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diff --git a/3631.txt b/3631.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1802792 --- /dev/null +++ b/3631.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2646 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, On the Significance of Science and Art, by +Count Lyof N. Tolstoi, Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: On the Significance of Science and Art + from What to Do? + + +Author: Count Lyof N. Tolstoi + + + +Release Date: December 27, 2007 [eBook #3631] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE AND +ART*** + + +Transcribed from the 1887 Tomas Y. Crowell "What to do?" edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE AND ART--FROM "WHAT TO DO?" + + +ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE AND ART. + + +CHAPTER I. + + +. . . {169} The justification of all persons who have freed themselves +from toil is now founded on experimental, positive science. The +scientific theory is as follows:-- + +"For the study of the laws of life of human societies, there exists but +one indubitable method,--the positive, experimental, critical method + +"Only sociology, founded on biology, founded on all the positive +sciences, can give us the laws of humanity. Humanity, or human +communities, are the organisms already prepared, or still in process of +formation, and which are subservient to all the laws of the evolution of +organisms. + +"One of the chief of these laws is the variation of destination among the +portions of the organs. Some people command, others obey. If some have +in superabundance, and others in want, this arises not from the will of +God, not because the empire is a form of manifestation of personality, +but because in societies, as in organisms, division of labor becomes +indispensable for life as a whole. Some people perform the muscular +labor in societies; others, the mental labor." + +Upon this doctrine is founded the prevailing justification of our time. + +Not long ago, their reigned in the learned, cultivated world, a moral +philosophy, according to which it appeared that every thing which exists +is reasonable; that there is no such thing as evil or good; and that it +is unnecessary for man to war against evil, but that it is only necessary +for him to display intelligence,--one man in the military service, +another in the judicial, another on the violin. There have been many and +varied expressions of human wisdom, and these phenomena were known to the +men of the nineteenth century. The wisdom of Rousseau and of Lessing, +and Spinoza and Bruno, and all the wisdom of antiquity; but no one man's +wisdom overrode the crowd. It was impossible to say even this,--that +Hegel's success was the result of the symmetry of this theory. There +were other equally symmetrical theories,--those of Descartes, Leibnitz, +Fichte, Schopenhauer. There was but one reason why this doctrine won for +itself, for a season, the belief of the whole world; and this reason was, +that the deductions of that philosophy winked at people's weaknesses. +These deductions were summed up in this,--that every thing was +reasonable, every thing good; and that no one was to blame. + +When I began my career, Hegelianism was the foundation of every thing. It +was floating in the air; it was expressed in newspaper and periodical +articles, in historical and judicial lectures, in novels, in treatises, +in art, in sermons, in conversation. The man who was not acquainted with +Hegal had no right to speak. Any one who desired to understand the truth +studied Hegel. Every thing rested on him. And all at once the forties +passed, and there was nothing left of him. There was not even a hint of +him, any more than if he had never existed. And the most amazing thing +of all was, that Hegelianism did not fall because some one overthrew it +or destroyed it. No! It was the same then as now, but all at once it +appeared that it was of no use whatever to the learned and cultivated +world. + +There was a time when the Hegelian wise men triumphantly instructed the +masses; and the crowd, understanding nothing, blindly believed in every +thing, finding confirmation in the fact that it was on hand; and they +believed that what seemed to them muddy and contradictory there on the +heights of philosophy was all as clear as the day. But that time has +gone by. That theory is worn out: a new theory has presented itself in +its stead. The old one has become useless; and the crowd has looked into +the secret sanctuaries of the high priests, and has seen that there is +nothing there, and that there has been nothing there, save very obscure +and senseless words. This has taken place within my memory. + +"But this arises," people of the present science will say, "from the fact +that all that was the raving of the theological and metaphysical period; +but now there exists positive, critical science, which does not deceive, +since it is all founded on induction and experiment. Now our erections +are not shaky, as they formerly were, and only in our path lies the +solution of all the problems of humanity." + +But the old teachers said precisely the same, and they were no fools; and +we know that there were people of great intelligence among them. And +precisely thus, within my memory, and with no less confidence, with no +less recognition on the part of the crowd of so-called cultivated people, +spoke the Hegelians. And neither were our Herzens, our Stankevitches, or +our Byelinskys fools. But whence arose that marvellous manifestation, +that sensible people should preach with the greatest assurance, and that +the crowd should accept with devotion, such unfounded and unsupportable +teachings? There is but one reason,--that the teachings thus inculcated +justified people in their evil life. + +A very poor English writer, whose works are all forgotten, and recognized +as the most insignificant of the insignificant, writes a treatise on +population, in which he devises a fictitious law concerning the increase +of population disproportionate to the means of subsistence. This +fictitious law, this writer encompasses with mathematical formulae +founded on nothing whatever; and then he launches it on the world. From +the frivolity and the stupidity of this hypothesis, one would suppose +that it would not attract the attention of any one, and that it would +sink into oblivion, like all the works of the same author which followed +it; but it turned out quite otherwise. The hack-writer who penned this +treatise instantly becomes a scientific authority, and maintains himself +upon that height for nearly half a century. Malthus! The Malthusian +theory,--the law of the increase of the population in geometrical, and of +the means of subsistence in arithmetical proportion, and the wise and +natural means of restricting the population,--all these have become +scientific, indubitable truths, which have not been confirmed, but which +have been employed as axioms, for the erection of false theories. In +this manner have learned and cultivated people proceeded; and among the +herd of idle persons, there sprung up a pious trust in the great laws +expounded by Malthus. How did this come to pass? It would seem as +though they were scientific deductions, which had nothing in common with +the instincts of the masses. But this can only appear so for the man who +believes that science, like the Church, is something self-contained, +liable to no errors, and not simply the imaginings of weak and erring +folk, who merely substitute the imposing word "science," in place of the +thoughts and words of the people, for the sake of impressiveness. + +All that was necessary was to make practical deductions from the theory +of Malthus, in order to perceive that this theory was of the most human +sort, with the best defined of objects. The deductions directly arising +from this theory were the following: The wretched condition of the +laboring classes was such in accordance with an unalterable law, which +does not depend upon men; and, if any one is to blame in this matter, it +is the hungry laboring classes themselves. Why are they such fools as to +give birth to children, when they know that there will be nothing for the +children to eat? And so this deduction, which is valuable for the herd +of idle people, has had this result: that all learned men overlooked the +incorrectness, the utter arbitrariness of these deductions, and their +insusceptibility to proof; and the throng of cultivated, i.e., of idle +people, knowing instinctively to what these deductions lead, saluted this +theory with enthusiasm, conferred upon it the stamp of truth, i.e., of +science, and dragged it about with them for half a century. + +Is not this same thing the cause of the confidence of men in positive +critical-experimental science, and of the devout attitude of the crowd +towards that which it preaches? At first it seems strange, that the +theory of evolution can in any manner justify people in their evil ways; +and it seems as though the scientific theory of evolution has to deal +only with facts, and that it does nothing else but observe facts. + +But this only appears to be the case. + +Exactly the same thing appeared to be the case with the Hegelian +doctrine, in a greater degree, and also in the special instance of the +Malthusian doctrine. Hegelianism was, apparently, occupied only with its +logical constructions, and bore no relation to the life of mankind. +Precisely this seemed to be the case with the Malthusian theory. It +appeared to be busy itself only with statistical data. But this was only +in appearance. + +Contemporary science is also occupied with facts alone: it investigates +facts. But what facts? Why precisely these facts, and no others? + +The men of contemporary science are very fond of saying, triumphantly and +confidently, "We investigate only facts," imagining that these words +contain some meaning. It is impossible to investigate facts alone, +because the facts which are subject to our investigation are +_innumerable_ (in the definite sense of that word),--innumerable. Before +we proceed to investigate facts, we must have a theory on the foundation +of which these or those facts can be inquired into, i.e., selected from +the incalculable quantity. + +And this theory exists, and is even very definitely expressed, although +many of the workers in contemporary science do not know it, or often +pretend that they do not know it. Exactly thus has it always been with +all prevailing and guiding doctrines. The foundations of every doctrine +are always stated in a theory, and the so-called learned men merely +invent further deductions from the foundations once stated. Thus +contemporary science is selecting its facts on the foundation of a very +definite theory, which it sometimes knows, sometimes refuses to know, and +sometimes really does not know; but the theory exists. + +The theory is as follows: All mankind is an undying organism; men are the +particles of that organism, and each one of them has his own special task +for the service of others. In the same manner, the cells united in an +organism share among them the labor of fight for existence of the whole +organism; they magnify the power of one capacity, and weaken another, and +unite in one organ, in order the better to supply the requirements of the +whole organism. And exactly in the same manner as with gregarious +animals,--ants or bees,--the separate individuals divide the labor among +them. The queen lays the egg, the drone fructifies it; the bee works his +whole life long. And precisely this thing takes place in mankind and in +human societies. And therefore, in order to find the law of life for +man, it is necessary to study the laws of the life and the development of +organisms. + +In the life and development of organisms, we find the following laws: the +law of differentiation and integration, the law that every phenomenon is +accompanied not by direct consequences alone, another law regarding the +instability of type, and so on. All this seems very innocent; but it is +only necessary to draw the deductions from all these laws, in order to +immediately perceive that these laws incline in the same direction as the +law of Malthus. These laws all point to one thing; namely, to the +recognition of that division of labor which exists in human communities, +as organic, that is to say, as indispensable. And therefore, the unjust +position in which we, the people who have freed ourselves from labor, +find ourselves, must be regarded not from the point of view of common- +sense and justice, but merely as an undoubted fact, confirming the +universal law. + +Moral philosophy also justified every sort of cruelty and harshness; but +this resulted in a philosophical manner, and therefore wrongly. But with +science, all this results scientifically, and therefore in a manner not +to be doubted. + +How can we fail to accept so very beautiful a theory? It is merely +necessary to look upon human society as an object of contemplation; and I +can console myself with the thought that my activity, whatever may be its +nature, is a functional activity of the organism of humanity, and that +therefore there cannot arise any question as to whether it is just that +I, in employing the labor of others, am doing only that which is +agreeable to me, as there can arise no question as to the division of +labor between the brain cells and the muscular cells. How is it possible +not to admit so very beautiful a theory, in order that one may be able, +ever after, to pocket one's conscience, and have a perfectly unbridled +animal existence, feeling beneath one's self that support of science +which is not to be shaken nowadays! + +And it is on this new doctrine that the justification for men's idleness +and cruelty is now founded. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +This doctrine had its rise not so very long--fifty years--ago. Its +principal founder was the French _savant_ Comte. There occurred to +Comte,--a systematist, and a religious man to boot,--under the influence +of the then novel physiological investigations of Biche, the old idea +already set forth by Menenius Agrippa,--the idea that human society, all +humanity even, might be regarded as one whole, as an organism; and men as +living parts of the separate organs, having each his own definite +appointment to serve the entire organism. + +This idea so pleased Comte, that upon it he began to erect a +philosophical theory; and this theory so carried him away, that he +utterly forgot that the point of departure for his theory was nothing +more than a very pretty comparison, which was suitable for a fable, but +which could by no means serve as the foundation for science. He, as +frequently happens, mistook his pet hypothesis for an axiom, and imagined +that his whole theory was erected on the very firmest of foundations. +According to his theory, it seemed that since humanity is an organism, +the knowledge of what man is, and of what should be his relations to the +world, was possible only through a knowledge of the features of this +organism. For the knowledge of these qualities, man is enabled to take +observations on other and lower organisms, and to draw conclusions from +their life. Therefore, in the fist place, the true and only method, +according to Comte, is the inductive, and all science is only such when +it has experiment as its basis; in the second place, the goal and crown +of sciences is formed by that new science dealing with the imaginary +organism of humanity, or the super-organic being,--humanity,--and this +newly devised science is sociology. + +And from this view of science it appears, that all previous knowledge was +deceitful, and that the whole story of humanity, in the sense of self- +knowledge, has been divided into three, actually into two, periods: the +theological and metaphysical period, extending from the beginning of the +world to Comte, and the present period,--that of the only true science, +positive science,--beginning with Comte. + +All this was very well. There was but one error, and that was this,--that +the whole edifice was erected on the sand, on the arbitrary and false +assertion that humanity is an organism. This assertion was arbitrary, +because we have just as much right to admit the existence of a human +organism, not subject to observation, as we have to admit the existence +of any other invisible, fantastic being. This assertion was erroneous, +because for the understanding of humanity, i.e., of men, the definition +of an organism was incorrectly constructed, while in humanity itself all +actual signs of organism,--the centre of feeling or consciousness, are +lacking. {178} + +But, in spite of the arbitrariness and incorrectness of the fundamental +assumption of positive philosophy, it was accepted by the so-called +cultivated world with the greatest sympathy. In this connection, one +thing is worthy of note: that out of the works of Comte, consisting of +two parts, of positive philosophy and of positive politics, only the +first was adopted by the learned world,--that part which justifieth, on +new promises, the existent evil of human societies; but the