,transcribed from the #ahhg ,tomas ,y4 ,crowell ,what to do8 edition by ,david ,price1 email ccx#jgdpglaf4org ,,on ,,the ,,significance ,,of ,,science ,,and ,,art--,,from ,,what ,,to ,,do8 ,,on ,,the ,,significance ,,of ,,science ,,and ,,art4 ,,chapter ,i4 4 4 4 #afi ,the justification of all persons who have freed themselves from toil is now founded on experimental1 positive science4 ,the scientific theory is as follows3-- ,for the study of the laws of life of human societies1 there exists but one indubitable method1--the positive1 experimental1 critical method ,only sociology1 founded on biology1 founded on all the positive sciences1 can give us the laws of humanity4 ,humanity1 or human communities1 are the organisms already prepared1 or still in process of formation1 and which are subservient to all the laws of the evolution of organisms4 ,one of the chief of these laws is the variation of destination among the portions of the organs4 ,some people command1 others obey4 ,if some have in superabundance1 and others in want1 this arises not from the will of ,god1 not because the empire is a form of manifestation of personality1 but because in societies1 as in organisms1 division of labor becomes indispensable for life as a whole4 ,some people perform the muscular labor in societies2 others1 the mental labor4 ,upon this doctrine is founded the prevailing justification of our time4 ,not long ago1 their reigned in the learned1 cultivated world1 a moral philosophy1 according to which it appeared that every thing which exists is reasonable2 that there is no such thing as evil or good2 and that it is unnecessary for man to war against evil1 but that it is only necessary for him to display intelligence1--one man in the military service1 another in the judicial1 another on the violin4 ,there have been many and varied expressions of human wisdom1 and these phenomena were known to the men of the nineteenth century4 ,the wisdom of ,rousseau and of ,lessing1 and ,spinoza and ,bruno1 and all the wisdom of antiquity2 but no one man's wisdom overrode the crowd4 ,it was impossible to say even this1--that ,hegel's success was the result of the symmetry of this theory4 ,there were other equally symmetrical theories1--those of ,descartes1 ,leibnitz1 ,fichte1 ,schopenhauer4 ,there was but one reason why this doctrine won for itself1 for a season1 the belief of the whole world2 and this reason was1 that the deductions of that philosophy winked at people's weaknesses4 ,these deductions were summed up in this1--that every thing was reasonable1 every thing good2 and that no one was to blame4 ,when ,i began my career1 ,hegelianism was the foundation of every thing4 ,it was floating in the air2 it was expressed in newspaper and periodical articles1 in historical and judicial lectures1 in novels1 in treatises1 in art1 in sermons1 in conversation4 ,the man who was not acquainted with ,hegal had no right to speak4 ,any one who desired to understand the truth studied ,hegel4 ,every thing rested on him4 ,and all at once the forties passed1 and there was nothing left of him4 ,there was not even a hint of him1 any more than if he had never existed4 ,and the most amazing thing of all was1 that ,hegelianism did not fall because some one overthrew it or destroyed it4 ,no6 ,it was the same then as now1 but all at once it appeared that it was of no use whatever to the learned and cultivated world4 ,there was a time when the ,hegelian wise men triumphantly instructed the masses2 and the crowd1 understanding nothing1 blindly believed in every thing1 finding confirmation in the fact that it was on hand2 and they believed that what seemed to them muddy and contradictory there on the heights of philosophy was all as clear as the day4 ,but that time has gone by4 ,that theory is worn out3 a new theory has presented itself in its stead4 ,the old one has become useless2 and the crowd has looked into the secret sanctuaries of the high priests1 and has seen that there is nothing there1 and that there has been nothing there1 save very obscure and senseless words4 ,this has taken place within my memory4 ,but this arises1 people of the present science will say1 from the fact that all that was the raving of the theological and metaphysical period2 but now there exists positive1 critical science1 which does not deceive1 since it is all founded on induction and experiment4 ,now our erections are not shaky1 as they formerly were1 and only in our path lies the solution of all the problems of humanity4 ,but the old teachers said precisely the same1 and they were no fools2 and we know that there were people of great intelligence among them4 ,and precisely thus1 within my memory1 and with no less confidence1 with no less recognition on the part of the crowd of so-called cultivated people1 spoke the ,hegelians4 ,and neither were our ,herzens1 our ,stankevitches1 or our ,byelinskys fools4 ,but whence arose that marvellous manifestation1 that sensible people should preach with the greatest assurance1 and that the crowd should accept with devotion1 such unfounded and unsupportable teachings8 ,there is but one reason1--that the teachings thus inculcated justified people in their evil life4 ,a very poor ,english writer1 whose works are all forgotten1 and recognized as the most insignificant of the insignificant1 writes a treatise on population1 in which he devises a fictitious law concerning the increase of population disproportionate to the means of subsistence4 ,this fictitious law1 this writer encompasses with mathematical formulae founded on nothing whatever2 and then he launches it on the world4 ,from the frivolity and the stupidity of this hypothesis1 one would suppose that it would not attract the attention of any one1 and that it would sink into oblivion1 