due to his liberal aid that the system of differentiation and integration was published. this generosity was consistent with his own position, that all opinions ought to have a hearing, and especially those which are novel and unpopular, for they are peculiarly likely to contain some exposure of ancient error or revelation of new truth. this fact was set forth with such ability in his book, _on liberty_, in , that several long passages were quoted in the public protest, delivered in ohio five years later by vallandigham, against the war then carried on for bringing back the seceded states. mill holds that neither government nor public opinion ought to interfere with any individual, except "to prevent doing harm to others." he says, for instance, that there would be no tyranny in forcing parents to let their children have education enough to become safe members of society. such a law could scarcely be justified by the principle of giving all the liberty to each compatible with the like liberty of all. among the restrictions which mill mentions as oppressive are those in england and america against selling liquor, gambling, and sunday amusements. he admits the difficulty of deciding "how far liberty may be legitimately invaded for the prevention of crime." vii. it was in full conformity with the principles of mill, spencer, and locke that the constitution of louisiana, as revised in , declared that the only legitimate object of government "is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. when it assumes other functions, it is usurpation and oppression." similar sentiments have been occasionally expressed in political platforms. such narrow limits have not, so far as i know, ever been observed in the united states or in any other civilised land. few people love liberty so much as not to be willing that the state should give them security against conflagration and contagious disease. there is also a general demand for such safety as is given by roads, streets, bridges, lighthouses, and life-saving stations. the necessity of hospitals, asylums, and poorhouses is manifest. if all this expense had to be met by public-spirited individuals, it is probable that their wealth would prove insufficient. it is further necessary for the public safety that there should be compulsory vaccination during epidemics of smallpox, confinement of dangerous lunatics and tramps, rescue of children from vicious parents, and maintenance of what ought not to be called compulsory but guaranteed education. marriage has to be made binding for the protection of mothers as well as children. the thirst for drink needs at least as much restraint as is kept up in scandinavia. and the tendency of bad money to drive out good is strong enough to justify laws against circulation of depreciated currency. public schools are particularly important in america, where presidential and congressional elections are apt to turn on financial issues which can scarcely be understood by men not thoroughly educated. spencer's objections apply more closely to the european system, that of centralisation of management, than to the american. it is well to know also that he was misled by a hasty reference, perhaps by some assistant, to an english statistician named fletcher. this high authority did admit, in , that he found "a superficial evidence against instruction." he went on, however, to say much which is not mentioned in _social statics_, and which proved the evidence to be only superficial. by classifying crimes according to enormity, he showed that the worst were most frequent in the least educated districts. he also discovered that those counties in england where ability to sign the marriage register was most common were most free from paupers, dangerous criminals, and illegitimate children. "the conclusion is therefore irresistible," says fletcher, "that education is essential to the security of modern society." most of the other testimony brought forward in _social statics_ is invalidated by fletcher's method; and spencer added nothing in the second edition to the insufficient statements in the first. british education has improved greatly in both quality and quantity since ; but the prisons of england and wales had only two-thirds as many inmates in as in , and only one-half as large a part of the population. the most dangerous prisoners were only one-third as numerous in and as forty-five years earlier; and the percentage of forgers only one-tenth as great as in . we ought further to remember the almost complete unanimity of opinion in favour of free education wherever it is universal. public schools in america are all the more useful because they are superintended by town and city officials, elected in great part by men who know them personally. this is also the case with the boards of health, and the managers of poorhouses, cemeteries, public libraries, and parks. among other subjects of local self-government are the roads, bridges, streets, and sewers. our large cities are notoriously misgoverned, but it will be easier to raise the character of the officials than to contract their powers. much is to be hoped from civil service reform, proportional representation, and nonpartisan elections. town affairs are usually so carefully looked after by people not in office as to be managed for the public welfare. both in towns and cities the tendency is to enlarge rather than contract the functions of the government. a proposal that any city should let tenements or sell coal more cheaply than is done by individuals, would seem to be for the advantage of everybody except a few payers of heavy taxes. the majority of voters would care little about increase of taxation, in comparison with the prospect of more demand for labour and greater activity in business. it is easy to make extravagance popular where the majority rules. our state constitutions would probably make it impossible for coal to be sold or tenements let by cities and towns; but these latter often carry on gas-works, water-works, electric roads, and other highly beneficial industries. this may be necessary to check the rapacity of corporations; but otherwise there is too much danger of extravagance, discouragement of individual enterprise, and delay in improving the processes monopolised by the municipality. some evils would be lessened by a transfer of the control of lighthouses and life-saving stations from the national government to that of the nearest cities, or else of single states. our people are much better able to judge of the success of state than of federal legislation and management. of course the chief duties of the state are to pass laws for the protection of life and property against crime, and to manage such indispensable penal, charitable, and educational institutions as are not provided by the municipalities. it is still necessary for the states of our union to keep up the militia; but perhaps the best thing that could be done for the public safety would be to have tramps kept from crime, and assisted to employment by a state police. ownership of real estate would be more secure, and sale easier, if titles were guaranteed by the state; and it would also do well, as spencer suggests, to help people of moderate means resist lawsuits brought to extort money. it seems, at all events, well that our states keep up their boards of health, and their supervision of banks, railroads, steamboats, and factories. there are a great many unnecessary laws, as, for instance, was one in massachusetts for selling coal below market price. this was fortunately decided to be unconstitutional; but whether this commonwealth ought to continue to supply free text-books, especially in high schools, seems to me questionable. many individualists object to laws against gambling, selling liquor, and other conduct which does no direct injury except to those who take part voluntarily. there are vicious tendencies enough in human nature, i think, to justify attempts to keep temptation out of sight. no advantage of this kind can be claimed for the sunday laws in our eastern and southern states. it is certainly desirable to have one day a week of rest from labour and business; but it is equally true that a man's ploughing his field or weeding his garden does not infringe on the liberty of his neighbours, diminish their security of person and property, or encourage their vicious propensities, even on sunday. it is setting a bad example to break any law; but i do not think that any citizen of massachusetts was seriously corrupted by resisting the fugitive slave act; and i doubt if any vermonter was morally the worse for breaking the law in that state against sunday "visits from house to house, except from motives of humanity or charity, or for moral and religious edification." it is better to have the laws obeyed intelligently than blindly; and those really worthy of respect would have more authority if every prohibition which is never enforced, except out of malice, were repealed. much aid is given to morality by such religious observances as are voluntary and conscientious; but compulsory observance breeds both slaves and rebels. how far our sunday laws are meant to encourage the peculiar usages of the popular sects is seen in the fact that, since , about professed christians, who had kept the sabbath on the day set apart in the bible, were arrested on the charge of having profaned sunday by such actions as ploughing a retired field, weeding a garden, cutting wood needed for immediate use, or making a dress. they refused to pay any fine; most of them were imprisoned accordingly; in one case the confinement lasted days; two deaths were hastened by incarceration; and in the summer of eight of these "saturdarians," as they were nicknamed, were working in a chain-gang on the roads in tennessee. one of the eight was a clergyman. among the commonwealths which prosecuted observers of the original sabbath as sabbath-breakers were georgia, maryland, missouri, arkansas, ohio, pennsylvania, massachusetts, and seven other states. such prosecutions were too much like persecutions; for people who kept neither saturday nor sunday were not so much molested. if the sunday laws were really meant for the public welfare, every citizen would be allowed to choose his own sabbath, and no one who kept saturday sacred would be required to rest on sunday also. such liberal legislation has actually been passed by rhode island and many other states. how strict the law is against doing business on sunday may be judged from the fact that in a decrepit old woman was sent to jail in new york city for selling a couple of bananas, and a boy of fifteen was arrested for selling five cents' worth of coal in january. three men were fined for selling umbrellas in the street on a rainy sunday in , and others were arrested for selling five cents' worth of ice. people who have no refrigerators suffer under the difficulty of buying ice, fruit, and meat on a hot sunday in our eastern cities. sunday laws and customs differ so widely in our various states, that they cannot all be wise and just. rest from labour and business is secured in southern california, without state legislation, by the action of public opinion; and were this to become too weak, it would be reinforced by the trades-unions. personal liberty is not necessarily violated by laws prohibiting disturbance of public worship; but it would be if anyone were compelled to testify in court, or sit on the jury, or do any other business elsewhere, on any day set apart for rest by his conscience and religion. there seems to be little necessity for other legislation, except under peculiar local circumstances to which town and city magistrates are better able than members of state and national legislatures to do justice. the question, what places of business that have no vicious tendencies ought to be allowed to open on sunday, might settle itself, as does the question how early they are to close on other days of the week. there needs no law to prevent business being done at night. stores which could offer nothing that many people need to buy on sunday, would have so few customers that the proprietors could ill afford to open their doors. where the demand is as great and innocent as it is for fresh meat and fruit in hot weather, the interest of the proprietor is no more plain than is the duty of the legislator and magistrate. people employed in hotels, stables, telegraph offices, libraries, museums, and parks, can, of course, protect themselves from overwork, as domestic servants do, by stipulating for holidays and half-holidays. whatever may be the gain to public health from cessation of labour and business on sunday, there is no such advantage, but rather injury, from the prohibition of healthy recreations and amusements, which are acknowledged to be perfectly innocent on at least six days of the week. sunday is by no means so strictly observed, especially in this respect, on the continent of europe as in the united states. sabbatarianism is peculiarly an american and british institution; and this fact justifies the position that it is by no means a necessary condition of the security, or even the welfare, of civilised nations. if our sunday laws cannot be proved to be necessary, they must be admitted to be oppressive. over-taxation is but a slight grievance compared with the tyranny of sending men and women to jail for inability or unwillingness to pay the fines imposed in by the state of tennessee for working on their farms, or in massachusetts soon after for playing cards in their own rooms. further consideration of the question, what amusements should be permitted on sunday, will be found in an appendix. such problems are peculiarly unfit for treatment by our central government. its chief duty, of course, is protection of our people against invasion and rebellion; and the authority of the president and congress ought not to be weakened by vain attempts to settle disputes which would be dealt with much more satisfactorily by the cities and towns. a sunday law too lax for pennsylvania might be too strict for california. the system of post-offices is too well adapted for the general welfare to be given up hastily; but the government ought to surrender the monopoly which now makes it almost impossible for citizens to free themselves from dependence on disobliging or incompetent postmasters. i have nothing to say against the census, education, health, and patent bureaus, nor against the smithsonian museum, except that our citizens have a right to use their own property as freely on sunday as on any other day of the week. i do not see why our government should have more than that of other nations to do with the issue of paper money; but i leave the bank question to abler pens. the tariff is a much plainer issue. we are told in _social statics_ that "a government trenches upon men's liberties of action" in obstructing commercial intercourse; "and by so doing directly reverses its function. to secure for each man the fullest freedom to exercise his faculties, compatible with the like freedom of all others, we find to be the state's duty. now trade-prohibitions and trade-restrictions not only do not secure this freedom, but they take it away, so that in enforcing them the state is transformed from a maintainer of rights into a violator of rights." the obstacles to importation deliberately set up by american tariffs, indirectly check exportation; for unwillingness to buy from any other nation diminishes not only its willingness but its ability to buy our products in return. the united states are actually exporting large amounts of cattle, wheat, and cotton, as well as of boots and shoes, agricultural implements, steel rails, hardware, watches, and cotton cloth. these commodities are produced by americans who can defy foreign competition. in some cases the tariff enables them to raise their prices at home, to the loss of their fellow-citizens. prices abroad cannot be raised by our government. what it can and does do is to burden both farms and factories by duties on lumber, glass, coal, wool, woollen goods, and many other imports. the rates are arranged with a view to increase, not individual liberty or public security, but the profits of managers of enterprises which would not pay without such help. men who are carrying on profitable industries have to make up part of what is lost in unprofitable ones. in fact, the cost of living is increased needlessly for all our citizens, except the privileged few. there would be less injustice in aiding new enterprises by bounties; but the proper authorities to decide how much money should be voted for such purposes are the cities and towns. some of the makers of our national constitution wished to make tariff legislation in congress impossible except by a majority of two-thirds; and this might properly be required for all measures not planned in behalf of individual liberty or the public safety. much of the business now done by the nation ought to be transferred to the states. they took the lead between and in improving rivers and harbours, building railroads, and digging canals. the result of transferring such work to congress was that in it voted $ , , to carry on undertakings, more than one-fourth of which had been judged unnecessary by engineers. two years later, four times as many new jobs were voted as had been recommended by the house committee. among these plans was one, in regard to the hudson river, which was the proper business of the state of new york. the extravagance of our pension system is notorious. if the restriction proposed by spencer is applicable anywhere, it is to central rather than local governments. viii. great as are the evils of unnecessary laws, spencer's remedy is too sweeping to be universally supported by evolutionists. huxley protests against it as "administrative nihilism," and declares that if his next-door neighbour is allowed to bring up children "untaught and untrained to earn their living, he is doing his best to restrict my freedom, by increasing the burden of taxation for the support of gaols and workhouses which i have to pay." his conclusion is that "no limit is or can be theoretically set to state interference." the impossibility of drawing "a hard and fast line" is admitted even by so extreme an individualist as wordsworth donisthorpe, who complains that "crimes go unpunished in england," while the "great national pickpocket" is busy "reading through all the comedies and burlesques brought out in the theatres," "running after little boys who dare to play pitch-farthing," or "going on sledging expeditions to the north pole." lecky agrees so far with spencer and mill as to say, in _democracy and liberty_, that punishment should "be confined, as a general rule, to acts which are directly injurious to others," and accordingly that "with sunday amusements in private life, the legislator should have no concern." as a check to over-legislation, he recommends biennial sessions, instead of annual; and he protests against the despotism of trades-unions. his strongest point against spencer is that sanitary legislation has added several years to the average length of life in england and wales, prevented more than eighty thousand deaths there in a single year, and actually reduced the death-rate of the army in india by more than four-fifths. ix. spencer has succeeded in increasing the number of individualists so much, that donisthorpe says they can be counted by the thousand, though there were scarcely enough in in england to fill an omnibus. transcendentalism had made individualism comparatively common long before in america. the principle of not interfering with other people, except to prevent their wronging us, is fully applicable, as spencer says, to the relation of husband with wife, and also to that of parent and teacher with child. it could also be followed with great advantage in the case of domestic servants. there can be no doubt of the correctness of the position, taken in the _principles of sociology_, that delight in war has a tendency to stifle love of liberty. sparta, russia, and the new german empire show that where the ideal of a nation is military glory, "the individual is owned by the state." the citizens are so graded, that "all are masters of those below and subjects of those above." the workers must live for the benefit of the fighters, and both be controlled closely by the government. armies flourish on the decay of individual rights. how difficult it was to avoid this, during some bloody years, even in america, has been shown in chapter iv. a nation of shopkeepers is better fitted than a nation of soldiers to develop free institutions. one of spencer's objections to socialism is that it would "end in military despotism." nothing else could replace competition so far as to keep a nation industrious. spencer is right in saying, "benefit and worth must vary together," which means that wages and salaries should correspond to value of work. otherwise, "the society decays from increase of its least worthy members and decrease of its most worthy members." these facts are so generally known already, that there is less danger than is thought by spencer, of either the national establishment of socialism or of a ruinous extension of governmental interference. the average american is altogether too willing to have his wealthy neighbours taxed for his own benefit; but he knows that he can make himself and his family more comfortable by his own exertions than his poor neighbours are; and he is not going to let any government forbid his doing so. he does not object to public libraries, and perhaps would not to free theatres; but he would vote down any plan which would prevent his using his money and time to his own greatest advantage. he is sometimes misled by plausible excuses for wasting public money, and arresting innocent people; but he insists on at least some better pretext than was made for the old-fashioned meddling with food, clothing, business, and religion. he may not call himself an individualist; but he will never practise socialism. this sort of man is already predominant in great britain, as well as in america; and multiplication of the type elsewhere is fostered by mighty tendencies. the duty of treating every form of religion according to ethical and not theological standards is rapidly becoming the practice of all civilised governments; and persecution is peculiar to turkey and russia. these two despotisms form, with germany, the principal exceptions to the rule that political liberty is on the increase throughout europe, especially in the form of local self-government. the nineteenth century has made even the poorest people more secure than ever before from oppression and lawless violence, as well as from pestilence and famine. destitution is relieved more amply and wisely, while industry and intelligence are encouraged by opportunity to enjoy comforts and luxuries once almost or altogether out of the reach of monarchs. the fetters formerly laid on trade of cities with their own suburbs have been broken; and the examples of great britain and new south wales are proving that nations profit more by helping than hindering one another in the broad paths of commerce. industrial efficiency has certainly been much promoted by the tendency, not only of scientific education but of manual training, to substitute knowledge of realities for quarrels about abstractions. all these changes favour the extension of free institutions and also of individual liberty, wherever peace can be maintained. industrial nations gain more than warlike ones by encouraging intellectual independence; but the general advantage is great enough to ensure the final triumph of liberty. appendix: sunday recreation this is much more common in new england and great britain than it was in the eighteenth century. the dinner has become the best, instead of the worst in the week. scarcely anyone rises early; and nobody is shocked at reading novels. there is an enormous circulation in both english and american cities of sunday papers whose aim is simply amusement. there is plenty of lively music in the parlours, as well as of merry talk in which clergymen are ready to lead. people who have comfortable homes can easily make sunday the pleasant-est day of the week. for people who cannot get much recreation at home, there are increasing opportunities to go to concerts, picture-galleries, and museums. among the reading-rooms thrown open on sunday in america about was that of the boston public library; and no difference is now made in this great institution among the seven days, except that more children's books and magazines are accessible on sunday. what important museums are now open in london, boston, and new york have been already mentioned in chapter vi. these opportunities are still limited; but there is no obstacle, except that of bad weather, to excursions on foot or bicycle, behind horse or locomotive, in electric car or steamboat, to beaches, ponds, and other places of amusement. the public parks are crowded all day long in summer; and people who go to church in the morning have no scruple about walking or riding for pleasure in the afternoon. these practices were expressly sanctioned by massachusetts in , and by new jersey in ; and the old law against sunday visiting has been repealed since in vermont. the newer states have taken care not to pass such absurd statutes. i believe that the majority of our people were willing, as for instance was that prominent episcopalian, bishop potter, to have the chicago exposition open on sundays. theatres and baseball grounds attract crowds of visitors in our cities, especially those west of the alleghanies. whatever changes are made in the east will probably be in the direction of greater liberty. the only question is how fast the present opportunities of recreation ought to be increased. no one would now agree with dr. chalmers in calling the sabbath "an expedient for pacifying the jealousies of a god of vengeance." good people have ceased to think, as the puritans did, that "pleasures are most carefully to be avoided" on every day of the week, or that "amity to ourselves is enmity against god." preachers no longer recommend "abstaining not only from unlawful pleasures, but also from lawful delights." popular clergymen now say with dr. bellows: "amusement is not only a privilege but a duty, indispensable to health of body and mind, and essential even to the best development of religion itself." "i put amusement among the necessaries and not the luxuries of life." "it is as good a friend to the church as to the theatre, to sound morals and unsuperstitious piety as to health and happiness,... an interest of society which the religious class instead of regarding with hostility and jealousy, ought to encourage and direct." "there is hardly a more baleful error in the world than that which has produced the feud between morality and amusement, piety and pleasure." the fact is that pleasure means health. as i have said in a newspaper entitled _the index_: "it is a violation of the laws of health for anyone, not absolutely bed-ridden or crushed by fatigue, to spend thirty-six hours without some active exercise in the open air. trying to take enough on saturday to last until monday, is dangerous, and most people have little chance for healthy exercise except on sunday. the poor, ignorant girl who has had no fresh air for six days ought to be encouraged to take it freely on the seventh. and we all need our daily exercise just as much as our regular food and sleep. the two thousand delegates who asked, in behalf of ninety thousand working men, in , to have the crystal palace open on sundays, were right in declaring that 'physical recreation is as necessary to the working man as food and drink on the sabbath.' the fact is that pleasure is naturally healthy even when not involving active exercise. dark thoughts breed disease like dark rooms. the man who never laughs has something wrong about his digestion or his conscience. herbert spencer has proved that our pleasant actions are beneficial, while painful ones are injurious both to ourselves and to our race. (_principles of psychology_, vol. i., pp. - ; am. ed.). thus sunday amusements are needed for the general health. "they are also necessary for the preservation of morality. this consists in performing the actions which benefit ourselves and our neighbours, in other words, pleasant ones, and abstaining from whatever is painful and injurious. it is only in exceptional cases that we can make others happy by suffering pain ourselves. now and then the paths of virtue and pleasure diverge; but they always come together again. as a rule, they traverse precisely the same ground and in exactly the same direction. this is very fortunate; for if pleasure were always vicious, virtue would be hateful and impossible. the most blessed of all peacemakers is he who keeps virtue and pleasure from falling out. there is no better text than that which the little girl said she had learned at sunday-school: 'chain up a child and away she will go!' even so strict a man as dr. johnson said: 'i am a great friend to public amusements, for they keep people from vice.' is there no need of them on the day when there is more drinking, gambling, and other gross vice than on any other? need i say what day keeps our policemen and criminal courts most busy, or crowds our hospitals with sufferers from riotous brawls? has not the experience of two hundred and fifty years justified those english statesmen who showed themselves much wiser than their puritan contemporaries in recommending archery, dancing, and other diversions on sunday, because forbidding them 'sets up filthy tippling and drunkenness?' to keep a man who does not care to go to church from getting any amusement, is to push him towards the saloon. and not only the laws against liquor selling, but others even more necessary for our safety, would be much better enforced if we did not encourage lawlessness by keeping up statutes which our best men and women violate without scruple and with impunity, or which actually prevent good people from taking such recreation as they know they ought to have. outgrown ordinances should not be suffered to drag just and necessary laws down into contempt. "nobody wants to revive those old laws of massachusetts bay which forbade people to wear lace, or buy foreign fruit, or charge more than a fixed price for a day's work. no more quakers will ever swing from a boston gallows merely for preaching. but our laws against sunday amusements are in the same spirit as that which hung mary dyer. in old times, government kept continually telling people what to do, and took especial pains to make them go to church on sunday. if they stayed away, they were fined; if they did not become members, they were not allowed to vote; if they got up rival services, they were hung; if they took any amusement on sunday, they were whipped. all four classes of laws for the same unjust end have passed away, except that against sunday recreation. this still survives in a modified form. but even in this shape it is utterly irreconcilable with the fundamental principles of our government. all american legislation, from the declaration of independence, rests on the great truth that our government is founded in order to secure us in our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. our state is a limited partnership for mutual protection. we carry it on in order to make our freedom more complete; and we tolerate no restrictions on ourselves except such as are necessary conditions of the greatest possible liberty. these principles are already fully acknowledged on six days of the week, but only partly on the seventh. still, there is a growing recognition of the likeness between laws against sunday amusements and such prohibitions of eating meat in lent as once caused people to be burned alive." a weekly day of rest is a blessing; but david swing is right in saying that "absolute rest, perfectly satisfactory to horse and dog, is not adequate to the high nature of man." complete torpor of mind and body is more characteristic of a hindoo fakir than of a christian saint. should those who wish to rest as much as possible on sunday sleep in church? there is nothing irreligious in fresh air. the tendency of outdoor exercise to purify and elevate our thoughts is so strong that kingsley actually defended playing cricket on sunday as "a carrying out of the divineness of the sabbath." if there is no hostility between religion and amusement on six days of the week, there cannot be much on the seventh. no protestants are more religious than the swedes and norwegians. everybody goes to church; there is theological teaching in the public-schools; and advocacy of liberal religious views was punished in with imprisonment. no scandinavian objects, so far as i know, to indoor games, croquet, dancing, or going to the theatre on sunday; and these amusements are acknowledged to be perfectly proper throughout continental europe. no one who allows himself any exercise or recreation on sunday has a right to say that his neighbours do not need more than he does. lyman beecher could not preach his best on any day when he did not work hard at sawing wood or shovelling sand in his cellar. there would be less dyspepsia on monday if there were more exercise on sunday. herbert spencer tells us that "happiness is the most powerful of tonics. by accelerating the circulation of the blood, it facilitates the performance of every function; and so tends alike to increase health where it exists, and to restore it when it has been lost. hence the essential superiority of play to gymnastics." a bible dancing class is said to have been organised, in deference to such facts, in new jersey by an episcopalian pastor, who perhaps wishes to accomplish jeremiah's prediction of the messianic kingdom, "then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance." among other liberal clergymen is brooke herford, who says: "we want sunday to be the happiest day in all the week. keep it free from labour, but free for all quiet, innocent recreations." rev. charles voysey wrote me in , lamenting the immorality arising "from the curse of having nothing to do or nowhere to go on sunday afternoons and evenings." "young persons especially," he said, "would be better, and morally more safe, for greater opportunities of innocent pleasure and games at the hours of enforced idleness on the sunday." the spirit of the legislators is changing like that of the clergy. the first laws against sunday amusement were passed by men who thought all pleasure vicious on every day of the week. our present statutes are kept in force by people who like amusement, and get all they want of it; but who make it almost impossible for their poor neighbours, in order to conciliate ecclesiastical prejudice. "they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders"; but they themselves do not feel the weight. whatever may be the advantage of keeping sunday, it cannot be kept religiously when it is kept compulsorily. rest from unnecessary labour and business on one day every week may be for the public welfare; but this rest is not made more secure by indiscriminate prohibitions of amusement. the idlest man is the most easily tempted to disturb his neighbours. no man's property is more safe or his personal liberty more secure because his neighbours are liable to be fined for playing golf. laws against sunday recreation do not protect but violate individual liberty. a free government has no business to interfere with the right of the citizens to take healthy exercise and innocent amusement whenever they choose. these considerations would justify a protest, not only against the sunday laws made by congress for the district of columbia, but also against the statutes of every state in the union, except arizona, california, idaho, louisiana, and wyoming. "whoever is present at any sport, game, play, or public diversion, except a concert of sacred music, or an entertainment given by a religious or charitable society, the proceeds of which, if any, are to be devoted exclusively to a religious or charitable purpose," on what is called "the lord's day" in massachusetts is liable to a fine of five dollars; the penalty for taking part may be fifty dollars; and the proprietor or manager may be fined as much as five hundred dollars. new jersey still keeps her old law against "singing, fiddling, or other music for the sake of merriment"; and express prohibitions of "any sport" are still maintained by connecticut, maine, and rhode island. prominent among other states which forbid amusements acknowledged innocent on six days of the week, are new hampshire, new york, pennsylvania, and vermont. many of our states show particular hostility to card-playing, dancing, and theatre-going. the fact that fishing was practised by some of the apostles on sunday has not saved this quiet recreation from being prohibited by more than twenty commonwealths. if every sunday law were a dead letter, it ought to be repealed, because it tends to bring needed laws into contempt; but among recent results of sunday legislation are the following. in some children were fined for playing ball in rhode island; so, about this time, in massachusetts, were a boy for skating, a young man for playing lawn-tennis, and a merchant for fishing with his little son. in two men were fined $ each for playing golf on a lonely hill, in the commonwealth just mentioned; five boys under fifteen arrested for playing marbles in new york city; and every member of a baseball club in pennsylvania fined. in a man and a boy of fifteen were fined $ each for fishing in new york; and the attempt of some clergymen, aided by police, to break up a show in missouri, caused a tumult in which men's heads were broken by clubs, while women and children were trampled underfoot. on the first sunday that the london galleries and museums were thrown open to their owners, may , , two men were shot dead in attleboro, mass., by a policeman who had been ordered to break up a clambake. in that same year and state, a manager was fined $ for allowing _yankee doodle_ to be performed in the boston theatre; three men were arrested for bowling; half a dozen jews who had been playing cards in a private house were fined $ or $ each, and those who could not pay were sent to jail. among the sabbath-breakers arrested in were a number of newsboys at the national capital, nine golfers in massachusetts, a young man for holding one end of a rope over which some little girls were skipping in new york city, and also the manager of a show in new jersey, who spent ten days in jail. fines were levied in for playing golf in connecticut, and twenty-five fishermen were arrested on one sunday in buffalo, n. y. such are the risks which still accompany innocent and healthy amusements in the eastern states. many such arrests are made in order to collect fees, or gratify malice; and neither motive ought to be encouraged by the friends of religion. some magistrates in long island, n. y., are believed, while still holding that baseball breaks the sabbath, to have discovered that golf does not. it is further said that on july , , some baseball men who had been playing a sunday game to a large crowd saved themselves from arrest by using their bats and balls to imitate golfing as soon as a policeman appeared in their grounds. none of the sunday laws is so mischievous as the decree of mrs. grundy against all forms of recreation not practised by the wealthy and fashionable. these people have so much time on six days of the week for active outdoor sport and indoor public entertainments, that they make little attempt to indulge in such recreations on sunday. people who have only this one chance of playing ball, or dancing, or going to stereopticon lectures, concerts, and operas, suffer in health by having these recreations made unpopular as well as illegal. the climate of new england and new york, as well as of great britain and canada, has unfortunately been so arranged that there are a great many cold and rainy sundays, when much time cannot be spent pleasantly in walking or riding. this matters little to people who get all the amusement they want in their parlours. but what becomes of people who have no parlours? for instance, of servant-girls who have no place where they can sing or even laugh? shop-girls and factory-girls find their little rooms, sunday after sunday, too much like prisons. young men are perhaps even more unfortunate; for they go to the saloon, though this is often closed without any better place of amusement being opened. why should every week in a democratic country begin with an aristocratic sunday, a day whose pleasures are mainly for the rich? libraries and museums are blessed places of refuge; but "what are they among so many?" the residents of the district of columbia are particularly unfortunate, as the smithsonian museum, national library, and other buildings, which are open during six days, are kept shut on sunday. congress seems to be of the opinion that working people need no knowledge of natural history, except what they can get from sermons about jonah's whale and noah's ark. washington is not the only city whose rich men ought to remember the warning of heber newton: "everything that tends to foster among our working people the notion of class privilege is making against the truest morality in our midst. as they look upon the case, it is the wealthy people, whose homes are private libraries and galleries of art, who protest against the opening of our libraries and museums to those who can afford no libraries and buy no pictures. sabbatarianism is building very dangerous fires to-day." we should all be glad to have more intellectual culture given on sunday. one way of giving it would be for the churches to open public reading-rooms in the afternoon. this would be decidedly for their own interest; and so would be delivery of evening lectures on history, biography, and literature. the sunday-schools in england found it necessary, even as late as , to give much time to teaching reading and writing as well as the higher branches. sunday-school rooms in america, which now are left useless after sunday noon, might be employed in teaching english to german, italian, and scandinavian immigrants during the afternoon and evening. classes might also be formed in vocal music, light gymnastics, american and english history and literature, physiology, sociology, and political economy. such changes would make our churches all the more worthy of the founder, who "went about doing good." the observance of sunday as a day of rest from labour and business will be all the more popular as it is made precious to irreligious people. they are numerous enough to have a right to ask that the public school-houses be opened for free classes in french, german, drawing, and modelling; botany, chemistry, and bird-lore; cooking, sewing, and wood-work. if teachers of these branches were employed on sunday by our cities, less money would be needed for police. our industrial interests would certainly gain by having this system carried out as far, for instance, as is done by lyons and milan, which have special sunday-schools for teaching weaving. goldsmiths are instructed by similar schools in austria, and blacksmiths in saxony. the full advantage of sunday classes of the various kinds here suggested might not perhaps be seen until a taste for them could be made general, but doing this would go far to diminish the taste for saloons. the first step, however, which ought to be taken by our legislatures is the repeal of all laws hindering the sale of tickets on sunday to exhibitions of pictures or curiosities, concerts, stereopticon lectures, or other instructive entertainments which are acknowledged inoffensive during the rest of the week. how far dramatic performances and other very attractive forms of public amusement should be permitted to take place on sunday is a question which ought to be settled by municipal authorities, with due reference to each special case. the people whose feelings ought to be considered are not those who wish to stay away from such places. they can easily do that without help from the police. the people who ought to be heard, first and last, are those who wish to get innocent amusement on their one day of leisure; and the only thing which the police need do is to see that they do get it without being defrauded or tempted into vice. only the actual existence of such temptation can justify interference with dancing or card-playing in a private house. the sunday reforms most needed, however, are those which will promote out-door exercise and mental culture. list of dates . declaration of american independence, july th. . emancipation in massachusetts and pennsylvania. . peace between il s. a. and great britain, september d. . great prosperity of british factories about this time. . slavery prohibited north of ohio river; slave-trade opposed in england; bentham's principles of morals and legislation published. . constitution of u. s. a. ratified by a sufficient number of states, june st. . bastille taken, july th. . paine's rights of man, part l, published, march th; louis xvi. accepts the new constitution, september th. . france a republic, september st. . slavery abolished in french colonies, february th. . insurrection in paris crushed by bonaparte, october th; free public schools founded throughout france. . bonaparte commander of army of italy, march th. . french directory makes itself absolute, september th; venice ceded by france to austria. . irish rebellion, may d. . usurpation by bonaparte, november th. . election of jefferson; schelling's transcendental idealism published. . inauguration of jefferson, march th. . birth of victor hugo, february th; lamarck's recherches published. . hayti declares herself independent, january d; death of toussaint in prison, april th; birth of emerson, may th; emmet's insurrection in ireland, july d. . the code napoleon announced, january; napoleon pro-liberty in the nineteenth century claimed emperor, may th; crowned, december d; schiller's william tell published. . battle of austerlitz, december d. . death of schiller, may th; birth of j. s. mill, may th; battle of jena, october th; berlin decree of napoleon against commerce with great britain, november st. . slave-trade prohibited by great britain, march th; peace of tilsit, july th, raises napoleon to height of power; embargo laid by u. s. a., december d; oken announces the vertebral analogy of the skull; hegel's phaenomenologie des geistes published. . rebellion of spaniards against french rule; witchcraft mob in england; goethe's faust, part l, published. . birth of darwin, february th; revolt of tyrolese under hofer, april th; states of the church annexed to france, may th; death of paine, june th; pope imprisoned, july th; divorce of josephine, december th; lamarck's philosophie zoôlogique published. . hofer shot, february th; marriage of napoleon with austrian archduchess, april st; post-offices required to open every sunday in u. s. a., april th; revolt against spanish rule of buenos ayres, may th, and of chili, september th. . nottingham riots against machinery, november. . birth of dickens, february th; war against great britain declared by u. s. a., june th; wellington enters madrid, august th; moscow burned, september th; byron's childe harold, coleridge's friend, and hegel's logik published. . wellington invades france, october th; battle of leipsic, october th, th, and th; francia ruler of paraguay; unitarian disabilities removed in england; shelley's queen mab and owen's new view of society published. . napoleon is deposed by senate, april st, and abdicates, april th; liberal constitution introduced by louis xviii., may; washington taken and burned by british, august th; peace of ghent between u. s. a. and great britain, december th; congress of vienna opens november d; graves of voltaire and rousseau violated. . battle of new orleans, january th; waterloo, june th; controversy of unitarians and trinitarians in u. s. a.; last heretic burned in mexico; lamarck publishes the first volume of his histoire naturelle. . shelley's children taken from him on account of his opinions, march th; demonstration at the wartburg, october th; unusual poverty in england; her authors and orators made liable to imprisonment without a trial; ben-tham demands suffrage for men and women not illiterate; shelley's revolt of islam published. . chili liberated by battle of maipu, won by san martin, april th; religious tests abolished in connecticut; hannah m. crocker's rights of women published. . assassination of kotzebue, march d; carlsbad conference, august st; "peterloo" massacre at manchester, august th; shelley's prometheus unbound published. . revolution in spain, january st; and at naples, july d; assassination of french princes, february th, causes reaction against liberalism; birth of herbert spencer, april th; owen's plan of socialism proposed, may st; conference of troppau, december th; missouri compromise; sydney smith asks, "who reads an american book?"; irving's rip van winkle and legend of sleepy hollow published. . brazil begins a revolt, january st, as do greece and sardinia in april, and peru in july; death of napoleon, may th; venezuela and colombra made free by battle of carabolo, won june th, by bolivar; austria supreme in italy; lundy begins his genius of universal emancipation. . death of shelley, july th; independence of brazil proclaimed, september th; massacre at scio; fourrier's book on association published. . spanish patriots crushed by french army, april; monroe doctrine announced, december st; british anti-slavery society formed; victor hugo's odes and ballads published. . mexico a republic, january st; bolivar, dictator of feru, february th, defeats spaniards at ayachuco, december th; death of byron, april th; accession of charles x., september th; repeal of statutes forbidding english labourers to combine or emigrate; westminster review founded. . much opposition to slavery in kentucky, maryland, and north carolina; many socialist communities founded in u. s. a.; elective courses of study at harvard college, and also at the university of virginia, where attendance at religious exercises is made voluntary; coleridge's aids to reflection published. . citizens of new york petition for repeal of fugitive slave law, and for emancipation in the district of columbia. . battle of navarino, october th; taylor sent to prison for blasphemy, october th. . test act repealed; frances wright lectures against clergy. . jackson inaugurated march th; catholic emancipation act signed, april th; miss wright opens a hall of science in new york city on sunday, april th; james mill's analysis and fourrier's industrial new world published. . independence of greece acknowledged by turkey, april th; accession of william iv., july th; revolution at paris begins july th; king's troops driven out, july th; he is succeeded by louis philippe, august th; revolts in brussels, warsaw, and dresden; independence of belgium acknowledged, december th; hetherington sent to prison for six months for publishing the poor man's guardian; victor hugo's hernani acted; tennyson's poems and lyell's principles of geology published. . first number of the liberator\ january st, and of the investigator, april d; carlile sent to prison for his writings, january th; cobbett tried and acquitted, july st; massacre of fifty-five white men, women, and children by slaves in virginia, sunday, august st; warsaw surrenders to russians, september th; reform bill defeated by bishops, october th; jamaica insurrection, december d; free trade convention in philadelphia; victor hugo's notre dame de paris published. . new england anti-slavery society founded in boston, january st (becomes mass. a. s. in ); death of goethe, march d; the insurrection at paris described in les misérables, june th and th; reform bill passed and signed, june th; jackson re-elected, november th; woman suffrage lecture in london, december d; jackson's proclamation against attempt of south carolina to secede, december th; bloody resistance to tithes in ireland; elliott's corn law rhymes published. . gradual reduction of tariff voted by congress, march st; death of bentham, june th; act of parliament for emancipation in west indies passed august th; american anti-slavery society founded at philadelphia, december; pro-slavery mobs there and in new york city; municipal suffrage extended in scotland; unsectarian public schools in ireland; first free