second part, +treating of the moral obligations of altruism, arising from the +recognition of mankind as an organism, was regarded as not only of no +importance, but as trivial and unscientific. It was a repetition of the +same thing that had happened in the case of Kant's works. The "Critique +of Pure Reason" was adopted by the scientific crowd; but the "Critique of +Applied Reason," that part which contains the gist of moral doctrine, was +repudiated. In Kant's doctrine, that was accepted as scientific which +subserved the existent evil. But the positive philosophy, which was +accepted by the crowd, was founded on an arbitrary and erroneous basis, +was in itself too unfounded, and therefore unsteady, and could not +support itself alone. And so, amid all the multitude of the idle plays +of thought of the men professing the so-called science, there presents +itself an assertion equally devoid of novelty, and equally arbitrary and +erroneous, to the effect that living beings, i.e., organisms, have had +their rise in each other,--not only one organism from another, but one +from many; i.e., that in a very long interval of time (in a million of +years, for instance), not only could a duck and a fish proceed from one +ancestor, but that one animal might result from a whole hive of bees. And +this arbitrary and erroneous assumption was accepted by the learned world +with still greater and more universal sympathy. This assumption was +arbitrary, because no one has ever seen how one organism is made from +another, and therefore the hypothesis as to the origin of species will +always remain an hypothesis, and not an experimental fact. And this +hypothesis was also erroneous, because the decision of the question as to +the origin of species--that they have originated, in consequence of the +law of heredity and fitness, in the course of an interminably long +time--is no solution at all, but merely a re-statement of the problem in +a new form. + +According to Moses' solution of the question (in the dispute with whom +the entire significance of this theory lies), it appears that the +diversity of the species of living creatures proceeded according to the +will of God, and according to His almighty power; but according to the +theory of evolution, it appears that the difference between living +creatures arose by chance, and on account of varying conditions of +heredity and surroundings, through an endless period of time. The theory +of evolution, to speak in simple language, merely asserts, that by +chance, in an incalculably long period of time, out of any thing you +like, any thing else that you like may develop. + +This is no answer to the problem. And the same problem is differently +expressed: instead of will, chance is offered, and the co-efficient of +the eternal is transposed from the power to the time. But this fresh +assertion strengthened Comte's assertion. And, moreover, according to +the ingenuous confession of the founder of Darwin's theory himself, his +idea was aroused in him by the law of Malthus; and he therefore +propounded the theory of the struggle of living creatures and people for +existence, as the fundamental law of every living thing. And lo! only +this was needed by the throng of idle people for their justification. + +Two insecure theories, incapable of sustaining themselves on their feet, +upheld each other, and acquired the semblance of stability. Both +theories bore with them that idea which is precious to the crowd, that in +the existent evil of human societies, men are not to blame, and that the +existing order of things is that which should prevail; and the new theory +was adopted by the throng with entire faith and unheard-of enthusiasm. +And behold, on the strength of these two arbitrary and erroneous +hypotheses, accepted as dogmas of belief, the new scientific doctrine was +ratified. + +Spencer, for example, in one of his first works, expresses this doctrine +thus:-- + +"Societies and organisms," he says, "are alike in the following points:-- + +"1. In that, beginning as tiny aggregates, they imperceptibly grow in +mass, so that some of them attain to the size of ten thousand times their +original bulk. + +"2. In that while they were, in the beginning, of such simple structure, +that they can be regarded as destitute of all structure, they acquire +during the period of their growth a constantly increasing complication of +structure. + +"3. In that although in their early, undeveloped period, there exists +between them hardly any interdependence of parts, their parts gradually +acquire an interdependence, which eventually becomes so strong, that the +life and activity of each part becomes possible only on condition of the +life and activity of the remaining parts. + +"4. In that life and the development of society are independent, and +more protracted than the life and development of any one of the units +constituting it, which are born, grow, act, reproduce themselves, and die +separately; while the political body formed from them, continues to live +generation after generation, developing in mass in perfection and +functional activity." + +The points of difference between organisms and society go farther; and it +is proved that these differences are merely apparent, but that organisms +and societies are absolutely similar. + +For the uninitiated man the question immediately presents itself: "What +are you talking about? Why is mankind an organism, or similar to an +organism?" + +You say that societies resemble organisms in these four features; but it +is nothing of the sort. You only take a few features of the organism, +and beneath them you range human communities. You bring forward four +features of resemblance, then you take four features of dissimilarity, +which are, however, only apparent (according to you); and you thence +conclude that human societies can be regarded as organisms. But surely, +this is an empty game of dialectics, and nothing more. On the same +foundation, under the features of an organism, you may range whatever you +please. I will take the fist thing that comes into my head. Let us +suppose it to be a forest,--the manner in which it sows itself in the +plain, and spreads abroad. 1. Beginning with a small aggregate, it +increases imperceptibly in mass, and so forth. Exactly the same thing +takes place in the fields, when they gradually seed themselves down, and +bring forth a forest. 2. In the beginning the structure is simple: +afterwards it increases in complication, and so forth. Exactly the same +thing happens with the forest,--in the first place, there were only bitch- +trees, then came brush-wood and hazel-bushes; at first all grow erect, +then they interlace their branches. 3. The interdependence of the parts +is so augmented, that the life of each part depends on the life and +activity of the remaining parts. It is precisely so with the forest,--the +hazel-bush warms the tree-boles (cut it down, and the other trees will +freeze), the hazel-bush protects from the wind, the seed-bearing trees +carry on reproduction, the tall and leafy trees afford shade, and the +life of one tree depends on the life of another. 4. The separate parts +may die, but the whole lives. Exactly the case with the forest. The +forest does not mourn one tree. + +Having proved that, in accordance with this theory, you may regard the +forest as an organism, you fancy that you have proved to the disciples of +the organic doctrine the error of their definition. Nothing of the sort. +The definition which they give to the organism is so inaccurate and so +elastic that under this definition they may include what they will. +"Yes," they say; "and the forest may also be regarded as an organism. The +forest is mutual re-action of individuals, which do not annihilate each +other,--an aggregate; its parts may also enter into a more intimate +union, as the hive of bees constitutes itself an organism." Then you +will say, "If that is so, then the birds and the insects and the grass of +this forest, which re-act upon each other, and do not destroy each other, +may also be regarded as one organism, in company with the trees." And to +this also they will agree. Every collection of living individuals, which +re-act upon each other, and do not destroy each other, may be regarded as +organisms, according to their theory. You may affirm a connection and +interaction between whatever you choose, and, according to evolution, you +may affirm, that, out of whatever you please, any other thing that you +please may proceed, in a very long period of time. + +And the most remarkable thing of all is, that this same identical +positive science recognizes the scientific method as the sign of true +knowledge, and has itself defined what it designates as the scientific +method. + +By the scientific method it means common-sense. + +And common-sense convicts it at every step. As soon as the Popes felt +that nothing holy remained in them, they called themselves most holy. + +As soon as science felt that no common-sense was left in her she called +herself sensible, that is to say, scientific science. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Division of labor is the law of all existing things, and, therefore, it +should be present in human societies. It is very possible that this is +so; but still the question remains, Of what nature is that division of +labor which I behold in my human society? is it that division of labor +which should exist? And if people regard a certain division of labor as +unreasonable and unjust, then no science whatever can convince men that +that should exist which they regard as unreasonable and unjust. + +Division of labor is the condition of existence of organisms, and of +human societies; but what, in these human societies, is to be regarded as +an organic division of labor? And, to whatever extent science may have +investigated the division of labor in the cells of worms, all these +observations do not compel a man to acknowledge that division of labor to +be correct which his own sense and conscience do not recognize as +correct. No matter how convincing may be the proofs of the division of +labor of the cells in the organisms studied, man, if he has not parted +with his judgment, will say, nevertheless, that a man should not weave +calico all his life, and that this is not division of labor, but +persecution of the people. Spencer and others say that there is a whole +community of weavers, and that the profession of weaving is an organic +division of labor. There are weavers; so, of course, there is such a +division of labor. It would be well enough to speak thus if the colony +of weavers had arisen by the free will of its member's; but we know that +it is not thus formed of their initiative, but that we make it. Hence it +is necessary to find out whether we have made these weavers in accordance +with an organic law, or with some other. + +Men live. They support themselves by agriculture, as is natural to all +men. One man has set up a blacksmith's forge, and repaired his plough; +his neighbor comes to him, and asks him to mend his also, and promises +him in return either work or money. A third comes, and a fourth; and in +the community formed by these men, there arises the following division of +labor,--a blacksmith is created. Another man has instructed his children +well; his neighbor brings his children to him, and requests him to teach +them also, and a teacher is created. But both blacksmith and teacher +have been created, and continue to be such, merely because they have been +asked; and they remain such as long as they are requested to be +blacksmith and teacher. If it should come to pass that many blacksmiths +and teachers should set themselves up, or that their work is not +requited, they will immediately, as common-sense demands and as always +happens when there is no occasion for disturbing the regular course of +division of labor,--they will immediately abandon their trade, and betake +themselves once more to agriculture. + +Men who behave thus are guided by their sense, their conscience; and +hence we, the men endowed with sense and conscience, all assert that such +a division of labor is right. But if it should chance that the +blacksmiths were able to compel other people to work for them, and should +continue to make horse-shoes when they were not wanted, and if the +teachers should go on teaching when there was no one to teach, then it is +obvious to every sane man, as a man, i.e., as a being endowed with reason +and conscience, that this would not be division, but appropriation, of +labor. And yet precisely that sort of activity is what is called +division of labor by scientific science. People do that which others do +not think of requiring, and demand that they shall be supported for so +doing, and say that this is just because it is division of labor. + +That which constitutes the cause of the economical poverty of our age is +what the English call over-production (which means that a mass of things +are made which are of no use to anybody, and with which nothing can be +done). + +It would be odd to see a shoemaker, who should consider that people were +bound to feed him because he incessantly made boots which had been of no +use to any one for a long time; but what shall we say of those men who +make nothing,--who not only produce nothing that is visible, but nothing +that is of use for people at large,--for whose wares there are no +customers, and who yet demand, with the same boldness, on the ground of +division of labor, that they shall be supplied with fine food and drink, +and that they shall be dressed well? There may be, and there are, +sorcerers for whose services a demand makes itself felt, and for this +purpose there are brought to them pancakes and flasks; but it is +difficult to imagine the existence of sorcerers whose spells are useless +to every one, and who boldly demand that they shall be luxuriously +supported because they exercise sorcery. And it is the same in our +world. And all this comes about on the basis of that false conception of +the division of labor, which is defined not by reason and conscience, but +by observation, which men of science avow with such unanimity. + +Division of labor has, in reality, always existed, and still exists; but +it is right only when man decides with his reason and his conscience that +it should be so, and not when he merely investigates it. And reason and +conscience decide the question for all men very simply, unanimously, and +in a manner not to be doubted. They always decide it thus: that division +of labor is right only when a special branch of man's activity is so +needful to men, that they, entreating him to serve them, voluntarily +propose to support him in requital for that which he shall do for them. +But, when a man can live from infancy to the age of thirty years on the +necks of others, promising to do, when he shall have been taught, +something extremely useful, for which no one asks him; and when, from the +age of thirty until his death, he can live in the same manner, still +merely on the promise to do something, for which there has been no +request, this will not be division of labor (and, as a matter of fact, +there is no such thing in our society), but it will be what it already +is,--merely the appropriation, by force, of the toil of others; that same +appropriation by force of the toil of others which the philosophers +formerly designated by various names,--for instance, as indispensable +forms of life,--but which scientific science now calls the organic +division of labor. + +The whole significance of scientific science lies in this alone. It has +now become a distributer of diplomas for idleness; for it alone, in its +sanctuaries, selects and determines what is parasitical, and what is +organic activity, in the social organism. Just as though every man could +not find this out for himself much more accurately and more speedily, by +taking counsel of his reason and his conscience. It seems to men of +scientific science, that there can be no doubt of this, and that their +activity is also indubitably organic; they, the scientific and artistic +workers, are the brain cells, and the most precious cells in the whole +organism. + +Ever since men--reasoning beings--have existed, they have distinguished +good from evil, and have profited by the fact that men have made this +distinction before them; they have warred against evil, and have sought +the good, and have slowly but uninterruptedly advanced in that path. And +divers delusions have always stood before men, hemming in this path, and +having for their object to demonstrate to them, that it was not necessary +to do this, and that it was not necessary to live as they were living. +With fearful conflict and difficulty, men have freed themselves from many +delusions. And behold, a new and a still more evil delusion has sprung +up in the path of mankind,--the scientific delusion. + +This new delusion is precisely the same in nature as the old ones; its +gist lies in secretly leading astray the activity of our reason and +conscience, and of those who have lived before us, by something external. +In scientific science, this external thing is--investigation. + +The