like all the works of the same author which followed it2 but it turned out quite otherwise4 ,the hack-writer who penned this treatise instantly becomes a scientific authority1 and maintains himself upon that height for nearly half a century4 ,malthus6 ,the ,malthusian theory1--the law of the increase of the population in geometrical1 and of the means of subsistence in arithmetical proportion1 and the wise and natural means of restricting the population1--all these have become scientific1 indubitable truths1 which have not been confirmed1 but which have been employed as axioms1 for the erection of false theories4 ,in this manner have learned and cultivated people proceeded2 and among the herd of idle persons1 there sprung up a pious trust in the great laws expounded by ,malthus4 ,how did this come to pass8 ,it would seem as though they were scientific deductions1 which had nothing in common with the instincts of the masses4 ,but this can only appear so for the man who believes that science1 like the ,church1 is something self-contained1 liable to no errors1 and not simply the imaginings of weak and erring folk1 who merely substitute the imposing word science1 in place of the thoughts and words of the people1 for the sake of impressiveness4 ,all that was necessary was to make practical deductions from the theory of ,malthus1 in order to perceive that this theory was of the most human sort1 with the best defined of objects4 ,the deductions directly arising from this theory were the following3 ,the wretched condition of the laboring classes was such in accordance with an unalterable law1 which does not depend upon men2 and1 if any one is to blame in this matter1 it is the hungry laboring classes themselves4 ,why are they such fools as to give birth to children1 when they know that there will be nothing for the children to eat8 ,and so this deduction1 which is valuable for the herd of idle people1 has had this result3 that all learned men overlooked the incorrectness1 the utter arbitrariness of these deductions1 and their insusceptibility to proof2 and the throng of cultivated1 i4e41 of idle people1 knowing instinctively to what these deductions lead1 saluted this theory with enthusiasm1 conferred upon it the stamp of truth1 i4e41 of science1 and dragged it about with them for half a century4 ,is not this same thing the cause of the confidence of men in positive critical-experimental science1 and of the devout attitude of the crowd towards that which it preaches8 ,at first it seems strange1 that the theory of evolution can in any manner justify people in their evil ways2 and it seems as though the scientific theory of evolution has to deal only with facts1 and that it does nothing else but observe facts4 ,but this only appears to be the case4 ,exactly the same thing appeared to be the case with the ,hegelian doctrine1 in a greater degree1 and also in the special instance of the ,malthusian doctrine4 ,hegelianism was1 apparently1 occupied only with its logical constructions1 and bore no relation to the life of mankind4 ,precisely this seemed to be the case with the ,malthusian theory4 ,it appeared to be busy itself only with statistical data4 ,but this was only in appearance4 ,contemporary science is also occupied with facts alone3 it investigates facts4 ,but what facts8 ,why precisely these facts1 and no others8 ,the men of contemporary science are very fond of saying1 triumphantly and confidently1 ,we investigate only facts1 imagining that these words contain some meaning4 ,it is impossible to investigate facts alone1 because the facts which are subject to our investigation are innumerable 7in the definite sense of that word71--innumerable4 ,before we proceed to investigate facts1 we must have a theory on the foundation of which these or those facts can be inquired into1 i4e41 selected from the incalculable quantity4 ,and this theory exists1 and is even very definitely expressed1 although many of the workers in contemporary science do not know it1 or often pretend that they do not know it4 ,exactly thus has it always been with all prevailing and guiding doctrines4 ,the foundations of every doctrine are always stated in a theory1 and the so-called learned men merely invent further deductions from the foundations once stated4 ,thus contemporary science is selecting its facts on the foundation of a very definite theory1 which it sometimes knows1 sometimes refuses to know1 and sometimes really does not know2 but the theory exists4 ,the theory is as follows3 ,all mankind is an undying organism2 men are the particles of that organism1 and each one of them has his own special task for the service of others4 ,in the same manner1 the cells united in an organism share among them the labor of fight for existence of the whole organism2 they magnify the power of one capacity1 and weaken another1 and unite in one organ1 in order the better to supply the requirements of the whole organism4 ,and exactly in the same manner as with gregarious animals1--ants or bees1--the separate individuals divide the labor among them4 ,the queen lays the egg1 the drone fructifies it2 the bee works his whole life long4 ,and precisely this thing takes place in mankind and in human societies4 ,and therefore1 in order to find the law of life for man1 it is necessary to study the laws of the life and the development of organisms4 ,in the life and development of organisms1 we find the following laws3 the law of differentiation and integration1 the law that every phenomenon is accompanied not by direct consequences alone1 another law regarding the instability of type1 and so on4 ,all this seems very innocent2 but it is only necessary to draw the deductions from all these laws1 in order to immediately perceive that these laws incline in the