town library in u. s. a. founded at peterboro, n. h., and opened sundays thenceforth; emerson's first lecture; carlyle's sartor resartus published. . emancipation in west indies takes place, august ist; new poor law in england, august th; insurrection headed by mazzini in italy. . death of cobbett, june th; anti-slavery periodicals taken from post-office at charleston, s. c, and burned by mob, july; convent at charlestown, mass., burned by a mob, august; garrison mobbed in boston, and other abolitionists in new york and vermont, october st; extension of municipal suffrage in england; tocqueville's democracy in america and strauss's life of jesus published. . transcendental club founded in boston, september; parker begins to preach; tithes commuted in england; taxes on newspapers reduced; dissenters permitted to marry without disobedience to conscience; emerson's nature and dickens' pickwick papers published. . discussion of slavery in house of representatives suppressed, january; miss grimké's anti-slavery lectures, june; emerson's address on the american scholar, august st; anti-slavery convention of n. e. methodists, october th; carlyle's french revolution published. . emerson's divinity school address, july th; kneeland imprisoned sixty days, that same summer, for blasphemy; pennsylvania hall burned by a pro-slavery mob; irish tithe system reformed; daguerreotypes invented; atlantic crossed by steam; railroad from london to birmingham; channing's self-culture published. . anti-corn-law league organised, march th; unsectarian common schools in england; great chartist petition; pope forbids attendance at the scientific congress at pisa. . penny postage, january th; nomination of candidate for president, april ist, by liberty party: quarrels in may among abolitionists; world's anti-slavery convention at london, in june, refuses seats to female delegates; local self-government in irish cities; protest of american catholics against sectarianism of public schools; the dial begins; carlyle's heroes and hero worship published. , hetherington imprisoned in england for publishing letters to the clergy, and the editor of the oracle of reason for attacking the bible; emerson's first volume of essays published. . garrison calls on free states to secede, may; death of channing, october d; brook farm started, as are many communties about this time; spencer's theory of the limits of government published, . morse proves value of telegraph by announcing nomination of frelinghuysen for vice-president by whigs, may st; disunion banner publicly accepted by garrison, june st; annexation of texas and reduction of tariff decided by election on november th; rule against discussing slavery repealed by house of representatives; lowell's poems published. . parker begins to preach regularly in boston, february th; potato rot in ireland, august; vestiges of creation published. . mexico invaded by u. s. troops, march; free trade established in england, june th, and bill to reduce american tariff signed, june th; first volume of grote's greece and first number of lowell's biglow papers published. . mexicans defeated at buena vista by general taylor, february d and d; death of o'connell, may th. . revolution in paris, february d; king abdicates, february th; insurrections in munich, vienna, berlin, venice, and milan in march, afterwards in other cities; "spirit rappings" at rochester, n.y., begin march st; chartist demonstration at london, april th; emancipation decreed by french republic, april th; socialist insurrection at paris, june d, th, th, and th; "woman's rights" convention at seneca falls, n. y., july th; revolt in ireland, july th; buffalo convention of free soilers, august th; kossuth dictator of hungary, september th; state constitution and town ordinances made in october by citizens of california without federal sanction; pro-slavery defeat at election of taylor, november th; flight of pope from rome, november th; louis napoleon president of france, december th; lowell's vision of sir launfal, fable for critics, and biglow papers published, . defeat of king of sardinia by austrians at novara, march d, prevents liberation of italy; rome captured by french, july d; hungarian army surrendered to russians by gorgei, august th; venice taken by austrians, august th; emancipation convention in kentucky. . death of wordsworth, april th, and of president taylor, july th; fugitive slave bill signed, september th; first national "woman's rights" convention at worcester, mass., october d and th; bradlaugh's first lecture; hawthorne's scarlet letter, spencer's social statics, and tennyson's in memoriam published. . london great exhibition opens may ist; a fugitive slave rescued at boston, sunday, february th, another at syracuse, n. y., october ist; usurpation of louis napoleon, december d, . . uncle tom's cabin published, march th; death of frances wright, and accession of napoleon iii., december d; herbert spencer announces the principle of differentiation. . repeal of missouri compromise proposed by douglas, january d; return of burns, a fugitive slave, from boston, june d; u. s. constitution publicly burned by garrison, july th; kansas election carried by border ruffians, november th; thoreau's walden published. . spencer's pyschology and walt whitman's leaves of grass published, . sumner assaulted, may d.. . disunion convention, worcester, mass., january th; death of béranger, july th, and of comte, september th; tariff reduced twenty per cent, in u. s. a.; buckle's history of civilisation, vol. i., published. . essays by darwin and wallace read in public, july ist; jews admitted to parliament by act passed july d; death of robert owen, november th; lincoln and douglas campaign in illinois. . austrians defeated at magenta, june th, and solferino. june th; lombardy annexed to sardinia by treaty of villafranca, july nth; john brown takes possession of harper's ferry, sunday, october th, and is tried november d; darwin's origin of species published, november th; john brown hung, december d. . split of democratic party, april th; death of theodore parker, may th; garibaldi enters naples, september th; election of lincoln, november th; secession of south carolina, december th; annexation of two sicilies to sardinia, december th; mill on liberty published. . confederate states of america organised, february th; protective tariff passed, march d; russian serfs emancipated, march d; lincoln inaugurated, march th; victor emmanuel king of italy, march th; fort sumter bombarded, april th, surrendered, april th; lincoln's proclamation, monday, april th, calls all the north to arms; death of cavour, june th; union defeat at bull run, sunday, july st. . paper money made legal tender in u. s. a., february th; return of fugitives from slavery by army or navy forbidden, march th; negro soldiers, april; death of thoreau, may th, and of buckle, may th; disastrous campaign of mcclellan in virginia ends by his retreat, july th; union victory at antietam, september th; emancipation announced as a possible war measure by lincoln, september d; union defeat at fredericksburg, december th; victor hugo's les misérables published, also spencer's first principles containing his full theory of integration and differentiation. . lincoln proclaims emancipation, january st; signs bills suspending habeas corpus act and establishing conscription, march d; union defeat at chancellorsville, may d; vallandigham sentenced, may th; battle of gettysburg, july st, d, and d, ending in a union victory; vicksburg surrendered to general grant, july th; mississippi opened by surrender of port hudson, july th; union victories at lookout mountain, november th, and chattanooga, november th; fenian convention at chicago, november th; darwinism much opposed by european clergy about this time. . general grant takes command of all the union armies, march th; undecisive battles in the wilderness and at spottsylvania, may th- th; fugitive slave act repealed, june d; nevada admitted, october st; lincoln re-elected, november th; sherman marches from atlanta, november th, and enters savannah, december d. . death of cobden, april d; richmond entered by coloured cavalry, april d; lee surrenders, april th; lincoln shot, good friday, april th, dies april th; slavery abolished by thirteenth amendment, december th; lecky's rationalism published. . prussian victory over austria at kônîggratz, july d; venice part of kingdom of italy, november th. . first convention of the free religious association, may th; suffrage extended in england, august th; home rule in hungary. . fourteenth amendment in force, july th; cuban declaration of independence, october th. . irish church disestablished, july th; witnesses allowed to affirm in great britain. . death of dickens, june th; napoleon iii. defeated at sedan, september st; france a republic, september th; rome part of the kingdom of italy, october th; inger-soll begins to lecture; home rule agitation in ireland, . paris surrendered to prussians, january th; communists supreme there, march th, suppressed, may th; emancipation in brazil; darwin's descent of man published. . death of mazzini, march th; secret ballot in england; abbot's "demands of liberalism" published in the index (which began january , ). . spain a republic, february th; death of j. s. mill, may th; american liberal league, september st. . military usurpation at madrid, january d; death of sumner, march th; citizens of district of columbia disfranchised, june th; alphonso xii. king of spain, december th; mrs. besant begins to lecture; victor hugo's ninety-three published. . sunday society organised at london. . centennial exhibition at philadelphia opens, may th, and conventiom of liberal league, july st; disputed election for president, november th; sunday convention in boston, november th; vivisection restricted in england; cuban rebellion suppressed, liberty in the nineteenth century. . museum of fine arts in boston open in and after march on sundays. . anti-clerical resolution passed by woman suffrage convention, rochester, n. y., july; split of liberal league at syracuse, n. y., sunday, october th; professor winchell obliged to leave nashville, tenn., for evolutionism. . specie payment resumed in u. s. a., january st; death of garrison, may th; henry george's progress and poverty published. . bradlaugh refused his seat in parliament, may st; many patriots banished to siberia. . czar alexander ii. assassinated, march th, anti-jewish mobs on and after april th; bradlaugh excluded by force, august st. . death of longfellow, march th, of darwin, april th, of emerson, april th, and of garibaldi, june d. . foote and ramsay, english journalists, sentenced respectively to twelve and nine months in prison for blasphemy. . death of wendell phillips; february d; cleveland elected president, november th; professor woodrow dismissed from presbyterian theological seminary at columbia, s. c, for teaching evolution, december th. . death of victor hugo, may th, and of general grant, july d. . bradlaugh takes his seat, january th; railroad strike in missouri suppressed by federal troops, march; bloody conflict of chicago anarchists with police, may th; statue of liberty unveiled in new york harbour, october th. . chicago anarchists hung, november th. . u. s. tariff reduced by mills bill, july st; cleveland defeated, november th; imprisonment in sweden for blasphemy; bellamy's looking backward published. . brazil a republic, november th; death of browning, december th. . australian ballot tried in rhode island, april d; u. s. tariff raised by mckinley bill, passed by the billion dollars congress, and signed october st. . death of bradlaugh, january th, and of lowell, august th; jews expelled from moscow in april, and much persecuted this year and in ; new york museum of art opened on sunday, may st, to , visitors. . death of walt whitman, march th, of whittier, september th, and of tennyson, october th; bill excluding chinese from u. s. a. signed, may th; congress votes for closing chicago exposition on sundays, july th; cleveland re-elected, november th; new york museum of natural history open sundays; revised edition of spencer's social statics published. . chicago exposition formally opened may ist, first open sunday, may th; parliament of religions begins monday, september nth, a.m. . death of kossuth, march th, of holmes, october th, of lucy stone, october th, and of tyndall, december th; debs, leader of a riot in chicago, enjoined by u. s. judges, july d, and put down by federal troops; reduction of u. s. tariff, august d; home rule approved by house of commons, september ist, refused by house of lords, september th; universal suffrage and extension of local self-government in england; a professor in university of texas dismissed for evolutionism. . death of frederick douglass, february th, and of huxley, june th; rebellion in cuba; men arrested in new york city for selling ice, umbrellas, etc., on sunday; eight men who had worked on that day, after keeping saturday as the sabbath, forced to labour in the chain-gang in tennessee. . british museum, national gallery, and other institutions opened to the public on sunday, may th, and afterwards; two sabbath-breakers shot dead that same day by a policeman in massachusetts; death of william morris, october d; democratic candidates defeated on a free-silver platform, november d. . dingley bill to increase tariff, signed july th; death of henry george, october th. . war declared by u. s. a. against spain, april st; death of gladstone, ascension day, may th; independence of cuba secured by treaty, august th. . death of ingersoll, july st. the social work of the salvation army by edwin gifford lamb, a.b. submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the faculty of political science columbia university new york copyright, by edwin gifford lamb preface. i use the word "social" in the title of this work to suggest that, save in an auxiliary way, i am not attempting to describe the religious features of the organization. such a field of investigation would prove a very profitable and interesting one, but it is a field, which, for the sake of clearness and impartial study, should be kept separate. the organization itself recognizes the primary division. commander booth-tucker, the leader of the army in the united states from to , says, "the salvation army is the evolution of two great ideas: first, that of reaching with the gospel of salvation the masses who are outside the pale of ordinary church influence, and second, that of caring for their temporal as well as spiritual interests."[ ] i have secured very little data from books, as there is but little authentic literature on the subject. primarily, the data for this treatise were taken from personal observation. in pursuing the subject i have visited salvation army social institutions of every description. in addition to visiting the larger cities of the united states and the three army colonies, situated in ohio, colorado and california, respectively, i have investigated the work in london, where the army had its origin, and at the farm colony in hadleigh, on the river thames, some thirty miles from london. i have slept in the hotels, worked in the industrial homes, wandered over the farm colonies, and mingled with the inmates of other types of army institutions. nov., . e. g. l. footnotes: [ ] pamphlet "the salvation army in the united states." table of contents. page. preface introduction - chapter i the salvation army industrial department - chapter ii the salvation army hotels and lodging houses - chapter iii the farm colonies of the salvation army - chapter iv the salvation army slum department - chapter v the salvation army rescue department - chapter vi some minor features of the salvation army social work - chapter vii conclusion - chapter i. introduction. the salvation army was founded by william booth in london, england, in . previous to this time mr. booth had been a successful clergyman in the methodist church, and had become widely known throughout england as a revivalist. as time passed, he had become more and more interested in the condition of the un-churched masses, and as his church did not approve of his taking up work among the masses in connection with it as an organization, he had, in , separated from the methodists. with little support, he established in london what was known as the christian mission. from the first, numbers of converts were made, and soon several missions were established in london, and other cities of england. from the first, too, the agency of women was an important feature. especially was this true in visitation among the lower classes. in regard to the foundation of the army itself and in connection with its earlier successes, much credit must be given to mrs. booth, the wife of william booth. she became as noted a speaker and revivalist as her husband, and together, they made plans for the movement. unfortunately she died of cancer in . through these early years of the movement its management, almost unconsciously, developed along lines that were military in form. at first the title of "captain" was used among the sailors and fishermen to designate the local leader of the company, and then it was extended wherever, among the rough element, the "mr." or "rev." would seem out of place. the usage and the spirit accompanying it soon spread, and by the year military methods and titles were officially added. the rev. wm. booth, who, up to this time, had been known as "superintendent of the christian mission," became "general" booth, and the "mission" became the "salvation army."[ ] this addition of military methods seems to have accelerated the movement by favoring efficient and systematic control. soon after this time, we find, the organization had spread to the united states, canada, australia, france, switzerland, holland, belgium, scandinavia, germany and italy. then missionary work was taken up in india, and later on, in africa, java and japan. at the present time ( ), according to its reports, the army occupies fifty-two different countries and colonies. in no country has its rate of progress been more remarkable than in the united states, where in point of numbers, the local organization now ranks second only to that of great britain.[ ] along with the rapid growth went a differentiation almost as rapid and unique as the growth itself. in fact, both reacted on each other. the work was separated first into three main departments, viz.: spiritual, social and trade. it will be necessary to make a brief statement of this differentiation in detail. in the spiritual department we have the extension of the original idea, that of converting the people. corps, as the different religious groups were called, sprang up and multiplied until even the smaller towns were occupied. converts were added by hundreds and thousands. large numbers of the brightest and best of these converts were utilized in extending the work still further, and after undergoing a brief training, were sent out, some to aid the movement in the mother country, others to begin the work in different parts of europe and in america, and still others as missionaries to all parts of the world. meanwhile, the work in each local organization or corps, became systematized, and the corps were united into sections or divisions, the divisions into larger districts called provinces, and the provinces into commands, which for the most part controlled the territory of an entire country. each of these divisions from the corps to the command, was delegated to an officer who had sole charge, and who was responsible to the officer above him. for example, the united states, at present, is divided into two commands; the first extending from new york to chicago; the second from chicago to the pacific coast. the first command has six provinces; the second, four. each province has from three to nine divisions, and each division contains a number of corps. thus, while each corps is complete in itself, the general administration is very highly centralized; so much so, that an order from general booth at the national headquarters, london, england, must be obeyed by every corps in the world. while the organization of the spiritual department was taking place in this manner, the social work was assuming large proportions, and differentiating itself. visitation in the lower parts of the cities was organized into a regular department of slum work, called the slum department, with a specialized corps of officers. work among fallen women was instituted as the rescue department, with its rescue homes and trained workers. the establishment of hotels and lunch counters for both men and women became finally what is now the social department. the wood yards and small factories, together with the salvage depots and cheap stores, were organized into the industrial department. work among the children resulted in the establishment of kindergartens and orphanages. the colonization enterprise took root, and was divided into the industrial colonies and farm colonies. thus, we have here a differentiation of the original social department into six distinct divisions, which we shall consider separately in this treatise. as these lines of work advanced, although each had its special group of workers, it was natural that the work should follow the administrative system of commands, provinces, divisions and corps, which had already been marked out in the spiritual department. the third primary division, that of trade, has had some interesting developments. there is, for example, the trade carried on in articles necessary to the members of the army themselves, and which they cannot conveniently obtain in the open market, such as uniforms, badges, books and musical instruments. the reliance trading company, for instance, was incorporated in , under the laws of the state of new jersey. this company owns and publishes the "war cry," the official gazette of the army in the united states; does the printing for the various departments of the army; manufactures fountain pens; makes uniforms, bonnets and hats for the army members; conducts an insurance department, and carries on other business enterprises.[ ] there is, too, the trade in the products of the various factories and industries connected with the relief work of the army. for example, the salvation army industrial homes company, incorporated in new jersey, has greatly facilitated the industrial work in the united states. there have been companies formed and organized as building societies, insurance companies, and a salvation army bank. in all these companies the salvation army, through its officers, always has control, although it invites and seeks investments from the public. the following extract, taken from a prospectus sent out by the salvation army industrial homes company, illustrates the point: "the charter of our industrial homes co. has been prepared by messrs. jas. b. dill & co., the eminent corporation lawyers, who have kindly given us the full benefit of their skill and experience, at a fairly nominal charge. the capital consists of $ , . , divided into , shares, of the par value of $ . each, of which , are in % cumulative preferred stock and , in common stock. only the preferred shares are offered to the public, and bear interest at %, which is guaranteed by the army. the common shares are held by the army, with a view to retaining the control of the company, and the entire profits, over and above the interest on the preferred stock, are thus devoted to the charitable and religious work of the army, and help us to continually expand and enlarge our homes." ... "we shall be happy to supply any information or answer any questions as to the financial standing of the salvation army. for our spiritual and social operations in the united states, we have now an annual income of nearly $ , , . , while the value of our real estate holdings in this country amount to about $ , , . hence, it will be seen that in guaranteeing the interest upon these preferred shares, amounting in all to only $ , . , we are abundantly able to insure the regular payment of the same apart, altogether, from the income of our industrial homes." as a result of this rapid growth along the three lines described, the movement everywhere forced itself upon public recognition. the publication of its weekly organ, the "war cry," in many different languages and countries aided its growth. other magazines of higher class and better quality were issued. at the same time, the public press investigated the organization, and for a long time criticised it harshly. in fact, during all this time, while so successful, the army suffered much persecution. the crowds of people composed of those whom it was seeking to benefit, seemed often to be its worst enemies, and then, to make matters more difficult, the police, we are told, instead of furnishing protection, often, themselves, joined in the persecution. there were many instances, in this early period, where the enthusiastic reformers were ill treated and even fatally injured. there was, however, some reason for all this persecution. a movement so sudden and apparently so contrary to existing institutions, needed time for its real principle to become known. the external manifestation seemed to consist of nothing but defiant disregard of established religious custom and ceremonial. thus, while the vital principle of love for humanity was working its way into individual lives and attracting them to the ranks of the organization, the world at large openly showed its antagonism. gradually, however, the sense of public opposition and antagonism grew less. gradually the knowledge that, behind the superficial emotionalism, were depths of disinterested sympathy for fellow men and women worked itself into the public mind. attacks on army groups on street corners became less frequent, and when they did occur, were suppressed by the police. the press ceased its bitter criticism. it was about this time that renewed and increased attention was focused on the new movement by the publication in of general booth's famous book, "in darkest england, and the way out." in some ways the book served to mark a new epoch in the development of that part of practical sociology which concerns itself with the direct betterment of the lower class of society. the old method of dealing with the poor is ably described by ruskin, when he says: "we make our relief either so insulting to them, or so painful that they rather die than take it at our hands; or, for third alternative, we leave them so untaught and foolish, that they starve like brute creatures, wild and dumb, not knowing what to do, or what to ask."[ ] this was a point of view which in its relation to the degraded elements of society was an expression of sympathy rather than of harsh criticism and mistrust. although it had been set forth by others previously, it had never before forced itself so strongly on the public. in addition, the daring statements and bold theories, given utterance in "darkest england," served to surprise all schools of reform. the public consciousness had never before faced the problem in such a way. it was aroused, and began to ask questions. the book ran through edition after edition. it was printed in a cheap form and within a short time was circulated all over the civilized world. in his "scheme" general booth laid down seven fundamental principles, which he claimed were essential to success. they were as follows: . the first principle that must be bore in mind, as governing every scheme that may be put forward, is that it must change the man, when it is his character and conduct which constitute the reasons for his failure in the battle of life. . the remedy, to be effectual, must change the circumstances of the individual, when they are the cause of his wretched condition, and lie beyond his control. . any remedy worthy of consideration must be on a scale commensurate with the evil with which it proposes to deal. . not only must the scheme be large enough, but it must be permanent. . but while it must be permanent, it must be made practicable. . the indirect features of the scheme must not be such as to produce injury to the persons whom we seek to benefit. . while assisting one class of the community, it must not seriously interfere with the interests of another.[ ] general booth's personal attitude, also, is well worth noting. in the preface of his book he makes the following statement: "i do not claim that my scheme is either perfect in its details, or complete in the sense of being adequate to combat all forms of gigantic evils, against which it is, in the main, directed. like other human things, it must be perfected through suffering; but it is a sincere endeavor to do something, and to do it on principles, which can be instantly applied and universally developed."[ ] and again, in view of some of the manifestations of the organization as we see it, the following is interesting, as coming from its founder. he says: "but one of the grimmest social problems of our time should be sternly faced, not with a view to the generation of profitless emotions, but with a view to its solution."[ ] upon the publication of this book there arose a division of opinion in regard to the scheme which was set forth. on the one hand, numbers of noted philanthropists aided general booth with money and moral support. on the other hand, there was opposition from a certain class of reformers, headed by that eminent scientist, thomas huxley. this opposition, however, did not so much attack the principles advocated, as the agency for their application, namely, the salvation army, itself, characterized in huxley's words as "autocratic socialism, masked by its theological exterior."[ ] from that time to the present many thoughtful men have continued this opposition to the army as an agent of social service. further on we shall consider the validity and strength of their arguments. at that time the press on all sides took up the controversy, and it was finally decided to appoint a committee of investigation to thoroughly examine the army's methods and institutions and publish a report. this committee was composed of some of the leading business and public men of england, headed by sir wilfred lawson. they examined the books of the army and studied the system and methods of the movement. they reported that all was entirely satisfactory and not only so, but that the movement and work was worthy of commendation.[ ] the report of this committee, together with a demonstration of the work already accomplished, served to silence the critics to some extent, and public favor began to turn toward the movement. since that period the army has had, generally speaking, the support of the press and many of the leading men throughout the world, a support which it has not been slow to recognize, or to utilize. for instance, about this time, we find the following appeal issued through the english press: "from personal witness or credible report of what general booth has done with the funds entrusted to him for the social scheme which he laid before the country eighteen months ago, we think it would be a serious evil if the great task which he has undertaken should be crippled by lack of help during the next four months. we therefore venture to recommend his work to the generous support of all, who feel the necessity for some serious and concentrated effort to grapple with the needs of the most wretched and destitute, who have so long been the despair of our legislation and our philanthropy." this appeal was signed by the earl of aberdeen, who was then governor-general of canada, and fifteen other men and women of international reputation. as an example of the attitude of the press, we find the london daily telegraph, in the midst of a long editorial entitled, "the general's triumph," saying, "there is no question about it, the general has become popular. he has justified himself by results. we are told he has not shown the way out, but few have done so much to let the light in, and to bring with it life and healing."[ ] since the publication of "in darkest england" in , the social work of the army has been extended, and has grown very rapidly.[ ] in connection with this rapid growth, the social phase of the movement has tended to eclipse the spiritual in the public eye. the army has taken advantage of this to advertise its advancement along all lines, and there is reason for believing that the public support of the whole movement, both social and spiritual, at the present time, is largely due to this advertising.[ ] in any case, the social work of the army is a movement large enough to justify the interest of the public, and the extensive study of every student of practical social economy. footnotes: [ ] "social relief work of the salvation army in the u. s.," p. . [ ] "life of william booth," p. . [ ] "social relief work of the s. a. in the u. s." [ ] "sesame and lillies," p. . cf. also "the new movement in charity," am. jour. soc. iii, p. . [ ] "in darkest england," pp. - . [ ] _ibid._, preface. [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] "social diseases and worse remedies." [ ] "the committee of which inquired into certain aspects of the darkest england scheme two years after its initiation, were careful to state that they did not enter upon any consideration of the many economic questions affecting the maintenance of the system sought to be carried out." (the salvation army and the public, p. .) [ ] "london daily telegraph," july , . [ ] in fifteen years, from to , the social work grew from a few small scattered institutions, to institutions, many of which alone would have greater accommodation than the total in . [ ] see "the s. a. and the public," ch. . chapter i. the salvation army industrial department. originally the work now known as the industrial work was handled with and under the same management as the social work, but as the movement grew, the industrial work branched out and finally became separate in operation and management, the name "social department" being retained for the hotel work only. the industrial department itself may be divided into three sections, all under the same management. these are the industrial home, the industrial store and the industrial colony. the object of the work embraced in these three divisions as stated in the prospectus sent out by the army two years ago is: "one of the most difficult problems that has confronted the salvation army has been the finding of employment for out-of-works and human derelicts in our cities. a system has been gradually organized by which this human waste is employed in collecting the material waste of the city. this latter has been sorted, sifted and sold, and temporary employment thus afforded to thousands of stranded persons, who have thus been tided over periods of distress, relieved of immediate suffering, saved from the stigma of paupers, assured of human sympathy, and given a new start in life."[ ] after a careful review of the various divisions of this work, above mentioned, we shall consider whether the object is being attained, and of what value the work done is to society. in the formation of the industrial home the ideal building and situation cannot always be secured; hence there are differences in the planning and disposition of the different homes. the general plan, however, is to have a three or four-story building fitted up as follows: on the ground floor is a space where the wagons filled with waste materials can unload, a large room where furniture can be repaired and stored (unless this is done in the basement below), an office, and another large room to be used for a retail store. on the second floor is the sorting room, and adjoining or connected with it is the baling room, where such stuff as paper, rags and excelsior is pressed, ready to be taken away. on this floor, too, is to be found the kitchen, the dining room and the reading room. on the third floor are situated the dormitories and sleeping rooms. this plan is often varied. sometimes there is a basement and only one or two stories above. sometimes, as in the forty-eighth street home in new york, there are six or seven stories, and sometimes, as in one home in chicago, the sleeping and living quarters of the men are entirely separate from the warehouse where they work, possibly some blocks away. the kitchen is nearly always found to be large and furnished with a good range and other facilities. the dining room contains long, plain tables, set so that the men can sit on both sides. the dishes are of thick, strong ware. the food is plain but good. everything from the floor to the dishes is usually clean. the sleeping rooms are of two kinds, individual rooms and dormitories. those men who are of a better rank, that is, those who have been working long, or who are doing a higher grade of work, and those who have "boss" positions, occupy the separate rooms; while the general class of workers sleep in the dormitories. when it comes to the question of pure air, considerable difficulty arises. some of the separate rooms have no outside window, though the partitions between the rooms rise only to a certain height, thus giving common air to the whole floor. even where good ventilation facilities exist, it seems difficult to make the men keep the windows open. as regards ventilation, however, the industrial homes are, as a rule, better than the lower class workingman's hotels, and are improving in this respect. the beds are iron, single beds. the bed clothing and the rooms themselves are clean and fumigated regularly. a reading room is also provided where daily papers and popular magazines are kept, and where the men may write. in some cases, a smoking room adjoins. meetings of a devotional character, to which the men may come or not as they see fit, are often held in the reading room. the support that renders the industrial home possible is the waste product of the city. this material is rubbish of all kinds imaginable. in connection with each industrial plant are kept a number of horses and wagons, mostly one-horse wagons. each driver of a wagon has a definite route to cover regularly. passing over his route, he collects everything of which people are glad to be rid. waste paper, old clothes, old furniture, and the like, are the principal articles he collects. many good people, persuaded of the good work the army is doing, save up their store of odds and ends until the army wagon shall call, often giving things away which they would not have thrown away or given any one else, unless it would be to sell them to an old-clothes man. the driver returns with his load to the warehouse. from his wagon the material is conveyed by means of an elevator to the sorting room in the second story, whence the greater quantity goes at once to the baling machine in the form of waste paper. any articles that may be of use, such as shoes, clothing of any kind, books, crockery-ware, bottles, pots, kettles, etc., are placed in their respective bins and finally, repaired, find their way to the retail store. heavy articles, such as stoves and furniture, do not go up in the elevator, but are retained on the first floor, where they go, first to the repairing and storage room, and then out to the stores. the paper and rags, when baled, are sold to the nearest paper mill for a good price. some idea of the amount of this class of material may be gained from the fact that the average amount of paper sold by the industrial department in the united states is about , tons per month. in england and other countries this work has not assumed such large proportions, but there is some difference between the workings of the industrial plant in the city of london and in new york. for instance, at the salvation army plant on hanbury street, whitechapel, london, we found, in , a planing mill, a paint and furniture shop, a mattress factory, and a sawmill and cabinet shop. this place had employment for ninety men, of whom twelve were regularly employed and the remainder were transients. the regular employees were paid at a union rate of wages. the men of this industrial plant lived some distance away on quaker street, having possession of part of the salvation army shelter or hotel there, the total accommodation of which was two hundred and forty. again, in a different part of the city, over near deptford, was a wood yard with good machinery, run by electricity, which employed anywhere from sixty to seventy men making kindling wood. on the other hand, at the "spa road elevator," was a plant almost identical with the industrial plants in the united states, where were shipped out an average of pounds of paper every week and several tons of rags in addition, and where was accommodation for some two hundred men. branching out from the main industrial plant are nearly always to be found large stores. these are salvation army retail stores. these stores are found in the poorest sections of the city, and are patronized by the poorest class. articles of all descriptions may be purchased here at a very low figure. in each store is a furniture department; a clothing department for men, women and children; a toy department; a department for stoves, pots, etc., and sometimes other departments varying with the size of the store. it is possible, thus, for a poor family moving into the neighborhood to completely furnish themselves and their home from salvation army stores at a cost of often less than one-half of what they would pay elsewhere. each store has a definite connection with the central industrial plant, from which it receives its supplies, its workers and its government, for the stores are merely branches of the central work, and all are under the same general management. an interesting feature lies in an examination of the labor which is employed. from the cases given at the end of the chapter, it will be seen that it consists of all kinds, classes and nationalities, who, through their own recklessness, or by unfortunate circumstances, have fallen into want. a man willing to work comes to the army in want of food and shelter, and the army happens to have accommodation for him. he may go to one of the men's hotels or to the industrial home, or to the central agency of the army. in any case he will probably be interviewed by an officer specially detailed for the purpose, who will be able to decide in short time what his needs are, and what can be done for him. he may be sent out at once to take some position secured through the employment bureau; he may be sent to the hotel with the understanding that, after being fed and cared for, he will be given an opportunity to pay for it in work; or he may be sent straight to the industrial home. in any case, if possible, he is put to work. he may be in a weak condition physically or mentally, or both, but even then, he can often do something; such, for example, as picking over paper and rags in the sorting room. meanwhile, he is being fed and housed. if he means well and works earnestly, he is soon able to do some other grade of work. he may have had technical knowledge which will help him. in a few days, possibly, a call is made to the employment bureau, which is maintained in conjunction with each home or group of homes, for a man to fill some position. if suitable, this man may be sent out to take it. on the other hand, he may be retained in the home and employed permanently as a driver on one of the wagons, or as overseer and instructor in one of the rooms, or he may be sent out as assistant to one of the stores, and, in time, he may be given charge of a store. when the men first come to the home, they receive board and clothing and some remuneration, although very slight. if they continue to work at the home, they are paid wages ranging from $ . per week up to $ . or $ . per week, besides board and lodging in the united states, and from s. to s. in england. when a man is able, but is lazy and not willing to work, he is turned out. it is well known to those who have studied the question, that there are a large number of such men, but this class does not apply for help as often as it might to the army, as it soon learns the uselessness of so doing. the officers become quite adept in seeing these men in their true colors. on the other hand, if a man drops into bad habits and goes off on a spree after he has been helped, he will be taken in again afterwards, and this is continued within reason. much of the labor employed is a surface and floating population, the result of season and periodic work in connection with so many of our industries, and the men are just tided over a hard time in their experiences. this class is larger sometimes than at others, but is always in evidence. another class, however, consists of the men who have fallen through their own recklessness and bad habits. some of these men are sent out to positions which they fill creditably, and finally rise as high or higher than they were before. naturally, the army makes as much as possible out of these cases for the purpose of advertisement. owing to evident difficulties, it is impossible to ascertain just what percentage there is of this class among the total number helped, or what percentage of this class itself is successfully aided. the industrial work itself, as a paying business, is developing so fast that a constantly increasing number of men are permanently retained and used as regular employees, being paid regular wages. when we come to the industrial colony, we find it entirely different from the farm colony, where families are sent to settle upon the land in tracts of say twenty acres per family. the industrial colony is managed like a large farm with many laborers, all under one central head. the original idea was to graduate men from the city plants to the industrial colonies and thence to the farm colonies, but the army has had difficulty in maintaining its colonies at all, and, as a result, no regular system has been followed. a large proportion of the men on the industrial colony are single, whereas, as will be seen, families are needed for the farm colonies. again, many of these men are not the kind who will succeed on the farm colony. sometimes, too, they have not been through the city plant, and sometimes they are men sent directly from the city to get them out of temptations which are too strong for them. the best example of an industrial colony is the one at hadleigh, about thirty miles from london, england. this colony has an area of about , acres. one thousand acres is almost useless now; and when taken by the army in , the whole consisted of almost worthless land, some of which, as a result of constant labor and fertilization, has been transformed into reasonably good land. a great draw-back and a great expense has been the lack of water, now partially supplied by two artesian wells, the cheaper of which cost over $ , . .[ ] the population varies from to .[ ] in , men were admitted to the colony. out of this number, left after a short residence before they could be influenced for good; were discharged as incorrigible, and graduated, obtaining situations or being restored to their friends.[ ] there are three classes received at the colony: . those sent by the army agencies. . those sent by poor law authorities who pay from s. to s. per week for periods of from three to twelve months for their maintenance. . special cases sent by philanthropic societies, or by relatives or others.[ ] another division is made into four classes, thus: . those coming and passing off in a month, not being regular colonists. . those averaging nine months on the colony, and called colonists. . picked men from the second class, who are made employees. . employees hired in the neighborhood for specific purposes.[ ] the proportion of each, according to either specification, is such a variable quantity that nothing can be determined satisfactorily. according to one officer's statement, about one in every five is considered an employee.[ ] in the winter of - , men were sent to hadleigh and supported there by a special fund, called "the mansion house fund for the relief of the london unemployed."[ ] out of the class sent by the army agencies to the colony, a certain number are sent out as emigrants to canada. for instance, in , were sent out, and in , . the party of was composed of five irishmen, one welshman, three scotchmen, and forty-nine englishmen. these men go to work on different farms in canada, and some sent out in previous years now have homesteads there. in the colony there are five departments, viz.: the market garden, the brick-making department, the dairy department together with the piggery, the poultry department, and the inebriate's home. there is also a store which has an income of $ , . a month. the market garden is one of the best industries, most of the produce being sold in the town of southend, four miles distant. in the busy season, as many as workers are found in this department. there are four large conservatories, especially for tomatoes and flowers. a good many potatoes are raised, and there is a good deal of land in berries and orchard. there are three brick-yards with the latest improved kilns and machinery. these yards have been a very heavy expense and have not been satisfactory. for instance, in , the year's sale of bricks amounted to £ , while the expenditure of this department was £ , this latter sum including the expense of repairing the drying fields, which that year were injured by a flood.[ ] in the dairy department about twenty-five head of cattle provide the colony with milk and butter, while sometimes milk is sold at southend. in the piggery the number of hogs runs from to . the poultry department is given over to prize poultry breeding and has been successful in winning some noted prizes. the inebriate's home is licensed for twenty male inebriates who are charged from s. to s. per week. between % and % are stated to be reclaimed after an average period of eight months' treatment. in addition to these departments it might be noted that there is a school on the colony with an attendance of , some of whom come from outside the colony, and a good sized hall, seating about , where gatherings are held for social and religious purposes. for the feeding and lodging of the colonists, large preparations are made. they are graded according to their position in the colony, and an opportunity is given them to rise from the lower to the higher grades. the superintendent stated that this plan was found useful in stimulating ambition. there are two dormitories, both clean and well-kept, but the higher grade with better bedding and surroundings than the lower. this grading system is also maintained in the dining room, the higher grade of colonists being served with better food than the lower. everything around the buildings is well-kept and orderly, and the general moral atmosphere of the colony seems to be healthful and up-lifting. the industrial colony at ft. herrick, near cleveland, ohio, differs in many ways from the one at hadleigh, and doubtless has been instrumental in aiding a good number of outcast and fallen men, but it has been such a burden financially, and such an unsolved problem in many ways, that it may be considered a failure. the reason for its failure is not so much bad management as lack of foresight on the part of those choosing the site. the site is in no sense suitable for a colony, the soil being unfit for intensive farming. probably the best work done there has been the reformation of drunkards, a work in which, according to reports, the colony has been eminently successful.[ ] coming now to the management of the industrial department in the united states, we find that it is an up-to-date business enterprise. the department is controlled by a corporation called "the salvation army industrial homes co." already referred to in our introduction.[ ] the management of the company is in the hands of the army.