cunning of this science consists in this,--that, after pointing out +to men the coarsest false interpretations of the activity of the reason +and conscience of man, it destroys in them faith in their own reason and +conscience, and assures them that every thing which their reason and +conscience say to them, that all that these have said to the loftiest +representatives of man heretofore, ever since the world has existed,--that +all this is conventional and subjective. "All this must be abandoned," +they say; "it is impossible to understand the truth by the reason, for we +may be mistaken. But there exists another unerring and almost mechanical +path: it is necessary to investigate facts." + +But facts must be investigated on the foundation of scientific science, +i.e., of the two hypotheses of positivism and evolution, which are not +borne out by any thing, and which give themselves out as undoubted +truths. And the reigning science announces, with delusive solemnity, +that the solution of all problems of life is possible only through the +study of facts, of nature, and, in particular, of organisms. The +credulous mass of young people, overwhelmed by the novelty of this +authority, which has not yet been overthrown or even touched by +criticism, flings itself into the study of natural sciences, into that +sole path, which, according to the assertion of the reigning science, can +lead to the elucidation of the problems of life. + +But the farther the disciples proceed in this study, the farther and +farther does not only the possibility, but even the very idea, of the +solution of the problems of life withdraw from them, and the more and +more do they become accustomed, not so much to investigate, as to believe +in the assertions of other investigators (to believe in cells, in +protoplasm, in the fourth condition of bodies, and so forth); the more +and more does the form veil the contents from them; the more and more do +they lose the consciousness of good and evil, and the capacity of +understanding those expressions and definitions of good and evil which +have been elaborated through the whole foregoing life of mankind; and the +more and more do they appropriate to themselves the special scientific +jargon of conventional expressions, which possesses no universally human +significance; and the deeper and deeper do they plunge into the _debris_ +of utterly unilluminated investigations; the more and more do they lose +the power, not only of independent thought, but even of understanding the +fresh human thought of others, which lies beyond the bounds of their +Talmud. But the principal thing is, that they pass their best years in +getting disused to life; they grow accustomed to consider their position +as justifiable; and they convert themselves physically into utterly +useless parasites, and mentally they dislocate their brains and become +mental eunuchs. And in precisely the same manner, according to the +measure of their folly, do they acquire self-conceit, which deprives them +forever of all possibility of return to a simple life of toil, to a +simple, clear, and universally human train of reasoning. + +Division of labor always has existed in human communities, and will +probably always exist; but the question for us lies not in the fact that +it has existed, and that it will exist, but in this,--how are we to +govern ourselves so that this division shall be right? But if we take +investigation as our rule of action, we by this very act repudiate all +rule; then in that case we shall regard as right every division of labor +which we shall descry among men, and which appears to us to be right--to +which conclusion the prevailing scientific science also leads. + +Division of labor! + +Some are busied in mental or moral, others in muscular or physical, +labor. With what confidence people enunciate this! They wish to think +so, and it seems to them that, in point of fact, a perfectly regular +exchange of services does take place. + +But we, in our blindness, have so completely lost sight of the +responsibility which we have assumed, that we have even forgotten in +whose name our labor is prosecuted; and the very people whom we have +undertaken to serve have become the objects of our scientific and +artistic activity. We study and depict them for our amusement and +diversion. We have totally forgotten that what we need to do is not to +study and depict them, but to serve them. To such a degree have we lost +sight of this duty which we have taken upon us, that we have not even +noticed that what we have undertaken to perform in the realm of science +and art has been accomplished not by us, but by others, and that our +place has turned out to be occupied. + +It proves that while we have been disputing, one about the spontaneous +origin of organisms, another as to what else there is in protoplasm, and +so on, the common people have been in need of spiritual food; and the +unsuccessful and rejected of art and science, in obedience to the mandate +of adventurers who have in view the sole aim of profit, have begun to +furnish the people with this spiritual food, and still so furnish them. +For the last forty years in Europe, and for the last ten years with us +here in Russia, millions of books and pictures and song-books have been +distributed, and stalls have been opened, and the people gaze and sing +and receive spiritual nourishment, but not from us who have undertaken to +provide it; while we, justifying our idleness by that spiritual food +which we are supposed to furnish, sit by and wink at it. + +But it is impossible for us to wink at it, for our last justification is +slipping from beneath our feet. We have become specialized. We have our +particular functional activity. We are the brains of the people. They +support us, and we have undertaken to teach them. It is only under this +pretence that we have excused ourselves from work. But what have we +taught them, and what are we now teaching them? They have waited for +years--for tens, for hundreds of years. And we keep on diverting our +minds with chatter, and we instruct each other, and we console ourselves, +and we have utterly forgotten them. We have so entirely forgotten them, +that others have undertaken to instruct them, and we have not even +perceived it. We have spoken of the division of labor with such lack of +seriousness, that it is obvious that what we have said about the benefits +which we have conferred on the people was simply a shameless evasion. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Science and art have arrogated to themselves the right of idleness, and +of the enjoyment of the labor of others, and have betrayed their calling. +And their errors have arisen merely because their servants, having set +forth a falsely conceived principle of the division of labor, have +recognized their own right to make use of the labor of others, and have +lost the significance of their vocation; having taken for their aim, not +the profit of the people, but the mysterious profit of science and art, +and delivered themselves over to idleness and vice--not so much of the +senses as of the mind. + +They say, "Science and art have bestowed a great deal on mankind." + +Science and art have bestowed a great deal on mankind, not because the +men of art and science, under the pretext of a division of labor, live on +other people, but in spite of this. + +The Roman Republic was powerful, not because her citizens had the power +to live a vicious life, but because among their number there were heroic +citizens. It is the same with art and science. Art and science have +bestowed much on mankind, but not because their followers formerly +possessed on rare occasions (and now possess on every occasion) the +possibility of getting rid of labor; but because there have been men of +genius, who, without making use of these rights, have led mankind +forward. + +The class of learned men and artists, which has advanced, on the +fictitious basis of a division of labor, its demands to the right of +using the labors of others, cannot co-operate in the success of true +science and true art, because a lie cannot bring forth the truth. + +We have become so accustomed to these, our tenderly reared or weakened +representatives of mental labor, that it seems to us horrible that a man +of science or an artist should plough or cart manure. It seems to us +that every thing would go to destruction, and that all his wisdom would +be rattled out of him in the cart, and that all those grand picturesque +images which he bears about in his breast would be soiled in the manure; +but we have become so inured to this, that it does not strike us as +strange that our servitor of science--that is to say, the servant and +teacher of the truth--by making other people do for him that which he +might do for himself, passes half his time in dainty eating, in smoking, +in talking, in free and easy gossip, in reading the newspapers and +romances, and in visiting the theatres. It is not strange to us to see +our philosopher in the tavern, in the theatre, and at the ball. It is +not strange in our eyes to learn that those artists who sweeten and +ennoble our souls have passed their lives in drunkenness, cards, and +women, if not in something worse. + +Art and science are very beautiful things; but just because they are so +beautiful they should not be spoiled by the compulsory combination with +them of vice: that is to say, a man should not get rid of his obligation +to serve his own life and that of other people by his own labor. Art and +science have caused mankind to progress. Yes; but not because men of art +and science, under the guise of division of labor, have rid themselves of +the very first and most indisputable of human obligations,--to labor with +their hands in the universal struggle of mankind with nature. + +"But only the division of labor, the freedom of men of science and of art +from the necessity of earning them living, has rendered possible that +remarkable success of science which we behold in our day," is the answer +to this. "If all were forced to till the soil, those _vast_ results +would not have been attained which have been attained in our day; there +would have been none of those _striking_ successes which have so greatly +augmented man's power over nature, were it not for these astronomical +discoveries _which are so astounding to the mind of man_, and which have +added to the security of navigation; there would be no steamers, no +railways, none of those _wonderful_ bridges, tunnels, steam-engines and +telegraphs, photography, telephones, sewing-machines, phonographs, +electricity, telescopes, spectroscopes, microscopes, chloroform, Lister's +bandages, and carbolic acid." + +I will not enumerate every thing on which our age thus prides itself. +This enumeration and pride of enthusiasm over ourselves and our exploits +can be found in almost any newspaper and popular pamphlet. This +enthusiasm over ourselves is often repeated to such a degree that none of +us can sufficiently rejoice over ourselves, that we are seriously +convinced that art and science have never made such progress as in our +own time. And, as we are indebted for all this marvellous progress to +the division of labor, why not acknowledge it? + +Let us admit that the progress made in our day is noteworthy, marvellous, +unusual; let us admit that we are fortunate mortals to live in such a +remarkable epoch: but let us endeavor to appraise this progress, not on +the basis of our self-satisfaction, but of that principle which defends +itself with this progress,--the division of labor. All this progress is +very amazing; but by a peculiarly unlucky chance, admitted even by the +men of science, this progress has not so far improved, but it has rather +rendered worse, the position of the majority, that is to say, of the +workingman. + +If the workingman can travel on the railway, instead of walking, still +that same railway has burned down his forest, has carried off his grain +under his very nose, and has brought his condition very near to +slavery--to the capitalist. If, thanks to steam-engines and machines, +the workingman can purchase inferior calico at a cheap rate, on the other +hand these engines and machines have deprived him of work at home, and +have brought him into a state of abject slavery to the manufacturer. If +there are telephones and telescopes, poems, romances, theatres, ballets, +symphonies, operas, picture-galleries, and so forth, on the other hand +the life of the workingman has not been bettered by all this; for all of +them, by the same unlucky chance, are inaccessible to him. + +So that, on the whole (and even men of science admit this), up to the +present time, all these remarkable discoveries and products of science +and art have certainly not ameliorated the condition of the workingman, +if, indeed, they have not made it worse. So that, if we set against the +question as to the reality of the progress attained by the arts and +sciences, not our own rapture, but that standard upon the basis of which +the division of labor is defended,--the good of the laboring man,--we +shall see that we have no firm foundations for that self-satisfaction in +which we are so fond of indulging. + +The peasant travels on the railway, the woman buys calico, in the _isba_ +(cottage) there will be a lamp instead of a pine-knot, and the peasant +will light his pipe with a match,--this is convenient; but what right +have I to say that the railway and the factory have proved advantageous +to the people? + +If the peasant rides on the railway, and buys calico, a lamp, and +matches, it is only because it is impossible to forbid the peasant's +buying them; but surely we are all aware that the construction of +railways and factories has never been carried out for the benefit of the +lower classes: so why should a casual convenience which the workingman +enjoys lead to a proof of the utility of all these institutions for the +people? + +There is something useful in every injurious thing. After a +conflagration, one can warm one's self, and light one's pipe with a +firebrand; but why declare that the conflagration is beneficial? + +Men of art and science might say that their pursuits are beneficial to +the people, only when men of art and science have assigned to themselves +the object of serving the people, as they now assign themselves the +object of serving the authorities and the capitalists. We might say this +if men of art and science had taken as their aim the needs of the people; +but there are none such. All scientists are busy with their priestly +avocations, out of which proceed investigations into protoplasm, the +spectral analyses of stars, and so on. But science has never once +thought of what axe or what hatchet is the most profitable to chop with, +what saw is the most handy, what is the best way to mix bread, from what +flour, how to set it, how to build and heat an oven, what food and drink, +and what utensils, are the most convenient and advantageous under certain +conditions, what mushrooms may be eaten, how to propagate them, and how +to prepare them in the most suitable manner. And yet all this is the +province of science. + +I am aware, that, according to its own definition, science ought to be +useless, i.e., science for the sake of science; but surely this is an +obvious evasion. The province of science is to serve the people. We +have invented telegraphs, telephones, phonographs; but what advances have +we effected in the life, in the labor, of the people? We have reckoned +up two millions of beetles! And we have not tamed a single animal since +biblical times, when all our animals were already domesticated; but the +reindeer, the stag, the partridge, the heath-cock, all remain wild. + +Our botanists have discovered the cell, and in the cell protoplasm, and +in that protoplasm still something more, and in that atom yet another +thing. It is evident that these occupations will not end for a long time +to come, because it is obvious that there can be no end to them, and +therefore the scientist has no time to devote to those things which are +necessary to the people. And therefore, again, from the time of Egyptian +and Hebrew antiquity, when wheat and lentils had already been cultivated, +down to our own times, not a single plant has been added to the food of +the people, with the exception of the potato, and that was not obtained +by science. + +Torpedoes have been invented, and apparatus for taxation, and so forth. +But the spinning-whined, the woman's weaving-loom, the plough, the +hatchet, the chain, the rake, the bucket, the well-sweep, are exactly the +same as they were in the days of Rurik; and if there has been any change, +then that change has not been effected by scientific people. + +And it is the same with the arts. We have elevated a lot of people to +the rank of great writers; we have picked these writers to pieces, and +have written mountains of criticism, and criticism on the critics, and +criticism on the critics of the critics. And we have collected picture- +galleries, and have studied different schools of art in detail; and we +have so many symphonies and orchestras and operas, that