same direction as the law of ,malthus4 ,these laws all point to one thing2 namely1 to the recognition of that division of labor which exists in human communities1 as organic1 that is to say1 as indispensable4 ,and therefore1 the unjust position in which we1 the people who have freed ourselves from labor1 find ourselves1 must be regarded not from the point of view of common- sense and justice1 but merely as an undoubted fact1 confirming the universal law4 ,moral philosophy also justified every sort of cruelty and harshness2 but this resulted in a philosophical manner1 and therefore wrongly4 ,but with science1 all this results scientifically1 and therefore in a manner not to be doubted4 ,how can we fail to accept so very beautiful a theory8 ,it is merely necessary to look upon human society as an object of contemplation2 and ,i can console myself with the thought that my activity1 whatever may be its nature1 is a functional activity of the organism of humanity1 and that therefore there cannot arise any question as to whether it is just that ,i1 in employing the labor of others1 am doing only that which is agreeable to me1 as there can arise no question as to the division of labor between the brain cells and the muscular cells4 ,how is it possible not to admit so very beautiful a theory1 in order that one may be able1 ever after1 to pocket one's conscience1 and have a perfectly unbridled animal existence1 feeling beneath one's self that support of science which is not to be shaken nowadays6 ,and it is on this new doctrine that the justification for men's idleness and cruelty is now founded4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,this doctrine had its rise not so very long--fifty years--ago4 ,its principal founder was the ,french savant ,comte4 ,there occurred to ,comte1--a systematist1 and a religious man to boot1--under the influence of the then novel physiological investigations of ,biche1 the old idea already set forth by ,menenius ,agrippa1--the idea that human society1 all humanity even1 might be regarded as one whole1 as an organism2 and men as living parts of the separate organs1 having each his own definite appointment to serve the entire organism4 ,this idea so pleased ,comte1 that upon it he began to erect a philosophical theory2 and this theory so carried him away1 that he utterly forgot that the point of departure for his theory was nothing more than a very pretty comparison1 which was suitable for a fable1 but which could by no means serve as the foundation for science4 ,he1 as frequently happens1 mistook his pet hypothesis for an axiom1 and imagined that his whole theory was erected on the very firmest of foundations4 ,according to his theory1 it seemed that since humanity is an organism1 the knowledge of what man is1 and of what should be his relations to the world1 was possible only through a knowledge of the features of this organism4 ,for the knowledge of these qualities1 man is enabled to take observations on other and lower organisms1 and to draw conclusions from their life4 ,therefore1 in the fist place1 the true and only method1 according to ,comte1 is the inductive1 and all science is only such when it has experiment as its basis2 in the second place1 the goal and crown of sciences is formed by that new science dealing with the imaginary organism of humanity1 or the super-organic being1--humanity1--and this newly devised science is sociology4 ,and from this view of science it appears1 that all previous knowledge was deceitful1 and that the whole story of humanity1 in the sense of self- knowledge1 has been divided into three1 actually into two1 periods3 the theological and metaphysical period1 extending from the beginning of the world to ,comte1 and the present period1--that of the only true science1 positive science1--beginning with ,comte4 ,all this was very well4 ,there was but one error1 and that was this1--that the whole edifice was erected on the sand1 on the arbitrary and false assertion that humanity is an organism4 ,this assertion was arbitrary1 because we have just as much right to admit the existence of a human organism1 not subject to observation1 as we have to admit the existence of any other invisible1 fantastic being4 ,this assertion was erroneous1 because for the understanding of humanity1 i4e41 of men1 the definition of an organism was incorrectly constructed1 while in humanity itself all actual signs of organism1--the centre of feeling or consciousness1 are lacking4 #agh ,but1 in spite of the arbitrariness and incorrectness of the fundamental assumption of positive philosophy1 it was accepted by the so-called cultivated world with the greatest sympathy4 ,in this connection1 one thing is worthy of note3 that out of the works of ,comte1 consisting of two parts1 of positive philosophy and of positive politics1 only the first was adopted by the learned world1--that part which justifieth1 on new promises1 the existent evil of human societies2 but the second part1 treating of the moral obligations of altruism1 arising from the recognition of mankind as an organism1 was regarded as not only of no importance1 but as trivial and unscientific4 ,it was a repetition of the same thing that had happened in the case of ,kant's works4 ,the ,critique of ,pure ,reason was adopted by the scientific crowd2 but the ,critique of ,applied ,reason1 that part which contains the gist of moral doctrine1 was repudiated4 ,in ,kant's doctrine1 that was accepted as scientific which subserved the existent evil4 ,but the positive philosophy1 which was accepted by the crowd1 was founded on an arbitrary and erroneous basis1 was in itself too unfounded1 and therefore unsteady1 and could not support itself alone4 ,and so1 amid all the multitude of the idle plays of thought of the men