[ ] under this central authority, we find the united states divided into three districts; the eastern district, with headquarters at new york; the central district with headquarters at cleveland, and the western district with headquarters at chicago. each one of these districts has at its head a social secretary, and under him are the different officers in charge of the respective plants. generally speaking, each local officer is supreme in his individual plant. he can adopt methods and means to suit the environment of his district, provided always that his methods mean success. there are no iron-clad rules to hold him in check beyond a system of bookkeeping and of making out detailed reports, which must be sent to headquarters. when about to engage in some new venture, however, such as securing a new location for his plant, opening up a store, or renting or purchasing new property, he must refer the project to his superior officer, before undertaking it. the local officer in charge has trusted employees under him, such as a warehouse boss, a kitchen boss, and stable boss, etc., each of whom is responsible to the officer for his department. although present to some extent in other countries the special field of the industrial work is the united states. the growth in this country during the recent years has been great. in there were no regular industrial homes; in there were industrial institutions, and in control of these institutions, there were army officers and regular employees. the accommodation was about , . during one month there were cases that were considered unsatisfactory. there were horses and wagons in daily use. about , tons of paper were baled and sold per month. contrast this with the year . in this year there were officers engaged in these institutions and over , regular employees. there was accommodation for , men. the unsatisfactory cases for the year amounted to , . there were horses and wagons in daily use. an average of , tons of paper was sold each month. , men were placed in outside positions during the year. no large city in the united states is without this industrial work, and it is to be expected that, within a few years, there will be no city in the country with a population of , that does not have an industrial home, and that many cities with a smaller population will have one also. already there are several cities with a population of less than , that have promising industrial plants. in london, the growth has not been so rapid, and the industrial institutions are run at a loss to the army, but there are about eight industrial plants in that city, and others are to be found in other large cities of england. we come now to the question of the value of the salvation army industrial work to society. from the preceding brief outline of the methods, material, labor, management and extent of the industrial work, it will be seen that it is a movement, unrestricted in scope, with an unlimited field of development as an economic enterprise. in certain fields where the army is active, its work is considered of little or no value; but as a result of our investigation into this particular field, the conclusion is reached that, with the exception of the industrial colonies, it is a practical, social work, of value to society. we make an exception of the industrial colonies because we do not consider that the two experiments already tried by the army justify their own continuance or the starting of other similar colonies. the reference here is to fort herrick in ohio, and the hadleigh colony, near london. these colonies have necessitated a continual sinking of funds contributed by the charitable public, and the return does not justify their expense. the army should realize this, and admit the fact, instead of drawing wool over the eyes of the ignorant public by the constant reiteration of "the great work done at hadleigh and fort herrick." it looks as though the organization was afraid that the infallibility and sanctity of general booth's pet scheme would be seriously impaired, if the public should discover that any part of that scheme was a mistake and an unfortunate experiment, and that, for this reason, it has continued to expend much money on it, which might have been turned to better advantage in connection with other parts of general booth's plan. these colonies are object lessons showing what is unwise to attempt, rather than what can be done. the army has no need to be ashamed of having made a mistake, and its usefulness along other lines is sufficient to maintain its reputation in spite of the failure of its industrial colonies. there is no need of the industrial colony anyway. the object in view is either to tide workless men over a period of hard times and misfortune, or to restore manhood where evil habits and recklessness have destroyed it, and this can be done and is being done by means of the city industrial work without the aid of the colony. as regards the work of reforming the inebriate, in which the industrial colonies have had some success, that could be carried on without the great expense of a regular colony. the moral field of the city industrial work derives support from the relation of its management to the spiritual work and influence of the army. the influence and spirit of the whole organization runs to a certain extent through every branch of its varied developments. this influence cannot be described by comparative means. the spirit, somewhat unique in itself, runs through everything, a spirit which is a mixture and blending of love, gratitude, service and patience. while we think that, in the tendency of this branch to become a business enterprise, there is a considerable decrease in the influence just described, it still has great power. the officers and employees now engaged in this work were themselves not long since outcasts in society. many of them had despaired of ever making a success of life and were simply drifting. but a helping hand had been stretched out to them, hope had been imparted and new ideals had been placed before them. they might even yet be men, wear decent clothes, stand up straight and look their fellow men in the eye! what wonder that the decent clothes to which they looked forward turned out to be the uniform of the organization which had picked them up from the gutter! what wonder they felt an eternal debt of gratitude toward that organization! while this is not a true expression of their attitude in every case, and while there are some who hold their positions simply because they can get no better, loyalty to the work exists in enough instances to create a distinct moral atmosphere. the men wish to make a success of their new work; they wish to see the army advance, and to do this they feel that it is essential that the same moral influence which enabled them to become men should be continued. this influence moves almost unconsciously among the industrial plants. for instance, we do not find here the tendency to obscenity which we find in any ordinary factory or workshop. environment in these plants is all-powerful as an uplifting condition. cleanliness is encouraged in the dormitory and kitchen. respectful attention is paid at meals while grace is being said. the reading room is frequented, while the occasional meetings held are sometimes well attended and sometimes not, according to the attraction. the emotional religious element is a great deal in evidence, though not so much as in other departments of the army. in any case, the element of hope and ambition, which often arises within these social outcasts, making them men once more, is to be considered a great moral asset. the moral influence is due more to the personality of those in charge than to anything else. a large number of the managers have served in connection with the army's spiritual work and have the desire, as they would tell you, to see every man under them "saved," not only in a moral and social sense, but "saved" in accordance with the army's special significance of that term.[ ] while the army's special idea of salvation may have no value in itself, still if the emotional element assists in the moral and social salvation of individuals, we have no reason for not tolerating it unless it has evil effects of real importance. such effects, however, tend to decrease, as the movement advances, and the education and enlightenment of the masses increase. from an economic point of view, we believe that the work of the industrial department has been successful. we have seen that large numbers of men, who are out of work, are taken in by this department and kept for a number of weeks or months, and that, during this time, besides making their own support, and gaining in efficiency, in many cases, they are able to return to a more important part in production. let us see what this means. while these men are out of work, they are not producing anything. they are idle, and thus a loss to the community. in addition, they are fast losing any potential ability for production, which they have had. but they now become producers, a gain to the community, and their potential ability for production is at least conserved if not increased. secondly, out-of-work men are a burden on the community. while they continue to live without employment, they must be supported in some way or other by private or public charity, and they form a great item of expense to the community. but in the hands of the industrial department, they cease being an expense to the public and become to some extent a gain. thirdly, some of these men are in danger of becoming members of pseudo-social and anti-social classes; it is from them that the pauper and criminal classes gain recruits. but through the elevating environment of this branch of the army's work, their character is affected, and they are raised to a higher level. in this way then, in successful cases, the worthless men become workmen. worthless men are changed into economic assets. the dependents become independent. working by means of the laws of environment and association, the army elevates the degenerate from a pseudo-social and anti-social class to a higher level and to social position. where individuality was lost, independence of character reasserts itself. let us consider in detail some of the advantages connected with this form of practical philanthropy. one advantage is, that once started, the work continues and increases without further expenditure on the part of the charitably disposed public beyond the giving away of things for which they have no further use. this is so because the army here in its work becomes an efficient producer and creates articles which have market value. leaving all charity alone, the work is paying and more than self-supporting, and thus in a short time will be reimbursed with all the money which was necessary to initiate it. in nearly every city in which the work was started, rented property soon gives place to property owned by the army and poor ill-suited buildings, to up-to-date structures built for the purpose. an example of this is to be found in the history of the th street industrial home in new york city which is briefly described, in the examples given at the end of this chapter.[ ] that the entire work has grown self-supporting in the united states is shown by the fact that last year, , there was a net gain of $ , , after the interest on the loans and investments had been paid. if a home does not show signs of being successful financially, its location will be changed or it will be discontinued.[ ] another advantage lies in the fact that men who were socially dependent are made self-supporting. we should place emphasis on the effect on the man himself as well as on the community. we saw how these men were given to understand that they were earning their own livelihood and were not recipients of charity, and how they were encouraged by the receipt of wages, to be increased as their productiveness increased. the relief given is true relief in that the man earns it himself and realizes this fact, and because, along with this realization, comes a return of manhood and independence. of course if men have lost all manhood and have no desire to be independent, but simply to live as easily as possible on what may be given them, the above is not the result; but few such get into the industrial homes, as they know better and have no wish to work as these men do, and if they get in temporarily, they are soon sorted out. thus it cannot be said of these homes as is said of many institutions, that they pauperize men in place of helping them. the institution that makes men work for everything they get and provides some sort of channel for their ambition, maintaining itself meanwhile as a paying concern, is not pauperizing in its tendency. still another advantage of this work is found in the saving of the community's funds. of late years, more and more, the principle has been advanced and brought before the public, that the starving and unemployed are to be cared for in some way, and we are willing to tax ourselves to provide for this. as far back as the census of , we find that the united states spent annually $ , , in charities and over $ , , in penal and reformatory institutions. probably the total expenditure for these two objects to-day would be nearer $ , , annually. what percentage of this $ , , would go to the class of people aided by the army industrial work would be hard to ascertain or approximate, but there is room for a great extension of this kind of work, and the army's efforts are most suggestive. in some of the european countries, especially germany, many helpful experiments along this line are in progress, but conditions in the united states are vastly different. in any case social economists are agreed that vast sums are spent annually in our country to little or no purpose from the point of view of social relief. in the year , , men were cared for in the united states industrial homes of the army. this means just that amount of saving to the nation that it would have cost the regular municipal and state charities to have dealt with these , men, since these men were aided by a self-supporting organization and paid for their own support. this work, then, if carried far enough, would effect quite a saving of taxes. but along with advantages there may be disadvantages. some objections have been raised to this branch of the army's work. for instance, it is stated that industries entered into by the army tend to hurt economic conditions with regard to both wages and prices.[ ] with regard to wages it is urged that the army will keep for its industries, workers in constraint of one kind or another, paying them a lower wage than the same workers could procure outside, and thus lowering the wages in the respective industries. we do not consider this objection a strong one. let us forget for the present the philanthropic side of the industrial work, and look on it as a distinctly economic enterprise, as a factor of production. we think it quite likely that a manager, anxious above everything else to make his institution a financial success, would make an endeavor to keep as long as possible, and at as low wages as possible, men who could receive more on the outside. he might even try to retain men for whom he could secure better positions through the employment bureau, if he needed their services, and times were so good that no other applicant offered to take their place, but this he could not succeed in doing to any serious extent; for, in the first place, the restraint exercised over the men is very slight, and secondly, if the men could secure better wages, it would not be long before they found it out and left the home voluntarily. it would be just the same as in any industry in which most of the workers are ignorant. they would remain under low wages just as long as their ignorance and lack of initiative would allow, but sooner or later the relatively able man would seek the best wage. hence the able man would seek the best wage, and his place would be taken by one, possibly morally and physically unable to procure any wage, or, in other words, belonging to the unemployable class. if it should come to the point of the army's hiring able men to carry on the work without aiding the outcasts, it must compete in the market for them and pay the market price. the only real danger would lie in the army's industrial work securing a strong enough position in some industry to be able to dictate terms to labor in an industry, but this is so unlikely as to be almost irrelevant and even in such an almost inconceivable case, the danger would be only temporary. labor would still be able to drift sufficiently to another agency, not controlled by the army and thus bring up wages again. this is the more true in that any industry, in which the army engages, must of necessity be one in which unskilled labor is competent.[ ] in addition to this, from personal investigation, we can state that a large part of the labor employed in these plants of the army is at any rate temporarily inefficient labor and would not have much chance in securing employment elsewhere. finally, though considered a charitable work, this branch of the army is, as already stated, a corporation, a business enterprise financed by investors who receive interest on their investments; hence, to the same extent that it is a financial enterprise, like other such enterprises, it will be governed by the rate of wages.[ ] another objection has been raised by critics, to the effect that the army, through its industry, enters into competition with existing firms and companies to the harm of the latter.[ ] for instance they urge that in the case of those engaged in second-hand goods and salvage, who are able to make a profit by buying their material, the army enters into an unfair competition, when it takes such material, given in charity, and sells at a lower figure. in so far as the army does undersell others this objection is valid, and we have no doubt that in some cases such is the truth. doubtless some individuals and firms have been hurt in their business by this under-selling. for instance, in chicago, the army has nine retail stores situated in the poorer districts, doing a big business in second hand goods. in addition to those goods it sends into the retail trade, it sells hundreds of tons of paper and rags annually. this must have some effect on others engaged in this business. however, the army itself sometimes pays for its material and does not often undersell.[ ] but there is another side to this question of underselling. naturally the tendency is to get as much as possible for its goods, and provided there is a market, the army would seek to obtain just as much as any one else in the business. it now falls back on a question of supply and demand. the only way in which the price would be lowered by the salvation army would be by an increase of supply. doubtless the supply of these goods is increased by the thorough work of the army agents, and, to such an extent, its entrance into this field would tend to lower prices. however, in the leading salvage industries of the army, the increase in supply does no more than offset the increase in demand. the amount of displacement of the salvage and allied industries due to the competition of the army at present would not seem to be much, although of course it is difficult to get any exact figures along this line. looking at the salvation army retail store as a form of relief, another question arises as to whether the opportunity given to the residents of the district to get things at the salvation army's store cheaper than elsewhere interferes with the standard of living. by the standard of living we mean the scale or measure of comfort and satisfaction which a person or a community of persons regards as indispensable to happiness.[ ] this would differ in the case of different persons and classes and communities, but progress demands that the standard should never be lowered, but should always be raised, in accord with increasing enlightenment and education. "it is only," says dr. devine, "when individuals or individual families for personal or exceptional or temporary reasons fall below the standard, that charitable assistance can effectively intervene. in other words, as has been pointed out in other connections, the relieving policy cannot be made to raise the general standard of living, but it should be so established as not to depress it"[ ]. here, then, the point is, whether those who are otherwise able to come up to the standard of living in a given community take advantage of this form of charity, or whether the customers of the salvation army's stores are living below that standard. to just the extent that the former is true, this part of the work would be pauperizing and retrogressive, but we do not consider the former to be true. naturally, we have no statistics on this point, but speaking from general observation, we should say that the customers of these stores are needy poor, who are living below the standard, and hence, the store is a boon to them in aiding them toward a realization of that standard. let us now sum up our conclusions regarding the industrial work of the army. regarding the industrial colonies, we would say that, while doubtless responsible for good and reformation in certain cases, nevertheless, owing to their cost of maintenance and the fact that the work can be done without them, they are not a practical form of charity deserving the intelligent support of the public. regarding the city industrial work, including the employment, amid a good environment, of men out of work, including also the turning of much otherwise waste matter into an economic good, and the assistance of deserving poor by means of second-hand stores, we would say that it is commendable and deserving of support. this latter conclusion is made in spite of three objections: first, that there is a tendency to lower wages, which objection we do not consider as important for reasons given; second, that underselling of certain commodities by the army takes place, which objection we admit to a limited extent, and third, that the standard of living is interfered with, which objection we do not consider valid. examples of men in the army industrial homes. these examples were collected by mr. jas. ward at the two industrial homes situated on west th street and west th street, new york city, during the months of march and april, . mr. ward worked right with the men whose cases are given here, and slept in the homes, thus being with them night and day. the home on west th street was an old milk depot rented temporarily by the army to aid the unemployed during the winter, and had accommodation for two hundred men. everything was very crude. the men slept on the floor, some without blankets. they were required to work from three to five hours every day, and during the rest of the day, they were allowed to go out and seek for work. the best of these men were drafted out to fill the vacancies in the regular industrial homes of the army as they occurred. on the other hand, the home on west th street was and is one of the army's best homes, built for the purpose by the army in , at a cost of $ , . . everything here is arranged for comfort and cleanliness. the dormitory is of the best, with good ventilation and other sanitary conditions. it is a seven-story building, and has accommodation for one hundred and seventy-five men. twenty-two wagons are sent out from this home every day. in every way it is a contrast with the west th street home, hence the examples will show some difference, according to which home they refer. no. . born in ireland. thirty-eight years old. single. had no trade. had worked on a farm in ireland. had been in this country fourteen years and had worked somewhat on a farm in this country. had been out of work two months. lost his position through an accident and spent three weeks in the hospital. had since been in the army industrial home for five weeks, and was growing stronger. his appearance was very good. no. . born in france. thirty-five years old. single. had people in france but never heard from them. had no trade. out of work all winter. worked on a farm a little in france. in this country fifteen years. several charitable societies had helped him and he had been in the industrial home eight days. the army gave him clothing and shoes. he looked like a drinking man, but otherwise capable. no. . born in italy. thirty years old. married. had wife in italy. left there two years ago, and said he was going to send for his wife when he got the money. he had worked on a farm in italy, and had worked at different trades in this country. had been out of work nine weeks. had been in the industrial home two days. spoke good english. looked dirty and without much intelligence. no. . born in south carolina. twenty-three years old. single. trade of a plumber. left his people five months ago and came to new york. soon spent his money and could find no work. had been in the industrial home three weeks. said he was going home as soon as he could get the money. never worked on a farm. looked capable. no. . born in germany. forty-two years old. single. had been in this country twenty-five years and had followed the water nearly all the time. got in a fight on the bowery six months ago and spent five months in jail. since coming out, he had had odd jobs, and had been in the industrial home about two weeks. looked shiftless and dissipated. no. . born in denver, colo. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. had people in philadelphia who did not help him. machinist by trade. belonged to the union in philadelphia. out of work ten weeks. said he had $ . but it did not last long. had been in the industrial home two days and expected work shortly. appearance was very good. no. . born in ireland. forty years old. married. had left his family. had no trade. in this country eight years. never worked in the country. out of work all winter. spent three weeks in the hospital. said he had consumption. had been in the industrial home four days. looked very feeble but not dissipated. no. . born in new york. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. people lived in new york, but he had not lived with them for three years. had no trade. had travelled a little. said he did not like hard work. had been in the industrial home two weeks. the army gave him clothing and shoes. said the missions helped him. expected to wander west when the weather got warm. looked like a tramp. never worked in the country. no. . born in san francisco. german parents. fifty-eight years old. single. had no trade. said he had beaten his way all around the world. had not worked all winter. in the industrial home ten days. looked shiftless and dissipated. never worked in the country. no. . born in maine. english parents. twenty-four years old. single. had people in maine with whom he quarreled. had no trade. out of work for four months. in the industrial home one week. never worked on a farm, but had worked in the woods. did not drink. looked like a capable man. no. . born in philadelphia. irish parents. twenty-six years old. single. people in philadelphia who helped him sometimes. had no trade. had wandered a good deal. out of work three months. said he drank whenever he could get liquor. expected to go home shortly. had been in the industrial home three days. looked very shiftless and dissipated. no. . born in ireland. forty-two years old. single. had two sisters in brooklyn who were poor. in this country eighteen years. had no regular trade but worked in hotels as porter. out of work five months. worked on a farm a good deal in ireland. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in new york. american parents. twenty-two years old. single. said he was a truck driver. had been out of work one month. drank sometimes. had been in the industrial home four days. expected to leave new york as soon as the weather became warmer. looked very wild. no. . born in vermont. mother irish. father german. thirty-two years old. single. he wrote to his people but they did not help him. had travelled around a good deal. had no trade. said he "got saved" in a mission and they kept him all winter. he said every time he got down, he went to the missions and stayed as long as he could. had been in the industrial home nine days. had worked on a farm a little. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in london. twenty-two years old. single. seaman by trade. left his boat one month ago in new york and had done nothing since. had been in the industrial home two weeks and hoped to work his way back to england shortly. his appearance was very good. no. . born in new york. american parents. about thirty-five years old. single. brick-layer by trade. did not belong to the union. out of work four months. said he had been to every city in the united states and had travelled on freight trains quite often. looked like a tramp. no. . born in reading, penna. american parents. forty years old. married. wife dead. one child living with his sister in pennsylvania. carpenter by trade. did not belong to the union. had been out of work all winter. all his tools were in pawn. the army had been helping him at times. said he had to leave his child on account of not working. he looked like a very hard drinker. had never worked in the country. no. . born in albany, n. y. american parents. thirty-five years old. single. quarrelled with his people. had not been home for ten years. had no trade. out of work all winter. the missions and the army had helped him a good deal. had been in the industrial home three days. never worked in the country. looked dissipated. no. . born in ireland. thirty years old. single. had people in ireland who were poor. came to this country eleven years ago. had no trade. out of work two months. expected a position in brooklyn the following week. said he had $ . in the bank but lost his book and had to wait to get his money. had been in the industrial home two days. his appearance was good. no. . born in jersey city. italian parents. twenty-five years old. single. quarrelled with his people. said he had a step-mother and could not get along with her. had been in new york five years working at everything. had no trade. out of work five months. had saved some money, but it was all gone. never worked in the country. in the industrial home five days. said this was the first time he was ever down. looked like a hopeful case. no. . born in philadelphia. irish parents. thirty-two years old. married. his wife was working and had paid his board all winter, until he came to new york two weeks before on a freight train. had been in the industrial home since, and expected to return to his wife. carpet-weaver by trade and belonged to the union. said he drank sometimes, but he looked like a hard drinker. otherwise very good. no. . born in brooklyn. american parents. thirty years old. single. people lived in brooklyn, but they did not have anything to do with him. piano-finisher by trade. did not belong to the union. was in the army one year and deserted. out of work three months. came to new york two months ago. spent all his money, $ . , in two days. had been in the industrial home two weeks. said he was going to reform and get a steady job. looked like a hard drinker but otherwise capable. no. . born in scranton, penna. german parents. fifty years old. single. had one sister and one brother at home, but he did not write them. had no trade. had travelled all over the united states. seemed to know a mission in every city. never worked in the country. had been in the industrial home some time, and said they made him work too hard. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in springfield, mass. american parents. forty years old. single. had no trade. had not worked for over a year. had been in jail several times for riding freights. never worked in the country. the missions and the army had helped him this winter. looked like a dissipated character. no. . born in germany. twenty-five years old. had people in germany who were poor. left home eight months ago and came to new york, with a little money. had not worked since he left home. he spoke broken english. had no trade. did not drink much. had been in the industrial home some time. looked intelligent and capable. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. forty-five years old. single. had no trade. had been in this country twenty years. worked a good deal on a farm. had wandered a good deal. he said the army were good people and had helped him in different cities. had been out of work two months. looked shiftless. no. . born in greenwich, conn. american parents. twenty-seven years old. single. used to be in business with his father as a plumber in greenwich, but quarrelled and had not been home for six years. never worked on a farm. looked intelligent but very wild. said he could have anything he wanted at home, if he would leave the drink alone. no. . born in boston, mass. scotch parents. fifty-three years old. married. divorced seven years ago. brass-moulder by trade. had belonged to the union but lost his membership through non-payment of dues. out of work three months. he drank a good deal, but looked capable. never worked in the country. no. . born in cleveland, o. american parents. twenty-seven years old. single. had no regular trade. made a business of following fairs as a fakir. never worked in the country. said the missions and the army had helped him a good deal this winter. he also spent several nights in the city lodging house. looked capable but a little dissipated. no. . born in yonkers, n. y. american parents. thirty-six years old. single. had no trade. had not worked all winter. was in the industrial home for the fourth time this winter. the missions had helped him. never worked in the country. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in germany. forty years old. single. had no trade. out of work two months. the army gave him clothing. had been in the industrial home several days. never stayed in one place very long. never worked in the country. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in new york. american parents. thirty-five years old. single. had no people, except one brother who was in the west. had no trade. out of work four months. had been in the industrial home one week. never worked in the country. said when he had money he gambled and played the races. looked intelligent and capable. no. . born in ireland. forty five years old. married. evidently had left his family. had no regular trade. had followed the water a good deal and worked along the docks. had nothing steady for three months. was in the industrial home for the second time this winter. worked in the country about two years. said when the weather got warm he was going to the country. looked ignorant and dissipated. no. . born in new york. american parents. thirty years old. single. trade of a shoe-maker, but he had not worked at it for nearly two years. out of work three months. worked in the country a little. appearance very good. no. . born in philadelphia. american parents. forty years old. married. had buried his wife and three children. had no trade but followed the circus as laborer. never worked in the country. had had no steady work for a year. the army had been helping him for a month. he said he went on the drunk sometimes. looked intelligent but in feeble health. no. . born in hungary. twenty-nine years old. single. had people at home but did not write often. in this country eight years. talked good english. had no trade. worked on a farm a good deal in hungary. had been in the industrial home four days. looked very hopeful. no. . born in pittsfield, mass. american parents. twenty-one years old. single. had no trade. had been in the industrial home three months. was a trusted worker and received $ . a week, for driving one of the army wagons. never worked in the country. looked like a respectable man. no. . born in ireland. fifty-years old. single. in this country twenty years. had no trade. had travelled around the world. had been in the industrial home one month. said he used to drink, but would never do it again. he was gray-haired and feeble. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. fifty-five years old. single. had no trade but followed the water a good deal. out of work five months. had been in the industrial home three weeks. said the army had helped him before. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in new york. irish parents. twenty-eight years old. single. people lived in new york, but he had not lived home for several years. quarrelled with his people because of drink. had no trade. worked one season in the country. had been out of work two months. in the industrial home two weeks. the army had fitted him out with clothing. looked capable but dissipated. no. . born in germany. thirty-seven years old. married. would not say anything about his family. in this country eleven years. had no trade but followed the water as cook or waiter. had been out of work all winter. the german aid society had helped him. never worked in the country. looked dissipated. no. . born in england. sixty-five years old. married. wife dead. five children living, but they did not help him. came to this country forty years ago. bricklayer by trade. belonged to the union, but said they did not help him. had been out of work five months. had been in the industrial home several times this winter. looked old, gray-haired and feeble. no. . born in new york. american parents. twenty-five years old. single. had no trade. quarrelled with his people three years ago and had not been home since. never worked in the country. had been in the industrial home four days. looked quite capable. no. . born in germany. twenty-nine years old. single. had people in long island who were poor. had no trade, but followed the water a good deal. out of work four months. in the industrial home five weeks. the army gave him clothes. said he drank a good deal. never worked in the country. looked intelligent but dissipated. no. . born in paterson, n. j. german parents. twenty-five years old. had people in paterson but was ashamed to write to them. had no trade. had been in the industrial home two months. looked bright and capable. no. . born in trenton, n. j. irish parents. twenty-two years old. single. had no trade. had been out of work three months. in the industrial home three weeks. expected money from home shortly. never worked in the country. said he drank a little. his appearance was very good. no. . born in stanwich, conn. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. had people who were poor. had no trade. was brought up on a farm. came to new york one year ago after a trip through the west. expected to go back to the country as soon as the weather got warmer. had been in the industrial home ten days. looked stupid but otherwise capable. no. . born in vermont. american parents. forty-five years old. single. was a tool-maker by trade. did not belong to the union. had been out of work three months. had been in the industrial home one month. said the army were good people. appearance was good but somewhat dissipated. never worked in the country. no. . born in seattle, washington. swedish parents. twenty-eight years old. single. had no trade. out of work two months. in the industrial home three weeks. did not drink. appearance was good. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. forty years old. married. separated from his wife. in this country fifteen years. had no trade. out of work all winter. the army and the missions had helped him several times. never worked in the country. looked shiftless and dissipated. no. . born in scotland. fifty years old. single. had no trade. had wandered round a lot. out of work five months. the scotch aid society helped him a good deal this winter. said he liked to drink. never worked in the country. looked like a tramp. no. . born in cleveland, o. american parents. twenty-eight years old. married. his wife was living in cleveland. he left her because of a quarrel. tool-maker by trade. did not belong to the union. out of work four months. in the industrial home one week. never worked in the country. looked efficient and capable. no. . born in brooklyn. irish parents. fifty years old. evidently married. did not wish to talk about it. had no trade. out of work all winter. had received help from the missions and the army. drank heavily. appearance very poor. never worked in the country. no. . born in boston, mass. english parents. twenty-five years old. single. had people in boston, who did not help him. had no trade. out of work three months. in the industrial home two days. said he drank sometimes. never worked in the country. his appearance was very good. no. . born in south america. german parents. twenty years old. single. had no trade. came from south america by working on a boat. left it two months ago in new york, and had done nothing since. in the industrial home three weeks. never worked in the country. expected to go back on the boat shortly. looked like a runaway boy and was bright and attractive. no. . born in long island. american parents. fifty years old. single. had no trade. out of work all winter. had rheumatism and could not do much work. the army had helped him a good deal, but he expected to go to the hospital. never worked in the country. no. . born in italy. thirty years old. single. had people in italy, who were poor. in this country twelve years. had no trade. out of work all winter. in the industrial home seven days. said that this was the first time he had ever been out of money. worked in the country somewhat in italy. looked stupid and inefficient. no. . born in cuba. father american, mother cuban. twenty-eight years old. single. had people living in panama who did not help him. had no trade. he travelled a good deal. came from the west two weeks ago. got out of money, and had been in the industrial home one week. looked like a promising case. no. . born in pittsfield, mass. irish parents. fifty-five years old. single. had no trade, but followed the water somewhat. had been out of work five months. in the industrial home two weeks. never worked in the country. his face showed a very hard life. he was gray-haired and feeble. no. . born in scranton, penna. american parents. twenty-two years old. single. his people were living in scranton, but he was ashamed to write to them. had no trade. out of work eight weeks. in the industrial home one week. never worked in the country. looked very wild, but otherwise capable. no. . born in new york. german parents. thirty years old. single. two sisters lived in new york, but did not help him because he drank too much. had no trade. had had no steady work all winter. looked dissipated. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. fifty years old. married. wife dead. no children. had no trade. out of work three months. had been in the industrial home one month. never worked in the country. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in chicago. american parents. twenty-four years old. single. people in chicago helped him sometimes. had no trade. had been working in the industrial home in the kitchen all winter at $ . per week. the army had fitted him up, and he looked very respectable. no. . born in germany. about forty years old. single. no people living. followed the water. out of work two months. in the industrial home three weeks. the army gave him clothes. he looked like a hard drinker, but otherwise capable. never worked in the country. no. . born in cambridge, mass. irish parents. forty-eight years old. single. had no trade. had travelled all over the country. had been out of work four months, and had been in the industrial home two days. never worked in the country. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in lynn, mass. american parents. about fifty years old. single. had no trade. out of work all winter. had travelled widely and beaten his way on freight trains. in the industrial home three times this winter. never worked in the country. looked shiftless. no. . born in new york. irish parents. twenty-eight years old. single. quarrelled with his people. a rigger by trade. did not belong to the union. out of work six weeks. in the industrial home ten days. said he drank a little. looked capable. never worked in the country. no. . born in germany. about thirty years old. single. people in germany did not help him. waiter by trade. in the industrial home two weeks. had no steady work all winter. never worked in the country. expected a position in a few days. looked stupid, but otherwise capable. no. . born in philadelphia. hungarian parents. thirty-five years old. single. people dead. had no trade. out of work all winter. different charitable organizations had helped him. had been in the industrial home one week. did not like to work. worked in the country a little. looked shiftless. no. . born in jersey city. irish parents. fifty-five years old. married. wife dead. had no trade. had travelled a good deal. out of work all winter. had been in the industrial home six weeks. the army fitted him out with clothing. he said he was not going to drink any more, and looked intelligent, but was getting old. never worked in the country. no. . born in germany. twenty-six years old. single. in this country six years. had people in germany, and he expected help from them. machinist by trade. did not belong to the union. out of work four months. in the industrial home two days. looked like a wild youth. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. forty-five years old. single. had no trade. out of work all winter. drank heavily. worked in the country two years. had wandered all over the states. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in new york. american parents. twenty-eight years old. single. had no trade. out of work all winter. in the industrial home four days. army gave him clothes. the missions had helped him. never worked in the country. looked capable. no. . born in scotland. forty-one years old. single. had no trade. out of work four months. in the industrial home three days. admitted that he drank heavily. never worked in the country. looked like a tramp. no. . born in chicago. american parents. twenty-two years old. single. people in chicago were poor. left home two months ago and came to new york. spent all his money. the army took him in, and for six weeks he had been in the home. he wrote home. expected to get work shortly. looked bright and respectable. no. . born in boston, mass. irish parents. twenty-four years old. single. had no trade. had wandered a good deal. never worked in the country. had been in the industrial home one week. did not like to work. looked like a tramp. no. . born in germany. forty years old. married. wife lived in germany with two children. had been in this country four years and expected his wife next summer. plumber by trade. did not belong to the union. out of work two months. in the industrial home one week, after a very hard struggle around the streets. said he drank a little. appearance was very good. no. . born in washington, d. c. forty-five years old. single. had no people. had no trade. belonged to the united states army six years. out of work all winter. in the industrial home three weeks. worked in the country a good deal. looked shiftless. no. . born in ireland. thirty-five years old. single. hod carrier by trade. belonged to the union. out of work five months. in the industrial home four days. looked capable and efficient. never worked in the country. no. . born in germany. fifty-two years old. married. wife dead. followed the water most of the time. out of work all winter. in the industrial home three days. appearance very poor. never worked in the country. no. . born in new york. twenty-eight years old. single. people lived in new york, but did not help him. out of work all winter. had no trade. had been in the industrial home one month. looked like a dissipated character. never worked in the country. no. . born in boston, mass. swedish parents. thirty years old. single. iron worker by trade. did not belong to the union. had been out of work five months. had been in the industrial home five weeks. never worked in the country. he drank a good deal, but looked capable. no. . born in england. eighteen years old. single. in this country two years. had no trade. out of work one month. had been in the industrial home three weeks. had secured a position on a ship going to england, starting in three days. looked like a straight-forward boy. no. . born in albany, n. y. american parents. twenty-four years old. single. had no trade. joined the navy two years ago. deserted, was captured and spent one year in jail. had been out three months and had not worked since. had been in the industrial home one month. appearance was good. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. fifty years old. single. had no trade. had wandered all around the world. out of work all winter. in the industrial home two or three times. said he worked one year on a farm. he was crippled and looked feeble. no. . born in germany. twenty-five years old. single. people in germany, but he did not write home. had no trade. in this country five years. out of work two months. never worked in the country. had been in the industrial home one day. seemed to lack ambition. no. . born in denver, colo. irish parents. fifty-five years old. married. separated from his wife five years ago. painter by trade. did not belong to the union. out of work all winter. in the industrial home three weeks. appearance was very poor. never worked in the country. no. . born in sweden. twenty-two years old. single. people at home sent him money sometimes. he said he had also sent money home. had no trade. out of work three months. in the industrial home four days. used to work in the country in sweden. in this country three years. looked capable. no. . born in dublin, ireland. thirty-one years old. single. in this country two years. had no trade. out of work ten weeks. in the industrial home three weeks. worked in the country for a few months. appearance was very good. no. . born in new york. american parents. twenty-five years old. single. had people in new york, but had nothing to do with them. he wandered a lot. had no trade. never worked in the country. out of work all winter. the army and missions had helped him. in the industrial home three days. looked like a vagrant. no. . born in germany. forty years old. single. had no people. followed the water most of the time. out of work seven months. was in the german hospital three months with hip disease. he was still crippled and could not work well. had been in the industrial home three weeks. looked very feeble. never worked in the country. no. . born in washington, d. c. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. was in the navy five years. had no trade. out of work all winter. in the industrial home three days. never worked in the country. acted very queerly and evidently had weak mind. no. . born in new york. american parents. thirty years old. single. carpenter by trade. out of work four months. in the industrial home six weeks. the army gave him clothing. never worked in the country. used to drink heavily. looked capable. no. . born in england. twenty-four years old. single. had people in england, and he wrote home sometimes. had no trade. out of work three months. in the industrial home five weeks. worked in the country one summer. had been in this country three years. did not drink. looked very intelligent and capable. no. . born in providence, r. i. irish parents. forty-five years old. single. had no trade. had beaten his way all through the country. never worked in the country. the army had helped him a good deal. had been in the home three months and said he had not taken a drink during that time. he looked bright and responsible, but showed the signs of a hard life. no. . born in ireland. thirty years old. single. people lived in ireland. in this country four years. never wrote home. had no trade. worked in the country one year. in the industrial home two weeks. appearance was good but dissipated. no. . born in trenton, n. j. american parents. twenty-five years old. single. followed the water a good deal. out of work all winter. had been in the industrial home eight weeks. never worked in the country. looked capable. no. . born in brooklyn. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. had no trade. out of work all winter. in the industrial home two weeks. army gave him clothing. he looked intelligent and capable. never worked in the country. no. . born in germany. forty-five years old. people lived in germany, but he did not write home. had no trade. out of work all winter. he travelled round a good deal and drank heavily. had worked a good deal in the country. had been in the industrial home four months, and said he was going to reform. looked like a hopeful case. no. . born in portland, oregon. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. had no trade. had travelled a good deal. out of work all winter. in the industrial home three months. expected money from home soon, and expected to go west. said he had worked on a farm a good deal. looked stupid but otherwise capable. no. . born in vermont. american parents. thirty years old. single. carpenter by trade. belonged to the union. out of work all winter. in the industrial home one week. never worked in the country. the missions had helped him a good deal this winter. looked capable. no. . born in boston, mass. irish parents. fifty-two years old. single. people all dead. had no trade. out of work four months. in the industrial home three weeks. said he had ruined his life through drink. was in the hospital two months this winter. he never worked in the country. he was crippled and could not work much. no. . born in chicago. american parents. twenty-five years old. single. had people in chicago, but ran away four years ago. had no trade. out of work three months. in the industrial home two months. never worked in the country. looked like a hopeful case. no. . born in cincinnati, o. american parents. thirty-five years old. single. had no trade. had wandered a good deal. never worked in the country. in the industrial home two weeks. appearance was good but dissipated. no. . born in new york. irish parents. twenty-five years old. single. had people in new york, but they were unable to help him. had no trade. out of work all winter. had been in the industrial home five weeks. never worked in the country. said he drank a little. appearance was very good. no. . born in chicago. american parents. twenty-five years old. single. had no trade. out of work all winter. in the industrial home three months. never worked in the country. the army had helped him to become respectable, he said. looked capable. no. . born in ireland. forty-eight years old. single. people dead. had no trade. out of work two months. had wandered a lot. in the industrial home three weeks. had worked in the country somewhat. looked dissipated. no. . born in st. louis, mo. american parents. twenty-eight years old. single. had no trade. out of work three months. the army gave him clothes and he had been in the industrial home two months. never worked in the country. looked inefficient. no. . born in sweden. forty years old. single. had people in sweden. had no trade. out of work all winter. had been in industrial home three months. army gave him clothing. did not drink. looked capable and efficient. never worked in the country. some facts brought out in the industrial examples.[ ] nationality. no. percentage. american parentage . irish parentage . german parentage . english and scotch parentage . italian parentage . swedish parentage . other countries, parentage . married . single . worked a little in country . worked considerably in country . men with regular trades . union men . men who looked efficient . men who looked semi-efficient . men who looked inefficient . ages. - . - . - . - . - . - . length of time out of work. less than month . more than month . more than months . more than months.[ ] . footnotes: [ ] "prospectus of the salvation army industrial homes company." [ ] "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] haggard places it at in ; at the time of my visit, may, , it was about . [ ] "hadleigh," p. . [ ] "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] "the s. a. and the public," pp. - . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] "hadleigh," p. . [ ] apparently no definite data are obtainable regarding these men since the time of treatment. [ ] introduction, p. . [ ] for instance, the president, vice-president and secretary and treasurer are all army officers of high standing. [ ] the following extract is taken from the salvation army social gazette of february , : "whether the officer of the salvation army takes charge of the industrial home to manage it in the interests of the concern, or whether he takes charge of the corps, the one great purpose of his whole life is to proclaim salvation to all with whom he comes in contact." [ ] see p. . [ ] we think that this would probably be done, even though the presence of the home in the particular locality was a great boon to the poor, and although this would be contrary to the principles of the organization, so strong is the idea which the company has of financial success. this further strengthens the idea that the movement is drifting from its original purpose of uplifting the down-fallen humanity to the purpose of perpetuating and extending itself as an economic enterprise. [ ] see "the s. a. and the public," pp. to . [ ] a typical industry instanced to support this objection was the manufacture of fire wood. see "the s. a. and the public," p. . [ ] the criticism here of course would be that, to the extent that the army applies donations from the public to this industrial work, to that extent it has an advantage over another business enterprise and differs from it just to that extent in which it secures capital on which it need pay no interest or return. to what extent this is done, we have been unable to ascertain, but the army is paying interest to investors who furnish money to carry on this work. this point is dealt with somewhat in the next paragraph. [ ] see "the s. a. and the public," pp. to . also "the social relief work of the s. a.," pp. and . [ ] several leading officers have stated that they never undersell paper or rags, the largest part of their business, and that the only underselling done by them is in the retail store and that this is slight. they justify themselves by the fact that the regular second-hand men are tricksters and will rob the poor of their money, in most cases carrying on a pawn shop, which the army never does. [ ] see seager, "introduction to economics," p. . [ ] see "principles of relief," p. . [ ] to show the difference in the grade of the men at the industrial homes and those at the hotels, i have given separate tables for each. the combined tables showing certain characteristics of the class of men in general with which the army deals will be found at the end of chapter iv. [ ] this number includes all the inefficient men and the men who are steadily working in the industrial home. chapter ii. the salvation army hotels and lodging houses. in a study of environment and its effects on the lowest classes of our great cities, the cheap lodging house affords a favorable field. here we have crowding, unsanitary conditions, immoral atmosphere, and all the attendant evils. a good description of such lodging houses in new york city has been given by jacob riis, in the following words: "in the caravansaries that line chatham street and the bowery, harboring nightly a population as large as that of many a thriving town, a home-made article of tramp and thief is turned out that is attracting the increasing attention of the police, and offers a field for the missionary's labors, besides which most others seem of slight consequence"[ ]. the cheap lodging houses of london and other great cities are similar in their environment and effects. this field was early entered by the army. it was necessary that a very low rate of cost for the individual concerned be maintained because of competition with the lodging houses already existing, and because of the size of the prospective lodger's purse. the first experiments were tried in london. there, at first, the primary aim was to aid the needy and destitute, but later the army entered into a competition with the existing lodging houses and paid more attention to the element of environment. it was soon definitely proved that such a work could be carried on to advantage, that shelter amid beneficial surroundings, could be provided to those almost destitute, and that the work could be self-supporting. since then this work has extended to nearly all the larger cities of europe and america, but it is of greatest extent in england and the united states. along with this growth there has been differentiation. the hotels have been graded to suit the requirements of the different classes to which they appeal: the almost destitute class, and those who have steady employment. hence, besides treating of conditions common to both, we shall describe special features of two grades of both men's and women's hotels.[ ] the location for a men's hotel must be determined partly by its propinquity to the class of men which it is seeking to attract and partly for facilities for ventilation, cleanliness and general sanitary conditions. these last features are of the greatest importance in this work. led by the real need of the case, and working with regard to its reputation, the army has, in this respect, shown a great advance over the general cheap lodging houses. still, there is room for improvement in the army hotels.[ ] one great difficulty lies in the lodgers, many of whom are so habituated to uncleanliness in general, that it is with great reluctance on their part that they are induced to cleanliness. especially in the lower class hotels is this true where the rough, brutal element finds its way. another difficulty lies in the fact that the army frequently takes old buildings and turns them into hotels, when they are not suitable for the purpose. a favorable tendency to overcome this, however, lies in the army's desire to put up new buildings fitted for hotels, and this is being done in many cities. in both the higher and the lower class men's hotels, the general plan is to have two or three grades of sleeping apartments. the first grade is in the form of dormitories, where each dormitory will contain from ten to fifty beds in the smaller hotels, and from fifty to one hundred and even two hundred beds in the larger.[ ] for a bed in one of these dormitories, c and c per night is charged in the united states, and in england d up. this includes the use of a locker beside the bed, with sometimes a nightgown, and sometimes a bath. the second grade of lodging is in individual rooms, partitioned off, but inside rooms, for which the charge is c in the united states, and d to d in england. then finally we have the third grade of lodging, which consists of individual rooms which have outside windows, and for which the price varies from c to c per night according to situation and furnishing.[ ] sometimes the three grades of lodging are found on the same floor, a part of the floor being dormitory, and a part partitioned off into rooms, the partitions running up to a height of eight or nine feet. this method of partitioning off the rooms is almost universal. it is cheap and to some extent sanitary, since by means of windows at either end of the building a continual current of air can be maintained all over the floor. in most of the higher class hotels one floor is given up to dormitories and another to individual rooms, while the majority of lower class hotels consist entirely of dormitories. hotels are of all sizes, and run from one floor up to eight or ten. the beds found in the army hotels are iron, with mattresses usually covered with american cloth or some form of leather, but sometimes with strong canvas.[ ] each bed is provided with pillow, sheets, a coverlid, and sometimes an additional counterpane. the individual rooms, in addition to having better beds, contain a looking glass, a chair, a small table, and other furnishings according to the price of the room. in most cases washing facilities are only found in the lavatory, common to the whole floor. comparative cleanliness is enforced at all grades of hotels. baths are sometimes made compulsory, though often this rule cannot be rigidly enforced. usually each floor is provided with bath tubs and shower baths. nearly every hotel has a fumigating room, an air tight apartment filled with racks, upon which clothing is hung. if a man's appearance or clothing looks suspicious in any way, his clothes are placed in a sack with a number corresponding to the number of his bed or room, and hung in the fumigating room over night. early the next morning his clothes will be returned to him. the dormitories and rooms themselves, every few days, receive a fumigating and cleaning. thus, except in very rare cases, no fault can be found with the cleanliness of the army hotels. we hardly ever visited any of them without coming into contact with the scent of fumigation, or finding some individual working with mop and broom. the above description, except where stated differently, fits both classes of men's hotels. the higher class, intended for transients of the better class of poor and for workmen with steady employment, has some distinctive features. in addition to better equipment along the line of furnishings, lavatories, etc., this class of hotels necessarily has a better social environment than the other. for instance, there are many lower class hotels where the reading room is dark, poorly furnished, without attractive reading matter, and where it serves as smoking room as well as reading room. while this might be improved, yet so low are the occupants that such improvement would not be appreciated. but when we come to the higher grade hotels, we find a difference. take, for example, the army hotel in the city of cleveland, o., on the corner of eagle and erie streets. this corner building was built by the army to answer its purpose, at a cost of $ , . . there are no dormitories in the building. the three upper floors are given over to the hotel, which comprises rooms, each room being steam heated and electric lighted, and each floor being reached by elevators. bathing facilities and sanitary arrangements are first class. a comfortable reading room and lounging room is provided for general use, where there are popular magazines, daily papers and writing conveniences. as another example, about the highest grade army institution of this class is found in boston, and is called "the people's palace." it is a large, five-story, corner building, built by the army for the purpose. in this institution the social environment is especially emphasized. there is a reading room, a smoking room, one or more social parlors, a gymnasium with a swimming tank, and an auditorium with a seating capacity of . the whole building, with its single rooms, besides the above advantages, is equipped with steam heat, electric service and other modern conveniences. a special fee of c is charged for the use of the gymnasium and swimming tank, but the other advantages are free to lodgers. in this way, it is seen that the higher class hotels have more opportunity for a good social environment and for social work. we think that the addition of certain features, such as men's clubs, smokers, popular lectures, etc., would be of great advantage to this class of institutions. to overcome the difficulty of a transient population, however, would require considerable ingenuity.[ ] along the line of religious environment we find the hotels differ a great deal. in london there seems to be a strong influence of this kind, most of the hotels of both classes holding gospel meetings frequently. for instance, at the quaker street elevator home, which is partly a hotel and partly an industrial home, meetings are held nearly every night with good attendance, and at the burne street hotel well attended meetings are held every night except wednesdays and saturdays, these nights being given over to the men for washing their clothes. but in the united states we find, as a rule, that the salvation army hotels are run with very little religious influence. in a few cases, meetings are held regularly, but more often no provision is made for them. meetings are generally in progress somewhere in the neighborhood at the regular army corps, and the men are left to attend these meetings if they wish. generally they are willing to take advantage of the hotel, but do not care for the sentimental form of religion preached by the army. hence, in most of the hotels, we find the religious influence limited to the texts on the walls, and to the attitude of the employees, who are not always salvationists or converted men. some hotels of both classes are fitted with a kitchen and lunch counter. this is nearly always the case in london, where the hotels have a counter, over which the food is sold, and then taken to a seat by the purchaser. in several cases the counter is divided so that it opens into different rooms, and there are two grades of prices, the lower price being paid for food somewhat damaged and stale.[ ] we need not dwell long on the subject of the women's hotels, as that does not form an important part of the army's work. the women's hotels, even more than the men's, have tended to fall into two classes. there is a great difference between the hotel for women who are almost destitute, and the hotel for respectable working girls, who have positions as clerks and stenographers, and who happen to have no home of their own. a typical hotel of the former class is situated near the dearborn street railway depot in chicago. it consists of three floors, and has accommodation for fifty girls or women. the woman officer in charge lives here herself, and seeks to have an environment as homelike as possible. she states, however, that occasionally the women come in noisily and are troublesome. there is a great difference between one woman and another, and she wishes she had one floor with better accommodation than the rest for the better element among them. the price paid per bed at this hotel is cents. a good example of this class of hotel in england, is the one situated on hanbury street, whitechapel, london, where there are three floors, two upper floors given over to dormitories containing beds in all, and the ground floor containing a dining room, kitchen, small hall, and office. here, women are turned away quite often because of lack of room. d. is charged for a bed, and for food a scale of prices, such as tea, / d.--soup, / d.--bread, / d.--etc. there are nine officers working here, and nine other workers, six of the latter receiving s. per week, and three receiving s. per week. with the higher class hotels for women, the army has not had much success. this is easily understood, as the respectable girl does not like to be connected with a hotel run by an organization which is prominent for its slum and rescue work. these hotels charge a higher rate for rooms and are situated in a good quarter of the city.[ ] they are frequented by shop girls, bookkeepers, clerks and stenographers. apparently, no great religious pressure is brought to bear on the girls and women, but this would probably depend on the officer in charge. the growth of the hotel department of the army's work, like that of the industrial department, has, of recent years, been great. soon after the publication in of general booth's book, "darkest england," the hotel work was started in england, and its progress has been rapid. in the united states at first the work did not make much headway. when commander booth-tucker came to take charge in , there were three small men's hotels situated in the cities of buffalo, san francisco, and seattle. at the present time, nearly every large city in england and the united states has one or more of these hotels, the latter country having men's hotels and women's hotels, with a total accommodation of , . the tendency now is toward fewer of the lower class hotels, and more of the higher class; in other words, toward fewer hotels where beds can be had for c and c, and more where they will cost c and c. the army gives as its reason for this the fact that the cheaper hotel cannot be maintained in a wholesome manner and be self-supporting.[ ] similar to the industrial department in its management, the hotel department has its divisions, its graded officers with their various responsibilities, and its head officer in charge at the national headquarters. in the united states, however, unlike the industrial department, the hotel department has no separate financial company, in the form of a corporation, behind it. in some instances, deserving men are given bed tickets and meal tickets free, by officers detailed for the purpose, and, to that extent the hotels are a charity. this is done with due discretion and does not make an appreciable difference. the amount of charity indulged in by the army in this way is, however, probably responsible for the fact that in , there was a loss to the army in this department of $ , . , not a very large amount, considering the number of hotels concerned. coming to the value of the army hotels from the point of view of the social economist, care must be taken to discriminate between their commercial and their philanthropic aspects. the public has a mistaken idea of the work carried on by this branch of the army. many people have an idea that thousands of homeless, starving men and women are nightly taken care of in these army hotels. putting aside the question whether such would be good relief policy or not, the statement itself is not true. in a majority of cases the man or woman in order to gain admittance must have the price, and in many instances, that price will also admit them to the regular cheap lodging house outside of the army. we are not finding fault with the system of charging, since from the point of view of true relief, provided that bona-fide, destitute cases are not left without help, the price should be required, as it would be a great evil to throw open the hotels to the crowds of regular beggars and social parasites who constantly throng any institution supposed to be charitable; but since the army hotel movement claims to be a self-supporting business, it is not to be regarded as different from any other lodging business, except in those points in which it excels the other. with this caution we believe that we still can distinguish two lines along which credit is to be given the army. the first is the environment which the army has created for its guests. it is not necessary here to show what a great factor environment is in this case, but simply to emphasize its importance. from our description of the army hotel, it is seen that, with certain exceptions, the army maintains cleanliness, cheerfulness, and a homelike atmosphere around its lodging houses.[ ] in this important respect then, the army hotel is to be commended. secondly, the army has indirectly, by its competition with the ordinary cheap lodging houses, led them to adopt improvement for purely commercial reasons. if a man has only ten cents, he is going to invest that ten cents to the best advantage, and the old time lodging houses have found it necessary to improve their conditions in order to meet the competition of the army. for this too, credit is to be given the latter. in addition the competition reacts on the army and tends to make it keep up its own standard. in order more clearly to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cheap lodging houses, whether army hotels or not, it would be well here to consider objections to their existence. three objections have been raised to all cheap lodging houses in general. . that they herd together a low class of vagrants and vicious characters. . that their cheapness lowers the standard of living. . that they encourage the youth of the country to come to the city and live in comparative idleness.[ ] no one who has looked into the matter has any doubt about the accuracy of the first objection. one glance at the faces of a group of men in the smoking room of any such hotel reveals many of the low, bestial, criminal type; many victims of dissipation and many who have acquired a dislike for work of any sort. this harboring of the vicious element is also true of the army hotels of the lower class, but it is in company with this element that we find the men for whom more or less can be done.[ ] the second objection must be considered more carefully. to repeat the definition of the standard of living which was discussed in connection with the industrial department, it is the scale or measure of comfort and satisfaction, which a person or community of persons, regards as indispensable to happiness. now the question is whether these cheap lodging houses lower this standard; whether their existence results in a tendency to live with less effort and less ambition, and thus renders men and women less productive and less proficient. this question must be separated into a question regarding the community as a whole, and a question regarding the individual. as regards the standard of living of any single community, the answer would be that the standard is not appreciably lowered by this hotel system, since the occupants are mostly single men wandering around, and the standard of living of the community is more concerned with the maintenance of homes in its midst, than of transients. this, however, brings in the further question as to whether the cheap living made possible by the lodging houses leads to the breaking up of homes, since if it does so, it would bear decidedly on the standard of living. we would answer this second question in the negative, because life in the cheap hotel is not such a desirable thing as to lead to the breaking up of homes. a man has already left home and is already reduced in circumstances, before the fact of such cheap living as the hotels and cheap restaurants of the bowery in new york, or of whitechapel in london, ever comes to him as an advantage. but, on the other hand, when it comes to the individual concerned, we think that the standard is lowered and that in many cases the objection holds good. for instance, take a man with a regular trade, say bricklaying or carpentering. he is thrown out of work and gradually drifts down to the cheap hotel. for months, possibly, he strives in vain to get work at his trade. he exists, however, by means of odd jobs picked up at random; he becomes shiftless; the life which consists of so much "hanging around" and loafing, decreases his efficiency, and, in this way, his standard is lowered. at the same time his character is affected, and even if no worse development takes place, he loses ambition, and that lowers his standard. hence, in conclusion, we would say that the objection that the hotel movement of the army leads to a lowering of a standard of living has no place as regards the community, but is sustained as regards individuals. the third objection that the country youth are induced by this cheap living to leave for the city is not a strong one and needs but short notice. some of the most successful men of our cities come from the country, but very few of the lower and pauper classes. this has been shown by the investigations of mr. fox in england, and by our own investigations in the united states.[ ] the consideration of these objections leads us to a closer examination of the class of men frequenting the hotels of the army. the men's work being so much larger, let us look at the occupants of the men's hotels. here we must separate the comparatively few hotels of the higher class, which, charging higher prices and harboring the working man, have a different environment from the others. in these, the higher class, we see a competition with the ordinary boarding and lodging houses which single men frequent, a competition which, owing to the more healthful social environment of the army hotel, is to be welcomed and approved of as a preventive of vice and degradation. the latter is often the result of crowded, uncleanly, workingmen's lodgings, which drive their occupants to the saloon. but the majority of the army hotels are filled with the lowest class of men, out of any steady employment. this class is composed for the most part and under present conditions, of men who are almost helpless cases.[ ] conditions can be conceived which would result in the betterment of a certain percentage of these, but a large number would always be hopeless. many have been given their chances and have thrown them away; some have had no chances, and some could not use them if they had. many are physical and moral wrecks. in their faces you see no ambition. they simply exist as do animals. for such, except in unusual cases, there is no remedy. do all you can for them, and they will slide back again; give them work, and if they are willing to take it at all, they soon lose their positions. some belong to the pseudo-social class and are mere parasites feeding on society. others are anti-social, bitter and criminal.[ ] these men are not those with which the army is successful, in its industrial institutions, although many of them have been tried. they secure their ten cents or fifteen cents for a bed in a cheap hotel by any means which comes along. they form a class, which especially in the older countries of europe and increasingly in the new world, presents a problem that is the great puzzle of the statesman and the social economist alike. the present tendency of the army already mentioned to have fewer of the lower class, cheap hotels and more of the higher class brings up some important considerations. there are three points which come up for particular notice here. first, as has already been stated, the present tendency of the army is to have fewer of the lower class or cheap hotels and more of the higher class. one reason for this is that, although the army's competition has in many instances forced the ordinary cheap hotels to better their equipment, still, in the long run, the army cannot successfully compete with the ordinary low class hotel and maintain an equally good or better environment, without having its hotel work subsidized by the public. the men whom we have just described do not appreciate better surroundings sufficiently to pay fifteen cents for a bed at the army hotel, when they can get one for ten cents at another place around the corner. secondly, as the army extends its work, there is the ever present tendency of any organization to become an end in itself. hence the army tends to forsake its field of the lower class for the field of the working class for financial reasons. if it can carry on a hotel which appeals to a higher class of working men who are willing to pay $ . upwards per week for a separated room such as has been described, they may do better financially than with a dormitory whose beds are held at ten cents. this second point of consideration leads us to a third, and that is, what is to become of this lower class of vagrants and unemployables. this discussion hardly comes in the scope of this book, but we might suggest in passing that the cheap, lower class of hotels with which the army has entered into competition should not be allowed to continue as at present. in case of the failure to provide competition, the city itself should provide a successful competition under good environment, or should take measures for the segregation of the vicious elements of the population from the merely weak, aged and unfortunate.[ ] on the other hand, among the occupants of these hotels a certain number are men for whom there is hope; some victims of misfortune; others degraded by dissipation and recklessness, but not entirely demoralized. with these the army can deal successfully in its industrial homes, and some of them can regain a foothold without aid. for these men the army hotel is certainly a boon.[ ] a man who has not lost ambition and who can gather a few cents a day to sustain him, until some temporary difficulty is past is glad to take advantage of such an institution. finally, regarding this class as a whole, something must be done with them, and it is necessary for those who find fault with their congregation in the army hotels, to point out a better way of caring for them. as long as they exist, they will tend to congregate somewhere, and until some better solution is offered, we might as well take what is at hand, and if it is the army hotel, hold that institution to its best efforts and its best environment. to sum up, then, our conclusions of this part of the army's work, we find that the hotels are commercial enterprises, with, as a rule, an environment superior to the regular cheap hotels of the same price, and that although there is an objection to the congregation of the vicious and vagrant along with the unfortunate, and although there may be a tendency to lower the standard of living of these people, individually considered, yet there is a justification for the existence of these hotels, as something must be done with this class of people, and this is the best solution offered, inasmuch as a certain percentage of this class is really aided and tided over temporary difficulty. at the same time, there remains the need of the segregation of the class concerned, with a more scientific, practical, individual treatment. better work can be done along this line. examples of salvation army hotel lodgers. a collection of cases made on seventeen different evenings during the months of march and april, , at two of the salvation army hotels, both situated on the bowery in new york city, one being a lower class hotel and the other a combination of lower and higher class. these cases were collected at first hand by the author and a friend of the author, mr. james ward, both of whom mingled among the men in the disguise of working men. in this way the facts were gained without much difficulty, with the exception of information regarding the family of the man concerned. sometimes, therefore, this latter information is lacking. no. . born in new york city of irish parentage. twenty-five years old. single. had no home and did not know whether or not his people were living. only trade was that of hotel porter but had done other things. had worked a little in the country. had had no steady work for three months. walked the streets the previous night and had had coffee and rolls on the "bread line." received a bed that night through charity. did not appear dissipated but showed lack of ambition. no. . born in ireland. about thirty years old. single. did not know about his people as he did not write home. had been in new york seven years. worked as stableman most of the time but had been out of steady work for six weeks. never worked in the country. appeared dissipated and inefficient. no. . born in pittsburg of american parents. about forty years old. single. had a brother, he thought, in pittsburg but no other relatives alive. had no regular trade. had travelled a good deal in the united states but never west of chicago. had done odd jobs in the country. evidently a tramp. looked stupid and incapable. no. . born in germany. about twenty-three years old. single. wrote to his people sometimes, but they were poor. trade, a waiter. had worked in new york for five years. had had no steady work for over two months. had a little money saved but that was nearly gone. expected to go to albany the next day to work. never worked in the country. appeared to be a capable, steady man. no. . born in scotland. fifty-three years old. single. people all dead except a married sister. regular trade, a boiler-maker. in this country most of the time for thirty-five years. had travelled all around the world. never worked in the country. had no steady work all winter, but obtained work for one or two days every week and thus paid his way at the hotel. said he lived up to his salary when working steadily. is growing old. sometimes went on a "spree" when he had money. looked like a hard-working, efficient man. no. . born in ireland. about forty years old. had married and separated from his wife. trade was brick-laying, but he was not a union man. never worked in the country. came to new york at eighteen and had been there most of the time since. claimed to be a mason, and said that he expected help from a friend. had been out of work all winter but worked occasionally around saloons and nearly always had the price of a bed. admitted drinking heavily. looked dissipated. no. . born in buffalo of american parents. twenty-eight years old. single. waiter by trade. parents were dead. had two brothers but did not know where. had worked a little in the country but knew nothing of farming. had worked as waiter in new york for three years. got into a fight three weeks before and had his face disfigured. as a result lost his job. walked the streets two nights last week. got coffee and rolls on the "bread line." worked in a stable yesterday and made $ . . appeared somewhat dissipated but intelligent. no. . born in new york city. father german. mother scotch. thirty-two years old. single. his father lived somewhere in new york, and he expected to get work shortly and live with him. trade was a machinist. had mostly worked at bicycle repairing. had travelled a good deal but never worked on a farm. went to philadelphia this winter and lost position. worked three days in a woodyard for board and lodging. later had himself committed to jail for one month. came back to new york last week. did not appear dissipated, but looked bright and efficient. no. . born in lawrence, mass., of american parents. about twenty-two years old. single. worked since a boy in lawrence in the woolen mills until he lost position six weeks previously. always lived with his people. had never been hungry or without a bed. came to new york two weeks previously but had done nothing since. had just money enough left to go home, where he expected to obtain work again shortly. looked thoroughly capable and reliable. nos. and . two brothers born in new york of irish parentage. aged twenty-eight and thirty-one respectively. both single. parents dead. had trade of awning makers, with plenty of work in summer but none in winter. had never worked in the country. had been living by means of odd jobs and charity all winter. had received help from a mission and the salvation army. quite often walked the streets all night and got coffee and rolls on the "bread line." appeared shiftless and showed lack of initiative and intelligence. no. . born in new york city of irish parents. twenty-six years old. single. did not know where his folks were. his mother was dead. worked sometimes as a truck driver. had worked at farm work in new jersey. had travelled a good deal. had received help from charities in different cities. got caught once riding a freight train through philadelphia and spent ten days in jail for the offense. said he drank when he got the chance. now worked around the army hotel and received in return his bed and one meal ticket a day. expected to leave the city as soon as the weather got warmer. evidently a kind of tramp with a tendency to become worse. looked wild and unreliable. no. . born in watertown, n. y., of american parents. about thirty years old. single. had lost track of his people. worked as steward on ship running to new orleans. was laid off three months ago. expected to get position as steward again in the spring. had walked the streets quite often, not being able to secure a bed. had received help from several charities, including the army. looked dissipated and unreliable. had never worked in the country. no. . born in england. came to this country when sixteen. people all dead. thirty-two years old. single. never worked in the country. regular trade was that of a painter but was not a union man. got odd jobs from time to time in paint shops. made fifty cents the previous day. had had no steady work for three months. had forty dollars saved when he left his last steady job. spent twenty dollars on a "drunk," and the rest had gone since. appeared capable and fairly intelligent. no. . born in germany. had come to this country with his people when young. his people all dead except a sister who was married and lived in chicago. single. about thirty-five years of age. had no regular trade. had worked as laborer in both country and city. said that the city was best in winter and the country in summer. expected to leave for the country as soon as the weather grew warm. appeared lazy and inefficient. had been aided by the army. evidently a tramp. no. . born in pittsfield, mass., of american parents. twenty-four years of age. single. ran away from home at seventeen. did not know where his people were. had no trade. had worked at everything. was in the navy for four years and afterward followed the water for several years working mostly as fireman. never worked in the country. had been out of steady work for six months. secured lodging through charity but often spent the night on the streets. said he drank when he could get it. looked dissipated and demoralized. no. . born in new york city of german parents. about thirty years old. married but had left his wife. had no regular trade. had worked as waiter, porter and liveryman. made fifty cents yesterday but spent forty for whiskey. secured coffee and rolls on the "bread line." had worked a little in the country. appeared shiftless. no. . born in germany. twenty-two years of age. single. wrote to his people sometimes. always followed the water. had sailed from different points to china and the philippines. drank and lost his boat. made his way to new york where he had been out of work for two months. wrote home for money which he expected shortly. sold some of his clothing to get a bed. was trying to get work on a boat. never worked in the country. looked wild and dissipated. no. . born in boston, mass., of irish parents. twenty-five years of age. single. worked in machine shop when a boy and then joined the navy. after the navy experience he had worked both on water and on land. had beaten his way on freight trains to different parts of the united states. said he often got help from missions. often slept in the parks in summer. had been in jail several times. the last time for four months for stealing. got out in august and had done odd jobs since. had been several times in the army hotel and several times in the city lodging house. had worked for a day or so in the country but did not know farming. looked shiftless and demoralized. no. . born in binghamton, n. y., of american parents. about thirty-five years of age. single. trade was lasting shoes in a shoe factory. had worked in different cities but never in the country. came to new york three months ago, as his factory had laid off a large number of hands. had done odd jobs since. walked the streets three nights the previous week and got coffee and rolls on the "bread line." got a bed for the night this time through charity. expected to get work in a factory when the weather became warmer. drank occasionally but not often. looked competent and of average intelligence. no. . born in ireland. twenty-four years old. single. left home and had been in america one year. worked in new york as waiter and lost his position three weeks previous to interview. had some money saved but drank and lost it all on the bowery. walked the streets for one week and frequented the "bread line." had a position, now, waiting on table during the dinner hour. used to work on a farm in ireland, and said that as soon as the weather got warm he would go to the country and look for work. looked somewhat dissipated but hopeful. no. . born in brooklyn, n. y. twenty-six years old. single. had no trade. had lost track of his people. had travelled a good deal by means of freight trains and had been in several jails for vagrancy. had never worked in the country. said when he could get money, he spent it in drink. secured a bed that night through an acquaintance. looked like a confirmed tramp and vagrant. no. . born in hartford, conn., of american parents. twenty-one years old. single. parents dead. had a married sister living in new jersey, but he did not wish her to know that he was out of work. had been working for years as a carpenter's assistant and hoped to become a full-fledged carpenter shortly. had never worked in the country. had been out of work for three months. spent his money in a vain trip to philadelphia and back looking for work. had been doing odd jobs but had often gone hungry. did not like to ask for charity. expected to work as soon as the contractors began the spring building. did not drink. looked intelligent, bright, and was a very hopeful case. went through the grammar school. no. . born in boston of irish parents. fifty years old. single. had no people living. trade was a hardwood finisher. never worked in the country. got out of work two months ago. left boston then and came to new york. had a little money, but it was almost gone. was crippled but could still work. drank some. he was gray-haired and looked older than he was. no. . born in ireland. about sixty years old. had been married, but his wife was dead, and he had no known relatives. had been a seaman a good deal but had no regular trade. he worked on a farm two months in the west. had travelled a good deal. he worked occasionally around the docks and made just enough to maintain himself. when he had money, he spent it rashly. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in boston of american parents. fifty-seven years old. single. had no people. his trade was ship's cook. he had never worked in the country. said that he was too old to get a position. he secured a bed that night through the kindness of a friend, also out of work. had wandered around a great deal. he did not look dissipated but he was gray-haired and very feeble. no. . born in philadelphia of german parents. about forty years old. single. trade was that of a sign-painter. said he had worked mostly in philadelphia and new york, and that he could get plenty of work, but kept losing his positions through drink. had never worked in the country. said he had people in philadelphia but he did not write to them. looked dissipated. no. . born near lynn, mass., of american parents. twenty years old. single. had no trade, but worked as dish-washer or at anything he could get. said that he could run an engine and had been working on a boat in new york harbor but had to leave three weeks ago, on account of sickness. was trying to get into a hospital. money nearly gone. was born and brought up on a farm but ran away nearly three years ago and did not want to go back, though his father and mother were living. said he spent his money freely when he had it. he did not look dissipated but appeared to be a consumptive. no. . born in new york city of irish parents. about thirty-five years old. single. had no trade but had worked for years as driver on a horse-car. got out of work four months ago and had no prospect of any. got a small job cleaning out a saloon the previous day. often walked the streets all night and went to the "bread line." did not look very dissipated but evidently had no ambition. did not know where his people were. never worked in the country. no. . born in ireland. sixteen years old. single. did not write home. had trade of a cook and had been out of work for two weeks. then had $ . and lost it all "on a drunk." never worked in the country. had walked the streets three nights the past week. was going to new jersey to look for work. looked dissipated but otherwise capable. no. . born in scotland. fifty-five years old. married in scotland and came with family to this country twenty-five years ago. had no trade. worked at anything he could get. wife dead. two children living, unable to help him. had travelled widely. obtained a steady job the previous month. held it two weeks, then went "on a drunk." still had enough money saved to keep him two weeks. said that if he did not get work before then, he would leave new york. he knew a little about farm work in scotland. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in new york city of irish parents. sixty years old. single. people all dead. had no regular trade but had followed the water. never worked in the country. had some cousins in new york who helped him out a little. he looked dissipated and feeble. no. . born in philadelphia. american parents. forty-three years old. single. salesman. had been out of work all winter after losing a position through drink. had received help from several aid societies and missions this winter. had walked the streets a good many nights. said he never worked in the country. looked dissipated and unreliable. no. . born in south carolina. american parents. twenty years old. single. did not write home. said he ran away and his people were angry. had no trade. never worked in the country. had walked the streets two nights this week. looked intelligent but wild. no. . born in newark, n. j., english parents. twenty-six years old. single. had no trade but worked as a janitor. was in the navy for three years and had travelled widely. had been out of work one month. never worked in the country. said he worked for a while and then "went off on a drunk." his people in newark sent him money once in a while. looked dissipated. no. . born in ireland. thirty-eight years old. single. when seven years old came to america with his people. had two brothers and one sister in schenectady, n. y. parents dead. his people did not aid him as he drank so much. never worked in the country. got an odd job now and then. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in england. thirty-six years old. single. came to america with his people when twelve years old. went to fall river, mass., where his people lived. ran away from home at eighteen and had followed the water since. never worked in the country. was paid off last saturday. went on a drunk on the bowery and lost his money and his job. walked the streets two nights, but received help from his people. looked a little dissipated but capable. no. . born in yonkers, n. y. american parents. forty years old. single. father lived in yonkers but was unable to help him. plumber by trade. did not belong to the union. was out of work for one month the past winter, but now had a job and was renting a room in the army hotel. never worked in the country. looked like a hard drinker, but otherwise capable. no. . born in new haven, conn. american parents. twenty-five years old. single. relatives in new haven poor. was a telegraph operator and worked at that trade for two years, but lost position on account of bad health. had worked on a farm quite a little, and said as soon as the weather got warmer he was going to the country. he now had a room at the army hotel but his money was nearly gone. looked intelligent and capable. no. . born in new york city. american parents. twenty-four years old. single. did not know where his relatives were. had trade as truck driver, and since losing a steady job two months previously had worked at odd jobs about the docks. spent two days at an army industrial home and was now at the army hotel. he looked like a hard drinker. never worked in the country. no. . born in scotland. twenty-three years old. single. relatives lived in scotland and sent him a little money sometimes. had no regular trade. had worked on the water a good deal. came to new york two years previously, and had no steady work since. had been nine months in the hospital from which he had been discharged two weeks. expected to return to the hospital. looked like a very sick man, but not dissipated. no. . born in new york city. american parents. twenty-eight years old. single. no people alive. had no trade. had travelled around the world and never worked when he could help it. never worked in the country. looked like a regular tramp and hard drinker. no. . born in newark, n. j. french parents. twenty-four years old. single. had two sisters in brooklyn. had no regular trade but had been working for three weeks in a grocery store and thus had a room in the army hotel. never worked in the country. looked capable and intelligent. no. . born in brooklyn. american parents. twenty-four years old. single. had people in brooklyn who were helping him. had no trade but had worked all his life at odd jobs. could not work steadily because of bad habits. never worked in the country. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in jersey city. irish parents. thirty-five years old. single. was a painter by trade but did not belong to the union. had been out of work three months. some friends gave him clothes and a little money. looked intelligent but dissipated. no. . born in brooklyn. irish parents. thirty years old. single. had no trade. worked on a farm in long island and hoped to go to the country shortly. had had no steady work the past winter. had been in the army industrial home six times during the winter. looked shiftless and dissipated. no. . born in lowell, mass. italian parents. twenty years old. single. people lived in lowell. had no trade. never worked in the country. came to new york two weeks previously with a little money, but this was soon spent and he had walked the streets two nights. entered the army hotel through charity. had written home for money and expected to return there. his appearance was very good. no. . born in new york. american parents. forty years old. married. separated from his wife three months ago because of his drinking. had no trade. never worked in the country. had been out of work three months. picked up odd jobs now and then, and thus secured a bed. looked like a hard drinker. no. . born in germany. seventeen years old. single. had people in germany who were unable to help him. had been in this country nine months. said he was on a farm in new york state but ran away. the salvation army was keeping him, and he worked a little around the hotel. looked like a promising boy but rather wild. no. . born in denver, col. american parents. twenty-three years old. single. had people at home who sent him money now and then. was an iron-worker. belonged to the union, but said the union had not helped him any. had been out of work some time. never worked in the country. had travelled a good deal in the united states. looked bright and promising. no. . born in davenport, washington. twenty-four years old. single. had people at home where he had sent for money. had travelled widely. came to new york five weeks ago from panama where he had been working for eight months. had to leave on account of sickness. had $ . when he came to new york but spent nearly all on doctors bills. still had a little left. said he had worked a good deal on a farm. looked capable and intelligent. no. . american, born in new york. thirty years old. single. people dead. bartender. did not belong to the union. was out of work for one month until two weeks previous to interview, when he got a job as bartender. was still working and had a room at the army hotel. said he would be all right it he could leave drink alone. he never worked in the country. no. . born in new york. irish parents. twenty-eight years old. single. had quarrelled with his people who lived in new york. painter by trade. lost his membership in the union because he did not pay his dues. had had no steady work for a year, but had wandered all over the country doing very little work, but receiving aid from charitable societies. said he liked the warm weather, so that he could sleep in the parks. looked shiftless and a typical tramp. no. . born in norway. about thirty years old. single. had people in norway who did not help him. came to new york from his native land two months previously. a carpenter by trade. was working in jersey and lost position two weeks previously. had money in his pocket and was evidently wise enough to keep it. conversed in broken english. said he worked in the country in norway. looked like a capable man. no. . born in scotland. forty-five years old. single. came to this country with his people when he was nine years old. people had since died. bookkeeper by trade. had been out of work all winter. the scotch aid society was keeping him, giving him bed and meal tickets. said he had received help from four different missions in new york. looked incapable and shiftless. never worked in the country. no. . born in jersey city. american parents. twenty-eight years old. single. had no trade. did not work if he could help it. came here from the west by means of freight trains. never worked in the country. looked like a regular tramp. no. . born in chicago. single. thirty-years old. had friends in chicago who sent him a little money. had no trade. never did hard work. got odd jobs and received aid from missions. said he was a christian and liked to attend meetings. had a room in the army hotel. said he had been staying there off and on for two years. looked stupid and incapable. no. . born in denver, col. fifty years old. single. plumber by trade. belonged to the union but left eight months previously and had not paid his dues since. was in business for himself at one time, but lost it through drink. said he got help from the missions whenever he could. never worked in the country. hoped to go west again shortly. looked feeble and dissipated. no. . american. born in springfield, mass. fifty-five years old. single. said his people in springfield were wealthy but would have nothing to do with him. had no trade. in new york all winter. had walked the streets a good many nights. never worked in the country. charity organization society had helped him, besides other organizations. said he had consumption. looked very weak and dissipated. no. . born in america. jewish parents. twenty-six years old. single. stone-cutter by trade. said he worked at the insurance business at times. had been out of work nearly two months. never worked in the country. looked bright and capable. no. . born in cleveland, ohio. american parents. twenty-six years old. single. people lived in cleveland, but did not help him. had worked on a farm nearly all his life. left the farm two years previously and had wandered most of the time since. he expected to be sent to the country by the bowery mission shortly. looked shiftless but not dissipated. no. . born in new york. american parents. about fifty years old. married. said his people were dead. had no regular trade. did office work, but was nearly always out of work. said he was a christian. he evidently followed the missions and "got saved" every time he needed help. never worked in the country. looked shiftless and inefficient. no. . born in brooklyn. english parents. thirty years old. married. quarrelled with his wife five years previously and left her. painter by trade. did not belong to the union. had not worked all winter. said he had been all around the world and had beaten his way wherever he went. had been in jail several times, for vagrancy and drunkness. never worked in the country. looked like a tramp. no. . born in maine. american parents. twenty-four years old. single. had people in maine from whom he expected help. barber by trade. came to new york three weeks previously. met some friends on the bowery and lost all his money. the army was helping him. he had worked somewhat in the country. looked very stupid. no. . born in scotland. about sixty years old. single. had no people. had no trade. in this country for forty years. out of work all winter. the scotch aid society had been keeping him now for three weeks. he never worked in the country. he looked like a regular vagrant. no. . born in boston. american parents. twenty-four years old. single. a waiter. had wandered a good deal, and beaten his way by freight trains. came to new york from the west one month previously. had not worked since, but had been aided by the missions and the army. evidently did not like to work. no. . born in poughkeepsie, n. y. irish parents. about thirty-two years old. single. had no trade. came to new york two weeks previously with some money which he got from his people. he had sent home for more. worked somewhere in the country. said he drank periodically and did not like to work steadily. looked very shiftless. no. . born in ireland. twenty-eight years old. single. had lost track of his people. had been in this country eight years. had no trade. had had no steady work all winter. drank a good deal. never worked in the country. looked very wild. no. . born in new orleans. spanish parents. about twenty years old. single. left home two years ago and took to life on the water. left the boat in new york one month previously and had not worked since. said he liked to sail and see the world. his people lived in new orleans, and he expected help from them. never worked in the country. looked capable. no. . born in new york. american parents. about thirty years old. single. had trade as a bartender. belonged to the union. lost a steady job through drink three weeks ago. was now working four hours a day. had a room in the army hotel. said he was going to change his line of business because he drank too much. his appearance was good. never worked in the country. no. . born in germany. looked like a jew. about twenty-five years old. single. had no trade. had been out of work three months. was now selling old clothing and other things around the army hotel. never worked in the country. evidently lazy and incapable. no. . born in illinois. american parents. about twenty-eight years old. single. ran away from home and was ashamed to go back. had no trade but had worked a good deal as cook on board ship. had been out of work six weeks. said he was sick and had about $ . , but it did not last long. he was working round the army hotel a little every day, for which he got his bed and one meal ticket. never worked in the country. said he was going to join the navy. looked bright and capable. no. . born in lithuania. twenty-three years old. single. people at home were poor. had no trade. in new york three years. out of work two months. obtained clothes in various ways and sold them. was not dissipated, but looked lazy. never worked in the country. no. . born in yonkers, n. y. american parents. about sixty-five years old. single. was an old sailor but had not been to sea for over a year. was working two days a week as janitor. said he had been a hard drinker in the past, but he did not drink much now. he looked aged, but still capable. never worked in the country. no. . born in boston. irish parents. about twenty-five years old. single. had no trade. people did not recognize him. had travelled all over the country. had been in jail twice. never worked in the country. looked like a tramp. some facts brought out in the hotel examples. nationality. no. percentage. american parentage . irish parentage . english and scotch parentage . german parentage . other countries . married men . single men . worked a little in country . worked considerably in country . men with regular trades . [ ] union men . men who looked efficient . men who looked semi-efficient . men who looked inefficient . ages. - . - . - . - . - . - . length of time out of work. less than mo. . more than mo. . more than mos. . more than mos. . facts brought out in the industrial examples and the hotel examples combined. nationality. no. percentage. american parentage . irish parentage . german parentage . english and scotch parentage . italian parentage . swedish parentage . other countries, parentage . married men . single men . worked a little in country . worked considerably in country . men with regular trades . union men . men who looked efficient . men who looked semi-efficient . men who looked inefficient . ages. - . - . - . - . - . - . length of time out of work. less than mo. . more than mo. . more than mos. . more than mos. . footnotes: [ ] "how the other half lives," p. . [ ] this differentiation is more pronounced in the united states, since the work has been extended here more than in other countries. [ ] for adverse criticism see "the social relief work of the s. a.," p. . [ ] at the burne st. shelter, the largest in london, one large dormitory has beds and another . [ ] for rooms, special rates are given by the week; from some of the examples given at the end of this chapter, it will be seen that these are occupied by men with partial or poorly paid employment. [ ] in london, the army has a mattress factory which supplies its institutions. [ ] more headway is being made in this direction in the industrial homes where the population is more permanent. we found in one home in chicago that the men were organized in the form of a club, and enjoyed social meetings together. also, at the largest industrial home in london, called "the spa road elevator," we found a regular cricket club organized which played cricket games with other clubs. [ ] good examples of this are to be found in the middlesex street hotel and the burne street hotel, london. the former hotel is regularly provided, by a large baker firm, with food, which is one day stale, for a very low figure. [ ] the higher class hotel for women is to be found in los angeles and boston. [ ] from an interview with a leading officer. [ ] these exceptions are certain of the lower class hotels where attempts along this line seem to fail. [ ] see "how the other half lives," ch. viii. see also "social relief work of the s. a.," p. . [ ] see examples given at the end of this chapter, p. . [ ] see the tables, pp. and , showing percentages of these men who had come from the country. for the work of mr. fox see p. . [ ] see examples of these men, p. fl. [ ] see giddings' "principles of sociology," p. . [ ] some light may be thrown on this subject by a perusal of mr. w. h. dawson's book entitled "the german workman," although conditions are evidently vastly different in this country and england from what they are in germany. [ ] see examples numbered . . . and others, on p. and fl. [ ] while this percentage is larger than that in the industrial homes (see p. ), per cent. of the examples in the hotels having regular trades were dissipated, mostly victims of drink, as against per cent. in the industrial examples. chapter iii. the farm colonies of the salvation army. so many times has the cry been raised "back to the land!", so optimistic have so many reformers become over the hope that the population could be diverted from the city to the country, and so loudly have certain enthusiasts prophesied a surely successful issue to colonizing enterprises, that the salvation army colonies form a very interesting and profitable field of investigation. what is needed is an experiment that will prove or disprove the prophesied success of taking the people back to the land. once that is proved, with the great northwest of america almost untouched, with immense tracts of good land in africa and other continents, and with the united states about to open up millions of acres of land, made fertile by means of irrigation, we shall be ready to act and get rid of the surplus city population. but first we must have the proof, and the question before us is whether the salvation army has sufficiently proved the case. the matter was agitated before the english government to such an extent in that the rhodes trustees, contributing sufficient funds to cover the expense, the secretary of state for the colonies nominated mr. rider haggard, the novelist, to visit the united states and inspect the three salvation army colonies there, to make a report on the same, and to include in this report any practical suggestions which might occur to him. the following words were used in the letter of commission: "it appears to the secretary of state that if these experiments are found to be successful, some analogous system might to great advantage be applied in transferring the urban population of the united kingdom to different parts of the united kingdom."[ ] mr. haggard visited the three colonies in the united states, and made a report to the english government, favoring strongly the movement, and recommending that the government take it up, provide the capital and utilize all ready existing organizations, such as the salvation army, in carrying out its scheme. the matter was referred by the government to the departmental committee, who, after reviewing it and looking into the question in , issued a long report in which they discountenanced mr. haggard's scheme on the ground that: . it was better for settlers from england to be scattered about with experienced farmers as neighbors than to be placed in a number together. . the salvation army or any similar organization was not a desirable management for a colony dependent on money advanced by the imperial government. . that ft. romie and ft. amity, the american farm colonies of the salvation army, were not precedents upon which a large scheme of colonization could be based.[ ] the committee gave reasons for arriving at the above conclusions, into which, for the present, we need not enter, but their conclusions are suggestive, and may be borne in mind while we make our study of the subject. gen. booth, in his plans as outlined in "darkest england," provided for three main divisions of the work for the unemployed poor, viz., the city colony, the country colony and the over-sea colony, signifying by these terms the city industrial work, the country industrial colony, and the farm colony.[ ] the last named was to be on a larger scale on some colonial territory of england. this division has tended to persist in the united states, and this country has been the field for special experiments along this line. there are three colonies in the united states: fort herrick, situated near cleveland, ohio; fort amity, situated in southeast colorado, and ft. romie, which is located at soledad in the salinas valley, california. at first there was no differentiation between these colonies, but latterly, the colony at ft. herrick, the smallest of the three, has been managed as an industrial colony, and the other two have continued as regular farm colonies. the plan of "commander" booth-tucker, in charge of the salvation army in the united states from until , and the originator of these colonies, was, in brief, as he states it, to take the waste labor in families, and place it upon the waste land by means of waste capital, and thereby to convert this trinity of waste into a unity of production.[ ] his waste labor was the family struggling in the crowded city; his waste land, the large tracts of public land about to be opened up by irrigation; and his waste capital, if such a term can be used, was the capital lying idle, or at least, making - / or per cent., when according to his estimate, it could yield per cent. the principles which he laid down were as follows: . there must be sufficiency of capital. . the land must be carefully selected and laid out. . the colonists must be well selected. . there must be able supervision. . the principle of home ownership must be followed. . god must be recognized. from our investigations at ft. romie and ft. amity, we arrived at the conclusion that no. and no. were the only ones thoroughly carried out; that there was a weakness in the amount of capital (prin. no. ); that an unfortunate selection of land was made (prin. no. ); that the successful colonists did not entirely represent the class from which we should wish them to be taken (prin. no. ); and that ownership gave way largely to a system of renting-out by the army (prin. no. ). for verification of this, see the typical cases at the end of the chapter. commander booth-tucker advanced the argument, which is sound, to the effect that, when entire families were taken from the city and placed on the land, the tendency to return to the city would be overcome. it has been the experience of philanthropists, that when single men and women were transferred from the city to the country, they always tended to return, the reason being due to an acquired fondness of the individual for intimate association with his fellows,[ ] but when a man has his wife and children, together with a plot of land and a home which he may call his own, the attraction toward the city is overcome, by a stronger one which keeps him where he is. of course, this would answer for the one generation only. leaving out the small colony at ft. herrick, ohio, which was changed to an industrial colony, and which is considered in the chapter on the industrial work, let us examine more closely the farm colonies at ft. amity, col., and ft. romie, cal. the larger enterprise was set on foot in colorado, in , where a tract of , acres was secured at a cost of $ , . . in this year, fourteen families were brought from chicago and placed on the bare, unimproved prairie, where, however, there was abundant water supply carried by a large irrigation company. these colonists were all family men with two exceptions, and nine of the heads of families had either been on farms or had worked on farms in the past.[ ] they were in narrow circumstances financially, and the transportation expenses of all except one of these families were paid by the army. with this migration as a basis, the number of colonists was greatly increased by families from different cities and also from the surrounding country, until in , there were thirty-eight families. several were brought to the colony as experienced men to act as pace-setters for the others.[ ] some came with a small amount of capital. owing to the fact that the land was covered by a heavy sod which needed considerable working, no crops were raised the first year, and only fair crops the second. during the first year, the colonists were supported by cash loans which were charged against them. after the first two years, crops were good[ ], and the outlook was promising, in spite of certain insect pests, but after about seven years a great difficulty showed itself. the land on which the colony was located was alkali land, and bottom land, without any drainage. the result of constant irrigation was that the alkali rose to the surface in larger and larger quantities, until no good crop could be raised. the only salvation was to drain the land and thus rid it of the blighting alkali. this meant an expense of from $ . to $ . an acre. at the present time draining is being rapidly pushed forward and is proving very beneficial, but it can be easily seen what a discouragement the alkali has proved to the colonists, and what an additional expense is laid upon them and the colony; an expense which it will take years of good crops to overcome.[ ] up to , about eighteen families, not satisfied with the results obtained, had moved away, and their places had been filled by others. a very few of the departing families moved because of ill-health; some thought that they could do better elsewhere as farmers; some even had considerable money as a result of their holdings in the colony[ ]. since , there has been a good deal of changing, and at present a large part of the colony land is rented out by the army to settlers; some being from the country, and some from the city[ ]. a small number of the old pioneer colonists still remain and have done well with their holdings in spite of all difficulties.[ ] the army stated in , that the financial standing of this colony showed a net loss to the army of $ , . , and a gain to the colonists of $ , . . it considered its loss a cheap price for the experience gained, but thought that it had erred in giving the colonists too liberal terms.[ ] by this time the loss to the army is considerably greater, owing to the increased expense of drainage.[ ] at the present time (january, ), the population of this colony is about . nearly all the land is occupied in one way or another, either by colonists who own, or partially own, their land, or by renters, who are also called colonists. several homes are vacant, but it is expected that they will be filled by renters before the spring season opens. the little village consists of several stores, a blacksmith shop, a substantial railroad depot, a post office, a small hotel and a school house. a good many of the homes are built of stone, quarried on the colony, and present a good appearance. up on the higher land is situated a large stone structure, built by the colonists at an expense to the army of $ , . , and first used as an orphanage, then as a sanitorium, and now abandoned. irrigation ditches with a good flow of water are in evidence, and preparations for draining the land are under way. that this is necessary is forced upon us by the many white patches scattered here and there where the water, having evaporated, has left the destructive alkali salt on the surface of the ground. when we come to consider the other farm colony, ft. romie, situated at soledad, cal., in the beautiful salinas valley, we receive a more favorable impression, although we find that the colony here has had many difficulties with which to contend. the colony is smaller than that at ft. amity, but the land is better. the original acres has been increased by the addition of a lease of acres with the option of buying. in the year , eighteen families were taken from the poor of san francisco and placed upon the colony, but unforeseen conditions prevailed, and, as a result, but one of these families remains to-day.[ ] the great mistake was made of settling colonists upon land which needed irrigation, before that irrigation was provided. this mistake was brought out the more vividly, in that the three first years of the colony's existence were years of drought, bringing evil to most parts of the state, and especially to that land which, like the colony land, only received a slight rain-fall at best. the result of the first years of this experiment, then, was an abandoning of the land by the colonists, and a loss to the army of $ , . . the experiment was continued, however, but with very different conditions. an excellent irrigation system was established, and a new lot of settlers brought to the colony; not, this time, from the city, but from the surrounding country. these people were poor, but accustomed to the land. the result, as might be expected this time, was more favorable. it was stated in that no colonists had left since .[ ] in may, , there were nineteen families ranged according to nationality as follows:--thirteen american; two scandinavian; one finn; one german-swiss; one dutch and one italian. there are now twenty-five families, and about one hundred and forty-five persons on the colony. the nucleus of a town is to be seen with two or three stores, a blacksmith shop, and a good sized town hall. near the colony is a school house with an attendance of about fifty children, most of them being colonists' children. an irrigation plant has been established and is now owned and worked by the colonists, formed in a joint-stock company. the colonists raise beets, potatoes, alfalfa, fruits of different kinds, and stock. a large part of their income is derived from the dairying industry. they ship their cream to a creamery at salinas, about twenty-five miles distant. much could be said about the healthy appearance and happy life of the members of this colony, but as they have not been brought from the unhealthy, squalid misery of the city, this is not of so much interest. the women work in the vegetable gardens and with the stock, as well as in the home; and the older children help their parents. along the lines of co-operation, in both colonies there are interesting features. at stated intervals, the colonists meet in the form of a farmers' club, and discuss questions relative to the success of their individual farms and to the colony as a whole. they also have lecturers come from a distance to address them on the latest phases of horticulture, agriculture, fertilization and irrigation. the colonists also embark in business enterprises like the stock company formed in the california colony for the control and management of the irrigation plant. in this plant, one of the colonists is engineer, and another the superintendent of water supply. another important institution of this same colony is the rochdale store, which does most of the retail business in the colony. this store, in its management and organization, follows the co-operative rochdale system, which has attained strength in england and is growing in the united states. the store is incorporated in the state of california as a co-operative corporation, and holds a membership in the state rochdale wholesale co. it has already extended beyond the limits of the colony and counts among its members others than colonists. the colonists also take active interest in local affairs of all kinds. in one colony, the rural mail carrier is a colonist, and the school teacher the wife of a colonist. at ft. amity, a colonist is now sheriff of the county for the second time. social and religious life is also fostered in the colonies. a variety of religious sects is represented, and no compulsion is exercised towards any one of them. at ft. romie the army has an organized corps, which holds meetings once in the week and once on sunday, also having a sunday school for the children. at ft. amity similar conditions prevail. on both colonies a good moral influence is found and there are no evil surroundings; hence in neither colony is there a local officer of the law. in the contract which every colonist signs on taking his land there is a temperance clause to this effect: "and party of the second part hereby agrees to and with party of the first part that, in consideration of the benefits derived from this contract, he will not bargain, sell, barter or trade upon said land any intoxicating liquors, or otherwise dispose of as beverages any intoxicants, at any place upon said premises or any part thereof, or permit the selling of the same, or any illegal traffic or any act or acts prohibited by law." the same clause goes on to provide for the return of the land to the army in case of its being violated. from this brief description it is seen that much of the success of these colonies must rest on the management. the manager must be large-hearted and broad-minded. he must be supervisor, instructor, moderator, counsellor and friend. the army has been very fortunate in placing fit men in these positions, and if in other things it had been equally fortunate, its colonies would have made a better showing. as regards the financial methods of the army in dealing with the colonists, the following extract from a memorandum of information issued by the ft. romie colony, california, gives typical information. . land: twenty acres of land are sold to each colonist. the price of unimproved land at this date, , is $ . per acre. this price, however, is liable to be increased at any time.[ ] . buildings: houses, barns and other buildings are constructed by the colonists. materials are furnished in quantities by the army according to the size of the colonist's family, somewhat after the following schedule. for a family with one or two small children, a two-room house, about � outside measurement, for which we appropriate not over $ . . this is to include a small barn or shed for horses, cows, etc. for a family with three or four small children, a three-room house about � , costing with barn, etc., not over $ . . for a larger family, perhaps a four or five-room house, limiting the appropriation for the same to $ . . colonists can suit themselves as to the style of the house, but must satisfy the manager that it can be erected within the limits of the appropriation named. the colonist can add to the size of the house as he gets on his financial feet. . terms: on land breaking and other permanent land improvements, the colonists are given years' time. the principal and interest are payable in installments each year. . outfit: to colonists unable to purchase them, the army furnishes the necessary implements and stock, consisting of the following: team of horses, cow, hogs, chicken, seed, etc., secured by chattel mortgage. the interest on outfit and loans is fixed at per cent. it is expected that the principal and interest will be repaid in installments each year. all outfits and loans are to be repaid within five years.[ ] we have briefly outlined the most prominent features of the farm colonies, but the final questions now arise, is the movement sound; what does it signify, and what development does the future hold for it? for one thing we must not be led astray by the statements of the army. the continued existence of the colonies, in the face of great difficulties, through the term of eight or nine years they have been carried on, is not in itself an argument for the soundness of the movement. from ocean to ocean and throughout the world, the army has advertised its success in colonizing enterprises, and hence it had a set purpose in maintaining and continuing its colonies, even though they should be failures from our point of view, and even though they should not fulfil the purpose originally intended by the army itself. as has been remarked with regard to the industrial colonies, so here, we would emphasize the fact that the army has no need to fear acknowledgement that the colonies have not been successful, because it has other credit upon which to depend for its reputation for usefulness. after looking at it from all sides, we come to the conclusion that the two experiments considered in these pages do not justify an extension of this work. this conclusion is based on several reasons: . many of the successful colonists are not men who needed help the most, and many are not from the city at all. . the colonies have been, and are, an undue expense to the organization. . the same amount of energy and money would be more beneficial to the unemployed if used along other lines. . the principles advanced as essential by the originators of the movement were only partially carried out.[ ] our first reason is based partly on personal investigation, and partly on the statements of the army itself.[ ] there are, as will be seen from examples given, certain places where families from the city without previous experience have made a success of the colonies, but these are greatly in the minority[ ]. if, in the case of the california colony at fort romie, when seventeen out of the original number of families taken from the city, left on account of the lack of water, the next group of settlers had again been chosen from the city, after water had been secured, a more conclusive experiment would have resulted, but instead, the second group were, "farmers by profession."[ ] this looks as though the army itself at that time doubted the ability of the city families to succeed on the land. at any rate, the fact that the majority of the families at the present time on the colonies are not from the city at all, shows that, as an experiment of removing the surplus population of the city to the country, the colonies are a failure. but further, when we take the minority, the families now in the colonies who came from the city, we find that, in most cases, they are not people who needed help the most, and those who have succeeded on the colonies, have succeeded because of elements in their character which would have led them to succeed in the long run anywhere, with favorable environment. in this case then, the only advantage in taking these people from the city was to leave more room there for somebody else, and this is not much of an advantage, since that "somebody else" is quite likely to come from the country to the city, and thus not be one of the city's submerged ones at all. again, if, as we have just stated, men succeed in the country because of the same elements of character which would lead them to succeed anywhere, then the reason for their failing to succeed in the city would lie in an unfavorable environment, and to change their environment, it is not necessary to carry on a system of paternalistic colonies. this leads us to the question of assisted emigration, which we will discuss in connection with our third objection to the colonies. as regards the second reason, that of undue expense, mr. haggard in , found a loss to the army of $ , . while, since that time, in the case of the california colony, there has been no further loss, yet in the case of the colony in colorado, there has been much expenditure which should be added to the original loss. the army states that it has been too liberal in its dealings with its colonists, but we note that, in spite of its liberality, there has been a constant tendency for the colonists to leave, hoping to do better elsewhere.[ ] the army might reply that this is no argument, and that the fact that they were able to leave with funds on hand was in itself a proof of liberality on the army's part, but to prove the success of its experiment, it must show that those who have left have done better elsewhere, and not drifted back once more to the city. the army might further state that in future a better selection of land might be made, and that other unfavorable things might be avoided, but we are dealing here with these two colonies and not future experiments. as regards such, there would always be unforeseen difficulties of every kind.[ ] coming to the third reason for our conclusion, the reason that money might be expended in other ways with greater advantage to the unemployed, and with greater relief to the congestion of cities, we refer again to the recommendations of the departmental committee appointed by the english government to consider commissioner haggard's report.[ ] in their report they recommend a system of emigration from the city to the english possessions, such as canada, aided by the government, in preference to the system of colonization. with this we agree. a man once transported from the city and then thrown on his own resources in a favorable rural environment, will be more likely to succeed than a man who is taken out with a number of others to form a colony. the man left to his own resources will rise to the occasion, as so many have done in both canada and the united states, who have migrated from city to country and made successful farmers and citizens, while, on the other hand, the man who feels dependent on an organization, which is responsible to the public for his success, and its own, will blame it for his own lack of efficiency. the army itself claims a successful work done along the lines of emigration. in , through the agency of the army, , men were sent out from london to canada. this number has since increased every year until in over , men were sent out. many other emigration societies have been very successful in this work.[ ] the emigrants sent out with some assistance, in many cases, gain new ambitions in life and make pronounced successes on the new soil. as regards the cost, the following quotation may be submitted. "the cost of emigration to canada from england does not amount to more than £ a head, and some of the societies, especially those maintained by women, seem to be successful in securing repayment of at least a part of the money advanced. in other words, $ , . , which mr. rider haggard assumes as a necessary sum for forming a colony of , families, would enable at least , families to go out as emigrants."[ ] with regard to conditions in the large cities of the united states and other countries, we believe that the same arguments would apply, and that, in every case, assisted emigration will be found far more feasible and beneficial than any system of colonization. again, for reasons already given, in addition to there being six thousand families aided by emigration, for the same sum as fifteen hundred families could be by colonization, the relief given would be far preferable. in other words, emigration has been proved successful, while colonization has not. coming back to the conclusions reached by mr. haggard on his recommendations to the english government: mr. haggard, after stating that the two experiments, outside of a slight failure of finance, seemed to him to be eminently successful, says that, given certain requisites, "it will, i consider, be strange if success is not attained even in the case of poor persons taken from the cities, provided that they are suited in character, the victims of misfortune and circumstances rather than of vice, having had some acquaintance or connection with the land in their past life, and having also an earnest desire to raise themselves and their children in the world." now two of the "requisites" he mentions are, "that the land should be cheap as well as suitable" and "that markets also with accessibility and convenience of location should be borne in mind," two rather difficult requisites to be found together. again, in the above quotation he lays down other provisos; among these being one that the people selected should have had some acquaintance or connection with the land in their past lives, a rather indefinite proviso in itself, but, from a list of poor men out of work or in irregular or casual employment in london and the other large cities in england in and , compiled by mr. wilson fox, we find that out of a total of , such men, ninety per cent were town born.[ ] we also find in new york city in the spring of , that out of a total of destitute men, about eighty per cent were town born.[ ] that then leaves ten per cent in the case of england and twenty per cent in the case of new york city from which to select or choose the ones needed for a colonizing enterprise. mr. fox has also shown in his investigations: . that the countrymen who migrate to london are mainly the best youth of the villages. . that the incomers usually get the pick of the posts, especially outdoor trades. . country immigrants do not to any considerable extent directly recruit the town unemployed who are, in the main, the sediment deposited at the bottom of the scale, as the physique and power of application of the town population tends to deteriorate.[ ] the conclusion is then, that it would be difficult to get the men according to mr. haggard's requirements, and difficult to get the land according to his requirements, and even if such were obtained, for reasons already stated there is no justification for a large colonizing enterprise in the two experiments described in this chapter. examples of colonists taken from ft. amity by the author in january, . no. . elderly man. widower. had three grown-up children in the colony at various times. had one son a colonist with farm of his own. was not a salvationist. came from chicago where he was a tailor. had a farm near the railroad depot which he considered valuable. had two small houses. rented one. raised alfalfa. was sole agent for a coal company. claimed he made $ , . last year, mostly in the coal business. said draining now being done on the colony was very expensive. considered the colony a good thing. no. . middle aged man. married. one child. had experience in the country before coming to the colony. had forty acres of colony land which he had rented, and which he wished to sell at $ . per acre. had mostly worked for the railroad in the station office. wished to leave the colony. said he could not raise a vegetable garden owing to alkali and insect pests. no. . a new man. about thirty years old. one year out from chicago, where he worked at different trades. had wife and one child. rented a house on the colony and worked in one of the colony stores. had no money saved and saw no immediate chance of betterment. liked the country better than the city, because his wife had better health. no. . young married man. no children. son of a colonist and married to a daughter of a colonist, whose father was sheriff of the county. had good looking cottage and barns. was doing well. no. . about fifty years old. salvation army officer. in the colony six years. had son twenty-one, and together they worked a farm of sixty acres. he owned twenty and rented forty. his life was despaired of by the doctors, but he was enjoying good health at time of interview. doing well financially. no. . about forty-five. original colonist. married. had four children. came from chicago, where he was a carpenter. owned land in the colony which he rented out. ran a hardware store in the colony and was partner in the colony bank. had property valued at $ , . . had no capital when he came to the colony. no. . about forty-eight years old. original colonist. married and had nine children. was railroad clerk in chicago at $ . per week. owned a corner lot on the town site where he ran a grocery store. had property in chicago worth $ , . when he came to the colony. was worth $ , . at time of interview. no. . a farmer, from surrounding country, induced by colony management to invest in colony land and tract as a "pace-setter" to the other colonists. thus secured forty acres at $ . per acre. had introduced the sheep industry. bought up young lambs in mexico, fattened them, and sold at a profit. had been two years on the colony. made $ , . net, per year. had four thousand sheep. no. . middle aged man. married. original colonist. was expressman in chicago, but previous to coming to the colony had to leave family and go to work in the woods while the wife worked. had taken out a government homestead outside of the colony. gave up his holdings on the colony and was working as farm boss for a neighboring farmer while his wife ran a boarding house. no. . scotchman. about fifty years old. married. had five children. in the colony for six years. arrived there with $ . . was carpenter in chicago. was worth $ , . when interviewed. was arranging to sell his holdings and go away, as he thought he could do better elsewhere. no. . about forty-five years old. belonged to the army. married. one child. came from baltimore, md., where he worked as a teamster. the army paid family's fare to the colony. made a failure of his holding on the colony and was making a bare living by running the colony hotel and doing teaming. his failure was due to alkali and insect pests. his wife was sick before coming, but became better and was evidently the more efficient member of the partnership. no. . thirty-five years old. married. two children. brother of army officer and son of example no. . in the colony eight years. used to be street-car conductor in chicago. gave up one holding in the colony on account of alkali and took another, where he was doing well at time of interview. no. . about forty years old. married. came from the country. rented a house on the colony and worked as a section-hand on the railroad. footnotes: [ ] "the poor and the land." introduction, p. vi. [ ] "report of departmental committee," pp. , , . [ ] "william booth," p. . [ ] "the s. a. in the u. s.," p. . [ ] see giddings' "principles of sociology," p. . [ ] "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] see example no. at the end of the chapter, p. . [ ] about this time, mr. curtis, describing the colony in the chicago record, said "there is no neater group of houses in colorado, and no more contented community in the world. nearly every one has written to friends urging them to join the next colony that comes out, and thus i judge they are enthusiastic over their success and the pleasures they enjoy." [ ] see principle no. , p. . [ ] "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] see principle no. , p. . [ ] see several examples at the end of this chapter, p. . [ ] "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] see principle no. , p. . [ ] "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] see pamphlet, "review of salvation army land colony in california." [ ] the price of land at ft. amity would be different, and there, too, the army sometimes rents to the colonists an additional acreage. [ ] "memorandum of information respecting the salvation army colony at ft. romie, california." [ ] for these principles see p. of this chapter. [ ] see "the poor and the land," p. and fl. [ ] see examples at end of chapter. [ ] see "the poor and the land," p. . [ ] see the "poor and the land," p. . [ ] see "report of departmental committee," p. and fl. [ ] _ibid._ [ ] mr. john manson in his book "the salvation army and the public," p. and following, states that in this work the army has merely acted the part of a business agency. we think that he has ground for this statement, but we also think that the army would be far more useful along these lines than an ordinary business agency. [ ] see report of departmental committee, p. . [ ] see report of departmental committee, p. . [ ] see tables p. of this book. [ ] see report of departmental committee, p. . chapter iv. the salvation army slum department. so much has been written on the question of the slums in the past few years; so many settlements, evening recreation centers, summer playgrounds, clubs, visiting nurses' associations, and kindergarten associations have been organized; so much has been done by tenement house commissions and tenement laws; so many churches have turned from their original efforts to the slums; that we wonder why so little is heard of what the army, the organization supposed especially to represent the poor, is doing in this direction. to tell the truth, if we go down into the slums, either those of deptford, whitechapel, or of westminster, in london; or those of the jewish, the italian, the negro, or the irish quarters in new york, or those of the slav or jewish quarters in chicago, expecting to find there the work of the army much in evidence, we shall be disappointed. what slum work is done by the army in these densely populated corners is done with love and earnest hearts, with sacrifice and the best of intentions; but apparently it does not bear fruit in the same proportion as does the work of the settlement, whether church settlement or secular, or in the same proportion as many of the kindergartens, summer playgrounds and evening recreation centers. nevertheless, the slum post of the army is doing valuable work and should be supported. a sweeping tenement house reform can do more than any number of settlements; a settlement can do more than the army slum post; but neither the tenement reform nor the settlement does the work that a slum post does. probably the work done by other organizations most nearly allied to that of the army slum post is that done by the various organizations of church deaconesses, which have been growing rapidly in late years, in which women are employed by the churches to visit the poor in their homes, and nurse the sick, besides other duties. if we depend or count largely on the army slum work to reform the slums, we shall be disappointed in learning that, after years of successful growth in the industrial and social departments, the army has but twenty slum posts in the united states[ ], some of these being very small, and that it has no large number in other countries. such as it is, the work is well worth while. but let us examine its origin, present status and the reason for its relatively small growth. in the beginning of the army movement, mrs. booth, the late wife of general booth, supplemented her husband's work by a personal visitation of the people in their homes. she proved the utility of this work and also its place among the works of women. from her early efforts has sprung the more widely organized department of slum work. the slum work may be divided into three divisions: visitation work, the slum nursery, and the maintenance of the slum post. wearing a humbler garb, even, than the regular army uniform, the lassies start out on their daily tours of visitation. they take care of the sick, and at the same time, they clean the home and put everything in order. often they come upon cases of need and of want, and then they provide the little necessaries: a sack of coal, a supply of food, or some needed clothing. they take the children from the worn-out woman and amuse and instruct them, while the mother does her work; and, wherever they go, although most plainly dressed, they are clean and neat, and they strive to make everything else clean and neat. while this visitation work is going on, another most urgent need is being supplied by the slum nursery. here the mother can leave her children in the morning, when she goes to her work, and find them safely waiting for her in the evening, clean and happy. a charge of five cents per day is made to cover the expense of feeding the children. during the day they are well cared for, the younger ones properly nursed, and the older ones taught simple little kindergarten games and songs. sometimes children are brought here and never called for again, in which case the army lassies in charge must find some permanent home for them, but this does not often happen, as the mothers of the children are usually known by the army workers. at the slum nursery in cincinnati there is also a free clinic, where sick women and children go for treatment. two of the most efficient physicians of the city furnish free aid, and the medicines necessary are provided. in addition to the visitation work and the nursery, the maintenance of the slum post means the keeping of slum quarters and a slum hall. the "quarters" are the two or more rooms where the lassies live, and they are located where most can be accomplished in the way of example and influence. the hall is for the carrying on of slum meetings, for these are regularly held. in these meetings the roughest crowd of men, women and children is awed into respect and reverence by the simple slum lassies with their songs and music. again, in this little hall, the children of the neighborhood are gathered in a sunday school and taught by the slum officers. it is a most interesting spectacle to watch these children. many different nationalities are represented, the dark races and the light. as children, these nationalities mingle together more freely than in adult life. a special aspect of the slum post is the distribution of charitable relief to the needy. it is specially situated, and has advantages for this purpose; hence it becomes the distributing depot for bread, soup and coal in winter, and ice in summer. for instance, from one slum post in new york during the winter of - , , loaves of bread were given out in one week, and for some months, an average of from to , loaves, besides an average of two tons of coal per week. some of this, naturally, would go to the undeserving, but the slum officers, as a rule, know the people of their immediate neighborhood, and can exercise due discretion. the failure of the army slum work to increase in the same proportion as its other branches of the social work, and its non-existence in many quarters of our cities where it is most needed, is due to two causes. one is the fact that the army slum post, more than the army industrial home or the army hotel, is a religious institution, and is continually advertising and pressing on the public its peculiar doctrines. the slum officers are imbued with the idea that personal salvation according to the doctrines of the army is the all-essential need. they would not be engaged in this work themselves were it not for the hold these doctrines have upon them. the slum post holds its regular meetings, exhorting its hearers to get "saved," in its own original way. at sunday school, the children are taught that certain things are wrong and sinful, and these very things are common-place in their own homes though, possibly some of them of not much detriment. but, in a community almost entirely catholic or jewish, such aggressive evangelism is not likely to increase the influence of its advocates. many settlements have learned with grief, this very same lesson. another reason for the lack of success is the mental calibre of those engaged in the work. however, the devotion and self-sacrifice of the army slum sisters is one of the most touching and sublime elements of the slums, and it is all the more touching when it is to some extent misdirected and misplaced. to see the tact, patience and perseverance of these "slum angels" as they are often called, is a divine object lesson in itself, and much of their work is not done in vain, as many would testify. a useful experiment is under way at one former slum post, cherry street, new york city. in place of the old building formerly rented by the army here and used as a slum post, the army has built a commodious six-story building, which it calls a settlement. one floor is given to a hall and parlor. two floors are given over to rooms to be used as class, club and kindergarten rooms. one floor is fitted up with a dining room and kitchen, and another with a large dormitory and living room, to be used as a girls' home. on the roof, preparations are under way for a roof garden and play-ground, while washing facilities are provided in the basement, where poor mothers can bring their clothes and wash them. already the new york kindergarten association has two kindergartners busy here. two sewing classes, averaging thirty-five members, are organized. mother's meetings are held, and a regular army corps is organized, consisting of sixty members. this settlement may prove an auspicious advance of the army along these lines. to sum up, the army slum department is doing valuable work in the slums, tending the sick, exercising and bringing out some of the better traits of humanity, and offering relief in times of need; but it suffers from an over-desire to spread its own peculiar doctrines of salvation, and from the lack of grasping the whole situation which is characteristic of its workers. footnotes: [ ] this number has continued the same for five years. chapter v. the salvation army rescue department. in the united states and great britain, the question of the social evil has never been thoroughly investigated and faced systematically as a whole. in some of the large cities in the united states, notably in chicago and new york, the question has been taken up in various ways by different reform societies. probably the best investigation made thus far has been the work of the committee of fifteen, in new york city, which issued its report in the year , but the problem does not appear to have been faced by us as a nation as it might have been. other countries, especially france, have paid a great deal of attention to this form of vice. nearly every phase of the question has been examined by some french investigator and reported on, but when we look for reports or investigations on the part of american or english students, we find very little of value. as regards the united states, all attempts at reaching a true estimate of the extent of this evil have failed. apparently, there is no way of obtaining such information. we have seen estimates regarding some of the cities in past years, and such estimates are given as , prostitutes for new york city,[ ] , for chicago and , for san francisco. but these figures have evidently been derived in a very unscientific way. the evil is probably worse in the western states than in the eastern, but we are not satisfied of the accuracy of such estimates as , for san francisco and only , for chicago. the work known as the rescue work of the salvation army is, to a certain extent, related to the slum work. the slum officers can often work hand-in-hand with the rescue officers, inasmuch as their field is often on the same or adjoining territory. at the same time, it is essential that the rescue officer be more highly specialized than the slum worker. during the past few years the percentage of successful cases of reform brought about by the army rescue homes has reached as high as or %, according to the army's statistics. they, however, are unable to keep in touch with all the girls sent out, and hence this percentage would not be final, but even allowing % off for failures not known to the army, it is doubtful if there is any other reform agency along this line which is as successful as is this force of trained rescue workers.