it is becoming +difficult even for us to listen to them. But what have we added to the +popular _bylini_ [the epic songs], legends, tales, songs? What music, +what pictures, have we given to the people? + +On the Nikolskaya books are manufactured for the people, and harmonicas +in Tula; and in neither have we taken any part. The falsity of the whole +direction of our arts and sciences is more striking and more apparent in +precisely those very branches, which, it would seem, should, from their +very nature, be of use to the people, and which, in consequence of their +false attitude, seem rather injurious than useful. The technologist, the +physician, the teacher, the artist, the author, should, in virtue of +their very callings, it would seem, serve the people. And, what then? +Under the present _regime_, they can do nothing but harm to the people. + +The technologist or the mechanic has to work with capital. Without +capital he is good for nothing. All his acquirements are such that for +their display he requires capital, and the exploitation of the laboring- +man on the largest scale; and--not to mention that he is trained to live, +at the lowest, on from fifteen hundred to two thousand a year, and that, +therefore, he cannot go to the country, where no one can give him such +wages,--he is, by virtue of his very occupation, unfitted for serving the +people. He knows how to calculate the highest mathematical arch of a +bridge, how to calculate the force and transfer of the motive power, and +so on; but he is confounded by the simplest questions of a peasant: how +to improve a plough or a cart, or how to make irrigating canals. All +this in the conditions of life in which the laboring man finds himself. +Of this, he neither knows nor understands any thing,--less, indeed, than +the very stupidest peasant. Give him workshops, all sorts of workmen at +his desire, an order for a machine from abroad, and he will get along. +But how to devise means of lightening toil, under the conditions of labor +of millions of men,--this is what he does not and can not know; and +because of his knowledge, his habits, and his demands on life, he is +unfitted for this business. + +In a still worse predicament is the physician. His fancied science is +all so arranged, that he only knows how to heal those persons who do +nothing. He requires an incalculable quantity of expensive preparations, +instruments, drugs, and hygienic apparatus. + +He has studied with celebrities in the capitals, who only retain patients +who can be cured in the hospital, or who, in the course of their cure, +can purchase the appliances requisite for healing, and even go at once +from the North to the South, to some baths or other. Science is of such +a nature, that every rural physic-man laments because there are no means +of curing working-men, because he is so poor that he has not the means to +place the sick man in the proper hygienic conditions; and at the same +time this physician complains that there are no hospitals, and that he +cannot get through with his work, that he needs assistants, more doctors +and practitioners. + +What is the inference? This: that the people's principal lack, from +which diseases arise, and spread abroad, and refuse to be healed, is the +lack of means of subsistence. And here Science, under the banner of the +division of labor, summons her warriors to the aid of the people. Science +is entirely arranged for the wealthy classes, and it has adopted for its +task the healing of the people who can obtain every thing for themselves; +and it attempts to heal those who possess no superfluity, by the same +means. + +But there are no means, and therefore it is necessary to take them from +the people who are ailing, and pest-stricken, and who cannot recover for +lack of means. And now the defenders of medicine for the people say that +this matter has been, as yet, but little developed. Evidently it has +been but little developed, because if (which God forbid!) it had been +developed, and that through oppressing the people,--instead of two +doctors, midwives, and practitioners in a district, twenty would have +settled down, since they desire this, and half the people would have died +through the difficulty of supporting this medical staff, and soon there +would be no one to heal. + +Scientific co-operation with the people, of which the defenders of +science talk, must be something quite different. And this co-operation +which should exist has not yet begun. It will begin when the man of +science, technologist or physician, will not consider it legal to take +from people--I will not say a hundred thousand, but even a modest ten +thousand, or five hundred rubles for assisting them; but when he will +live among the toiling people, under the same conditions, and exactly as +they do, then he will be able to apply his knowledge to the questions of +mechanics, technics, hygiene, and the healing of the laboring people. But +now science, supporting itself at the expense of the working-people, has +entirely forgotten the conditions of life among these people, ignores (as +it puts it) these conditions, and takes very grave offence because its +fancied knowledge finds no adherents among the people. + +The domain of medicine, like the domain of technical science, still lies +untouched. All questions as to how the time of labor is best divided, +what is the best method of nourishment, with what, in what shape, and +when it is best to clothe one's self, to shoe one's self, to counteract +dampness and cold, how best to wash one's self, to feed the children, to +swaddle them, and so on, in just those conditions in which the working- +people find themselves,--all these questions have not yet been +propounded. + +The same is the case with the activity of the teachers of +science,--pedagogical teachers. Exactly in the same manner science has +so arranged this matter, that only wealthy people are able to study +science, and teachers, like technologists and physicians, cling to money. + +And this cannot be otherwise, because a school built on a model plan (as +a general rule, the more scientifically built the school, the more costly +it is), with pivot chains, and globes, and maps, and library, and petty +text-books for teachers and scholars and pedagogues, is a sort of thing +for which it would be necessary to double the taxes in every village. +This science demands. The people need money for their work; and the more +there is needed, the poorer they are. + +Defenders of science say: "Pedagogy is even now proving of advantage to +the people, but give it a chance to develop, and then it will do still +better." Yes, if it does develop, and instead of twenty schools in a +district there are a hundred, and all scientific, and if the people +support these schools, they will grow poorer than ever, and they will +more than ever need work for their children's sake. "What is to be +done?" they say to this. The government will build the schools, and will +make education obligatory, as it is in Europe; but again, surely, the +money is taken from the people just the same, and it will be harder to +work, and they will have less leisure for work, and there will be no +education even by compulsion. Again the sole salvation is this: that the +teacher should live under the conditions of the working-men, and should +teach for that compensation which they give him freely and voluntarily. + +Such is the false course of science, which deprives it of the power of +fulfilling its obligation, which is, to serve the people. + +But in nothing is this false course of science so obviously apparent, as +in the vocation of art, which, from its very significance, ought to be +accessible to the people. Science may fall back on its stupid excuse, +that science acts for science, and that when it turns out learned men it +is laboring for the people; but art, if it is art, should be accessible +to all the people, and in particular to those in whose name it is +executed. And our definition of art, in a striking manner, convicts +those who busy themselves with art, of their lack of desire, lack of +knowledge, and lack of power, to be useful to the people. + +The painter, for the production of his great works, must have a studio of +at least such dimensions that a whole association of carpenters (forty in +number) or shoemakers, now sickening or stifling in lairs, would be able +to work in it. But this is not all; he must have a model, costumes, +travels. Millions are expended on the encouragement of art, and the +products of this art are both incomprehensible and useless to the people. +Musicians, in order to express their grand ideas, must assemble two +hundred men in white neckties, or in costumes, and spend hundreds of +thousands of rubles for the equipment of an opera. And the products of +this art cannot evoke from the people--even if the latter could at any +time enjoy it--any thing except amazement and _ennui_. + +Writers--authors--it appears, do not require surroundings, studios, +models, orchestras, and actors; but it then appears that the author needs +(not to mention comfort in his quarters) all the dainties of life for the +preparation of his great works, travels, palaces, cabinets, libraries, +the pleasures of art, visits to theatres, concerts, the baths, and so on. +If he does not earn a fortune for himself, he is granted a pension, in +order that he may compose the better. And again, these compositions, so +prized by us, remain useless lumber for the people, and utterly +unserviceable to them. + +And if still more of these dealers in spiritual nourishment are developed +further, as men of science desire, and a studio is erected in every +village; if an orchestra is set up, and authors are supported in those +conditions which artistic people regard as indispensable for +themselves,--I imagine that the working-classes will sooner take an oath +never to look at any pictures, never to listen to a symphony, never to +read poetry or novels, than to feed all these persons. + +And why, apparently, should art not be of service to the people? In +every cottage there are images and pictures; every peasant man and woman +sings; many own harmonicas; and all recite stories and verses, and many +read. It is as if those two things which are made for each other--the +lock and the key--had parted company; they have sprung so far apart, that +not even the possibility of uniting them presents itself. Tell the +artist that he should paint without a studio, model, or costumes, and +that he should paint five-kopek pictures, and he will say that that is +tantamount to abandoning his art, as he understands it. Tell the +musician that he should play on the harmonica, and teach the women to +sing songs; say to the poet, to the author, that he ought to cast aside +his poems and romances, and compose song-books, tales, and stories, +comprehensible to the uneducated people,--they will say that you are mad. + +The service of the people by science and art will only be performed when +people, dwelling in the midst of the common folk, and, like the common +folk, putting forward no demands, claiming no rights, shall offer to the +common folk their scientific and artistic services; the acceptance or +rejection of which shall depend wholly on the will of the common folk. + +It is said that the activity of science and art has aided in the forward +march of mankind,--meaning by this activity, that which is now called by +that name; which is the same as saying that an unskilled banging of oars +on a vessel that is floating with the tide, which merely hinders the +progress of the vessel, is assisting the movement of the ship. It only +retards it. The so-called division of labor, which has become in our day +the condition of activity of men of science and art, was, and has +remained, the chief cause of the tardy forward movement of mankind. + +The proofs of this lie in that confession of all men of science, that the +gains of science and art are inaccessible to the laboring masses, in +consequence of the faulty distribution of riches. The irregularity of +this distribution does not decrease in proportion to the progress of +science and art, but only increases. Men of art and science assume an +air of deep pity for this unfortunate circumstance which does not depend +upon them. But this unfortunate circumstance is produced by themselves; +for this irregular distribution of wealth flows solely from the theory of +the division of labor. + +Science maintains the division of labor as a unalterable law; it sees +that the distribution of wealth, founded on the division of labor, is +wrong and ruinous; and it affirms that its activity, which recognizes the +division of labor, will lead people to bliss. The result is, that some +people make use of the labor of others; but that, if they shall make use +of the labor of others for a very long period of time, and in still +larger measure, then this wrongful distribution of wealth, i.e., the use +of the labor of others, will come to an end. + +Men stand beside a constantly swelling spring of water, and are occupied +with the problem of diverting it to one side, away from the thirsty +people, and they assert that they are producing this water, and that soon +enough will be collected for all. But this water which has flowed, and +which still flows unceasingly, and nourishes all mankind, not only is not +the result of the activity of the men who, standing at its source, turn +it aside, but this water flows and gushes out, in spite of the efforts of +these men to obstruct its flow. + +There have always existed a true science, and a true art; but true +science and art are not such because they called themselves by that name. +It always seems to those who claim at any given period to be the +representatives of science and art, that they have performed, and are +performing, and--most of all--that they will presently perform, the most +amazing marvels, and that beside them there never has been and there is +not any science or any art. Thus it seemed to the sophists, the +scholastics, the alchemists, the cabalists, the talmudists; and thus it +seems to our own scientific science, and to our art for the sake of art. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +"But art,--science! You repudiate art and science; that is, you +repudiate that by which mankind lives!" People are constantly making +this--it is not a reply--to me, and they employ this mode of reception in +order to reject my deductions without examining into them. "He +repudiates science and art, he wants to send people back again into a +savage state; so what is the use of listening to him and of talking to +him?" But this is unjust. I not only do not repudiate art and science, +but, in the name of that which is true art and true science, I say that +which I do say; merely in order that mankind may emerge from that savage +state into which it will speedily fall, thanks to the erroneous teaching +of our time,--only for this purpose do I say that which I say. + +Art and science are as indispensable as food and drink and clothing,--more +indispensable even; but they become so, not because we decide that what +we designate as art and science are indispensable, but simply because +they really are indispensable to people. + +Surely, if hay is prepared for the bodily nourishment of men, the fact +that we are convinced that hay is the proper food for man will not make +hay the food of man. Surely I cannot say, "Why do not you eat hay, when +it is the indispensable food?" Food is indispensable, but it may happen +that that which I offer is not food at all. This same thing has occurred +with our art and science. It seems to us, that if we add to a Greek word +the word "logy," and call that a science, it will be a science; and, if +we call any abominable thing--like the dancing of nude females--by a +Greek word, choreography, that that is art, and that it will be art. But +no matter how much we may say this, the business with which we occupy +ourselves when we count beetles, and investigate the chemical +constituents of the stars in the Milky Way, when we paint nymphs and +compose novels and symphonies,--our business will not become either art +or science until such time as it is accepted by those people for whom it +is wrought. + +If it were decided that only certain people should produce food, and if +all the rest were forbidden to do this, or if they were rendered +incapable of producing food, I suppose that the quality of food would be +lowered. If the people who enjoyed the monopoly of producing food were +Russian peasants, there would be no other food than black bread and +cabbage-soup, and so on, and kvas,--nothing except what they like, and +what is agreeable to them. The same thing would happen in the case of +that loftiest human pursuit, of arts and sciences, if one caste were to +arrogate to itself a monopoly of them: but with this sole difference, +that, in the matter of bodily food, there can be no great departure from +nature, and bread and cabbage-soup, although not very savory viands, are +fit for consumption; but in spiritual food, there may exist the very +greatest departures from nature, and some people may feed themselves for +a