professing the so-called science1 there presents itself an assertion equally devoid of novelty1 and equally arbitrary and erroneous1 to the effect that living beings1 i4e41 organisms1 have had their rise in each other1--not only one organism from another1 but one from many2 i4e41 that in a very long interval of time 7in a million of years1 for instance71 not only could a duck and a fish proceed from one ancestor1 but that one animal might result from a whole hive of bees4 ,and this arbitrary and erroneous assumption was accepted by the learned world with still greater and more universal sympathy4 ,this assumption was arbitrary1 because no one has ever seen how one organism is made from another1 and therefore the hypothesis as to the origin of species will always remain an hypothesis1 and not an experimental fact4 ,and this hypothesis was also erroneous1 because the decision of the question as to the origin of species--that they have originated1 in consequence of the law of heredity and fitness1 in the course of an interminably long time--is no solution at all1 but merely a re-statement of the problem in a new form4 ,according to ,moses' solution of the question 7in the dispute with whom the entire significance of this theory lies71 it appears that the diversity of the species of living creatures proceeded according to the will of ,god1 and according to ,his almighty power2 but according to the theory of evolution1 it appears that the difference between living creatures arose by chance1 and on account of varying conditions of heredity and surroundings1 through an endless period of time4 ,the theory of evolution1 to speak in simple language1 merely asserts1 that by chance1 in an incalculably long period of time1 out of any thing you like1 any thing else that you like may develop4 ,this is no answer to the problem4 ,and the same problem is differently expressed3 instead of will1 chance is offered1 and the co-efficient of the eternal is transposed from the power to the time4 ,but this fresh assertion strengthened ,comte's assertion4 ,and1 moreover1 according to the ingenuous confession of the founder of ,darwin's theory himself1 his idea was aroused in him by the law of ,malthus2 and he therefore propounded the theory of the struggle of living creatures and people for existence1 as the fundamental law of every living thing4 ,and lo6 only this was needed by the throng of idle people for their justification4 ,two insecure theories1 incapable of sustaining themselves on their feet1 upheld each other1 and acquired the semblance of stability4 ,both theories bore with them that idea which is precious to the crowd1 that in the existent evil of human societies1 men are not to blame1 and that the existing order of things is that which should prevail2 and the new theory was adopted by the throng with entire faith and unheard-of enthusiasm4 ,and behold1 on the strength of these two arbitrary and erroneous hypotheses1 accepted as dogmas of belief1 the new scientific doctrine was ratified4 ,spencer1 for example1 in one of his first works1 expresses this doctrine thus3-- ,societies and organisms1 he says1 are alike in the following points3-- #a4 ,in that1 beginning as tiny aggregates1 they imperceptibly grow in mass1 so that some of them attain to the size of ten thousand times their original bulk4 #b4 ,in that while they were1 in the beginning1 of such simple structure1 that they can be regarded as destitute of all structure1 they acquire during the period of their growth a constantly increasing complication of structure4 #c4 ,in that although in their early1 undeveloped period1 there exists between them hardly any interdependence of parts1 their parts gradually acquire an interdependence1 which eventually becomes so strong1 that the life and activity of each part becomes possible only on condition of the life and activity of the remaining parts4 #d4 ,in that life and the development of society are independent1 and more protracted than the life and development of any one of the units constituting it1 which are born1 grow1 act1 reproduce themselves1 and die separately2 while the political body formed from them1 continues to live generation after generation1 developing in mass in perfection and functional activity4 ,the points of difference between organisms and society go farther2 and it is proved that these differences are merely apparent1 but that organisms and societies are absolutely similar4 ,for the uninitiated man the question immediately presents itself3 ,what are you talking about8 ,why is mankind an organism1 or similar to an organism8 ,you say that societies resemble organisms in these four features2 but it is nothing of the sort4 ,you only take a few features of the organism1 and beneath them you range human communities4 ,you bring forward four features of resemblance1 then you take four features of dissimilarity1 which are1 however1 only apparent 7according to you72 and you thence conclude that human societies can be regarded as organisms4 ,but surely1 this is an empty game of dialectics1 and nothing more4 ,on the same foundation1 under the features of an organism1 you may range whatever you please4 ,i will take the fist thing that comes into my head4 ,let us suppose it to be a forest1--the manner in which it sows itself in the plain1 and spreads abroad4 #a4 ,beginning with a small aggregate1 it increases imperceptibly in mass1 and so forth4 ,exactly the same thing takes place in the fields1 when they gradually seed themselves down1 and bring forth a forest4 #b4 ,in the beginning the structure is simple3 afterwards it increases in complication1 and so forth4 ,exactly the same thing happens with the forest1--in the first place1 there were only bitch- trees1 then came brush-wood and hazel-bushes2 at first