[ ] in the united states this force works in conjunction with twenty-two rescue homes scattered throughout the states. these homes are especially fitted for the work, some having been built for the purpose. there are work rooms for the girls, where they can do sewing and laundry work. there is a reading room and sitting room, dining room, and different dormitories and sleeping apartments. then special facilities are provided for the care of babies in the way of proper nurseries. there are two ways in which these girls come under the influence of the homes and rescue workers: either the girls come voluntarily to the homes, expressing their desire to leave this form of life for a better one, or they are brought to the home by the direct influence and touch of the rescue officer. these rescue officers make regular tours through the districts where the girls are to be found. they watch their opportunities, and whenever they think it wise, they speak to the girls personally. when this is not possible, they make an advance by way of literature. one method is to open up a conversation by means of a little card, upon which is printed the address of the rescue home, and the offer of help to any girl who is in trouble of any sort. some of the officers tell us that they get to know the faces of the girls through their regular tours, and whenever a new girl comes they are able to recognize her at once, both by her features and her actions. in this way there have been some instances of real prevention without the need of any curative means whatever; instances where young girls have been rescued from the very brink of their evil fate. one way of reaching the girls is visitation and nursing when they are sick. another way is through the police courts. in some of the latter a woman army officer is in regular attendance, and the judge frequently hands certain cases over to her charge. many of the girls received into the home have had no practical training in life; many, very little moral training, and in the case of those who have had good training in earlier years, the life they have been leading has so undermined their old ideals, that the training must be repeated. hence, the aim of the home is two-fold. first, the aim is to lay a strong foundation morally. when the girls reach the home, in most cases they are already penitent, and ready for a change, but to make such a complete change as is necessary to lead them back to a normal life means the individual revolution of desire and interest. here is where the importance of the moral influence of the home is realized. step by step the girl is led on by the simple teaching of christian and social ideals, until in reality she is a changed individual. often she looks back on her past life with such repugnance and shrinking, that her only desire becomes that of doing something to retrieve her past, and she becomes an active agent in the betterment of the conditions of other girls around her. meanwhile, the second aim of the rescue home is being realized. the girls are taught the means of practical livelihood. they are instructed in cooking, the care of the kitchen and nursery, and general housekeeping. sewing is made a prominent feature, and in every home a laundry is maintained, where the girls do their own washing and sometimes outside washing. in some homes the fund realized from the laundry and from the sale of clothing made by the girls is quite a help toward defraying the general expenses. again, at some of the homes, such work as book binding and chicken raising has been successfully carried on. independence is encouraged, and as soon as possible the girl is made to feel that, by aiding in the work of the home, she can help meet the expense which she caused. to the girl who has possibly never done sewing, never known anything about proper cooking or the care of a home, there is much that is new in this training, and, on the other hand, great patience is required on the part of her instructors. a fit of anger or despondency, and in a very short time she has left the home and its care, and returned to her old life. some do this even more than once and again return, having, upon reflection, realized the force of its love and shelter. others, of course, leave and never return, but a large number are sent back to their own homes or out to fill situations of various kinds. a great difference is found between one girl and another, due to the different status of life and surroundings from which they originally fell; hence, some girls are reformed with greater ease and in a shorter time than are others. the average time that a girl is retained in the home is about four months. the army aims at keeping in touch with them afterwards. "personally," says one of the leading rescue officers writing on this point, "i attach by far the greatest importance to the work done with our girls after they leave the home. if we ceased our care for them when they went out to service, we should have, i fear, many failures. i have by my elbow, as i write to you, a current record of girls, not picked out but taken just as they come, which tells just where each one is, what she is doing, what was her spiritual condition when last seen or heard from, what day visited, etc. that list is taken from a record kept of every girl who passes through our hands. on one page is her previous life story; on the other, her career after leaving the home. it is the most important record we keep."[ ] along with other departments of social service in the army, this department has been considerably extended during the past few years. figures are at hand for the united states only. in there were five rescue homes with a total accommodation for girls, and there were, in the rescue work, officers. in we found twenty-two homes, with a total accommodation for girls, and there were specialized officers engaged in the rescue work. during the eight years prior to , girls were helped.[ ] speaking of the year - , commander booth-tucker says: "more than , girls passed through the homes during the year, and of these % were satisfactory cases, being restored to lives of virtue, while some babies were cared for."[ ] during the past few years, also, some valuable properties have been acquired for the purposes of rescue homes. among these are two homes in philadelphia worth $ , . ; the home in manhattan, new york city, valued at $ , . ; the home in buffalo, costing nearly $ , . ; the home in los angeles, worth more than $ , . , and others. in conclusion it may be said that although this great social question presents almost overwhelming problems for solution, yet there is no agency that deals with the evil in a curative way so successfully, and on such a scale, as does the rescue department of the army. one difficulty of the work is that, while so many departments of the army work are self-supporting, this work cannot be made so. another difficulty is the lack of those who are willing to sacrifice their lives to such noble effort. mrs. catherine higgins, former secretary for this department, in her report, said that she had a great need of more workers, and that she could use many times that number in the furtherance of the work. while it is rather the part of society to strike at the very causes of this social evil and root it out entirely, still, such successful combating with the evil itself, right on the battle-field of flagrant vice, should receive the hearty support of all. footnotes: [ ] mentioned in josiah strong's social progress, , p. . [ ] in great britain in , the proportion of re-admissions in the rescue homes was about one in seven. in that year, about one-sixth of the new cases were unsatisfactory. (the s. a. and the public, p. .) [ ] "social service in the salvation army," p. . [ ] pamphlet "s. a. in the u. s." [ ] _ibid._, p. . chapter vi. some minor features of the salvation army social work. there are a number of features of the salvation army social work, which for the sake of brevity we shall group together in one final chapter. these are, ( ): christmas dinners, ( ): prison work, ( ): the employment bureau, and ( ): work among the children. taking up the subject of christmas dinners, we find here what seems to be an advertising scheme more than a systematic form of relief. sentiment, doubtless, has its place, even with the masses, and yet, in this great winter feast, there is more sentiment than there is real practical good accomplished. to the quiet, calculating student the question arises whether it would not be far better to utilize the vast amount of energy and financial outlay, which it gives to gorging the multitude for one day, in a better and more lasting way; the question whether there is not, in these christmas feasts, a likeness to the old time feast of pagan rome. in every city of any size throughout the country the pots and kettles on the street corner are familiar objects. at each corps or other location of the army, tickets are given out entitling the bearer to a christmas dinner, or, in certain cases, to a basket with a dinner for a family. a good deal of trickery is indulged in by the professional beggars, by means of which it often happens that several dinners go to the same person. and yet, as we have watched those , baskets containing food for , persons go out, to bring cheer and comfort to the hungry in their homes, and as we have gazed on that vast banquet of , guests seated at one sitting, we could not but feel glad that these poor brothers and sisters of ours might realize the force of human sympathy for once in the year at least.[ ] another minor feature of the salvation army work is the prison work. the majority of the jails, local, county and state, are visited at intervals by certain members of the army set aside for that purpose in each community. in one state's prison there is a regularly organized corps of salvation army soldiers, who are all prisoners, some of them for a life term. in most prisons the army provides literature, sees to the correspondence of the prisoners and holds meetings with them. but it is not so much the work with the prisoners in the jail that counts, as it is the influence gained over them, which leads them to come to the army and make a new start in life when they get out. many who find themselves behind the prison bars are not to be classed as regular criminals. a man is often classed as a criminal who is a victim of misfortune only, and has no inherent criminal instincts. it is with the criminal "by occasion," as lombroso puts it,[ ] that much successful work can be done in the way of reform. the army has a regular organization known as the prison gate league. when a prisoner is discharged he is met by one of this league and invited to go to work at one of the army's institutions. after being influenced and helped in this institution for a certain length of time, if he seems to justify it, he is sent out to work in some position. there are no definite statistics recorded of those of this class who have been permanently bettered. still another minor feature is the employment bureau system. while mentioned here as merely one of a group of minor features, this system is one of great importance to the industrial world. it is being taken into consideration in many places by thoughtful men, and there is promise of its assuming national, if not international proportions. the general term, employment bureau, serves to bring to our recollection the accompanying evils of the contract wage system and industrial slavery, against which there has been agitation in the past, but it is because of these accompaniments that the importance arises of securing a system which shall be free from them. in germany considerable work has been done along these lines, municipalities and provinces have taken up the work, and an all-round effort is being made to place labor in the right position for work at the proper time.[ ] new york city is to-day swarming with many agencies, which are conducted by men and women, who may rightly be classed as extortioners. in spite of the rigid rules on the subject, the ignorance and poverty of their victims makes evasion of the law comparatively easy. jacob a. riis, speaking of this subject, says: "it is estimated that new york spends in public and private charity every year around eight millions. a small part of this sum intelligently invested in a great labor bureau that would bring the seeker of work and the man with work together, under auspices offering some degree of mutual security, would certainly repay the amount of the investment in the saving of much capital now much worse than wasted, and would be prolific of the best results."[ ] in regard to the work of the army in this field every large city contains an employment bureau conducted by it and maintained for the free use of the unemployed. some of the men, who secure positions have been in one of its own institutions, and the army workers know whether or not to recommend them for a certain position. outside of giving men work in its own institutions, the army, during the year , found employment for , persons in the united states alone. contrary to expectation, the children's work of the army has not attained a magnitude in proportion to the other lines of work which have been developed. this may be accounted for in part by the fact that there are more institutions open for children to which the army can turn for help than there are institutions of other types. thus, while the army can often get a child taken into some orphanage already existing, either public or private, in the case of the drunkard, the unemployed or the fallen woman, the army finds it necessary to furnish its own institutions. again, the army states that wherever possible, some friend is found who is willing to adopt a child. of course, this is far preferable to placing the child in some institution, inasmuch as adoption restores the home in a real sense. the work among the children may be divided into temporary work and permanent work. by temporary work we do not mean work that is superficial, for it may be the most permanent and lasting in its results, but we mean work that is undertaken which influences the children for a limited amount of time only. the slum nursery or kindergarten is of this type, but as we have already described it in connection with the slum department, it needs only mention here. another line of temporary work is the sunday school work of the army, but that comes under the religious work and not the social. an important line of temporary work, however, is the summer outing for the poor children. in each of our large cities these excursions for the poor children have been carried out on a large scale. arrangements are made with a railroad or a steamboat company; the children are collected, hundreds at a time, and cared for by parties of salvationists, they are taken out to the country for the day. children who have never seen the country, and who do not know what a tree, a green hill, or the running water looks like, are thus given an entirely new outlook upon the world, and a lasting impression is made on their minds. in kansas city, this line of work has been developed still further. one of the large parks has been handed over to the army by the city authorities, and in it has been established a summer camp. tents are pitched on the grass under the trees, and poor families are brought out here for a week at a time. in this way hundreds of families have experienced a little of summer vacation who otherwise would never have left their slum dwellings. the permanent handling of the children as opposed to the temporary, begins with the maternity homes which are managed in connection with the rescue homes, and continues on through the orphanages. the children cared for in this permanent way are the babies from the maternity homes and orphans. from this it must not be supposed, with regard to the maternity homes, that there is any intentional separation or even a suggested separation of the child from the mother, but in many cases, after a time, a partial separation is necessary. the mother is influenced and taught to care for and love her offspring, but after spending some months in the home, she may take a situation of some sort, often as a domestic servant, and here she cannot take her baby. hence, in such cases, the mother is expected to visit her child frequently, and to provide for its support. the other class of children dealt with in a permanent way are those who are picked up from the street, or who otherwise fall into the hands of the army, often after being deserted by their parents. while orphanages, as already stated, are not an important item in the army's work, there are several in england and four in the united states. for the situation of an orphanage, a country location is sought. for instance, one near new york city is located on a beautiful piece of property at spring valley. another is at rutherford, n. j. one of the largest is situated near san francisco, california, and one of the latest additions for this purpose has been the securing of a fine piece of property at lytton springs, cal. in all, there is accommodation for two hundred and twenty-five children in the united states. footnotes: [ ] the author refers here to the annual christmas dinner given in new york. [ ] "the criminal," p. . [ ] "the german workman," ch. xvii [ ] "how the other half lives," p. . chapter vii. conclusion. we have now covered the work of the salvation army social movement in its different branches. we have described the work, the extent and the management of each department. we have also considered the criticisms and objections to which each department is open, and we have attempted to estimate the value of each department to society. we have arrived at the conclusion that the work of the industrial department, leaving out the industrial colony, is a practical, deserving and successful effort to put unfortunate men once more on their feet, at no expense to the public, saving a slight embarrassment to those already engaged in the salvage and second hand business; that the army lodging house is the best so far offered for the housing of the lower homeless class, although not entirely satisfactory; that the slum work is good, but limited in its scope, owing to the religious sentiment attached, and the mental inferiority of its workers; that the rescue work is about the best of its kind; and that good work is being done in other directions, such as the prison work, the employment bureaux and the children's work. on the other hand, we have found that the two industrial colonies and three farm colonies are not successful enough to warrant any additional expenditure on them or on any new colonies. this is due to the fact that the class most needing help in the cities is not the class to succeed on the land, and to the fact that men are more successful as pioneers on the land, when they are scattered and left to rely on themselves, having experienced farmers as neighbors, than when they are grouped closely together in one colony. also there is nothing in favor of heavy expenditure for christmas dinners, since the same amount of money can be put to better advantage in other ways. but, having reached these conclusions regarding the separate departments of the army social work, what about the movement as a whole? the critics have advanced a good many objections against the army. some of these objections relating to special departments and not to the army as a whole, we have already dealt with in our discussion of those separate departments. there remain six principal objections: . that the organization is narrow and not willing to cooperate with other organizations. . that the highly centralized military form of government is likely to lead to disastrous consequences. . that the army, in its financial dealings, does not take the public sufficiently into its confidence. . that the army collects funds, on the strength of its social work, and applies these funds to religious propaganda. . that there is a lack of accuracy in its reports of work accomplished. . that the army, as an organization, has become more of an end in itself, than a means to an end. regarding the first objection, the narrowness and lack of cooperation, we think there is a good deal of truth in it. the army has made a great success as an organization, and the work of its founder and his assistants is one of the most remarkable achievements of the age. things apparently impossible have been accomplished, and obstacles apparently unsurmountable have been overcome. the result is a self-confidence and assurance, amounting in many cases to bigotry. the members of the organization look upon it as especially favored by god, and as above any other organization. hence, we find many of the leaders far from humble in their bearings, whatever their profession may be, and entirely uninclined to cooperate with other organizations. this fact has been brought to the foreground of late years in england and america by a certain amount of antagonism between the army and the charity organization society, the army claiming that it can do its work along its own lines and get along without any alliance with the society, and the latter claiming that much economy would result if the army would unite its efforts along social lines with the charity organization society. the controversy cannot be discussed here, but it seems a pity that some sort of union cannot be entered into in which both organizations would be represented in a manner satisfactory to both. one great difficulty, evidently, is the religious element in the social work of the army, which tends to prejudice the charity organization society in some degree against the army, and tends to keep the army aloof from any organization considered secular. however, we find many leading officers in both organizations with friendly feeling, and there is hope that the time will come, when the controversy will be at an end. coming to the second objection, that the highly centralized military form of government of the army is likely to lead to disastrous consequences, we think that, if continued, this form of government must indeed lead to disaster. it is evident that this might happen in different ways. in an organization held together by one man or by one idea, disintegration would tend to take place in the one case by the failure or death of the leader, and in the other case by the expansion of the idea. the army is held together by both the man and the idea, and we need not turn away from its own history to get examples of this disintegration in both ways. take the first bond of union, the man of striking, hypnotic personality. since the very inception of the movement, time after time, men who have gained influence in the army, have separated from its ranks and started a movement of their own of more or less formidable dimensions. the instance most applicable here is that of the division which took place a few years ago in the united states. at that time the army in this country had been very successful under the leadership of one of general booth's sons, ballington booth and his wife, maud, the latter especially being a most attractive and talented personality and gifted, persuasive speaker. mr. and mrs. ballington booth were flattered by attention from all sides, and by the worship of the soldiers and officers under them. orders came from general william booth, commanding them to give up their leadership in the united states and take control of some other country. but they had no idea of giving up their position in this country, and, elated by success, confidently announced their leadership of a new movement, the volunteers of america, which is still in existence. while the other element, that of the expansion of the idea, showed itself at this time in a revolt against the narrow, despotic methods of general william booth, the main element in this division was that of personality. taking up the second bond of union, that of the central, controlling idea and purpose, we find the whole movement at the present time is tending to disintegrate through the expansion of this idea. this is shown by the continual departure of men from the ranks of the army, who see that its methods and machinery are too cramped for their efforts, and also by the different attitude of the remaining members towards the movement itself and its leader general william booth. it is possible, however, that there will gradually be effected a change in the form of government of the army which will allow for enlargement and differentiation within the movement itself. general booth, the sole head of the movement, cannot live much longer, and at his death, changes already threatening will demand attention. he has maintained a remarkable control over his world-wide following, in spite of numerous outbreaks and dangerous splits, and has legally arranged with great care, we are told, the succession to follow him. but that there will ever be a second general booth, or that there could be a series of general booths, able to hold the organization as he has, is incredible. we have talked with leading officers of his army on this subject and find that they too, are looking for changes. the fact that the social work is having such a remarkable growth, while the spiritual work is apparently unable to hold its own, is in itself a feature demanding a change. the army of industrial and social officers and employees will not be bound by the same ties to the general as his former army of spiritual officers and soldiers. the latter were possessed with an emotional, fanatical enthusiasm which blinded them to everything save the service of their much adored general. the former have a different outlook on life. they are the new army, a result of tendencies inherent in the growth of the movement. they look at humanity and individuals from other standpoints than that of the salvation of the soul. the material side of society, with its institutions of business, and practical forms of charitable relief, occupies a large amount of their attention. this has already led to considerable differentiation of government and control. take, for example, the corporation, "the industrial homes company" controlling eighty-four industrial institutions in the united states, and managed by a board of directors in new york city. this example is opening the way toward a future government by a board of some sort for other departments of the army, and in time for the spiritual department, and then the further step of representation of members on these boards will not be far distant. at any rate we see reason for hoping that, while other improvements are taking place, the government of the army will not be a handicap to the movement. by the third objection, that the army in its financial dealings does not take the public sufficiently into its confidence, is meant that complete records of detailed expenditure are not issued. the public provides for a large part of the income of the army, and it has a right to know just how and where that income is spent. the man and woman who is being continually confronted by a lassie on the street with a little box for the receipt of contributions, after contributing again and again, is likely to ask the question, just where is this money going; and it would be of advantage to the army itself, if it would issue a more definite statement of the use to which it puts public money. some people are satisfied with the general report that "the army is doing good," but there are many who would contribute more largely, if they knew directly for what they were contributing. in reply to this criticism, the army states that it deposits regularly with the state authorities a statement showing the disposition and state of the finances of its corporations, such as "the reliance trading company" and "the salvation army industrial homes company." the army also issues every year a balance sheet which shows its assets and liabilities on a large scale. but this is not sufficient. the ordinary person can receive no light from either the statement deposited with the state authorities or the yearly balance sheet published by the army. in fact, although the army uses the services of an expert accountant in getting out this balance sheet, for all that the public knows, it may be using the funds entrusted to it in any way it wishes. this should be remedied by a regular statement, clearly revealing the disposition of every cent donated. a discussion of the preceding objection leads us to the fourth objection, that the army collects funds on the strength of its social work, and applies these funds to the carrying on of its religious propaganda.[ ] the army denies this, but admits that there is a good deal of money collected for the general work, there being no specific object implied when it is collected, other than a statement of the various departments in which the army is working, and of their extent. of course, the social work comes in for strong presentation on the statement, but the money not being collected for any one object, the army is at liberty to apply it to any branch of its work whether spiritual or social. this again shows the need of greater definiteness and accuracy in the army's report to the public. a fifth objection is the lack of accuracy shown by the army in its reports of work accomplished.[ ] this has special reference to the statistics published by the army, and is a good criticism. at different times and in different parts of the world, statistics are given out, which seems to emanate from no one authority, which are often contradictory, and which create confusion in the mind of the person wishing to get at the facts. as a result of a good deal of recent criticism on this point, all future statistics of the army in the united states are to come from one point only, are to be in charge of an expert, and no publication of statistics is to be allowed without the consent of the national headquarters. the sixth and last objection is a very important one and one which has been seen in the history of organizations without number, viz: that the organization tends to become an end in itself, instead of a means to an end. this objection is also allied to a former one regarding a lack of cooperation on the part of the army with other organizations. more and more an organization, formed as is the army, feels complete in itself, and works continually for its own interests and its own glory. in a large number of instances the objective point that was once humanity and the glory of god tends to become the advancement of the army. while feeling that this objection is a serious one, it still cannot be considered as anything but unavoidable, considering the government and general character of the movement. if it were possible for the army to be governed locally, and to some extent, nationally by boards, a part of whose membership represented the public, we believe that the tendency to advance its own interest would be diminished. study out the workings and control of this organization, and it is found a machine, ever seeking to increase its power and field of work. if this machine could be controlled to some extent by the public which feeds it, it might be kept as a useful servant, but otherwise, in spite of the great service which it does society to-day, the tendency to get away from its object and to become an object itself, will be more and more dangerous. in conclusion, then, we find that these objections advanced by the critics are not without foundation, and while some may be more tendencies than actualities, it lies with the organization to guard itself from them. we have found the army an efficient worker along several lines, and society owes it a considerable debt for past service and lessons learned from it. hence it would be a great pity for its efficiency as a great public servant to be lessened by a lack of publicity regarding its finance, or by a narrow, self-centered policy, or by a too centralized form of government. some of the army leaders are men of great hearts and strong minds, and it is to be hoped that, whenever in the future, the opportunity offers to make a beneficial change of policy in its duty toward the public or toward its sister organizations engaged in charitable work or in its own internal administration, that these leaders will stand firmly for what they believe, and demand the necessary change. footnotes: [ ] see the "s. a. and the public," ch. . [ ] see the "social relief work of the s. a.," p. . bibliography. american journal of sociology, volume iii. besant, sir walter, the farm and the city, contemporary review, - . booth, bramwell, i. a day with the salvation army, s. a. press, london, . ii. illustrated interviews, s. a. press, london, . booth, charles, life and labor of the people, the macmillan co., new york, . booth, commander eva, where shadows lengthen, s. a. press, new york, . booth, florence e. a peep into my letter bag, s. a. press, london, . booth, william, i. in darkest england, and the way out, s. a. press, london, . ii. social service in the salvation army, s. a. press, london, . iii. the doctrines of the salvation army, s. a. press, london. iv. the why and wherefore of the rules and regulations of the salvation army, s. a. press, london. v. orders and regulations for field officers, s. a. press, london. booth-tucker, commander, i. william booth, life of s. a. press, new york, . ii. the salvation army in the united states, s. a. press, new york, . iii. social relief work of the salvation army in the united states, s. a. press, new york, . iv. our future pauper policy in america, s. a. press, new york, . v. prairie homes for city poor, s. a. press, new york, . vi. a review of the salvation army land colony in california, s. a. press, new york, . coates, thomas f. g. the prophet of the poor, e. p. dutton & co., new york, . dawson, william harbutt, the german workman, chas. scribner's sons, new york, . devine, edward t., the principles of relief, the macmillan co., new york, . hadleigh, the salvation army colony, s. a. press, london, . haggard, h. rider, the poor and the land, longmans, green & co., new york, . higgins, mrs. catherine, love's laborings in sorrow's soil, s. a. press, new york, . huxley, t. h., social diseases and worse remedies, the macmillan co., new york, . manson, john, the salvation army and the public, e. p. dutton & co., new york, . precipices: a sketch of salvation army social work, s. a. press, london, . report of committee of fifteen, the social evil, g. p. putnam's sons, new york, . report of the departmental committee, appointed to consider mr. rider haggard's report on agricultural settlements in british colonies. wyman & sons, london, . riis, jacob a., i. how the other half lives, chas. scribner's sons, new york, . ii. the children of the poor, chas. scribner's sons, new york, . iii. a ten years' war, houghton, mifflin & co., new york, . iv. the peril and preservation of the home, geo. w. jacobs' & co., philadelphia, . ruskin, john, sesame and lillies, donohue, hernneberry and co., chicago. seager, henry rogers, introduction to economics, henry holt and co., new york, . selected papers on the social work of the salvation army, s. a. press, london, . solenberger, edwin d., the social relief work of the salvation army, byron & willard co., minneapolis, . swan, annie s., the outsiders, s. a. press, london, . warner, amos g., american charities, t. j. crowell & co., new york, . vita. the author of this dissertation, edwin gifford lamb, was born in london, england, december , . he attended private schools in that city and then spent three years in northwestern canada without schooling. after this he went to california where he prepared for college in the preparatory department of the university of the pacific. he became a citizen of the united states as soon as eligible and graduated from leland stanford junior university in , with the degree of a. b. in the year -' , he was a student at union theological seminary and columbia university. during the year -' , he held a scholarship in sociology at columbia university. at this institution he studied under professors f. h. giddings, john b. clark, h. r. seager, h. l. moore, j. dewey, f. j. e. woodbridge and w. p. montague. since that time he has been an instructor in the harström school, norwalk, connecticut. transcriber's note: inconsistent hyphenation and capitalization have been left as in the original text. the same is true for inconsistent abbreviations for u. s. states and inconsistent placement of footnote markers. chap. iii. (in the original text) has been changed to chapter iii. for consistency. punctuation has been standardized. spelling mistakes have been corrected, except for the items listed below, which have not been changed. the book seems to use fl., rather than ff., as an abbreviation that refers to the pages following a number. this book refers twice to the title "sesame and lillies." in other sources, that title is sometimes spelled as "sesame and lilies." on the list of "examples of salvation army hotel lodgers," under no. , the city name pittsburgh is misspelled as pittsburg in the original text. generously made available by the internet archive/american libraries.) modern society. by julia ward howe. boston: roberts brothers. . copyright, , by roberts brothers. printed by alfred mudge and son. contents modern society changes in american society modern society. what means this summons, oh friends! to the groves of academe? i heard, in the distance, the measured tread of philosophy. i mused: "how grave and deliberate is she! how she matches thought with thought! how patiently she questions inference and conclusion! no irrelevance, no empty ballooning, is allowed in that concord school. nothing frivolous need apply there for admission." and lo! in the midst of this severe entertainment an interlude is called for in the great theatre. the stage manager says, "ring up puck. wanted, an ariel." and no shakespeare being at hand, i, of the sex much reproved for never having produced one, am invited to fly hither as well as my age and infirmities will allow, and to represent to you that airy presence whose folly, seen from the clouds, is wisdom; that presence which, changing with the changes of the year and of the day, may yet sing, equally with the steadfast stars and systematic planets,-- "the hand that made me is divine." modern society, concerning which you have bid me discourse to you, is this tricksy spirit, many-featured and many-gestured, coming in a questionable shape, and bringing with it airs from heaven and blasts from hell. i have spoken to it, and it has shown me my father's ghost. how shall i speak of it, and tell you what it has taught me? you must think my alembic a nice one indeed, since you bid me to the analysis of those subtle and finely mingled forces. you have sent for me, perhaps, to receive a lesson instead of giving one. you may intend that, having tried and failed in this task, i shall learn, for the future, the difficult lesson of holding my peace. for so benevolent, so disinterested an intention, i may have more occasion to thank you beforehand, than you shall find to thank me, having heard me. but, since a text is supposed to make it sure that the sermon shall have in it one good sentence, let me take for my text a saying of the philosopher kant, who, in one of his treatises, rests much upon the distinction to be made between logical and real or substantial opposition. according to him, a logical opposition is brought in view when one attribute of a certain thing is at once affirmed and denied. the statement of a body which should be at once stationary and in motion would imply such a contradiction, of which the result will be _nihil negativum irrepræsentabile_. a real or substantial opposition is found where two contradictory predicates are recognized as coexistent in the same subject. a body impelled in one direction by a given force, and in another by its opposite, is easily cogitable. one force neutralizes the other, but the result is something, viz., rest. let us keep in mind this distinction between opposites which exclude each other, and opposites which can coexist, while we glance at the contradictions of all society, ancient as well as modern. how self-contradictory, in the first place, is the nature of man! how sociable he is! also how unsociable! we have among animals the gregarious and the solitary. but man is of all animals at once the most gregarious and the most solitary. this is the first and most universal contradiction, that of which you find at least the indication in every individual. but let us look for a moment at the contrasts which make one individual so unlike to another. we sometimes find it hard to believe the saying that god hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth. this in view of the contrast between savage and civilized nations, or between nations whose habits and beliefs differ one from the other. in the same race, in the same family also, we shall find the unlikeness which seems to set the bond of nature at defiance. see this sly priest, bland and benevolent in proportion to the narrow limits of the minds which he controls. he hears the shrift of the brigand and assassin, of the girl mastered by passion, of the unfaithful wife and avenging husband. he gives an admonition, perhaps a grave one. he inflicts a penance, light or severe. he does not trust his penitents with the secret which can heal the plague-sores of humanity,--the secret of its moral power. but see the meek flock who come to him. see the whole range of consciences which cannot rest without his dismissing _fiat_. the rugged peasant drops on his knees beside the confessional. his horny palm relinquishes, without hesitation, the coin upon which it has scarcely closed. or here alights from her carriage some woman of the world, bright in silks and jewels. with a hush and a rustle, reaching the lowly bench, she, too, drops down, rehearses her wrong-doing, promises such reparation as is enjoined, and asks for the word of peace. now this confessor, and one or more of his penitents, may be the children of the same father and mother, and yet they shall be as unlike in attitude and in character as two human beings can be. in the closest alliance of blood you may thus find the opposite poles of one humanity. humanity is, then, a thing of oppositions, and of oppositions which are polar and substantial. its contradictions do not exclude, but, on the contrary, complement each other, and the action and reaction of these contradictions result in the mighty agreements of the state and of the church, the intense sympathies and antipathies which bind or sunder individuals, the affections and disaffections of the family. the opposite extremes of human nature embrace, between them, a wonderful breadth and scope. the correlation and coaction of this multitude of opposing forces on the wide arena of the world naturally give rise to a series of manifestations, voluntary and involuntary, changeful in form and color as a phantasmagoria, fitful as a fever-dream, but steadfast and substantial in the infinite science, out of which all things come. the unity in this web of contradictions is its great wonder. how if this unity prove to be the law of which the oppositions are but one clause? how if the perfect unity were only attainable through the freedom of the natural diversity? and what is the substance and sum of this fundamental agreement? the desire of good, the progressive conception of which marks, more than anything else, the progress of the race. we cannot tell out of what dynamics comes the initial of this fruitful and productive opposition. it is, perhaps, the very unity of the object which develops the diversity of action. in the progress of human society the diversity becomes constantly multiplied. is the sense of the unity lost in consequence? no, it grows constantly with the growth of this opposing fact. as education is enlarged, as freedom becomes more general and entire, the agreement of mankind becomes greater in the objects to be attained for the promotion of their best interests. we can suppose a family cast upon a barren shore, or forced to sit down in the midst of an uninhabited region. all of its members will wish to secure the necessary conditions of life, such as food, fuel, shelter, safety from destructive agencies. if left to themselves, one will naturally bestir himself to find fish, game, or fruits; another will bring in firewood; a third will plan a tent or hut; a fourth will stand sentry against any possible alarm. so a camp is a world in miniature; and if food and drink be plenty, and there be time to think of recreation, some one will carve a pipe from reed or willow, and, in answer to the piping, will come the dance. or, if our pilgrims are too mystic and solemn for this, hymns will be sung, and the voice of prayer will lift the soul out of the poverty of its surroundings into that realm of imagination whose wealth far exceeds that of ormus or of ind. i seem to hear at this point the _non placet_ of those who ask for one thing and receive another. i was not sent for to philosophize, but to represent; and, with regard to the former process, "how not to do it" should have been my study. modern society is my theme. where shall i find society for you? henry thoreau found it here, in the passionless face of nature. here, the shy hawthorne could dwell unmolested, not even overshadowed by the revered sage who makes reserve and distance such important elements of good manners. mr. alcott has transplanted here those olives whose sacred chrism rests upon his honored brow. the society which my words shall introduce here must be neither vulgar nor dull. now, if i had a flying-machine! well, i have one, and its name is memory. sit with me, upon its movable platform, and i will give you some peeps at the thing itself, leaving you to discuss after me its _raison d'être_, its right to be. in experimental analysis, specimens are always exhibited. let us look at modern society in cairo, shepherd's hotel, and the omnibus that bears one thither. the _table d'hôte_ unites a catalogue as various as that of don giovanni. here sit sir samuel and lady baker, famous as african explorers. you may all know something of the entertaining volumes which chronicle their discoveries and adventures. lady baker wears, at times, a necklace made of tiger's claws. her husband shot the tiger in the great wilds of africa, she loading the gun with which he did it. she is roumanian by birth, english by adoption, fair and comely. sir samuel is a burly briton. they have with them a young african servant, dark and under-sized, with wild, crimped hair. sir samuel tells me that this is altogether the best human creature he ever knew. lady baker does not resent the extreme statement. i sit at table between a russian count and an english baronet. the russian and his two daughters are amiable and simple people. the baronet is a stanch tory, as you will think natural when you hear his story. he was once a poor boy, hard at work in a coal mine. he used to walk six or seven miles daily, after working hours, in order to acquaint himself with those three fates who are familiarly called the three r's. becoming an expert in the coal business, he went through the upward grades of his profession, became a large owner of mines, and has now a heavy contract for supplying the egyptian government with coal. he is a member of parliament, and, when i saw him, was ready to start homeward on the first news of a division in the house. it was lately stated in a london paper that lord beaconsfield would probably raise him to the peerage before his own retirement from office. so, it may have been done by this time. my russian neighbors are much troubled about the fate of a poor italian family whose chief has lost his occupation, and which is thus reduced to the extreme of want. "why not get up a subscription at this hotel?" say i. they are very willing that i should. i draw up a paper, we sign our names and contributions. sir george snubs us dreadfully, but gives us a sovereign. sir samuel snubs, and gives nothing. the necessary sum of money is raised, and the family is sent to its own country. here, you see, are russia, england, and america, combining, on egyptian soil, to save italy. this strange mixture is characteristic of the medley of the time. we will not move yet, for the panorama of the table will save us that trouble. here is one of the recognized beauties of london society. a very pretty woman, with dewy eyes, pearly teeth, dark, glossy hair, and a soft, fresh complexion. a french wardrobe sets off those natural advantages, with its happy disguises and apposite revelations. but it is not good for beauty that it should become a profession. this lady's fine eyes and teeth are made to do duty with such evident persistence of intention, that one absolutely dreads to see the glitter of the one and the flash of the other in the gymnastic of an advertised flirtation. i cannot yet release you. here are two gentlemen who wear the _tarbouche_ with their european costume. they were rebels in our war of secession, and at its close took service with the khedive. ignoring ancient sectional differences, they are very cordial with us, their countrywomen. they would be glad to see their country again, but cannot get their salaries paid, the french and english commissioners having taken the direction of egyptian finances, and making no allowance for the past services of these american officers, who were dismissed at their instance. we are still at shepherd's _table d'hôte_, and before us sit an english nobleman and his wife, who have obtained permission to give a _fête_ at the pyramids. a gay party of english residents and visitors are gathering to accompany them, and presently the carriages and cavalcade start, with a band of music, and a small army of servants. they illuminate the great pyramid with colored fires, race their horses and donkeys through the desert, sup and sleep in the khedive's _kiosk_, not without much boisterous mirth and disturbance. or, behold me on bairam day, paying a new-year's visit to the harem of the khedive. a row of grinning eunuchs, black as night, guard the entrance. after various turns of ceremonial, we greet the three princesses, all wives of the khedive, who has many others not of this rank. in order not to give offence, we are obliged to smoke the _chibouque_, a pipe about five feet in length. we smile and courtesy at the proper moment, but find conversation difficult. they are curious to hear where we came from, and whither we are going. i ask whether they, also, enjoy travelling, and am reminded that their institutions do not allow it. these poor princesses little knew that in two months from that time an involuntary journey awaited them, on the occasion of the khedive's abdication, and departure from the country. we please ourselves, in these days, with the praise of islamism, and think, quite rightly, that mahomet and his koran had their _raison d'être_, and have done their part for mankind. but here is islamism in modern society. the howling dervishes sit on the ground groaning _allah, allah_. by and by they rise, and bend their heads backward and forward until the most eminent among them fall in fits, and are taken up in an unhappy condition. within a short distance from our hotel, we hear of a company of men met for a religious exercise. one of them chews a glass goblet and swallows it. another endeavors to swallow a small snake. a third gashes himself wildly with a sword. these are religious enthusiasts. if their faith be genuine, these dangerous experiments, they say, can do them no harm. these things remind us of the temptation of christ: "if thou be the son of god, cast thyself down from hence." but let us leave the city and hotel, and betake ourselves to the historic river, dumb with all its mouths, and poor with all its wealth. modern society is well represented on board our steamer. here are two californian gentlemen, two sons of a sandwich island missionary, two or three italians. here is a sister-in-law of john bright. she has visited alaska, and considers this nile trip a small parenthesis in her voyage round the world. here are an english couple, belonging to fashionable life. here is a clergyman of the same nation, who glories in the fact that dr. johnson hated, or said he hated, a whig. here is an american who cannot visit the ruins because his whole day is divided into so many glasses of milk, to be taken at such and such times. we land one day at assiout, and visit its bazaars. the trade in ostrich feathers is brisk, the natives steadily raising their prices as the demand increases, until we find that the feathers might be more cheaply bought in london or paris. amid the general confusion of tongues i am accosted by a handsome youth, cleanly and civil, who speaks fair english, and asks if he can serve me. who are you? a pupil of the american mission school in this place. he brings two of his fellow-pupils to speak with me. one of these is a girl, whose innocent, uncovered face seems to rebuke the hidden faces of the arab women, veiled and disfigured to evince their modesty, but making more evident the immodesty of the men. we return to our steamer, followed by a crowd of boys and girls, shrieking and naked, who plunge into the water to get the _backshish_, which some of our party throw them. on the bank stand two beautiful youths, nearly black, with eyes like sloes, and with crisped hair standing erect like a flame above their foreheads. they are clad in kilts of white cotton cloth. struck with their beauty, we inquire of what tribe they are. "of the bischouri," says our dragoman, "a tribe of the desert, who feed only upon uncooked grain." to the last their bright smile pursues us with its pathos. would that they, too, were pupils of the american mission school. would not our vegetarian chief send for them?