long time on poisonous spiritual nourishment, which is directly +unsuitable for, or injurious to, them; they may slowly kill themselves +with spiritual opium or liquors, and they may offer this same food to the +masses. + +It is this very thing that is going on among us. And it has come about +because the position of men of science and art is a privileged one, +because art and science (in our day), in our world, are not at all a +rational occupation of all mankind without exception, exerting their best +powers for the service of art and science, but an occupation of a +restricted circle of people holding a monopoly of these industries, and +entitling themselves men of art and science, and who have, therefore, +perverted the very idea of art and science, and have lost all the meaning +of their vocation, and who are only concerned in amusing and rescuing +from crushing _ennui_ their tiny circle of idle mouths. + +Ever since men have existed, they have always had science and art in the +simplest and broadest sense of the term. Science, in the sense of the +whole of knowledge acquired by mankind, exists and always has existed, +and life without it is not conceivable; and there is no possibility of +either attacking or defending science, taken in this sense. + +But the point lies here,--that the scope of the knowledge of all mankind +as a whole is so multifarious, ranging from the knowledge of how to +extract iron to the knowledge of the movements of the planets, that man +loses himself in this multitude of existing knowledge,--knowledge capable +of _endless_ possibilities, if he have no guiding thread, by the aid of +which he can classify this knowledge, and arrange the branches according +to the degrees of their significance and importance. + +Before a man undertakes to learn any thing whatever, he must make up his +mind that that branch of knowledge is of weight to him, and of more +weight and importance than the countless other objects of study with +which he is surrounded. Before undertaking the study of any thing, a man +decides for what purpose he is studying this subject, and not the others. +But to study every thing, as the men of scientific science in our day +preach, without any idea of what is to come out of such study, is +downright impossible, because the number of subjects of study is +_endless_; and hence, no matter how many branches we may acquire, their +acquisition can possess no significance or reason. And, therefore, in +ancient times, down to even a very recent date, until the appearance of +scientific science, man's highest wisdom consisted in finding that +guiding thread, according to which the knowledge of men should be +classified as being of primary or of secondary importance. And this +knowledge, which forms the guide to all other branches of knowledge, men +have always called science in the strictest acceptation of the word. And +such science there has always been, even down to our own day, in all +human communities which have emerged from their primal state of savagery. + +Ever since mankind has existed, teachers have always arisen among +peoples, who have enunciated science in this restricted sense,--the +science of what it is most useful for man to know. This science has +always had for its object the knowledge of what is the true ground of the +well-being of each individual man, and of all men, and why. Such was the +science of Confucius, of Buddha, of Socrates, of Mahomet, and of others; +such is this science as they understood it, and as all men--with the +exception of our little circle of so-called cultured people--understand +it. This science has not only always occupied the highest place, but has +been the only and sole science, from which the standing of the rest has +been determined. And this was the case, not in the least because, as the +so-called scientific people of our day think, cunning priestly teachers +of this science attributed to it such significance, but because in +reality, as every one knows, both by personal experience and by +reflection, there can be no science except the science of that in which +the destiny and welfare of man consist. For the objects of science are +_incalculable_ in number,--I undermine the word "incalculable" in the +exact sense in which I understand it,--and without the knowledge of that +in which the destiny and welfare of all men consist, there is no +possibility of making a choice amid this interminable multitude of +subjects; and therefore, without this knowledge, all other arts and +branches of learning will become, as they have become among us, an idle +and hurtful diversion. + +Mankind has existed and existed, and never has it existed without the +science of that in which the destiny and the welfare of men consist. It +is true that the science of the welfare of men appears different on +superficial observation, among the Buddhists, the Brahmins, the Hebrews, +the Confucians, the Tauists; but nevertheless, wherever we hear of men +who have emerged from a state of savagery, we find this science. And all +of a sudden it appears that the men of our day have decided that this +same science, which has hitherto served as the guiding thread of all +human knowledge, is the very thing which hinders every thing. Men erect +buildings; and one architect has made one estimate of cost, a second has +made another, and a third yet another. The estimates differ somewhat; +but they are correct, so that any one can see, that, if the whole is +carried out in accordance with the calculations, the building will be +erected. Along come people, and assert that the chief point lies in +having no estimates, and that it should be built thus--by the eye. And +this "thus," men call the most accurate of scientific science. Men +repudiate every science, the very substance of science,--the definition +of the destiny and the welfare of men,--and this repudiation they +designate as science. + +Ever since men have existed, great minds have been born into their midst, +which, in the conflict with reason and conscience, have put to themselves +questions as to "what constitutes welfare,--the destiny and welfare, not +of myself alone, but of every man?" What does that power which has +created and which leads me, demand of me and of every man? And what is +it necessary for me to do, in order to comply with the requirements +imposed upon me by the demands of individual and universal welfare? They +have asked themselves: "I am a whole, and also a part of something +infinite, eternal; what, then, are my relations to other parts similar to +myself, to men and to the whole--to the world?" + +And from the voices of conscience and of reason, and from a comparison of +what their contemporaries and men who had lived before them, and who had +propounded to themselves the same questions, had said, these great +teachers have deduced their doctrines, which were simple, clear, +intelligible to all men, and always such as were susceptible of +fulfilment. Such men have existed of the first, second, third, and +lowest ranks. The world is full of such men. Every living man propounds +the question to himself, how to reconcile the demands of welfare, and of +his personal existence, with conscience and reason; and from this +universal labor, slowly but uninterruptedly, new forms of life, which are +more in accord with the requirements of reason and of conscience, are +worked out. + +All at once, a new caste of people makes its appearance, and they say, +"All this is nonsense; all this must be abandoned." This is the +deductive method of ratiocination (wherein lies the difference between +the deductive and the inductive method, no one can understand); these are +the dogmas of the technological and metaphysical period. Every thing +that these men discover by inward experience, and which they communicate +to one another, concerning their knowledge of the law of their existence +(of their functional activity, according to their own jargon), every +thing that the grandest minds of mankind have accomplished in this +direction, since the beginning of the world,--all this is nonsense, and +has no weight whatever. According to this new doctrine, it appears that +you are cells: and that you, as a cell, have a very definite functional +activity, which you not only fulfil, but which you infallibly feel within +you; and that you are a thinking, talking, understanding cell, and that +you, for this reason, can ask another similar talking cell whether it is +just the same, and in this way verify your own experience; that you can +take advantage of the fact that speaking cells, which have lived before +you, have written on the same subject, and that you have millions of +cells which confirm your observations by their agreement with the cells +which have written down their thoughts,--all this signifies nothing; all +this is an evil and an erroneous method. + +The true scientific method is this: If you wish to know in what the +destiny and the welfare of all mankind and of all the world consists, you +must, first of all, cease to listen to the voices of your conscience and +of your reason, which present themselves in you and in others like you; +you must cease to believe all that the great teachers of mankind have +said with regard to your conscience and reason, and you must consider all +this as nonsense, and begin all over again. And, in order to understand +every thing from the beginning, you must look through microscopes at the +movements of amoebae, and cells in worms, or, with still greater +composure, believe in every thing that men with a diploma of +infallibility shall say to you about them. And as you gaze at the +movements of these cells, or read about what others have seen, you must +attribute to these cells your own human sensations and calculations as to +what they desire, whither they are directing themselves, how they compare +and discuss, and to what they have become accustomed; and from these +observations (in which there is not a word about an error of thought or +of expression) you must deduce a conclusion by analogy as to what you +are, what is your destiny, wherein lies the welfare of yourself and of +other cells like you. In order to understand yourself, you must study +not only the worms which you see, but microscopic creatures which you can +barely see, and transformations from one set of creatures into others, +which no one has ever beheld, and which you, most assuredly, will never +behold. And the same with art. Where there has been true science, art +has always been its exponent. + +Ever since men have been in existence, they have been in the habit of +deducing, from all pursuits, the expressions of various branches of +learning concerning the destiny and the welfare of man, and the +expression of this knowledge has been art in the strict sense of the +word. + +Ever since men have existed, there have been those who were peculiarly +sensitive and responsive to the doctrine regarding the destiny and +welfare of man; who have given expression to their own and the popular +conflict, to the delusions which lead them astray from their destinies, +their sufferings in this conflict, their hopes in the triumph of good, +them despair over the triumph of evil, and their raptures in the +consciousness of the approaching bliss of man, on viol and tabret, in +images and words. Always, down to the most recent times, art has served +science and life,--only then was it what has been so highly esteemed of +men. But art, in its capacity of an important human activity, +disappeared simultaneously with the substitution for the genuine science +of destiny and welfare, of the science of any thing you choose to fancy. +Art has existed among all peoples, and will exist until that which among +us is scornfully called religion has come to be considered the only +science. + +In our European world, so long as there existed a Church, as the doctrine +of destiny and welfare, and so long as the Church was regarded as the +only true science, art served the Church, and remained true art: but as +soon as art abandoned the Church, and began to serve science, while +science served whatever came to hand, art lost its significance. And +notwithstanding the rights claimed on the score of ancient memories, and +of the clumsy assertion which only proves its loss of its calling, that +art serves art, it has become a trade, providing men with something +agreeable; and as such, it inevitably comes into the category of +choreographic, culinary, hair-dressing, and cosmetic arts, whose +practitioners designate themselves as artists, with the same right as the +poets, printers, and musicians of our day. + +Glance backward into the past, and you will see that in the course of +thousands of years, out of milliards of people, only half a score of +Confucius', Buddhas, Solomons, Socrates, Solons, and Homers have been +produced. Evidently, they are rarely met with among men, in spite of the +fact that these men have not been selected from a single caste, but from +mankind at large. Evidently, these true teachers and artists and learned +men, the purveyors of spiritual nourishment, are rare. And it is not +without reason that mankind has valued and still values them so highly. + +But it now appears, that all these great factors in the science and art +of the past are no longer of use to us. Nowadays, scientific and +artistic authorities can, in accordance with the law of division of +labor, be turned out by factory methods; and, in one decade, more great +men have been manufactured in art and science, than have ever been born +of such among all nations, since the foundation of the world. Nowadays +there is a guild of learned men and artists, and they prepare, by +perfected methods, all that spiritual food which man requires. And they +have prepared so much of it, that it is no longer necessary to refer to +the elder authorities, who have preceded them,--not only to the ancients, +but to those much nearer to us. All that was the activity of the +theological and metaphysical period,--all that must be wiped out: but the +true, the rational activity began, say, fifty years ago, and in the +course of those fifty years we have made so many great men, that there +are about ten great men to every branch of science. And there have come +to be so many sciences, that, fortunately, it is easy to make them. All +that is required is to add the Greek word "logy" to the name, and force +them to conform to a set rubric, and the science is all complete. They +have created so many sciences, that not only can no one man know them +all, but not a single individual can remember all the titles of all the +existing sciences; the titles alone form a thick lexicon, and new +sciences are manufactured every day. They have been manufactured on the +pattern of that Finnish teacher who taught the landed proprietor's +children Finnish instead of French. Every thing has been excellently +inculcated; but there is one objection,--that no one except ourselves can +understand any thing of it, and all this is reckoned as utterly useless +nonsense. However, there is an explanation even for this. People do not +appreciate the full value of scientific science, because they are under +the influence of the theological period, that profound period when all +the people, both among the Hebrews, and the Chinese, and the Indians, and +the Greeks, understood every thing that their great teachers said to +them. + +But, from whatever cause this has come about, the fact remains, that +sciences and arts have always existed among mankind, and, when they +really did exist, they were useful and intelligible to all the people. +But we practise something which we call science and art, but it appears +that what we do is unnecessary and unintelligible to man. And hence, +however beautiful may be the things that we accomplish, we have no right +to call them arts and sciences. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +"But you only furnish a different definition of arts and sciences, which +is stricter, and is incompatible with science," I shall be told in answer +to this; "nevertheless, scientific and artistic activity does still +exist. There are the Galileos, Brunos, Homers, Michael Angelos, +Beethovens, and all the lesser learned men and artists, who have +consecrated their entire lives to the service of science and art, and who +were, and will remain, the benefactors of mankind." + +Generally this is what people say, striving to forget that new principle +of the division of labor, on the basis of which science and art now +occupy their privileged position, and on whose basis we are now enabled +to decide without grounds, but by a given standard: Is there, or is there +not, any foundation for that activity which calls itself science and art, +to so magnify itself? + +When the Egyptian or the Grecian priests produced their mysteries, which +were unintelligible to any one, and stated concerning these mysteries +that all science and all art were contained in them, I could not verify +the reality of their science on the basis of the benefit procured by them +to the people, because science, according to their assertions, was +supernatural. But now we all possess a very simple and clear definition +of the activity of art and science, which excludes every thing +supernatural: science and art promise to carry out the mental activity of +mankind, for the welfare of society, or of all the human race. + +The definition of scientific science and art is entirely correct; but, +unfortunately, the activity of the present arts and sciences does not +come under this head. Some of them are directly injurious, others are +useless, others still are worthless,--good only for the wealthy. They do +not fulfil that which, by their own definition, they have undertaken to +accomplish; and hence they have as little right to regard themselves as +men of art and science, as a corrupt priesthood, which does not fulfil +the obligations which it has assumed, has the right to regard itself as +the bearer of divine truth. + +And it can be understood why the makers of the present arts and sciences +have not fulfilled, and cannot fulfil, their vocation. They do not +fulfil it, because out of their obligations they have erected a right. + +Scientific and artistic activity, in its real sense, is only fruitful +when it knows no rights, but recognizes only obligations. Only because +it is its property to be always thus, does mankind so highly prize this +activity. If men really were called to the service of others through +artistic work, they would see in that work only obligation, and they +would fulfil it with toil, with privations, and with self-abnegation. + +The thinker or the artist will never sit calmly on Olympian heights, as +we have become accustomed to represent them to ourselves. The thinker or +the artist should suffer in company with the people, in order that he may +find salvation or consolation. Besides this, he will suffer because he +is always and eternally in turmoil and agitation: he might decide and say +that that which would confer welfare on men, would free them from +suffering, would afford them consolation; but he has not said so, and has +not presented it as he should have done; he has not decided, and he has +not spoken; and to-morrow, possibly, it will be too late,--he will die. +And therefore suffering and self-sacrifice will always be the lot of the +thinker and the artist. + +Not of this description will be the thinker and artist who is reared in +an establishment where, apparently, they manufacture the learned man or +the artist (but in point of fact, they manufacture destroyers of science +and of art), who receives a diploma and a certificate, who would be glad +not to think and not to express that which is imposed on his soul, but +who cannot avoid doing that to which two irresistible forces draw him,--an +inward prompting, and the demand of men. + +There will be no sleek, plump, self-satisfied thinkers and artists. +Spiritual activity, and its expression, which are actually necessary to +others, are the most burdensome of all man's avocations; a cross, as the +Gospels phrase it. And the sole indubitable sign of the presence of a +vocation is self-devotion, the sacrifice of self for the manifestation of +the power that is imposed upon man for the benefit of others. + +It is possible to study out how many beetles there are in the world, to +view the spots on the sun, to write romances and operas, without +suffering; but it is impossible, without self-sacrifice, to instruct +people in their true happiness, which consists solely in renunciation of +self and the service of others, and to give strong expression to this +doctrine, without self-sacrifice. + +Christ did not die on the cross in vain; not in vain does the sacrifice +of suffering conquer all things. + +But our art and science are provided with certificates and diplomas; and +the only anxiety of all men is, how to still better guarantee them, i.e., +how to render the service of the people impracticable for them. + +True art and true science possess two unmistakable marks: the first, an +inward mark, which is this, that the servitor of art and science will +fulfil his vocation, not for profit but with self-sacrifice; and the +second, an external sign,--his productions will be intelligible to all +the people whose welfare he has in view. + +No matter what people have fixed upon as their vocation and their +welfare, science will be the doctrine of this vocation and welfare, and +art will be the expression of that doctrine. That which is called +science and art, among us, is the product of idle minds and feelings, +which have for their object to tickle similar idle minds and feelings. +Our arts and sciences are incomprehensible, and say nothing to the +people, for they have not the welfare of the common people in view. + +Ever since the life of men has been known to us, we find, always and +everywhere, the reigning doctrine falsely designating itself as science, +not manifesting itself to the common people, but obscuring for them the +meaning of life. Thus it was among the Greeks the sophists, then among +the Christians the mystics, gnostics, scholastics, among the Hebrews the +Talmudists and Cabalists, and so on everywhere, down to our own times. + +How fortunate it is for us that we live in so peculiar an age, when that +mental activity which calls itself science, not only does not err, but +finds itself, as we are assured, in a remarkably flourishing condition! +Does not this peculiar good fortune arise from the fact that man can not +and will not see his own hideousness? Why is there nothing left of those +sciences, and sophists, and Cabalists, and Talmudists, but words, while +we are so exceptionally happy? Surely the signs are identical. There is +the same self-satisfaction and blind confidence that we, precisely we, +and only we, are on the right path, and that the real thing is only +beginning with us. There is the same expectation that we shall discover +something remarkable; and that chief sign which leads us astray convicts +us of our error: all our wisdom remains with us, and the common people do +not understand, and do not accept, and do not need it. + +Our position is a very difficult one, but why not look at it squarely? + +It is time to recover our senses, and to scrutinize ourselves. Surely we +are nothing else than the scribes and Pharisees, who sit in Moses' seat, +and who have taken the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and will neither go +in ourselves, nor permit others to go in. Surely we, the high priests of +science and art, are ourselves worthless deceivers, possessing much less +right to our position than the most crafty and depraved priests. Surely +we have no justification for our privileged position. The priests had a +right to their position: they declared that they taught the people life +and salvation. But we have taken their place, and we do not instruct the +people in life,--we even admit that such instruction is unnecessary,--but +we educate our children in the same Talmudic-Greek and Latin grammar, in +order that they may be able to pursue the same life of parasites which we +lead ourselves. We say, "There used to be castes, but there are none +among us." But what does it mean, that some people and their children +toil, while other people and their children do not toil? + +Bring hither an Indian ignorant of our language, and show him European +life, and our life, for several generations, and he will recognize the +same leading, well-defined castes--of laborers and non-laborers--as there +are in his own country. And as in his land, so in ours, the right of +refusing to labor is conferred by a peculiar consecration, which we call +science and art, or, in general terms, culture. It is this culture, and +all the distortions of sense connected with it, which have brought us to +that marvellous madness, in consequence of which we do not see that which +is so clear and indubitable. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Then, what is to be done? What are we to do? + +This question, which includes within itself both an admission that our +life is evil and wrong, and in connection with this,--as though it were +an exercise for it,--that it is impossible, nevertheless, to change it, +this question I have heard, and I continue to hear, on all sides. I have +described my own sufferings, my own gropings, and my own solution of this +question. I am the same kind of a man as everybody else; and if I am in +any wise distinguished from the average man of our circle, it is chiefly +in this respect, that I, more than the average man, have served and +winked at the false doctrine of our world; I have received more +approbation from men professing the prevailing doctrine: and therefore, +more than others, have I become depraved, and wandered from the path. And +therefore I think that the solution of the problem, which I have found in +my own case, will be applicable to all sincere people who are propounding +the same question to themselves. + +First of all, in answer to the question, "What is to be done?" I told +myself: "I must lie neither to other people nor to myself. I must not +fear the truth, whithersoever it may lead me." + +We all know what it means to lie to other people, but we are not afraid +to lie to ourselves; yet the very worst downright lie, to other people, +is not to be compared in its consequences with the lie to ourselves, upon +which we base our whole life. + +This is the lie of which we must not be guilty if we are to be in a +position to answer the question: "What is to be done?" And, in fact, how +am I to answer the question, "What is to be done?" when every thing that +I do, when my whole life, is founded on a lie, and when I carefully +parade this lie as the truth before others and before myself? Not to +lie, in this sense, means not to fear the truth, not to devise +subterfuges, and not to accept the subterfuges devised by others for the +purpose of hiding from myself the deductions of my reason and my +conscience; not to fear to part company with all those who surround me, +and to remain alone in company with reason and conscience; not to fear +that position to which the truth shall lead me, being firmly convinced +that that position to which truth and conscience shall conduct me, +however singular it may be, cannot be worse than the one which is founded +on a lie. Not to lie, in our position of privileged persons of mental +labor, means, not to be afraid to reckon one's self up wrongly. It is +possible that you are already so deeply indebted that you cannot take +stock of yourself; but to whatever extent this may be the case, however +long may be the account, however far you have strayed from the path, it +is still better than to continue therein. A lie to other people is not +alone unprofitable; every matter is settled more directly and more +speedily by the truth than by a lie. A lie to others only entangles +matters, and delays the settlement; but a lie to one's self, set forth as +the truth, ruins a man's whole life. If a man, having entered on the +wrong path, assumes that it is the true one, then every step that he +takes on that path removes him farther from his goal. If a man who has +long been travelling on this false path divines for himself, or is +informed by some one, that his course is a mistaken one, but grows +alarmed at the idea that he has wandered very far astray and tries to +convince himself that he may, possibly, still strike into the right road, +then he never will get into it. If a man quails before the truth, and, +on perceiving it, does not accept it, but does accept a lie for the +truth, then he never will learn what he ought to do. We, the not only +wealthy, but privileged and so-called cultivated persons, have advanced +so far on the wrong road, that a great deal of determination, or a very +great deal of suffering on the wrong road, is required, in order to bring +us to our senses and to the acknowledgment of the lie in which we are +living. I have perceived the lie of our lives, thanks to the sufferings +which the false path entailed upon me, and, having recognized the +falseness of this path on which I stood, I have had the boldness to go at +first in thought only--whither reason and conscience led me, without +reflecting where they would bring me out. And I have been rewarded for +this boldness. + +All the complicated, broken, tangled, and incoherent phenomena of life +surrounding me, have suddenly become clear; and my position in the midst +of these phenomena, which was formerly strange and burdensome, has +become, all at once, natural, and easy to bear. + +In this new position, my activity was defined with perfect accuracy; not +at all as it had previously presented itself to me, but as a new and much +more peaceful, loving, and joyous activity. The very thing which had +formerly terrified me, now began to attract me. Hence I think, that the +man who will honestly put to himself the question, "What is to be done?" +and, replying to this query, will not lie to himself, but will go whither +his reason leads, has already solved the problem. + +There is only one thing that can hinder him in his search for an +issue,--an erroneously lofty idea of himself and of his position. This +was the case with me; and then another, arising from the first answer to +the question: "What is to be done?" consisted for me in this, that it was +necessary for me to repent, in the full sense of that word,--i.e., to +entirely alter my conception of my position and my activity; to confess +the hurtfulness and emptiness of my activity, instead of its utility and +gravity; to confess my own ignorance instead of culture; to confess my +immorality and harshness in the place of my kindness and morality; +instead of my elevation, to acknowledge my lowliness. I say, that in +addition to not lying to myself, I had to repent, because, although the +one flows from the other, a false conception of my lofty importance had +so grown up with me, that, until I sincerely repented and cut myself free +from that false estimate which I had formed of myself, I did not perceive +the greater part of the lie of which I had been guilty to myself. Only +when I had repented, that is to say, when I had ceased to look upon +myself as a regular man, and had begun to regard myself as a man exactly +like every one else,--only then did my path become clear before me. +Before that time I had not been able to answer the question: "What is to +be done?" because I had stated the question itself wrongly. + +As long as I did not repent, I put the question thus: "What sphere of +activity should I choose, I, the man who has received the education and +the talents which have fallen to my shame? How, in this fashion, make +recompense with that education and those talents, for what I have taken, +and for what I still take, from the people?" This question was wrong, +because it contained a false representation, to the effect that I was not +a man just like them, but a peculiar man called to serve the people with +those talents and with that education which I had won by the efforts of +forty years. + +I propounded the query to myself; but, in reality, I had answered it in +advance, in that I had in advance defined the sort of activity which was +agreeable to me, and by which I was called upon to serve the people. I +had, in fact, asked myself: "In what manner could I, so very fine a +writer, who had acquired so much learning and talents, make use of them +for the benefit of the people?" + +But the question should have been put as it would have stood for a +learned rabbi who had gone through the course of the Talmud, and had +learned by heart the number of letters in all the holy books, and all the +fine points of his art. The question for me, as for the rabbi, should +stand thus: "What am I, who have spent, owing to the misfortune of my +surroundings, the year's best fitted for study in the acquisition of +grammar, geography, judicial science, poetry, novels and romances, the +French language, pianoforte playing, philosophical theories, and military +exercises, instead of inuring myself to labor; what am I, who have passed +the best years of my life in idle occupations which are corrupting to the +soul,--what am I to do in defiance of these unfortunate conditions of the +past, in order that I may requite those people who during the whole time +have fed and clothed, yes, and who even now continue to feed and clothe +me?" Had the question then stood as it stands before me now, after I +have repented,--"What am I, so corrupt a man, to do?" the answer would +have been easy: "To strive, first of all, to support myself honestly; +that is, to learn not to live upon others; and while I am learning, and +when I have learned this, to render aid on all possible occasions to the +people, with my hands, and my feet, and my brain, and my heart, and with +every thing to which the people should present a claim." + +And therefore I say, that for the man of our circle, in addition to not +lying to himself or to others, repentance is also necessary, and that he +should scrape from himself that pride which has sprung up in us, in our +culture, in our refinements, in our talents; and that he should confess +that he is not a benefactor of the people and a distinguished man, who +does not refuse to share with the people his useful acquirements, but +that he