all grow erect1 then they interlace their branches4 #c4 ,the interdependence of the parts is so augmented1 that the life of each part depends on the life and activity of the remaining parts4 ,it is precisely so with the forest1--the hazel-bush warms the tree-boles 7cut it down1 and the other trees will freeze71 the hazel-bush protects from the wind1 the seed-bearing trees carry on reproduction1 the tall and leafy trees afford shade1 and the life of one tree depends on the life of another4 #d4 ,the separate parts may die1 but the whole lives4 ,exactly the case with the forest4 ,the forest does not mourn one tree4 ,having proved that1 in accordance with this theory1 you may regard the forest as an organism1 you fancy that you have proved to the disciples of the organic doctrine the error of their definition4 ,nothing of the sort4 ,the definition which they give to the organism is so inaccurate and so elastic that under this definition they may include what they will4 ,yes1 they say2 and the forest may also be regarded as an organism4 ,the forest is mutual re-action of individuals1 which do not annihilate each other1--an aggregate2 its parts may also enter into a more intimate union1 as the hive of bees constitutes itself an organism4 ,then you will say1 ,if that is so1 then the birds and the insects and the grass of this forest1 which re-act upon each other1 and do not destroy each other1 may also be regarded as one organism1 in company with the trees4 ,and to this also they will agree4 ,every collection of living individuals1 which re-act upon each other1 and do not destroy each other1 may be regarded as organisms1 according to their theory4 ,you may affirm a connection and interaction between whatever you choose1 and1 according to evolution1 you may affirm1 that1 out of whatever you please1 any other thing that you please may proceed1 in a very long period of time4 ,and the most remarkable thing of all is1 that this same identical positive science recognizes the scientific method as the sign of true knowledge1 and has itself defined what it designates as the scientific method4 ,by the scientific method it means common-sense4 ,and common-sense convicts it at every step4 ,as soon as the ,popes felt that nothing holy remained in them1 they called themselves most holy4 ,as soon as science felt that no common-sense was left in her she called herself sensible1 that is to say1 scientific science4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,division of labor is the law of all existing things1 and1 therefore1 it should be present in human societies4 ,it is very possible that this is so2 but still the question remains1 ,of what nature is that division of labor which ,i behold in my human society8 is it that division of labor which should exist8 ,and if people regard a certain division of labor as unreasonable and unjust1 then no science whatever can convince men that that should exist which they regard as unreasonable and unjust4 ,division of labor is the condition of existence of organisms1 and of human societies2 but what1 in these human societies1 is to be regarded as an organic division of labor8 ,and1 to whatever extent science may have investigated the division of labor in the cells of worms1 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 correct4 ,no matter how convincing may be the proofs of the division of labor of the cells in the organisms studied1 man1 if he has not parted with his judgment1 will say1 nevertheless1 that a man should not weave calico all his life1 and that this is not division of labor1 but persecution of the people4 ,spencer and others say that there is a whole community of weavers1 and that the profession of weaving is an organic division of labor4 ,there are weavers2 so1 of course1 there is such a division of labor4 ,it would be well enough to speak thus if the colony of weavers had arisen by the free will of its member's2 but we know that it is not thus formed of their initiative1 but that we make it4 ,hence it is necessary to find out whether we have made these weavers in accordance with an organic law1 or with some other4 ,men live4 ,they support themselves by agriculture1 as is natural to all men4 ,one man has set up a blacksmith's forge1 and repaired his plough2 his neighbor comes to him1 and asks him to mend his also1 and promises him in return either work or money4 ,a third comes1 and a fourth2 and in the community formed by these men1 there arises the following division of labor1--a blacksmith is created4 ,another man has instructed his children well2 his neighbor brings his children to him1 and requests him to teach them also1 and a teacher is created4 ,but both blacksmith and teacher have been created1 and continue to be such1 merely because they have been asked2 and they remain such as long as they are requested to be blacksmith and teacher4 ,if it should come to pass that many blacksmiths and teachers should set themselves up1 or that their work is not requited1 they will immediately1 as common-sense demands and as always happens when there is no occasion for disturbing the regular course of division of labor1--they will immediately abandon their trade1 and betake themselves once more to agriculture4 ,men who behave thus are guided by their sense1 their conscience2 and hence we1 the men endowed with sense and conscience1 all assert that such a division of labor is right4 ,but if it should chance that the blacksmiths were able to compel other people to work for them1 and should continue to make horse-shoes when they were not wanted1 and if the teachers should go on teaching when there was no one to teach1 then it is obvious to every sane man1 as a man1 i4e41 as a being endowed with reason and conscience1 that this would not be division1 but appropriation1 