[ ] [ ] mr. alcott, dean of the concord school of philosophy, has always been known as a vegetarian. we gallop across the sands to a point opposite philæ, and reach the sacred spot by boat. we picnic among its tombs, climb its _pylon_, and remark upon the beauty of the view. at the first cataract, which is very near this place, an arab woman shows me her baby with the pride of eve or queen victoria. it has a nose-ring of brass wire, and similar adornments in the top of each ear. on my way back to the boat, my pocket is picked by a cunning youth. the arabs of the desert will compare in this respect with the arabs of european streets. a little arab girl offers to sell me her rag doll, whose veil is bedizened with spangles. a little water-carrier, proud of her english, says, "lady, give me backshish." this shall end my peep at modern society in egypt. but one more personal remembrance you must accord me. the scene is a dirty, muddy street in a cyprus seaport. the time is not far from noon. i am exploring, with some curiosity, the new jewel which lord beaconsfield has added to the crown of great britain. what a mean, poor bazaar is this; what dull streets, what a barren place to live in, especially since _methymenic_ albion has drunk up all the best of the wine! i pass a shop, and a bright presence beams out upon me. it is lady baker, with her fair, luminous face, full of energy and resource. sir samuel, she tells me, is in the back shop buying hardware for a hard journey. for they intend to travel through the island in a huge covered wagon, drawn by oxen, which will be to them at once vehicle and hotel. where they went, and how they fared, i know not, nor would it here import us, if i did. i only mention the appearance of these friends in this place, because this appearance was so characteristic of modern society, and because so many of its elements appeared there in their persons. the education and high society of england, the court, the literary circles, the almighty publisher, for an intended volume was surely looming in the foreground of their picture. and here i have clearly got hold of one feature of modern society; this is, that everything is everywhere. the zulus are in london, the londoners in zululand. empress eugenie, the exploded star of french fashion in its highest supremacy, visits cape town. the stars and stripes protect american professors on the shores of the bosphorus, within view of mount lebanon. it would not surprise us to learn that a party of our countrymen had read the declaration of independence beside the pools of solomon, or within the desolate heart of moab. in jaffa of the crusaders, joppa of peter and paul, i find an american mission school, kept by a worthy lady from rhode island. prominent among its points of discipline is the clean-washed face which is so enthroned in the prejudices of western civilization. one of her scholars, a youth of unusual intelligence, finding himself clean, observes himself to be in strong contrast with his mother's hovel, in which filth is just kept clear of fever point. "why this dirt?" quoth he; "that which has made me clean, will cleanse this also." so without more ado, the process of scrubbing is applied to the floor, without regard to the danger of so great a novelty. this simple fact has its own significance, for if the innovation of soap and water can find its way to a jaffa hut, where can the ancient, respectable, conservative dirt-devil feel himself secure? the maxim also becomes vain nowadays, that there should be a place for everything, and that everything should be in its place. cleopatra's needles point their moral in london and in new york. the prince of wales hunts tigers in the punjaub. hyde park is in the desert or on the nile. america is all over the world. against this universal game of "puss in the corner," reaction must come, some day, in some shape, or anywhere will mean nowhere, for those who, starting in the geographical pursuit of pleasure, fail to find it and never return home. the oppositions of humanity have undergone many changes. paul characterized them in his day as "greek and barbarian, bond and free, male and female." christianity effaced old oppositions and created new ones. the old oppositions were national, personal, selfish. the new opposition was moral. it struck at evils, not at men, and tended to unite the latter in a patient and reasonable overcoming of the former. i know that the white heat at which its first blow was dealt left much for philosophy to elaborate, for science to adjust and apply. a jesus, arrived at the plenitude of his intellectual vigor, could only have three years in which to formulate his weighty doctrine, and could not have had these without much care and hindrance. his work lay in the normal direction of human nature. in spite of lapses and relapses, mankind slowly creep towards the great unification which will make the savage animals and the selfish passions the only enemies of the human race. modern society rests upon this unification as its basis of action. a positive philosophy which auguste comte did not elaborate absorbs its highest thought, and dictates its largest measures. and so prophetic souls bid farewell to the old negations. in their view, the lion is already reconciled to the lamb. the taming of the elements prefigures the general reconciliation. the deadly lightning runs on errands and carries messages. the titan steam is the servant of commerce and industry, meek as hercules when armed with the distaff of omphale. emulation, the desire to excel, exquisite, dangerous stimulant to exertion, is not in our day educated to the intensification of self, but to the enlargement of public spirit and of general interest. the constant discoveries of new treasures in our material world, of gold, silver, iron, and copper, of states to be built up and of harvests to be sown and reaped, are accompanied by corresponding discoveries concerning the variety of human gifts and their application to useful ends. what men and women can be good for may be more voluminously stated to-day than in any preceding age of the world's history. comparison should be a strong point in modern society. when travelling was laborious and difficult, the masses of one country knew little concerning those of another. when learning was rare, and instruction costly and insufficient, the few knew the secrets of thought and science, the many not even knowing that such things were to be known. when wealth was uncommon, luxury was monopolized by a small class, the greater part of mankind earning only for themselves the right to live poorly. when distinctions were absolute, low life knew nothing of high life but what the novelist could invent, or the servant reveal. how changed is all this to-day! competence, travel, tuition, and intelligent company are within the reach of all who will give themselves the trouble to attain them. the first consequence of this is that we become able to make the largest and most general comparison of human conditions which has ever been possible to humanity, nor does this ability regard the present alone. the unveiling of the treasures of the past, the interpretation of its experience and doctrine which we owe to the scholar and archæologist, enable us to compare remote antiquity with the things of the last minute. the work of antiquarian science culminates in the discovery of the prehistoric man. theology had long before invented the post-historic angel. now, indeed, we ought to be able to choose the best out of the best, since the whole is laid in order before us. but the chronic trouble hangs upon us still. had we but such wisdom to choose as we have chance to see! the gifts of our future are still shown us in sealed caskets. which of these conceals the condition of our true happiness? the leaden one, surely, of which we distrust the dull exterior, trusting in the inner brightness which it covers. what is the problem of modern society? how to use its vast resources. here is where the office of true ethic comes in. no gift can make rich those who are poor in wisdom. the wealth which should build up society will pull it down if its possession lead to fatal luxury and indulgence. the freedom of intercourse which makes one nation known to another, and puts the culture of the most advanced at the service of the most barbarous, is like a flood which carries everywhere the seeds of good and of evil. the ripening of these depends much upon the accident of the human soil they may happen to find. but careful husbandry will have even more to do with the result. to america it was said at the outset, "prepare to receive the world, and to make it free." oh, world, so full of corruption and of slavery, wilt thou not rather bind us with thy gangrenous fetters? wilt not the wail of thy old injustice and suffering prolong itself until the new strophe of hope shall be lost and forgotten? where is god's image in this human brute who lands on our shores, full only of the insolence of beggary? far, far be from us ever the methods and procedures which have made or left him what he is. honor and glory to those patient, good men and women who will redeem his children from the degradation which seems almost proper to him. theirs be a crown above that of the poet or orator! modern society, then, is chiefly occupied with a vast assimilation of novelties. this task is by no means imposed upon us alone. while the new world has to digest races and traditions, the old world has to digest ideas. thanks to the good puritan stomach which we inherit, the process goes on here, with little interruption. but across the seas, in rome, in germany, in russia, what nausea, what quarrelling with the fatal morsel upon which providence compels the lips to close! "_non possumus!_" say the priests of the old order. "_possum_," replies the eternal power. the french republic and the english monarchy succeed best in this altering of old habits to suit new emergencies. but where extremes are greatest, the contest is naturally fiercest. a pope fears the cup of poisoned chocolate, and dares not drink the wine of the eucharist without a taster; the throne of the russian autocrat is over the deadly mine of the nihilist. german vanity and diplomacy bring back the shadow of the mediæval muddle. the living heart's blood of humanity comes to us out of these struggles, an immeasurable gift, for good or for evil. can we be quick enough with our schools, just enough in our government, sincere and devout enough in our churches? what will europe do with the ideas? what will america do with the people? these are the questions of the present time. one of the serious social questions of the day is the omnipotence of money. people often use this expression in a _quasi_ sarcastic sense, not seriously intending what they say. but the power of money nowadays is such that it becomes us seriously to ask whether there is anything that it cannot do. what ancient strongholds of taste, sentiment, and prejudice has it not stormed and carried? a servant, who sought a place during the first years of the shoddy inflation, asked a lady who was willing to engage her, "are you shoddy, ma'am, or old family? i want to live with shoddy, because it pays the highest wages." the watchwords of society as often come from its humbler as from its higher level, and this woman unconsciously uttered the word which was to rule society from that time to this. money, during the last twenty years, has swept over most of the old landmarks, and obliterated them. religion itself stands aghast at this baptism of gold, which can convert the alien and the heathen, ay, the brigand and the robber, into saints of social prestige. for money bribes the court and pulpit, and buys the press; the highest rank, the highest genius, pay homage to it. if the duke has not money, he will seek in wedlock the most undesirable of women, if she be also the richest. royalty bows to the splendid cloak of vulgarity, and invites it to dine and drive. happy day, you will say, for labor, which money symbolizes. monarchs may well show it respect. but money does not always symbolize honest and intelligent industry. a great fortune often represents transactions akin to theft; sometimes the thing itself, which the world is spartan enough to approve of, if the criminal can only escape positive detection. those, too, who have earned their money honestly, leave it to children who turn their back upon the class of which their parents came, and desire to know nothing of the bread-winning arts which they were constrained to practise. we have had, within the last ten years, a severe lesson concerning the instability of wealth in some of its most trusted forms. yet are we not compelled by sympathy and antipathy, at the bottom of our hearts, to pay it an homage which our lips would not avow? do we not desire wealth for our children as the condition which shall set our minds at rest concerning them? when we see mediocrity and vulgarity riding in the swift carriage, and wearing the jewels and the robes, bright in everybody's eyes and praised in everybody's mouth, do we not harbor somewhere a regret that we have not, in some way possible to us, set our best abilities to work to secure a similar distinction for ourselves? it should not frighten one to see the court and its underlings venal. court and courtiers are a show, and money is the condition by which a show lives. but i look into the domain of letters, and ask whether that is still uncorrupted. i do not think that it is. the refined tastes of literary people lead them to value entertainment at the hands of the rich. the luxurious rooms, the abundant table, the easy _persiflage_ in which worldly tact knows enough to flatter recognized talent. do not these _illicebræ_ seduce, to-day, even the stern heart of philosophy? how unkind was society to margaret fuller! it was reluctant to show her the courtesy due to a gentlewoman. its mean gossip treated her as if she had been beyond the pale of elegance and good taste, verging away even from good behavior. what was her offence against society? a humanity too large and absorbing, a mind too brave and independent for its commonplace. add to these the fact that she had neither fashion nor fortune. the things she asked for are granted to-day by every thinking mind, and she is remembered as illustrious. but if she could come back to-morrow as she was, poor in purse and plain in person, and assume her old leadership, would boston treat her any better than it did in days of yore? would she not find, even among brook farmers, a looking toward beacon street which might surprise her? the literary man, who went so bravely from abstract philosophy to its concrete expression, whose learned hands took up the spade and hoe, and whose early peas were praised by those who contemned his principles, would he, at a later day,--grown urbane and fashionable,--would he have bowed without a pang to his former self, if he had met him, dusty and on foot, in central park, he himself being well mounted? i said just now that money could buy the press. this is shameful, because the press, more than any other power, can afford to be frank and sincere. freedom is the very breath of life in its nostrils, yet is it to-day largely salaried by the enemies of freedom. while speaking of the press, i will mention the regret with which i lately read, in the "boston daily advertiser," an editorial treating of the expulsion of the jesuits from france. the writer, who denounced this measure with some severity, described the religious body with which it deals as a band of mild and inoffensive men, chiefly occupied with the tuition of youth. he might as well have characterized a tiger as a harmless creature, incapable of the use of firearms. to me the worship of wealth means, in the present, the crowning of low merit with undeserved honor,--the setting of successful villany above unsuccessful virtue. it means absolute neglect and isolation for the few who follow a high heart's love through want and pain, through evil and good report. it means the bringing of all human resources, material and intellectual, to one dead level of brilliant exhibition--a second field of the cloth of gold--to show that the barbaric love of splendor still lives in man, with the thirst for blood, and other _quasi_ animal passions. it means, in the future, some such sad downfall as spain had when the gold and silver of america had gorged her soldiers and nobles; something like what france experienced after louis xiv. and xv. i am no prophet, and, least of all, a prophet of evil; but where, oh where, shall we find the antidote to this metallic poison? perhaps in the homoeopathic principle of cure. when the money miracle shall be complete, when the gold midas shall have turned everything to gold, then the human heart will cry for flesh and blood, for brain and muscles. then shall manhood be at a premium, and money at a discount. the french have found, among many others, one fortunate expression. they speak of a life of representation, by which they mean the life of a person conspicuous in the great world. this society of representation has some recognition in every stage of civilization, since even nations which we consider barbarous have their festivals and processions. the ministerial balls in paris, and perhaps many other entertainments in that city, are of this character. the guests are admitted in virtue of a card, which is really a ticket, though money cannot command it. many of the persons entertained are not personally acquainted with either host or hostess, and do not necessarily make their acquaintance by going to their house. everything is arranged with a view to large effects: music, decorations, supper, etc. a party of friends may go there for their own amusement, or a single individual for his own. but there are no general introductions given, there is no social fusion. now this i call society of representation. it bears about the same relation to genuine society that scene-painting bears to a carefully finished picture. people of culture and education enjoy a peep at this spectacular drama of the social stage, but their idea of society would be something very different from this. where this show-society monopolizes the resources of a community, it implies either a dearth of intellectual resources, or a great misapprehension of what is really delightful and profitable in social intercourse. where the stage form of society predominates too largely, its intimate form languishes and declines. the communings of a chosen few around a table simply spread, with no view to the recognition of the great babylon, but rather with a pleasure in its avoidance; refined sympathy and support given and received in a round of daily duties, by those whose hands are busy and whose minds are full; the inner sweetness of a beautiful song or poem, the kindling of mind from mind, till all become surprised at what each can do,--this sort of society maintains itself by keeping the noisy rush of the crowd at arm's length. horace says,-- "odo profanum vulgus et arceo," and i, a democrat of the democrats, will say so too. i reverence the masses of mankind, rich or poor. my heart beats high when i think of the good which human society has already evolved, and of the greater good which is in store for those who are to come after us. but i hate the profane vulgarity which courts public notice and mention as the chief end of existence, and which, in so doing, puts out of sight those various ends and interests which each generation is bound to pursue for itself, and to promote for its successors. the time of poor marie antoinette was the culmination of such a period of show. its glare and glitter, and its lavish waste, had put out of sight the true and intimate relations of man to man. and so, as the gilded portion of the age made its musters of beautiful empty heads, of vanities throned upon vanities, the ungilded part made its deadly muster of discontent, displeasure, and despair. the empty heads fell, and much that was precious and noble fell with them. the great stage produced its bloody drama, and the curtain of horror closed upon it. critics of society usually direct their invective against the extravagance and shallowness of this exhibitory department, and would almost make these an excuse for the opposite extreme of misanthropic spleen and avoidance. they should remember that while society, from an inward necessity, provides for these musterings and displays, it is unable to provide for that intimate and personal intercourse which individuals must found and cultivate for themselves. so much is left for each one of us to do, to find our peers, and open with them an honest exchange of our best for their best. the family most easily begins this, with its intense and ever-enlarging interests. out of true family life comes a neighborhood; out of a neighborhood the body politic, and the body sympathetic. if, in the matter of social intercourse, show is allowed to usurp the place of substance, the indolence of mankind must bear its part of the blame. it is far easier to order a suit for the great occasion, than to brighten one's mental jewels for the small one. many a soldier is brave on parade, who would not shine on a field of battle. many a woman will pass for elegant in a ball-room, or even at a court drawing-room, whose want of true breeding would become evident in a chosen company. the reason why education is usually so poor among women of fashion is, that it is not needed for the life which they elect to lead. with a good figure, good clothes, and a handsome equipage, with a little reading of the daily papers, and of the fashionable reviews, and above all, with the happy tact which often enables women to make a large display of very small acquirements, the woman of fashion may never feel the need of true education. we pity her none the less, since she will never know its peace and delight. in our own country, at this moment, and in europe as well, ambitions seem to be unduly directed to this department of social action, the training and discipline for which differ widely from that proper to intimate and domestic life. hence comes an observable regard, not to appearances only, but to appearance. as actors often paint their faces too highly for near effects, in order to look well at the farthest point of view, so the dress and manners of the day fit themselves for the stage of the great world, and their wearers seem to meditate not only what will not appear amiss, but what will attract attention by some singularity of becoming effect. hence the supremacy for the time of those whose calling it is to minister to appearance. the tailor has long been a man of destiny, but the modern plainness of male attire has somewhat sobered his pretensions. but look at the sublime arrogance of the ladies' dressmaker, and the almost equally sublime meekness of the victim, who not only submits, but desires to be as wax in her hands. this supreme functionary has, of course, _carte blanche_ for her ordinances. the subject says to her, "do what you will with me. make me modest or immodest. tie up my feet or straighten my arms till use of them becomes impossible. deprive my figure of all drapery, or upholster it like a window-frame. nay, set me in the centre of a movable tent, but array me so that people shall look at me, and shall say i look well." i cannot but hate, to-day, the slavish fashion which seems to have been invented in order to intensify that self-consciousness which is the worst enemy of beauty. it is administered by means of a system of lacets and whalebones, which everywhere impinge upon nature. a young lady who is in her dress like a sword in its scabbard (the french name for the fashion is _fourreau_), is made to think of this point, and of that, until her whole gait and movement become an interrogation of her silks and elastics. can i sit? can i walk? can i put this foot forward, or lift this hand to my head? ask the satin strait-jacket in which your artist has imprisoned you, receiving high compensation for the service. much as i resent this constraint and restraint of the body, my saddest thought is, that where it is endured the mind has first been enslaved. foreign travel is so established a feature in american life, that it may well become us to take account of what it costs and comes to. our own importation of men and women is various and enormous. they who come to us poor and ignorant in one generation, are seen comfortable and well educated in the next. the disfranchised and landless man comes to us, and receives political rights, and the title of a farm in fee simple. no inordinate tribute robs him of the product of his industry, be it large or small. he pays to the state what it pays him well to afford, for protection and education. but how is it with the tribute which europe levies upon us in the shape of our sons and daughters? many polite tastes have, no doubt, been fostered in our young men by studies pursued in a german university, or art learned in a french studio. some of the best scholars of the elder generation have profited, in their youth, by such advantages. but if we go beyond the limits of literary or professional life, we may not consider the results so fortunate. our society-men sometimes become so depolarized in their tastes and feelings, as to be at ease nowhere but in europe, and not much at ease there. those who return bring back a love of betting and of horse-racing, and ape the display of european grandees as far as their fortunes will allow. and our young women? some of them study soberly abroad, and return to give their countenance and support to all that is improving and refining in their own country. some float hither and thither, between england and italy, like a feather on the wave, disappearing at last. the daisy millerish chit is seen, offending in pure ignorance of what common-sense should easily teach mothers and daughters. family groups of americans are often met with in europe, in which one figure is wanting. this is the father, absent, in america, working at his business or speculation. these ladies are often companionable people, who enjoy good hotels, galleries, music on the public square, and, above all, the sensation of being far from home. one feels about them a dreary atmosphere of homelessness. as the writer of the potiphar papers, while watching a gay young mother's performance in the "german," was constrained to think of a complaining babe in her nursery, so, in hearing those ladies boast of their enjoyments, one cannot help remembering with commiseration the wifeless husband and daughterless father at home, who works like a steam-fan to keep these butterflies in motion. more sad still are my reflections, when i hear that numbers of american girls, with large or even moderate fortunes, go abroad and allow it to be known that they seek a husband with a title. these are to be had, of various grades, if the pecuniary consideration be only sufficient. and so many of our laborious men of business work hard in order to earn for themselves the luxury of a titled son-in-law, who has not the ability to earn his own support, and would scorn to do it if he had. american women with money are at a premium in fashionable europe. even without this supreme merit, they are favorites. a london journal calls attention to the fact that some of the leading ladies in the fashionable london of to-day are americans. the versatility of mind and ease of manner which a free and social life develops, appear in strong contrast with the results of the more formal education, which are often seen in the opposite extremes of timidity and assurance. as our young men are often entrapped, while abroad, into marriages which prove to be very unwise and unsuitable, i wish very much that we might bring and keep our young people in a better understanding with each other, so that even the most ambitious among them should be content to marry with their peers, and abide in the home of their fathers. i have been surprised, at some periods of my late visit to europe, to perceive the growing interest of thinking people in all that is most characteristic of american progress. again and again, in private and in public, i have found myself invited to discourse concerning the happy country in which popular education has been so long established, that its results are no longer putative, but ascertained and verified. the country in which the fairest woman, provided she be a modest one, can walk abroad by day or night, unmolested and unsuspected, the country in which women have acquired the courage to think for themselves, and to stand by each other. these invitations, though not given in derision, yet seemed akin to the hebrew refrain, "sing us one of the songs of zion!" and when i related the facts familiar to all of us, to those who listened with half-incredulous wonder, it was, indeed, like singing the lord's song of freedom in a strange land. the reasons why europe should come to america are obvious and pressing. the reasons why america should visit europe are equally binding and cogent. the material and the moral life of to-day are kept at their height by this flux and reflux of human personality, which carries with it every variety of opinion and experience. could we only send our best abroad, and for the best reasons! could europe only send her best, also, for their best help and study! but the human average profits first of all by its material enlargement, and will be received just as it is. so, our fools go abroad, to show that folly is a thing of all times and climes; and, along with the tidal wave of ignorance and bigotry, the dark, designing jesuit seeks our shore, and spins his fatal web among our rose-trees. sun of divine truth, storms of divine justice, sweep away the evil and ripen the good! when i see an american of either sex caught in the vortex of european attraction, depolarized from natural relations, and charmed into alliance with feudal barbarism and ignorance, my heart rings the bell of alarm which is hung at the gates of paradise. from all these western splendors can this shallow soul turn away? from these golden fields whose overflow gives europe food, while her human overflow gives them labor? from this large construction of human right, which lifts the cruel yoke from the neck of labor, and gives him who earns the livelihood of many his own life to enjoy and perfect? from this holy record of pious endeavor, from these splendid achievements of souls inspired by freedom, thou canst go, joyous and triumphant, to pay homage to the lies which are no longer believed by those who profess them; lies whose fallacy america exposes every day and hour to the detection of the world. thou wilt accept a title, empty as an egg-shell, for a thing truly noble! thou wilt call a courtier's grimace polite, a courtesan's fashion elegant! thou wilt curry favor in a vulgar court, courtesying low to a prince of harlequins and harlots! thou, child of the puritans, wilt kneel and kiss the hand which, still and sole, disputes with christ the mastery of the world! then art thou simply an anachronism! some are born into the world centuries before their time, some centuries after it. other attractions, innocent in themselves, and conceivable to all, detain some of our valued fellow-citizens in perpetual exile. the quiet and beauty of english country-life, the literary and artistic resources of a foreign capital, the romances of ancient chateaux and cathedrals, some delicious touch of climate, some throbbing beauty of a southern sky. how delightful we have found these, it is as much a pain as a pleasure to remember! but let us also call to mind the lesson of a well-known fairy tale. while beauty prolongs her absence, the faithful beast languishes and comes nigh unto death. while we enjoy these choice delights, the society to which we belong is sowing its wheat and its tares. we are far from the field in which the life of our own generation is planted and tended. every honest heart, every thinking mind, has its value in the community to which it belongs. our value, such as it is, remains wanting to our community, and, when its crises of trial shall come, we shall not have been trained by watchful experience to understand either their cause or their remedy. how delightful was italy to milton! his allegro and pensieroso show that he could fully appreciate both its mirth and its majesty. he returns not the less to live out a life of illustrious service in his own country, where his brave heart and philosophic mind were of more avail to his time than even his sacred song to ours. no one has any reason to be surprised at any new manifestation of human folly. yet i am sometimes surprised, to-day, by the disrespect which is often shown to the word "protestant." this name dates, at farthest, from the time of luther, but the fact for which it stands is as old as human history. moses made a protest when he led his people out of the luxury and slavery of egypt to find the free hills of judæa, and to build on one of them a temple to the god of freedom. christ made his protest against the hypocrisy and injustice of the old social and ecclesiastical order. england and france have made their protests against monarchical supremacy. both went back from their daring determination, but the lesson was not forgotten. the puritans made their protest when they faced the frowning sea and the savage wilderness, in order that they might train their children, and live themselves in the freedom which conscience asks. mr. garrison and his associates made their protest against american slavery. mrs. butler, of england, makes her protest to-day against the personal degradation of women. lucy stone makes hers against their political enslavement. does society inherit? is man the heir of man? whence come those creatures of the present day who smile, and shrug their shoulders, and feebly say, "we don't protest. our fathers did something of the kind, upon what ground we cannot possibly imagine. but we are quite of another sort. we don't protest." to those courageous souls which, alone and unaided, have been able to face the world's passion and inertia,--to those leaders of forlorn hopes who have seen glory in the depths of death and have sought it there,--to those voices proclaiming in the wilderness the triumphant progress of truth,--to those brave spirits whose strength the fires of hell have annealed, not consumed,--my soul shall ever render its glad and duteous homage. and if, in my later age, i might seek the crowning honor of my life, i should seek it with that small, faithful band who have no choice but to utter their deepest conviction, and abide its issues. fruitful shall be their pains and privations. they who have sown in tears the seeds of unpopular virtue, shall reap its happy harvest in the good and gratitude of mankind. changes in american society. i have been invited to speak to you to-day concerning changes in american society. in preparing to consider this subject, i cannot but remember that the very question of social change is to some people an open one. the supposition of any real onward movement in society is as unwelcome and as untrue to these persons as was galileo's theory concerning the revolution of the earth around the sun. they will assert, as indeed they may, that the same crimes are committed in all ages, with the same good deeds to counterbalance them and that the capital tendencies of human nature are always substantially the same. this also must be allowed. the error of these friends consists in overlooking the most characteristic and human of these tendencies, which is that of progressive desire. this trait, deeper and stronger than the mere love of change, pushes the whole heterogeneous mass of humanity onward in a way from which there is no return. the laws of human motive and action, meanwhile, remain as steadfast and immovable as the laws by whose application galileo made his discovery. to discern at once the steadfast truth and its metamorphic developments will be the task of the greatest wisdom. when theodore parker invited the religious world to consider the transient and the permanent elements of christianity, he made a popular application of a truth long known to philosophy. this truth is that life in all of its aspects exhibits these two opposite qualities or conditions. much is transient in the individual, more is permanent in the race. the study of anthropology, so greatly enriched to-day by discovery and investigation, would give us much to say under both of these heads, but most, i think, under the last. i remember that in reading livy's history of the second punic war, in our own war time, i was struck by certain resemblances between the time in which he wrote and that in which i read him. when i learned from his pages that the merchants and ship-owners of ancient rome managed to impose the most worthless of their vessels upon the government for the transport of troops and provisions, i exclaimed, "what yankees these romans were!" in reading some well-known satires of horace i have been struck with the resemblance of the ancient to the modern bore. boileau's famous take-off of the dinner given by a _parvenu_ is scarcely more than a french adaptation of the feast of nasidienus, as described by the roman bard who was boileau's model. in virgil's account of the good housewife, who rises early in order to measure out the work of the household, and in solomon's description of the thrifty woman of his time, one sees the value set upon feminine industry and economy in times far removed from our own, yet resembling it in this appreciation. on the other hand, the dissimilarity of ancient and modern society is equally seen in the same mirror of literature. the mention of matters which, by common consent, are banished from decent speech to-day, the position of woman, from the vestal virgin buried alive for breach of trust to the _devium scortum_, whom horace frankly invites to his feast, the gross superstition which saw in religion little save portents and propitiation,--these mark on the dial of history an hour as distant from our own in sympathy as in time. you will wish to hear from me some account of changes which have come within the sphere of my own observation, both as i have been able to see for myself, and to compare what i have seen with what i have received from the generation immediately preceding my own. let me remind you that, with all the advantages of personal observation, it may be more difficult for us to give a true account of the age to which we belong than of more distant times, upon which thought and reflection have already done their critical and explanatory work. familiarity so dulls the edge of perception, as to make us least acquainted with things and persons making part of our daily life. mindful of these difficulties, i will do my best to characterize the threescore years which have carried me into and out of the heart of the nineteenth century. i have seen in this time a great growth in the direction of liberal thought, of popular government, of just laws and useful institutions. i have seen human powers so multiplied by mechanical appliances as to destroy the old measures of time and distance, and almost to justify the veto once laid by the great napoleon upon the use of the word "impossible": "_ne me dîtes jamais ce bête de mot_," said he; and it has now become more _bête_ than ever. what feature of society has not changed in the phantasmagoria of these wonderful lustres? each decade has made a fool of the one which went before it. whether in the region of extended observation and experiment, or in that of subtle and profound investigation, human effort has seemed in this time to put itself at compound interest, working at once with matters infinitely little and with matters infinitely great, and surely introducing mankind to a higher plane of comfort and co-operation than has been reached in anterior ages. while the mechanism of life has thus been brought much nearer to perfection by the labor of our age, the principles of life remain such as they have always been. pile luxury as high as you will, health is better, and the body of a well-fed and not over-worked ploughman is, nine times out of ten, a better possession than the body of a man of fortune, especially if he be at the same time a man of pleasure. marshal and gild the pomp of circumstance, and do it homage with bated breath, character remains the true majesty, honor and intelligence its prime ministers. money can help people to education, by paying for the support of those who can give it. but money cannot excuse its possessor from the smallest of the mental operations through which, if at all, a man comes to know what, as a man, he should know. the great _desiderata_ of humanity still remain these: to preserve the integrity of nature, the purity of sentiment, and the coherence of thought. the great extension of educational opportunities which we see to-day should make the attainment of these objects easier than in ages of less instruction. but while the pursuit of them is ever normal to the human race, the inherent difficulties of their attainment remain undiminished. without self-discipline and self-sacrifice, no man to-day attains true education, or the dignity of true manhood. for here comes in the terrible fact of man's freedom as a moral agent. could our age possess and administer the powers of the universe to its heart's content, in that heart would yet rest the issues of its life and of its death. the period of which i have to speak has certainly witnessed great improvements in the theory of hygiene. the old heroic treatment of diseases has nearly disappeared. the nauseous draughts, the blood-letting and blisters, have given place to moderate medication, the choice of climate and the regulation of diet. women have been admitted as copartners with men in the guardianship of the public health. athletic sports help the student to fresh blood and efficient muscle, without which the brain sickens and perishes. but even in this department how much is left to desire and to do! our greatest and richest city is still festering with the corruption that breeds disease. no board of health seems to have power to sweep its side streets and dark alleys. fashion keeps her avenues clean, and neglects the rest of the vast domain, for which she has her reward in many a ghastly epidemic. the late edward clarke, of boston,--heaven rest his soul!