should confess himself to be a thoroughly guilty, corrupt, and +good-for-nothing man, who desires to reform himself and not to behave +benevolently towards the people, but simply to cease wounding and +insulting them. + +I often hear the questions of good young men who sympathize with the +renunciatory part of my writings, and who ask, "Well, and what then shall +I do? What am I to do, now that I have finished my course in the +university, or in some other institution, in order that I may be of use?" +Young men ask this, and in the depths of their soul it is already decided +that the education which they have received constitutes their privilege +and that they desire to serve the people precisely by means of thus +superiority. And hence, one thing which they will in no wise do, is to +bear themselves honestly and critically towards that which they call +their culture, and ask themselves, are those qualities which they call +their culture good or bad? If they will do this, they will infallibly be +led to see the necessity of renouncing their culture, and the necessity +of beginning to learn all over again; and this is the one indispensable +thing. They can in no wise solve the problem, "What to do?" because this +question does not stand before them as it should stand. The question +must stand thus: "In what manner am I, a helpless, useless man, who, +owing to the misfortune of my conditions, have wasted my best years of +study in conning the scientific Talmud which corrupts soul and body, to +correct this mistake, and learn to serve the people?" But it presents +itself to them thus: "How am I, a man who has acquired so much very fine +learning, to turn this very fine learning to the use of the people?" And +such a man will never answer the question, "What is to be done?" until he +repents. And repentance is not terrible, just as truth is not terrible, +and it is equally joyful and fruitful. It is only necessary to accept +the truth wholly, and to repent wholly, in order to understand that no +one possesses any rights, privileges, or peculiarities in the matter of +this life of ours, but that there are no ends or bounds to obligation, +and that a man's first and most indubitable duty is to take part in the +struggle with nature for his own life and for the lives of others. + +And this confession of a man's obligation constitutes the gist of the +third answer to the question, "What is to be done?" + +I tried not to lie to myself: I tried to cast out from myself the remains +of my false conceptions of the importance of my education and talents, +and to repent; but on the way to a decision of the question, "What to +do?" a fresh difficulty arose. There are so many different occupations, +that an indication was necessary as to the precise one which was to be +adopted. And the answer to this question was furnished me by sincere +repentance for the evil in which I had lived. + +"What to do? Precisely what to do?" all ask, and that is what I also +asked so long as, under the influence of my exalted idea of any own +importance, I did not perceive that my first and unquestionable duty was +to feed myself, to clothe myself, to furnish my own fuel, to do my own +building, and, by so doing, to serve others, because, ever since the +would has existed, the first and indubitable duty of every man has +consisted and does consist in this. + +In fact, no matter what a man may have assumed to be his +vocation,--whether it be to govern people, to defend his +fellow-countrymen, to divine service, to instruct others, to invent means +to heighten the pleasures of life, to discover the laws of the world, to +incorporate eternal truths in artistic representations,--the duty of a +reasonable man is to take part in the struggle with nature, for the +sustenance of his own life and of that of others. This obligation is the +first of all, because what people need most of all is their life; and +therefore, in order to defend and instruct the people, and render their +lives more agreeable, it is requisite to preserve that life itself, while +my refusal to share in the struggle, my monopoly of the labors of others, +is equivalent to annihilation of the lives of others. And, therefore, it +is not rational to serve the lives of men by annihilating the lives of +men; and it is impossible to say that I am serving men, when, by my life, +I am obviously injuring them. + +A man's obligation to struggle with nature for the acquisition of the +means of livelihood will always be the first and most unquestionable of +all obligations, because this obligation is a law of life, departure from +which entails the inevitable punishment of either bodily or mental +annihilation of the life of man. If a man living alone excuses himself +from the obligation of struggling with nature, he is immediately +punished, in that his body perishes. But if a man excuses himself from +this obligation by making other people fulfil it for him, then also he is +immediately punished by the annihilation of his mental life; that is to +say, of the life which possesses rational thought. + +In this one act, man receives--if the two things are to be separated--full +satisfaction of the bodily and spiritual demands of his nature. The +feeding, clothing, and taking care of himself and his family, constitute +the satisfaction of the bodily demands and requirements; and doing the +same for other people, constitutes the satisfaction of his spiritual +requirements. Every other employment of man is only legal when it is +directed to the satisfaction of this very first duty of man; for the +fulfilment of this duty constitutes the whole life of man. + +I had been so turned about by my previous life, this first and +indubitable law of God or of nature is so concealed in our sphere of +society, that the fulfilment of this law seemed to me strange, terrible, +even shameful; as though the fulfilment of an eternal, unquestionable +law, and not the departure from it, can be terrible, strange, and +shameful. + +At first it seemed to me that the fulfilment of this matter required some +preparation, arrangement or community of men, holding similar views,--the +consent of one's family, life in the country; it seemed to me disgraceful +to make a show of myself before people, to undertake a thing so improper +in our conditions of existence, as bodily toil, and I did not know how to +set about it. But it was only necessary for me to understand that this +is no exclusive occupation which requires to be invented and arranged +for, but that this employment was merely a return from the false position +in which I found myself, to a natural one; was only a rectification of +that lie in which I was living. I had only to recognize this fact, and +all these difficulties vanished. It was not in the least necessary to +make preparations and arrangements, and to await the consent of others, +for, no matter in what position I had found myself, there had always been +people who had fed, clothed and warmed me, in addition to themselves; and +everywhere, under all conditions, I could do the same for myself and for +them, if I had the time and the strength. Neither could I experience +false shame in an unwonted occupation, no matter how surprising it might +be to people, because, through not doing it, I had already experienced +not false but real shame. + +And when I had reached this confession and the practical deduction from +it, I was fully rewarded for not having quailed before the deductions of +reason, and for following whither they led me. On arriving at this +practical deduction, I was amazed at the ease and simplicity with which +all the problems which had previously seemed to me so difficult and so +complicated, were solved. + +To the question, "What is it necessary to do?" the most indubitable +answer presented itself: first of all, that which it was necessary for me +to do was, to attend to my own samovar, my own stove, my own water, my +own clothing; to every thing that I could do for myself. To the +question, "Will it not seem strange to people if you do this?" it +appeared that this strangeness lasted only a week, and after the lapse of +that week, it would have seemed strange had I returned to my former +conditions of life. With regard to the question, "Is it necessary to +organize this physical labor, to institute an association in the country, +on my land?" it appeared that nothing of the sort was necessary; that +labor, if it does not aim at the acquisition of all possible leisure, and +the enjoyment of the labor of others,--like the labor of people bent on +accumulating money,--but if it have for its object the satisfaction of +requirements, will itself be drawn from the city to the country, to the +land, where this labor is the most fruitful and cheerful. But it is not +requisite to institute any association, because the man who labors, +naturally and of himself, attaches himself to the existing association of +laboring men. + +To the question, whether this labor would not monopolize all my time, and +deprive me of those intellectual pursuits which I love, to which I am +accustomed, and which, in my moments of self-conceit, I regard as not +useless to others? I received a most unexpected reply. The energy of my +intellectual activity increased, and increased in exact proportion with +bodily application, while freeing itself from every thing superfluous. It +appeared that by dedicating to physical toil eight hours, that half of +the day which I had formerly passed in the oppressive state of a struggle +with _ennui_, eight hours remained to me, of which only five of +intellectual activity, according to my terms, were necessary to me. For +it appeared, that if I, a very voluminous writer, who had done nothing +for nearly forty years except write, and who had written three hundred +printed sheets;--if I had worked during all those forty years at ordinary +labor with the working-people, then, not reckoning winter evenings and +leisure days, if I had read and studied for five hours every day, and had +written a couple of pages only on holidays (and I have been in the habit +of writing at the rate of one printed sheet a day), then I should have +written those three hundred sheets in fourteen years. The fact seemed +startling: yet it is the most simple arithmetical calculation, which can +be made by a seven-year-old boy, but which I had not been able to make up +to this time. There are twenty-four hours in the day; if we take away +eight hours, sixteen remain. If any man engaged in intellectual +occupations devote five hours every day to his occupation, he will +accomplish a fearful amount. And what is to be done with the remaining +eleven hours? + +It proved that physical labor not only does not exclude the possibility +of mental activity, but that it improves its quality, and encourages it. + +In answer to the question, whether this physical toil does not deprive me +of many innocent pleasures peculiar to man, such as the enjoyment of the +arts, the acquisition of learning, intercourse with people, and the +delights of life in general, it turned out exactly the reverse: the more +intense the labor, the more nearly it approached what is considered the +coarsest agricultural toil, the more enjoyment and knowledge did I gain, +and the more did I come into close and loving communion with men, and the +more happiness did I derive from life. + +In answer to the question (which I have so often heard from persons not +thoroughly sincere), as to what result could flow from so insignificant a +drop in the sea of sympathy as my individual physical labor in the sea of +labor ingulfing me, I received also the most satisfactory and unexpected +of answers. It appeared that all I had to do was to make physical labor +the habitual condition of my life, and the majority of my false, but +precious, habits and my demands, when physically idle, fell away from me +at once of their own accord, without the slightest exertion on my part. +Not to mention the habit of turning day into night and _vice versa_, my +habits connected with my bed, with my clothing, with conventional +cleanliness,--which are downright impossible and oppressive with physical +labor,--and my demands as to the quality of my food, were entirely +changed. In place of the dainty, rich, refined, complicated, +highly-spiced food, to which I had formerly inclined, the most simple +viands became needful and most pleasing of all to me,--cabbage-soup, +porridge, black bread, and tea _v prikusku_. {238} So that, not to +mention the influence upon me of the example of the simple +working-people, who are content with little, with whom I came in contact +in the course of my bodily toil, my very requirements underwent a change +in consequence of my toilsome life; so that my drop of physical labor in +the sea of universal labor became larger and larger, in proportion as I +accustomed myself to, and appropriated, the habits of the laboring +classes; in proportion, also, to the success of my labor, my demands for +labor from others grew less and less, and my life naturally, without +exertion or privations, approached that simple existence of which I could +not even dream without fulfilling the law of labor. + +It proved that my dearest demands from life, namely, my demands for +vanity, and diversion from _ennui_, arose directly from my idle life. +There was no place for vanity, in connection with physical labor; and no +diversions were needed, since my time was pleasantly occupied, and, after +my fatigue, simple rest at tea over a book, or in conversation with my +fellows, was incomparably more agreeable than theatres, cards, conceits, +or a large company,--all which things are needed in physical idleness, +and which cost a great deal. + +In answer to the question, Would not this unaccustomed toil ruin that +health which is indispensable in order to render service to the people +possible? it appeared, in spite of the positive assertions of noted +physicians, that physical exertion, especially at my age, might have the +most injurious consequences (but that Swedish gymnastics, the massage +treatment, and so on, and other expedients intended to take the place of +the natural conditions of man's life, were better), that the more intense +the toil, the stronger, more alert, more cheerful, and more kindly did I +feel. Thus it undoubtedly appeared, that, just as all those cunning +devices of the human mind, newspapers, theatres, concerts, visits, balls, +cards, journals, romances, are nothing else than expedients for +maintaining the spiritual life of man outside his natural conditions of +labor for others,--just so all the hygienic and medical devices of the +human mind for the preparation of food, drink, lodging, ventilation, +heating, clothing, medicine, water, massage, gymnastics, electric, and +other means of healing,--all these clever devices are merely an expedient +to sustain the bodily life of man removed from its natural conditions of +labor. It turned out that all these devices of the human mind for the +agreeable arrangement of the physical existence of idle persons are +precisely analogous to those artful contrivances which people might +invent for the production in vessels hermetically sealed, by means of +mechanical arrangements, of evaporation, and plants, of the air best +fitted for breathing, when all that is needed is to open the window. All +the inventions of medicine and hygiene for persons of our sphere are much +the same as though a mechanic should hit upon the idea of heating a steam- +boiler which was not working, and should shut all the valves so that the +boiler should not burst. Only one thing is needed, instead of all these +extremely complicated devices for pleasure, for comfort, and for medical +and hygienic preparations, intended to save people from their spiritual +and bodily ailments, which swallow up so much labor,--to fulfil the law +of life; to do that which is proper not only to man, but to the animal; +to fire off the charge of energy taken win in the shape of food, by +muscular exertion; to speak in plain language, to earn one's bread. Those +who do not work should not eat, or they should earn as much as they have +eaten. + +And when I clearly comprehended all this, it struck me as ridiculous. +Through a whole series of doubts and searchings, I had arrived, by a long +course of thought, at this remarkable truth: if a man has eyes, it is +that he may see with them; if he has ears, that he may hear; and feet, +that he may walk; and hands and back, that he may labor; and that if a +man will not employ those members for that purpose for which they are +intended, it will be the worse for him. + +I came to this conclusion, that, with us privileged people, the same +thing has happened which happened with the horses of a friend of mine. +His steward, who was not a lover of horses, nor well versed in them, on +receiving his master's orders to place the best horses in the stable, +selected them from the stud, placed them in stalls, and fed and watered +them; but fearing for the valuable steeds, he could not bring himself to +trust them to any one, and he neither rode nor drove them, nor did he +even take them out. The horses stood there until they were good for +nothing. The