of labor4 ,and yet precisely that sort of activity is what is called division of labor by scientific science4 ,people do that which others do not think of requiring1 and demand that they shall be supported for so doing1 and say that this is just because it is division of labor4 ,that which constitutes the cause of the economical poverty of our age is what the ,english call over-production 7which means that a mass of things are made which are of no use to anybody1 and with which nothing can be done74 ,it would be odd to see a shoemaker1 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 time2 but what shall we say of those men who make nothing1--who not only produce nothing that is visible1 but nothing that is of use for people at large1--for whose wares there are no customers1 and who yet demand1 with the same boldness1 on the ground of division of labor1 that they shall be supplied with fine food and drink1 and that they shall be dressed well8 ,there may be1 and there are1 sorcerers for whose services a demand makes itself felt1 and for this purpose there are brought to them pancakes and flasks2 but it is difficult to imagine the existence of sorcerers whose spells are useless to every one1 and who boldly demand that they shall be luxuriously supported because they exercise sorcery4 ,and it is the same in our world4 ,and all this comes about on the basis of that false conception of the division of labor1 which is defined not by reason and conscience1 but by observation1 which men of science avow with such unanimity4 ,division of labor has1 in reality1 always existed1 and still exists2 but it is right only when man decides with his reason and his conscience that it should be so1 and not when he merely investigates it4 ,and reason and conscience decide the question for all men very simply1 unanimously1 and in a manner not to be doubted4 ,they always decide it thus3 that division of labor is right only when a special branch of man's activity is so needful to men1 that they1 entreating him to serve them1 voluntarily propose to support him in requital for that which he shall do for them4 ,but1 when a man can live from infancy to the age of thirty years on the necks of others1 promising to do1 when he shall have been taught1 something extremely useful1 for which no one asks him2 and when1 from the age of thirty until his death1 he can live in the same manner1 still merely on the promise to do something1 for which there has been no request1 this will not be division of labor 7and1 as a matter of fact1 there is no such thing in our society71 but it will be what it already is1--merely the appropriation1 by force1 of the toil of others2 that same appropriation by force of the toil of others which the philosophers formerly designated by various names1--for instance1 as indispensable forms of life1--but which scientific science now calls the organic division of labor4 ,the whole significance of scientific science lies in this alone4 ,it has now become a distributer of diplomas for idleness2 for it alone1 in its sanctuaries1 selects and determines what is parasitical1 and what is organic activity1 in the social organism4 ,just as though every man could not find this out for himself much more accurately and more speedily1 by taking counsel of his reason and his conscience4 ,it seems to men of scientific science1 that there can be no doubt of this1 and that their activity is also indubitably organic2 they1 the scientific and artistic workers1 are the brain cells1 and the most precious cells in the whole organism4 ,ever since men--reasoning beings--have existed1 they have distinguished good from evil1 and have profited by the fact that men have made this distinction before them2 they have warred against evil1 and have sought the good1 and have slowly but uninterruptedly advanced in that path4 ,and divers delusions have always stood before men1 hemming in this path1 and having for their object to demonstrate to them1 that it was not necessary to do this1 and that it was not necessary to live as they were living4 ,with fearful conflict and difficulty1 men have freed themselves from many delusions4 ,and behold1 a new and a still more evil delusion has sprung up in the path of mankind1--the scientific delusion4 ,this new delusion is precisely the same in nature as the old ones2 its gist lies in secretly leading astray the activity of our reason and conscience1 and of those who have lived before us1 by something external4 ,in scientific science1 this external thing is--investigation4 ,the cunning of this science consists in this1--that1 after pointing out to men the coarsest false interpretations of the activity of the reason and conscience of man1 it destroys in them faith in their own reason and conscience1 and assures them that every thing which their reason and conscience say to them1 that all that these have said to the loftiest representatives of man heretofore1 ever since the world has existed1--that all this is conventional and subjective4 ,all this must be abandoned1 they say2 it is impossible to understand the truth by the reason1 for we may be mistaken4 ,but there exists another unerring and almost mechanical path3 it is necessary to investigate facts4 ,but facts must be investigated on the foundation of scientific science1 i4e41 of the two hypotheses of positivism and evolution1 which are not borne out by any thing1 and which give themselves out as undoubted truths4 ,and the reigning science announces1 with delusive solemnity1 that the solution of all problems of life is possible only through the study of facts1 of nature1 and1 in particular1 of organisms4 ,the credulous mass of young people1 overwhelmed by the novelty of this authority1 which has not yet been overthrown or even touched by criticism1 