--could alarm the whole continent with his threats of the physical evils which the more perfect education of one sex would entail on both. but he has left no public protest against the monstrosities of toilet which deform and mutilate the bodies of women to-day, nor against the selfish frivolity of life in both sexes, which is equally inimical to true motherhood and to true fatherhood. i have seen in fashions of dress and furniture the curious cycle which my elders foretold, and which it takes, i should think, half a century to fulfil. my earliest childish remembrance is of the slim dresses which display as much as is possible of the outlines of the figure. i remember the _élégantes_ of gotham walking the one fashionable street of fifty-five years ago, attired in pelisses of pink or blue satin. a white satin cloak trimmed with dark fur seemed, even to my childish observation, a chill costume for a pedestrian in the heart of winter. my mother's last paris bonnet, bought probably in , appeared to her children, twenty years later, such a caricature, that pious hands destroyed it, in order that we might have no ludicrous association with the sweet young creature whose death had left us babes in the nursery. after many fluctuations and oscillations, i have seen modern head-gear near of kin to the subject of this holocaust. i have seen the old forms and colors return to popular favor. i have even heard that the very white satin cloak, which seemed _outré_ to the critic of six years, has been worn and greatly admired in the recent gay world of paris. the return in these cases, it must be said, is not to the identical point of departure. progress, according to some thinkers, follows a spiral, and is neither shut in a circle nor extended in a straight line. the hoops of our great-grandmothers are not the hoops which we remember to have seen or worn. their eelskin dresses are not the model of ours. still, the recurrence of the same vein of fancy marks a periodical approximation to the region or belt of influence in which certain forgotten possibilities suggest themselves to the seeker of novelty, and in which the capricious, antithetical fancy delights to crown with honor all that it found most devoid of beauty a few lustres ago. does this encyclical tendency in the familiar æsthetics of life imply a corresponding tendency in the moral and intellectual movement of mankind? i fear that it does. i fear that seriousness and frivolity, greed and disinterest, extravagance and economy, in so far as these are social and sympathetic phenomena, do succeed each other in the movement of the ages. but here the device of the spiral can save us. we must make the round, but we may make it with an upward inclination. "let there be light!" is sometimes said in accents so emphatic, that the universe remembers and cannot forget it. we carry our problem slowly forward. with all the ups and downs of every age, humanity constantly rises. individuals may preserve all its early delusions, commit all its primitive crimes; but to the body of civilized mankind, the return to barbarism is impossible. the æsthetic elaboration of ethical ideas, always a feature of civilization, becomes in our day a task of such prominence as to engage the zeal and labor of those even who have little natural facility for any of its processes. the ignoring of this department of culture by our puritan ancestors, had much to do with the bareness of surrounding and poverty of amusement which almost affright us in the record of their society. with all their insufficiency, these periods of severe simplicity are of great importance in the history of a people. the temporary withdrawal from the sensible and pleasurable to the severe verities of ethical study accumulates a reserve force which is sure to be very precious in the emergencies to which all nations are exposed. the reaction against the extreme of this is as likely to be excessive as was the action itself. if we tend to any extreme, nowadays, it is to that of making art take the place of thought, as may somewhat appear in the general rage for illustration and decoration. the ministrations of art to ethics are indeed unspeakably grand and helpful. the cathedrals of the old world, and its rich and varied galleries, preserve for us the fresh and naïve spirit of mediæval piety. religious art, indeed, becomes almost secularized by its repetitions; yet each of its great works has the isolation of its own atmosphere, and speaks its own language, which we reverently learn while we look upon it. of all arts, music is the one most intimately interwoven with the ethical consciousness of our own time. the oratorios of handel and of mendelssohn so blend the sacred text and the divine music, that we think of the two together, and almost as of things so wedded by god, that man must not seek to put them asunder. when i have sat to sing in the chorus of the messiah, and have heard the tenor take up the sweet burden of "comfort ye my people!" i have felt the whole chain of divine consolation which those historic words express, and which link the prophet of pre-christian times to the saints and sinners of to-day. in far-off palestine i have been shown the plain on which it is supposed that the shepherds were tending their flocks when the birth of the messiah was announced to them. but as i turned my eyes to view it, my memory was full of that pastoral symphony of handel's, in which the divine glory seems just muffled enough to be intelligible to our abrupt and hasty sense. nay, i lately heard a beloved voice which read the chapter of elijah's wonderful experiences in the wilderness. while i listened, bar after bar of mendelssohn's music struck itself off in the resonant chamber of memory, and i thanked the hebrew of our own time for giving the intensity of life to that mystical drama of insight and heroism. the transcendentalists of our own country made great account of the relation of art to ethics, and perhaps avenged the puritan partiality by giving art the leading, and ethics the subordinate place in their statements and endeavors. but the masters of the transcendental philosophy in europe did not so. spinoza, kant, and fichte were idealists of the severest type. standing for the moment between the two, i will only say that the danger of forgetting the high labors and rewards of thought in the pleasure of beautiful sights and sounds is one to which the highest civilization stands most exposed. to think aright, to resolve and pray aright, we must retire from those delights to the contemplation of that whose sublimity they can but faintly image, as we pass with joy from the likeness of our friend into his presence. love of ornament is by no means synonymous with love of the beautiful. the taste which overloads dress and architecture with superfluous irrelevancies, is often quite in opposition to that true sense of beauty which is indispensable to the artist and precious to the philosopher. "[greek: to kalon]," the greeks said. was it a naïve utterance on their part? was it through their poverty of expression, or their want of experience, that the same word with them signified the good and the beautiful? no. it was through the depth of their insight, and the power of their mental appreciation, that they so stamped this golden word as that it should show the supreme of form on one of its faces, and the supreme of spirit on the other. the social domain of religion has also undergone a change. in my early life i remember that all earnest and religious people were supposed to live out of the great world, and to keep company only with one another and with the subjects of their charitable beneficence. the disadvantages of this course are easily seen. free intercourse with the average of mankind is one of the most important agencies in enlarging and correcting the action of the human mind. the exigencies of ordinary intercourse develop a sense of the dependence of human beings upon each other, and a power corresponding to the needs involved in this interdependence. the religious susceptibilities of individuals, which are at once very strong in their character and very uncertain in their action, are liable to become either exaggerated or exhausted by a course of life which should rely wholly upon them for guidance and for interest. let us, therefore, by all means have saints in the world, keeping to their pure standard, and recommending it more by their actions than by their professions. but these saints must be brave as well as pure. unworthy doctrine must not escape their reprobation. when a just cause is contemned, they must stand by it. if the world shall cast them out in consequence, it will not be their fault. the social leagues which group themselves around the various churches of to-day, seem to me a feature of happy augury. it is the office of the church to inspire and direct the tone of social intercourse, and these associations should greatly help it to that end. i lately heard wendell phillips complain that church exercises nowadays largely consist of picnics and other merry-makings. only a little before, mr. phillips, in his reply to mr. parkman's article against woman suffrage, had spoken of the growth of social influence as a good. it does, to be sure, look a little whimsical to read on the bulletin of a methodist church such announcements as this,--"private theatricals for the benefit of the sunday school." but wesley introduced the use of secular tunes in his church on the ground that the devil should not have all the good music. neither should he monopolize the innocent amusements with which, if they are left to him, he does indeed play the devil. although the great ocean will always hold europe at arm's length from us, yet the currents of belief and sympathy bring its various peoples near to us in various ways. i remember to have taken note of this long before the ocean steamships brought the eastern hemisphere within a few days' journey from our own seaboard, and very long before the time-annihilating cables were dreamed of. the french have always had with us the prestige of their social tact and sumptuary elegance. the english manners are affected by those among us who mistake the aristocracy of position for the aristocracy of character. the italians rule us by their great artists in the past, and by their subtle policy in the present. the germans have, as they deserve, the pre-eminence in music, in metaphysics, and in many departments of high culture. i have not long since been taken to task by a writer in a prominent new york paper for some strictures regarding the quasi-omnipotence of money in the society of to-day. the writer in question enlarged somewhat upon the greatly increased expenditure of money in our own country, as if this must be considered as a good in itself. he concludes his statement by remarking that mrs. howe has never studied the proper significance of the money question. i desire to say here only that i have not neglected the study of this question, which so regards the very life of society. one of its problems i have ventured to decide for myself, viz., whether the luxury of the rich really supports the industry of the poor. the æsthetic of luxury is a mean and superficial one. the critique of luxury is compliant and cowardly; and, despite its glittering promise to pay any price for what it desires, luxury orders poorly, pays poorly, and in the end undermines the credit of the state, the very citadel of its solvency. i regret and deplore its prevalence to-day, and consider it not as the safeguard, but as the most dangerous enemy of republican institutions. in our america, ay, even in our puritan new england, the day has come in which economy is a discredit and poverty a disgrace. with the common school ever at work to lift the social level, unfolding to the child of the day-laborer the page which instructs the son of the peer, the cry is still that money is god, and that there is none other. one may ask, in the business streets, whether rich people have any faults, or poor people any virtues. a woman who sells her beauty for a rich dower is honored in church and in state. both alike bow to the money in her hand. one proverb says that time is money, as if it were "only that, and nothing more." another proverb says that money is power. and in this form, no doubt, it receives the most fervent worship, for luxury palls sooner or later, while ambition is never satisfied. but we constantly meet, on the other hand, with instances in which money is not power. money does not give talent or intelligence. you cannot buy good government, good manners, or good taste: you cannot buy health or life. do some of you remember the shipwreck, some twenty years ago, of a steamer homeward-bound from california? the few survivors told how the desperate passengers brought their belts and bags of gold to the cabin, and threw them about with a bitter contempt of their worthlessness. states have such shipwrecks, in which avenging fate seems to say to those who have sacrificed all for wealth, "thy money perish with thee." the heroics of history are full of the story of great ends, accomplished by very small means. now a handful of resolute men hold the forces of a great empire in check, and beat back the ocean surge of barbarism from the marble of their strong will. now a single martyr turns the scale of the world's affection by throwing into the balance the weight of one small life. now a state with every disadvantage of territory, cursed with sterility, or exposed to the murderous overflow of the salt sea, takes its stand upon the simple determination to conquer for itself a free and worthy existence. frederick of prussia and his small army, washington, with his handful of men, in these and so many other instances, we admire the attainment of mighty ends through means which seem infinitesimal in proportion to them. how shall it be in our country, to which nature has given the widest variety of climate, soil, and production? shall we become a lesson to the world in the opposite direction? shall we show how little a people may accomplish with every circumstance in its favor, and with nothing wanting to its success but the careful mind and resolute spirit? god forbid! the belief in pacific methods of settling international differences has made a noticeable progress in my time. in my school-days i remember a grave presbyterian household at whose fireside i one day saw an elderly man seat himself, with little notice from the members of the family. i inquired who he might be, and was told, with some good-natured laughter, that this old gentleman was the american peace society, _i.e._, the last surviving member of that association. this was a humorous exaggeration of the truth. judge jay, of new york, was living at that time, and all the enthusiasm of the peace cause lived in him, and no doubt in many others. i have remembered the incident, nevertheless; and when i have seen the stately peace congresses held in europe and elsewhere, when i have seen rapacious england submitting to arbitration, when i have seen the flag of military prestige go down before the white banner of peace, as in the late change of the ministry in that country, i have remembered that day of small things, and have learned that the faith of individuals is the small seed from which spring the mighty growths of popular conviction and sympathy. the extensive wars which have taken place within the last forty years, as extensive and as deadly as any the world ever saw, are sometimes quoted in derision of those who believe, as i do, in the sober, steady growth of the pacific spirit among people of intelligence. the reasons for this advance lie deeper than the vision of the careless observer may reach. within the period of our own century the value of human life to the individual has been greatly increased by the wide diffusion of the advantages of civilization. the value of the individual to the state has become greatly increased by the multiplication of industrial resources, and by the immense emigration which at times threatens to drain the older society of its working population. the spread of education has at once undermined the blind belief of the multitude in military leaders, and toned down the blind ferocity of instinct to which those leaders are forced to appeal. wars of mere spoliation are scarcely permitted to-day. wars of pure offence are deeply disapproved of. the military and diplomatic injustice of past times has left unsettled many questions of territory and boundary which will not rest until they shall be set right. the populations which war has plundered and subjugated, lay their cause before the world's tribunal. in aid of this, the friends of the true law and order are ever busy in forming a nucleus of moral power, which governments will be forced to respect. thus, though the war-demon dies hard, he is doomed, and we shall yet see the battlements of his grim cathedrals places for lovers to woo and for babes to play in. in religion i have seen the dark ministrations of terror give way before the radiant gospel of hope. i remember when doctrine sat beside the bed of death, and offered its flimsy synonym to the eyes upon which the awful, eternal truth was about to dawn. i remember when a man with a poor diploma and a human commission assumed to hold the keys of heaven and hell in his hands, and to dispense to those who would listen to him such immortality as he thought fit. i remember when it went hard with those who, in forming their religious opinions, persisted in daring to use the critical power of their own judgment. they were lonely saints; they wandered in highways and byways, unrecognized, excommunicated of men. no one had power to burn their bodies, but it was hoped that their souls would not escape the torment of eternal flame. i have seen this time, and i have lived to see a time in which these rejected stones, hewn and polished by god's hand, have come to be recognized as corner-stones in the practical religious building of the age. what a discredit was it once to hear theodore parker! how happy are they now esteemed who have heard him! let not mr. emerson's urbanity lead him to forget the days in which polite boston laughed him to scorn. brook farm was once looked upon as a most amusing caricature. but when the world learned something about nathaniel hawthorne, george ripley, william henry channing, john dwight, and george william curtis, the public heart bowed itself with remorseful homage before the ruined threshold of what was, with all its shortcomings, a blameless temple to ideal humanity. it is quite true that every change which i have seen in the society of my time cannot be said to be, in itself, for the better. the price of progress, like that of liberty, is eternal vigilance. a time of religious enfranchisement may induce a period of religious indifference. cosmopolitan enlargement may weaken the force of patriotism. the charity of society may degenerate into an indifference concerning private morals, which, if it could prevail, would go far towards destroying public ones. humanity ever needs the watchman on the tower. it needs the warning against danger, the guidance out of it. i can imagine a set of prophets less absolute than the hebrew seers, whose denunciation of evils, near or present, should always couple itself with profound and sober suggestions of help. and this will be the work of faith in our day, to believe in the good which can overcome the evil, and to seek it with earnest and brave persistence. let me return for a moment, very briefly, to what i touched upon just now, the great changes in religious thought which this century has witnessed. what manifold contrasts have we observed in this domain! what a wild and wide chase in the fields of conjecture! what impatience with the idols of the past, historical and metaphysical! there have been moments in the last twenty years in which one might have said to the religious ideals of past ages that the time had come in which every one who raised his hand against them thought that he was doing god service. this iconoclasm had its time, and, one supposes, its office. but the religious necessities of mankind are permanent, and will outlast any and all systems of pure criticism. the question arises, in all this havoc of illusory impressions, who is to provide for the culture and direction of those instincts of reverence which are so precious to, so ineradicable in the race? we must ask this service of those who believe that religion is, on the whole, wiser than its critics. those who have been able to hold fast this persuasion will be the religious trainers of our youth. those who have relinquished it will have no more skill to teach religion than a sculptor will have to feed an army. the greatest trouble with human society is, that its natural tendency leads it, not to learn right measure through one excess, but, on becoming convinced of this, to rush into an opposite excess with equal zeal and equal error. the mechanism of society requires constant correction in order to keep up the succession of order and progress through and despite this proneness to extravagance and loss of power. this rectification of direction without interruption of movement is the office of critical and constructive thought. precious are the men, and rare as precious, who carry this balance in their minds, and, while the ship lurches now on this side and now on that, strain after the compass with masterful courage and patience. we have all known such men, but we have known, too, that their type is not a common one. among all who are out of work to-day, so far as the market is concerned, those men of careful and critical judgment are the least called for, and the least wished for by the majority of men. headlong enthusiasm, headlong activity, headlong doubt and cynicism, the prevalence of these shows the force with which the present whirl of the spindle was cast. fair and softly, my quick-flying century. to find out whether you are going right or wrong, whether you are faithful or faithless, solvent or bankrupt, you must have recourse to these same slow, patient men and women, who try such questions by a more accurate and difficult method than that of the popular inclination. i find that the philosopher kant, writing more than a hundred years ago, remarks that in so sociable an age as his own culture must naturally be expected to assume an encyclopedic character. it will, he says, necessarily desire to present a manifold number of agreeable and instructive acquisitions, easy of apprehension, for entertainment in friendly intercourse. these words seem prophetic of the efforts after general information, with a view to conversation as an accomplishment, which have constituted a marked feature of american and english society within forty years. in the dissolving view of the public predilection, this object has lost much of its prominence. the ornate and well-rounded periods of the conversationist are not more in request, nowadays, than were the high-sounding sentiments of joseph surface to sir peter teazle, when experience had shown him their emptiness. blunt speech and curt expression rather are in favor. the heroines of novels are supposed to fall in love with men of a somewhat brutal type. adonis is out of fashion. hercules pleases, and even vulcan is preferred. one thinks that the influence of the mercantile spirit may be recognized in this change. long speeches and roundabout statements are found not to pay. the man who listens to them with one ear, hearkens with the other for the ocean telegrams, news of the stock market, considers the maturing of a note, the success or failure of a scheme. when there is no one to listen, loquacity itself will grow economical of breath. the world is quite right in its tacit protest against over talk. a great deal of empty, irrelevant speech is liable to be imposed upon the good-nature of society in the garb of instructive conversation. it is weary to listen by the hour to men or women who principally teach you their own opinion of their own erudition. but woe to the world if its haste and greed should ever be such that the true teacher should want an audience, the long lessons of philosophy find interpreters, but no pupils. the present is, on the whole, an encyclopedic, cosmopolitan era. i suppose that it succeeds as a reaction to one of more special and isolated endeavor. the example and influence of goethe have had much to do with the formation of the ideas of culture which have been prevalent in our time. this wonderful man went, with such a happy tact, from one thing to another. in poetry he did so much, in high criticism so much, in science so much, and in world-wisdom so much! how naturally were the lovers of study, who made him their model, led to undertake, as he did, to render the most eminent service, to attain the highest honors in a dozen different departments! but the man goethe was more wonderful even than his writings. his individuality was too powerful to suffer loss through the variety of his pursuits. he could be at once a courtier and a philosopher, a poet and a scientist, a critic of morals and a man of the world, and in all things remain himself. i sometimes wonder why we americans are so apt to show, in our conduct and remarks, an undue preponderance of what the phrenologists term love of approbation. this is an amiable and useful trait in human nature, which may degenerate into a weak and cowardly vanity, or even into a malignant selfishness. to desire the approbation which can enlighten us as to the merits of what we have done or attempted, is wise as well as graceful. to make constant laudation a prominent object in any life is a capital mistake in its ordering. to prefer the praise of men to the justification of conscience, is at once cowardly and criminal. i observe these three phases in american life. i value the first, compassionate the second, and reprobate the third. surely, if there is any virtue which a republican people is bound to show, it is that self-respect which is the only true majesty, and which can afford to be as generous and gracious as majesty should be. it is, perhaps, natural that many of us should, through a want of experience, mistake the standpoint of people conspicuous in the older european society as greatly superior to our own. we can learn much, indeed, from the observation of such a standpoint; but, in order to do so, we must hold fast our own plain, honest judgment, as we derive it from education, inheritance, and natural ability. it must, i should think, be very tedious and very surprising to europeans to hear americans complain of being so young, so crude, so immature. this is not according to nature. imagine a nursery full of babies who should bewail the fact of their infancy. any one who should hear such a complaint would cry out, "why, that's the best thing about you. you have the newness, the promise, the unwasted vigor of childhood,--gifts so great that christ enjoined it upon holy men to recover, if they had lost them." if our society is young, its motto should be the saying of saint paul to timothy, "let no man despise thy youth." the great men of our early history deserve to rank with the ripest products of civilization. was washington crude? was franklin raw? were jay, jefferson, and hamilton immature? the authorities of the older world bowed down to them, and did them homage. the republicans of france laid the key of the bastille at the feet of washington. franklin was honored and admired in the court circle of louis xvi. there was a twofold reason for this. these men represented the power and vigor of our youth; but our youth itself represented the eternal principles of truth and justice, for whose application the world had waited long. and thinking people saw in us the dignity of that right upon which we had founded our hope and belief as a nation. i will instance a single event of which i heard much during my last visit in rome. a german, naturalized in america, and who had made a large fortune by a railroad contract in south america, had purchased from some european government the title of "count." he was betrothed to the sister-in-law of a well-known california millionnaire, whose wife has been for some years a resident of paris, where her silver, her diamonds, and her costly entertainments are matters of general remark. all of these parties are roman catholics. the wedding took place in rome, and was signalized by a festival, at which twelve horses, belong to the bridegroom, were ridden in a race, whose prizes were bestowed by the hand of the bride. the invitations for this occasion were largely distributed by a monsignor of the romish church, and the king of italy honored the newly married pair by his presence. not long after this, i read in the italian papers that this very count had become a candidate for a seat in the italian parliament. i suppose that money will assist an election as much in italy as elsewhere. the monsignor who interested himself so efficiently about the invitations for the wedding party, was none other than the master of ceremonies of pope leo xiii. he would, no doubt, have taken even greater interest in the return of his friend to the parliament. i do not know whether this gentleman has ever succeeded in usurping the place of a representative of the italian people; but the chance of his being able to do so lay in the american gold of which he had become possessed. here is one instance of the direct relations between rome and america which americans so placidly overlook. in this day of the world hope is so strong, and the desire for an improved condition so prevalent, that much may be looked for in europe as the result of the legitimate action and influence of america. but if american capital busies itself with upholding the shams of the old world, if american taste and talent are led and pledged to work with the reactionary agents everywhere against the enfranchisement of the human race, where shall the hope of the world find refuge? goldsmith has a touching picture of the emigrants who, in his time, were compelled to leave the country which would not feed them, for a distant bourne, which could, by no means, be to them a home. but let us assist at the embarkation of another group of exiles. these people have been living abroad, and are about to return home. the rich, beautiful land whose discovery has changed the fortunes of the human race, invites them on the other side of the atlantic. the flag which represents the noblest chapter of modern history waves over them. from dynastic, aristocratic europe they go to inherit the work of an ancestry heroic in thought and action. they go to the land which still boasts a longfellow, a whittier, an emerson, a harriet beecher stowe. are they glad? are they happy? no. they have learned the follies of the old world, not its wisdom. they are not going home,--they are going into exile. let us look a little at their record in the europe which they regret so passionately. they went abroad with money, and the education which it commands, with leisure and health. what good deeds may they not have done! what gratifying remembrance may they have left behind them! shall we not find them recorded as donors to many a noble charity, as students in many a lofty school? we shalt indeed, sometimes. but in many cases we shall hear only of their fine clothes and expensive entertainments, with possible mortifying anecdotes of their fast behavior. if the mother leaves a daughter behind her, it is likely to be as the wife of some needy european nobleman, who despises all that she is bound to hold dear, and is proud not to know that which it should be her glory to understand. i said at concord, and i say it to-day, that the press is much affected by the money debauch of the period. let us examine the way in which this result is likely to be brought about. a newspaper or periodical is almost always an investment in which the idea of gain is very prominent. this expectation may either regard what the proposed paper shall earn as a medium of information, or the profit of certain enterprises which its statements may actively promote. special organs are founded for special emergencies, as is a campaign sheet, or for the advocate of special reforms, like the antislavery "standard" of old, and the "woman's journal" of to-day. these papers rarely repay either the money advanced for them, or the literary labor bestowed upon them. under the head of its earnings the newspaper depends upon two classes of persons, viz., its advertisers and its subscribers. either or both of these may be displeased by the emphatic mention of some certain fact, the expression of some certain opinion. "if we tell this unwelcome truth," say the managers, "we shall lose such and such subscribers. if we take this stand, some of our wealthiest advertising firms will choose another medium of communicating with the public." the other set of considerations just spoken of, the enterprises which are to be favored and promoted, may still more seriously affect the tone and action of the paper, which will thus be drawn in a twofold way to lend itself to the publication only of what it will pay to say. the annals of journalism in this country will, no doubt, show a fair average of courageous and conscientious men among its chiefs. i am willing to believe all things and to hope all things in this direction. but i must confess that i fear all things, too, in view of a great power, whose position makes it almost an irresponsible one. and i should regard with great favor the formation of an unofficial censorship of public organs, in view not so much of what may be published, as of what is unfairly left out of the statements and counterstatements of conflicting interests. of all the changes which i can chronicle as of my own time, the change in the position of women is perhaps the most marked and the least anticipated by the world at large. whatever opinions heroic men and women may have held concerning this from plato's time to our own, the most enlightened periods of history have hardly given room to hope that the sex in general would ever reach the enfranchisement which it enjoys to-day. i date the assurance of its freedom from the hour in which the first university received women graduates upon the terms accorded to pupils of the opposite sex. for education keeps the key of life, and a liberal education insures the first conditions of freedom, viz., adequate knowledge and accustomed thought. this first and greatest step gained, the gate of professional knowledge and experience quickly opened, and that of political enfranchisement stands already ajar. the battle can have but one result, and it has been fought, with chivalrous temper and determination, not by one sex against the other, but by the very gospel of fairness and justice against the intrenched might of selfish passion, inertia, and prejudice. equal conditions of life will lift the whole level of society, which is so entirely one body that the lifting or lowering of one half lifts or lowers the other half. this change, which in the end appeared to come suddenly, has been prepared by such gradual tentatives, by such long and sound labor, that we need not fear to lose sight of it in any sudden collapse. there are women of my age, and women of earlier generations, who have borne it in their hearts all their lives through, who have prayed and worked for it, without rest and without discouragement. horace mann was its apostle, theodore parker was its prophet, margaret fuller, lucy stone, and a host of wise and true-hearted women, whom the time would fail me to name, have been its female saints. it was in nature; they have brought it into life; even as christ said, "my father worketh hitherto, and i work." the slender thread which crossed the dark abyss of difficulty was not the silken spinning of vanity, nor the cobweb fibre of madness. from the faith of pure hearts the steadfast links were wrought, and the great chasm is spanned, and is ready to become the strong and sure highway of hope, for this nation and for the nations of the earth. the customs of society prescribe the mental garb and gait proper to those who desire the favorable notice of their peers in their own time. as these are partly matters of tradition and inheritance, we can learn something of the merits and demerits of a generation by studying the habits of familiar judgment which it hands down to its successor. a narrow, ill-educated generation leaves behind it corresponding garments of rule and prescription, to which the next generation must for a time accommodate itself, because a custom or a fashion is not made in a day. the rulers of society seem often more occupied in dwarfing the mind to suit the custom than in enlarging the custom so as to fit it to the growth of mind. the most dangerous rebellions, individual and social, are natural revolts against the small tyranny which perpetuates the insufficiency of the past. the copper shoes which so cramp the foot of a female infant in china as to destroy its power of growth, are not more cruel or deleterious than are the habits of unreflecting prejudice which compress the growth of human minds until they, too, lose their native power of expansion, and the idol prejudice is enthroned and worshipped by those on whom it has imposed its own deformity as the standard of truth and beauty. the heavy tasks which nature imposes upon women leave them less at leisure than men to reform and readjust these inherited garments. the necessity for prompt and early action obliges them to follow the intuitive faculties, as all must do who have not time to work out the problems of the reasoning ones. the instinct of possession is a ruling one in human nature, and a woman inheriting a superstition or a prejudice holds fast to it because it is something, and she has got it. it seems to her a possession. it may be a mischievous and unfortunate one, but it will take a good deal of time and thought to find that out. those who have the training of women's minds often train them away from such a use of time and from such a labor of thought. hence the fatal persistence of large classes of women in superstitions which the thinking world has outgrown, and the equally fatal zeal with which they impose the same insufficient modes of judgment upon their children. i pray this generation of women, which has seen such enlargements of the old narrow order regarding the sex, i pray it to deserve its high post as guardian of the future. let it bequeath to its posterity a noble standard of womanhood, free, pure, and, above all, laborious. the standard of manhood really derives from that of womanhood, and not _vice versa_, as many imagine. however we may receive from tradition the order of their material creation, in that of training and education, the woman's influence comes before that of the man, and outlasts it. the figure of the infant christ dwells always in our mind, accompanied by that of the gracious mother who gave him to the world. let the fact of this great gift prefigure to us the august office of woman. hers be it also to preserve and transmit from age to age the christian doctrine and the christlike faith. and, in order that she may fully realize the glory and blessedness of giving, let her remember that what is worthily given to one time is given to all time. * * * * * uniform with arnold's poems. the light of asia; or, the great renunciation. being the life and teaching of gautama, prince of india and founder of buddhism (as told in verse by an indian buddhist). by edwin arnold, m.a. "it is a work of great beauty. it tells a story of intense interest, which never flags for a moment; its descriptions are drawn by the hand of a master with the eye of a poet and the familiarity of an expert with the objects described; its tone is so lofty that there is nothing with which to compare it but the new testament; it is full of variety, now picturesque, now pathetic, now rising into the noblest realms of thought and aspiration; it finds language penetrating, fluent, elevated, impassioned, musical always, to clothe its varied thoughts and sentiments."--oliver wendell holmes, _international review_, october, . "in mr. edwin arnold, indian poetry and indian thought have at length found a worthy english exponent. he brings to his work the facility of a ready pen, a thorough knowledge of his subject, a great sympathy for the people of this country, and a command of public attention at home."--_calcutta englishman._ "'the light of asia' is a remarkable poem, and worthy of a place amongst the great poems of our time. mr. arnold is far more than 'a coiner of sweet words'--he is the exponent of noble impressions. he is a scholar and a philosopher; but he is also a true singer."--_london daily telegraph._ library edition. mo. cloth. price $ . cheap edition. mo. paper. price . roberts brothers, publishers, boston. _messrs. roberts brothers' publications._ on the right use of books. a lecture. by william p. atkinson, professor of english and history in the massachusetts institute of technology. mo. cloth. price cents. "full of good sense, sound taste, and quiet humor.... it is the easiest thing in the world to waste time over books, which are merely tools of knowledge like any other tools.... it is the function of a good book not only to fructify, but to inspire, not only to fill the memory with evanescent treasures, but to enrich the imagination with forms of beauty and goodness which leave a lasting impression on the character."--_n. y. tribune._ "contains so many wise suggestions concerning methods in study and so excellent a summary of the nature and principles of a really liberal education that it well deserves publication for the benefit of the reading public. though it makes only a slight volume, its quality in thought and style is so admirable that all who are interested in the subject of good education will give to it a prominent and honorable position among the many books upon education which have recently been published. for it takes only a brief reading to perceive that in this single lecture the results of wide experience in teaching and of long study of the true principles of education are generalized and presented in a few pages, each one of which contains so much that it might be easily expanded into an excellent chapter."--_the library table._ reading as a fine art. by ernest legouvÉ, of the académie française. translated from the ninth edition by abby langdon alger. mo. cloth. cents. (_dedication._) to the scholars of the high and normal school. for you this sketch was written: permit me to dedicate it to you, in fact, to intrust it to your care. pupils to-day, to-morrow you will be teachers; to-morrow, generation after generation of youth will pass through your guardian hands. an idea received by you must of necessity reach thousands of minds. help me, then, to spread abroad the work in which you have some share, and allow me to add to the great pleasure of having numbered you among my hearers the still greater happiness of calling you my assistants. e. legouvÉ. we commend this valuable little book to the attention of teachers and others interested in the instruction of the pupils of our public schools. it treats of the "first steps in reading," "learning-to read," "should we read as we talk," "the use and management of the voice," "the art of breathing," "pronunciation," "stuttering," "punctuation," "readers and speakers," "reading as a means of criticism," "on reading poetry," &c., and makes a strong claim as to the value of reading aloud, as being the most wholesome of gymnastics, for to strengthen the voice is to strengthen the whole system and develop vocal power. _sold by all booksellers. mailed, post-paid, by the publishers_, roberts brothers, boston. the no name (second) series. signor monaldini's niece. _extracts from some opinions by well-known authors._ "we have read 'signor monaldini's niece' with intensest interest and delight. the style is finished and elegant, the atmosphere of the book is enchanting. we seem to have lived in italy while we were reading it. the author has delineated with a hand as steady as it is powerful and skilful some phases of human life and experience that authors rarely dare attempt, and with marvellous success. we think this volume by far the finest of the no name series." "it is a delicious story. i feel as if i had been to italy and knew all the people.... miss conroy is a strong character, and her tragedy is a fine background for the brightness of the other and higher natures. it is all so dramatic and full of color it goes on like a lovely play and leaves one out of breath when the curtain falls." "i have re-read it with great interest, and think as highly of it as ever.... the characterization in it is capital, and the talk wonderfully well done from first to last." "the new no name is enchanting. it transcends the ordinary novel just as much as a true poem by a true poet transcends the thousand and one imitations.... it is the episode, however, of miss conroy and mrs. brandon that is really of most importance in this book.... i hope every woman who reads this will be tempted to read the book, and that she will in her turn bring it to the reading of other women, especially if she can find any mrs. brandon in her circle." in one volume, mo, bound in green cloth, black and gilt lettered. price $ . . _our publications are to be had of all booksellers. when not to be found, send directly to_ roberts brothers, boston. the no name (second) series. the colonel's opera cloak. "a jollier, brighter, breezier, more entertaining book than 'the colonel's opera cloak' has not been published for many a day. we defy the coldest-blooded reader to lay it down before it is finished, or to read it through without feeling his time well spent. there is plenty of satire in its pages, but it is good-natured satire. the characters are sharply drawn--some of them from nature, we fancy--and there is spice enough in the way of incident to satisfy the most exacting palate. of course, everybody will read it, and, in that presumption, we promise everybody two hours of thorough enjoyment."--_boston transcript._ "the no name series abounds in contrasts, and that between 'signor monaldini's niece' and the present story is among the most decided it has offered. this we do not mention by way of disparagement. on the contrary, we can see a distinctive merit in a series which includes so much variety of aim and interest as this does, without any regard for the conventional demand that a succession of stories in the same binding should all be of one school and in something the same tone. we can see why an admirer of the last novel may at first be taken aback by the light tone of this, and in so far disappointed; but we shall expend no sympathy on that person. 'the colonel's opera cloak' is a bright and thoroughly alluring little book, with which it would be foolish to find fault on any score. and, more than that, it is well written and brimming over with wit. the notion of a story in which there is avowedly no hero or heroine excepting an old opera cloak, is clever, and, so far as we know, quite new.... we can assure every one who wishes the double pleasure of laughter and literary enjoyment, that this is one of the books to carry to the country."--_boston courier._ "the author's touch is always that of the artist; it always has the magic power of portraying individual men and women, never giving us shadowy outlines, however few or hurried the strokes of the pencil may be, and saying this we say that the author of 'the colonel's opera cloak' has in large measure the best and most necessary qualification for doing really fine work in fiction. if he is still young, as certain things in his story indicate that he is, his future efforts may well be looked for hopefully."--_n.y. evening post._ in one volume. mo. green cloth. price $ . . _our publications are to be had of all booksellers. when not to be found, send directly to_ roberts brothers, publishers, =boston=. sarah tytler's art books. the old masters and their pictures. modern painters and their paintings. by sarah tytler, author of "papers for thoughtful girls." mo. cloth, neat. price of each, $ . . designed for the use of schools and learners in art, and extensively used in academies, seminaries, &c., throughout the country. "an excellent introduction to the history of art."--_daily news._ "these two books give in a simple and concise manner the prominent facts that every one who desires to be well informed should know about the great artists of the world. for beginners in art and for school use they are valuable."--_courier-journal._ "really supplies what has long been a want."--_british quarterly review._ "we are not aware of any work of the kind written with so much intelligence which yet is so untechnical."--_nonconformist._ "too much praise cannot be given the conscientious manner in which the author has worked. there is no obtrusion of useless details or of unwelcome criticism; but in very pleasant style, with clear and well-defined purpose, the story of the growth and progress of art is told through the lives and works of artists. the volumes are most agreeable reading and profitable study."--_boston post._ musical composers and their works. for the use of schools and students in america. by sarah tytler. vol. mo. $ . . in this unostentatious but carefully written volume, the author of "old masters" and "modern painters" has given a simple account of the great musicians of the world and of their works. the book is designed more especially for the use of young people in the course of their musical education, but the author trusts--and with very good reason--that it will commend itself also to older people, who are interested in the subject, but who have not time or opportunity to refer to original sources of information. not the least attractive portion of the work is the sketch of wagner with which it closes. [illustration] "no name series." _the first series, completed_, comprises twelve novels, viz., mercy philbrick's choice. hetty's strange history. is that all? will denbigh, eman. kismet. the wolf at the door. the great match. marmorne. a modern mephistopheles. mirage. afterglow. gemini. and two poetical volumes: deirdrÉ. a novel in verse. a masque of poets. original poems, by fifty poets, written specially for this book; including "guy vernon," an entire novelette in verse. fourteen volumes in all, uniformly bound in black cloth, red and gilt lettered. price $ . each. no name [second] series. the new series will retain all the peculiar features which made the first so popular, differing from it only in the style of binding. now ready, signor monaldini's niece, the colonel's opera cloak, his majesty, myself, mrs. beauchamp brown, price $ . each. salvage. _our publications are to be had of all booksellers. when not to be found send directly to_ roberts brothers, publishers, boston. the "no name series." kismet. a nile novel. opinions, generous tributes to genius, by well-known authors whose names are withheld. "well, i have read 'kismet,' and it is certainly very remarkable. the story is interesting,--any well-told love story is, you know,--but the book itself is a great deal more so. descriptively and sentimentally,--i use the word with entire respect,--it is, in spots, fairly exquisite. it seems to me all glowing and overflowing with what the french call _beauté du diable_.... the conversations are very clever, and the wit is often astonishingly like the wit of an accomplished man of the world. one thing which seems to me to show promise--great promise, if you will--for the future is that the author can not only reproduce the conversation of one brilliant man, but can make two men talk together as if they _were_ men,--not women in manly clothes." "it is a charming book. i have read it twice, and looked it over again, and i wish i had it all new to sit up with to-night. it is so fresh and sweet and innocent and joyous, the dialogue is so natural and bright, the characters so keenly edged, and the descriptions so poetic. i don't know when i have enjoyed any thing more,--never since i went sailing up the nile with harriet martineau.... you must give the author love and greeting from one of the fraternity. the hand that gives us _this_ pleasure will give us plenty more of an improving quality every year, i think." "'kismet' is indeed a delightful story, the best of the series undoubtedly." "if 'kismet' is the first work of a young lady, as reported, it shows a great gift of language, and powers of description and of insight into character and life quite uncommon.... of the whole series so far, i think 'mercy philbrick's choice' is the best, because it has, beside literary merit, some moral tone and vigor. still there are capabilities in the writer of 'kismet' even higher than in that of the writer of 'mercy philbrick's choice.'" "i liked it extremely. it is the best in the series so far, except in construction, in which 'is that all?' slight as it is, seems to me superior. 'kismet' is winning golden opinions everywhere. i have nothing but praises for it, and have nothing but praise to give it." "i have read 'kismet' once, and mean to read it again. it is thoroughly charming, and will be a success." one volume, bound in cardinal red and black. price $ . . our publications are to be had of all booksellers. when not to be found, send directly to roberts brothers, publishers, boston. publishers' advertisement. _from the boston daily advertiser._ the "no name series." "leigh hunt, _in his 'indicator,' has a pleasant chapter on the difficulty he encountered in seeking a suitable and fresh title for a collection of his miscellaneous writings. messrs. roberts brothers have just overcome a similar difficulty in the simplest manner. in selecting_ "no name," _they have selected the very best title possible for a series of original american novels and tales, to be published anonymously. these novels are to be written by eminent authors, and in each case the authorship of the work is to remain an inviolable secret. "no name" describes the series perfectly. no name will help the novel, or the story, to success. its success will depend solely on the writer's ability to catch and retain the reader's interest. several of the most distinguished writers of american fiction have agreed to contribute to the series, the initial volume of which is now in press. its appearance will certainly be awaited with curiosity_." [illustration] the plan thus happily foreshadowed will be immediately inaugurated by the publication of "mercy philbrick's choice," from the pen of a well-known and successful writer of fiction. it is intended to include in the series a volume of anonymous poems from famous hands, to be written especially for it. the "no name series" will be issued at convenient intervals, in handsome library form, mo, cloth, price $ . each. roberts brothers, publishers. boston, midsummer, . * * * * * transcriber's notes punctuation has been normalized. on page "immediatly" changed to "immediately". "... the generation immediately preceding my own." on page "self-dicipline" changed to "self-discipline". "without self-discipline and self-sacrifice...." on page "superflous" changed to "superfluous." "... with superfluous irrelevancies...." on page "religous" changed to "religious." "... will be the religious trainers...." on page capitalization in "who" retained as printed. on page "aginst" changed to "against." "... revolts against the small tyranny...."