same thing has happened with us, but with this difference: +that it was impossible to deceive the horses in any way, and they were +kept in bonds to prevent their getting out; but we are kept in an +unnatural position that is equally injurious to us, by deceits which have +entangled us, and which hold us like chains. + +We have arranged for ourselves a life that is repugnant both to the moral +and the physical nature of man, and all the powers of our intelligence we +concentrate upon assuring man that this is the most natural life +possible. Every thing which we call culture,--our sciences, art, and the +perfection of the pleasant thing's of life,--all these are attempts to +deceive the moral requirements of man; every thing that is called hygiene +and medicine, is an attempt to deceive the natural physical demands of +human nature. But these deceits have their bounds, and we advance to +them. "If such be the real human life, then it is better not to live at +all," says the reigning and extremely fashionable philosophy of +Schopenhauer and Hartmann. If such is life, 'tis better for the coming +generation not to live," say corrupt medical science and its newly +devised means to that end. + +In the Bible, it is laid down as the law of man: "In the sweat of thy +face shalt thou eat bread, and in sorrow thou shalt bring forth +children;" but "_nous avons change tout ca_," as Moliere's character +says, when expressing himself with regard to medicine, and asserting that +the liver was on the left side. We have changed all that. Men need not +work in order to eat, and women need not bear children. + +A ragged peasant roams the Krapivensky district. During the war he was +an agent for the purchase of grain, under an official of the commissary +department. On being brought in contact with the official, and seeing +his luxurious life, the peasant lost his mind, and thought that he might +get along without work, like gentlemen, and receive proper support from +the Emperor. This peasant now calls himself "the Most Serene Warrior, +Prince Blokhin, purveyor of war supplies of all descriptions." He says +of himself that he has "passed through all the ranks," and that when he +shall have served out his term in the army, he is to receive from the +Emperor an unlimited bank account, clothes, uniforms, horses, equipages, +tea, pease and servants, and all sorts of luxuries. This man is +ridiculous in the eyes of many, but to me the significance of his madness +is terrible. To the question, whether he does not wish to work, he +always replies proudly: "I am much obliged. The peasants will attend to +all that." When you tell him that the peasants do not wish to work, +either, he answers: "It is not difficult for the peasant." + +He generally talks in a high-flown style, and is fond of verbal +substantives. "Now there is an invention of machinery for the +alleviation of the peasants," he says; "there is no difficulty for them +in that." When he is asked what he lives for, he replies, "To pass the +time." I always look on this man as on a mirror. I behold in him myself +and all my class. To pass through all the ranks (_tchini_) in order to +live for the purpose of passing the time, and to receive an unlimited +bank account, while the peasants, for whom this is not difficult, because +of the invention of machinery, do the whole business,--this is the +complete formula of the idiotic creed of the people of our sphere in +society. + +When we inquire precisely what we are to do, surely, we ask nothing, but +merely assert--only not in such good faith as the Most Serene Prince +Blokhin, who has been promoted through all ranks, and lost his mind--that +we do not wish to do any thing. + +He who will reflect for a moment cannot ask thus, because, on the one +hand, every thing that he uses has been made, and is made, by the hands +of men; and, on the other side, as soon as a healthy man has awakened and +eaten, the necessity of working with feet and hands and brain makes +itself felt. In order to find work and to work, he need only not hold +back: only a person who thinks work disgraceful--like the lady who +requests her guest not to take the trouble to open the door, but to wait +until she can call a man for this purpose--can put to himself the +question, what he is to do. + +The point does not lie in inventing work,--you can never get through all +the work that is to be done for yourself and for others,--but the point +lies in weaning one's self from that criminal view of life in accordance +with which I eat and sleep for my own pleasure; and in appropriating to +myself that just and simple view with which the laboring man grows up and +lives,--that man is, first of all, a machine, which loads itself with +food in order to sustain itself, and that it is therefore disgraceful, +wrong, and impossible to eat and not to work; that to eat and not to work +is the most impious, unnatural, and, therefore, dangerous position, in +the nature of the sin of Sodom. Only let this acknowledgement be made, +and there will be work; and work will always be joyous and satisfying to +both spiritual and bodily requirements. + +The matter presented itself to me thus: The day is divided for every man, +by food itself, into four parts, or four stints, as the peasants call it: +(1) before breakfast; (2) from breakfast until dinner; (3) from dinner +until four o'clock; (4) from four o'clock until evening. + +A man's employment, whatever it may be that he feels a need for in his +own person, is also divided into four categories: (1) the muscular +employment of power, labor of the hands, feet, shoulders, back,--hard +labor, from which you sweat; (2) the employment of the fingers and +wrists, the employment of artisan skill; (3) the employment of the mind +and imagination; (4) the employment of intercourse with others. + +The benefits which man enjoys are also divided into four categories. +Every man enjoys, in the first place, the product of hard labor,--grain, +cattle, buildings, wells, ponds, and so forth; in the second place, the +results of artisan toil,--clothes, boots, utensils, and so forth; in the +third place, the products of mental activity,--science, art; and, in the +forth place, established intercourse between people. + +And it struck me, that the best thing of all would be to arrange the +occupations of the day in such a manner as to exercise all four of man's +capacities, and myself produce all these four sorts of benefits which men +make use of, so that one portion of the day, the first, should be +dedicated to hard labor; the second, to intellectual labor; the third, to +artisan labor; and the forth, to intercourse with people. It struck me, +that only then would that false division of labor, which exists in our +society, be abrogated, and that just division of labor established, which +does not destroy man's happiness. + +I, for example, have busied myself all my life with intellectual labor. I +said to myself, that I had so divided labor, that writing, that is to +say, intellectual labor, is my special employment, and the other matters +which were necessary to me I had left free (or relegated, rather) to +others. But this, which would appear to have been the most advantageous +arrangement for intellectual toil, was precisely the most disadvantageous +to mental labor, not to mention its injustice. + +All my life long, I have regulated my whole life, food, sleep, diversion, +in view of these hours of special labor, and I have done nothing except +this work. The result of this has been, in the first place, that I have +contracted my sphere of observations and knowledge, and have frequently +had no means for the study even of problems which often presented +themselves in describing the life of the people (for the life of the +common people is the every-day problem of intellectual activity). I was +conscious of my ignorance, and was obliged to obtain instruction, to ask +about things which are known by every man not engaged in special labor. +In the second place, the result was, that I had been in the habit of +sitting down to write when I had no inward impulse to write, and when no +one demanded from me writing, as writing, that is to say, my thoughts, +but when my name was merely wanted for journalistic speculation. I tried +to squeeze out of myself what I could. Sometimes I could extract +nothing; sometimes it was very wretched stuff, and I was dissatisfied and +grieved. But now that I have learned the indispensability of physical +labor, both hard and artisan labor, the result is entirely different. My +time has been occupied, however modestly, at least usefully and +cheerfully, and in a manner instructive to me. And therefore I have torn +myself from that indubitably useful and cheerful occupation for my +special duties only when I felt an inward impulse, and when I saw a +demand made upon me directly for my literary work. + +And these demands called into play only good nature, and therefore the +usefulness and the joy of my special labor. Thus it turned out, that +employment in those physical labors which are indispensable to me, as +they are to every man, not only did not interfere with my special +activity, but was an indispensable condition of the usefulness, worth, +and cheerfulness of that activity. + +The bird is so constructed, that it is indispensable that it should fly, +walk, peek, combine; and when it does all this, it is satisfied and +happy,--then it is a bird. Just so man, when he walks, turns, raises, +drags, works with his fingers, with his eyes, with his ears, with his +tongue, with his brain,--only then is he satisfied, only then is he a +man. + +A man who acknowledges his appointment to labor will naturally strive +towards that rotation of labor which is peculiar to him, for the +satisfaction of his inward requirements; and he can alter this labor in +no other way than when he feels within himself an irresistible summons to +some exclusive form of labor, and when the demands of other men for that +labor are expressed. + +The character of labor is such, that the satisfaction of all a man's +requirements demands that same succession of the sorts of work which +renders work not a burden but a joy. Only a false creed, [Greek text +which cannot be reproduced], to the effect that labor is a curse, could +have led men to rid themselves of certain kinds of work; i.e., to the +appropriation of the work of others, demanding the forced occupation with +special labor of other people, which they call division of labor. + +We have only grown used to our false comprehension of the regulation of +labor, because it seems to us that the shoemaker, the machinist, the +writer, or the musician will be better off if he gets rid of the labor +peculiar to man. Where there is no force exercised over the labor of +others, or any false belief in the joy of idleness, not a single man will +get rid of physical labor, necessary for the satisfaction of his +requirements, for the sake of special work; because special work is not a +privilege, but a sacrifice which man offers to inward pressure and to his +brethren. + +The shoemaker in the country, who abandons his wonted labor in the field, +which is so grateful to him, and betakes himself to his trade, in order +to repair or make boots for his neighbors, always deprives himself of the +pleasant toil of the field, simply because he likes to make boots, +because he knows that no one else can do it so well as he, and that +people will be grateful to him for it; but the desire cannot occur to +him, to deprive himself, for the whole period of his life, of the +cheering rotation of labor. + +It is the same with the _starosta_ [village elder], the machinist, the +writer, the learned man. To us, with our corrupt conception of things, +it seems, that if a steward has been relegated to the position of a +peasant by his master, or if a minister has been sent to the colonies, he +has been chastised, he has been ill-treated. But in reality a benefit +has been conferred on him; that is to say, his special, hard labor has +been changed into a cheerful rotation of labor. In a naturally +constituted society, this is quite otherwise. I know of one community +where the people supported themselves. One of the members of this +society was better educated than the rest; and they called upon him to +read, so that he was obliged to prepare himself during the day, in order +that he might read in the evening. This he did gladly, feeling that he +was useful to others, and that he was performing a good deed. But he +grew weary of exclusively intellectual work, and his health suffered from +it. The members of the community took pity on him, and requested him to +go to work in the fields. + +For men who regard labor as the substance and the joy of life, the basis, +the foundation of life will always be the struggle with nature,--labor +both agricultural and mechanical, and intellectual, and the establishment +of communion between men. Departure from one or from many of these +varieties of labor, and the adoption of special labor, will then only +occur when the man possessed of a special branch, and loving this work, +and knowing that he can perform it better than others, sacrifices his own +profit for the satisfaction of the direct demands made upon him. Only on +condition of such a view of labor, and of the natural division of labor +arising from it, is that curse which is laid upon our idea of labor +abrogated, and does every sort of work becomes always a joy; because a +man will either perform that labor which is undoubtedly useful and +joyous, and not dull, or he will possess the consciousness of +self-abnegation in the fulfilment of more difficult and restricted toil, +which he exercises for the good of others. + +But the division of labor is more profitable. More profitable for whom? +It is more profitable in making the greatest possible quantity of calico, +and boots in the shortest possible time. But who will make these boots +and this calico? There are people who, for whole generations, make only +the heads of pins. Then how can this be more profitable for men? If the +point lies in manufacturing as much calico and as many pins as possible, +then this is so. But the point concerns men and their welfare. And the +welfare of men lies in life. And life is work. How, then, can the +necessity for burdensome, oppressive toil be more profitable for people? +For all men, that one thing is more profitable which I desire for +myself,--the utmost well-being, and the gratification of all those +requirements, both bodily and spiritual, of the conscience and of the +reason, which are imposed upon me. And in my own case I have found, that +for my own welfare, and for the satisfaction of these needs of mine, all +that I require is to cure myself of that folly in which I had been +living, in company with the Krapivensky madman, and which consisted in +presupposing that some people need not work, and that certain other +people should direct all this, and that I should therefore do only that +which is natural to man, i.e., labor for the satisfaction of their +requirements; and, having discovered this, I convinced myself that labor +for the satisfaction of one's own needs falls of itself into various +kinds of labor, each one of which possesses its own charm, and which not +only do not constitute a burden, but which serve as a respite to one +another. I have made a rough division of this labor (not insisting on +the justice of this arrangement), in accordance with my own needs in +life, into four parts, corresponding to the four stints of labor of which +the day is composed; and I seek in this manner to satisfy my +requirements. + +These, then, are the answers which I have found for myself to the +question, "What is to be done?" + +_First_, Not to lie to myself, however far removed my path in life may be +from the true path which my reason discloses to me. + +_Second_, To renounce my consciousness of my own righteousness, my +superiority especially over other people; and to acknowledge my guilt. + +_Third_, To comply with that eternal and indubitable law of humanity,--the +labor of my whole being, feeling no shame at any sort of work; to contend +with nature for the maintenance of my own life and the lives of others. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{169} An omission by the censor, which I am unable to supply. TRANS. + +{178} We designate as organisms the elephant and the bacterian, only +because we assume by analogy in those creatures the same conjunction of +feeling and consciousness that we know to exist in ourselves. But in +human societies and in humanity, this actual sign is absent; and +therefore, however many other signs we may discover in humanity and in +organism, without this substantial token the recognition of humanity as +an organism is incorrect. + +{238} _v prikusku_, when a lump of sugar is held in the teeth instead or +being put into the tea. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE AND +ART*** + + +******* This file should be named 3631.txt or 3631.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/3/3631 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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