Abstract
THE president of the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies, Prof. H. J. Fleure, deals in his address with the relationship between the corresponding societies and the community. Many such societies belong to and have opportunities to serve our cities and counties in the important and necessary effort to re-emphasize social life, which has been submerged by the crowds that have taken the place of traditional groups, crowds made up of atomized individuals. Rousseau, Hobbes and others have too often spoken as though human society were made by the coming-together of individuals, whereas it is in society, itself basically a heritage from pre-human phases, that human individuality has struggled towards expression. The group again and again has sought order through imposed uniformity ; the individual has, increasingly, rebelled and has immensely extended men's vision. We need only read anything written about man and the universe before Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo, Newton and Darwin to realize the importance of the newer ideal "We seek the truth" ; imposed uniformity may prevail for a short time, but it must fade ; it closes the mind.
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The Corresponding Societies and the Community. Nature 162, 406 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162406b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162406b0