flings itself into the study of natural sciences1 into that sole path1 which1 according to the assertion of the reigning science1 can lead to the elucidation of the problems of life4 ,but the farther the disciples proceed in this study1 the farther and farther does not only the possibility1 but even the very idea1 of the solution of the problems of life withdraw from them1 and the more and more do they become accustomed1 not so much to investigate1 as to believe in the assertions of other investigators 7to believe in cells1 in protoplasm1 in the fourth condition of bodies1 and so forth72 the more and more does the form veil the contents from them2 the more and more do they lose the consciousness of good and evil1 and the capacity of understanding those expressions and definitions of good and evil which have been elaborated through the whole foregoing life of mankind2 and the more and more do they appropriate to themselves the special scientific jargon of conventional expressions1 which possesses no universally human significance2 and the deeper and deeper do they plunge into the debris of utterly unilluminated investigations2 the more and more do they lose the power1 not only of independent thought1 but even of understanding the fresh human thought of others1 which lies beyond the bounds of their ,talmud4 ,but the principal thing is1 that they pass their best years in getting disused to life2 they grow accustomed to consider their position as justifiable2 and they convert themselves physically into utterly useless parasites1 and mentally they dislocate their brains and become mental eunuchs4 ,and in precisely the same manner1 according to the measure of their folly1 do they acquire self-conceit1 which deprives them forever of all possibility of return to a simple life of toil1 to a simple1 clear1 and universally human train of reasoning4 ,division of labor always has existed in human communities1 and will probably always exist2 but the question for us lies not in the fact that it has existed1 and that it will exist1 but in this1--how are we to govern ourselves so that this division shall be right8 ,but if we take investigation as our rule of action1 we by this very act repudiate all rule2 then in that case we shall regard as right every division of labor which we shall descry among men1 and which appears to us to be right--to which conclusion the prevailing scientific science also leads4 ,division of labor6 ,some are busied in mental or moral1 others in muscular or physical1 labor4 ,with what confidence people enunciate this6 ,they wish to think so1 and it seems to them that1 in point of fact1 a perfectly regular exchange of services does take place4 ,but we1 in our blindness1 have so completely lost sight of the responsibility which we have assumed1 that we have even forgotten in whose name our labor is prosecuted2 and the very people whom we have undertaken to serve have become the objects of our scientific and artistic activity4 ,we study and depict them for our amusement and diversion4 ,we have totally forgotten that what we need to do is not to study and depict them1 but to serve them4 ,to such a degree have we lost sight of this duty which we have taken upon us1 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 us1 but by others1 and that our place has turned out to be occupied4 ,it proves that while we have been disputing1 one about the spontaneous origin of organisms1 another as to what else there is in protoplasm1 and so on1 the common people have been in need of spiritual food2 and the unsuccessful and rejected of art and science1 in obedience to the mandate of adventurers who have in view the sole aim of profit1 have begun to furnish the people with this spiritual food1 and still so furnish them4 ,for the last forty years in ,europe1 and for the last ten years with us here in ,russia1 millions of books and pictures and song-books have been distributed1 and stalls have been opened1 and the people gaze and sing and receive spiritual nourishment1 but not from us who have undertaken to provide it2 while we1 justifying our idleness by that spiritual food which we are supposed to furnish1 sit by and wink at it4 ,but it is impossible for us to wink at it1 for our last justification is slipping from beneath our feet4 ,we have become specialized4 ,we have our particular functional activity4 ,we are the brains of the people4 ,they support us1 and we have undertaken to teach them4 ,it is only under this pretence that we have excused ourselves from work4 ,but what have we taught them1 and what are we now teaching them8 ,they have waited for years--for tens1 for hundreds of years4 ,and we keep on diverting our minds with chatter1 and we instruct each other1 and we console ourselves1 and we have utterly forgotten them4 ,we have so entirely forgotten them1 that others have undertaken to instruct them1 and we have not even perceived it4 ,we have spoken of the division of labor with such lack of seriousness1 that it is obvious that what we have said about the benefits which we have conferred on the people was simply a shameless evasion4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,science and art have arrogated to themselves the right of idleness1 and of the enjoyment of the labor of others1 and have betrayed their calling4 ,and their errors have arisen merely because their servants1 having set forth a falsely conceived principle of the division of labor1 have recognized their own right to make use of the labor of others1 and have lost the significance of their vocation2 having taken for their aim1 not the profit of the people1 but the mysterious profit of science and art1 and delivered themselves over to idleness and vice--not so much of the senses as of the mind4 ,they say1 ,science and art have bestowed a great deal on mankind4 ,science and art have bestowed a great deal on mankind1 not because the men of art and science1 under the pretext of a division of labor1 live on other people1 but in spite of this4 ,the ,roman ,republic was powerful1 not because her citizens had the power to live a vicious life1 but because among their number there were heroic citizens4 ,it is the same with art and science4 ,art and science have bestowed much on mankind1 but not because their followers formerly possessed on rare occasions 7and now possess on every occasion7 the possibility of getting rid of labor2 but because there have been men of genius1 who1 without making use of these rights1 have led mankind forward4 ,the class of learned men and artists1 which has advanced1 on the fictitious basis of a division of labor1 its demands to the right of using the labors of others1 cannot co-operate in the success of true science and true art1 because a lie cannot bring forth the truth4 ,we have become so accustomed to these1 our tenderly reared or weakened representatives of mental labor1 that it seems to us horrible that a man of science or an artist should plough or cart manure4 ,it seems to us that every thing would go to destruction1 and that all his wisdom would be rattled out of him in the cart1 and that all those grand picturesque images which he bears about in his breast would be soiled in the manure2 but we have become so inured to this1 that it does not strike us as strange that our servitor of science--that is to say1 the servant and teacher of the truth--by making other people do for him that which he might do for himself1 passes half his time in dainty eating1 in smoking1 in talking1 in free and easy gossip1 in reading the newspapers and romances1 and in visiting the theatres4 ,it is not strange to us to see our philosopher in the tavern1 in the theatre1 and at the ball4 ,it is not strange in our eyes to learn that those artists who sweeten and ennoble our souls have passed their lives in drunkenness1 cards1 and women1 if not in something worse4 ,art and science are very beautiful things2 but just because they are so beautiful they should not be spoiled by the compulsory combination with them of vice3 that is to say1 a man should not get rid of his obligation to serve his own life and that of other people by his own labor4 ,art and science have caused mankind to progress4 ,yes2 but not because men of art and science1 under the guise of division of labor1 have rid themselves of the very first and most indisputable of human obligations1--to labor with their hands in the universal struggle of mankind with nature4 ,but only the division of labor1 the freedom of men of science and of art from the necessity of earning them living1 has rendered possible that remarkable success of science which we behold in our day1 is the answer to this4 ,if all were forced to till the soil1 those vast results would not have been attained which have been attained in our day2 there would have been none of those striking successes which have so greatly augmented man's power over nature1 were it not for these astronomical discoveries which are so astounding to the mind of man1 and which have added to the security of navigation2 there would be no steamers1 no railways1 none of those wonderful bridges1 tunnels1 steam-engines and telegraphs1 photography1 telephones1 sewing-machines1 phonographs1 electricity1 telescopes1 spectroscopes1 microscopes1 chloroform1 ,lister's bandages1 and carbolic acid4 ,i will not enumerate every thing on which our age thus prides itself4 ,this enumeration and pride of enthusiasm over ourselves and our exploits can be found in almost any newspaper and popular pamphlet4 ,this enthusiasm over ourselves is often repeated to such a degree that none of us can sufficiently rejoice over ourselves1 that we are seriously convinced that art and science have never made such progress as in our own time4 ,and1 as we are indebted for all this marvellous progress to the division of labor1 why not acknowledge it8 ,let us admit that the progress made in our day is noteworthy1 marvellous1 unusual2 let us admit that we are fortunate mortals to live in such a remarkable epoch3 but let us endeavor to appraise this progress1 not on the basis of our self-satisfaction1 but of that principle which defends itself with this progress1--the division of labor4 ,all this progress is very amazing2 but by a peculiarly unlucky chance1 admitted even by the men of science1 this progress has not so far improved1 but it has rather rendered worse1 the position of the majority1 that is to say1 of the workingman4 ,if the workingman can travel on the railway1 instead of walking1 still that same railway has burned down his forest1 has carried off his grain under his very nose1 and has brought his condition very near to slavery--to the capitalist4 ,if1 thanks to steam-engines and machines1 the workingman can purchase inferior calico at a cheap rate1 on the other hand these engines and machines have deprived him of work at home1 and have brought him into a state of abject slavery to the manufacturer4 ,if there are telephones and telescopes1 poems1 romances1 theatres1 ballets1 symphonies1 operas1 picture-galleries1 and so forth1 on the other hand the life of the workingman has not been bettered by all this2 for all of them1 by the same unlucky chance1 are inaccessible to him4 ,so that1 on the whole 7and even men of science admit this71 up to the present time1 all these remarkable discoveries and products of science and art have certainly not ameliorated the condition of the workingman1 if1 indeed1 they have not made it worse4 ,so that1 if we set against the question as to the reality of the progress attained by the arts and sciences1 not our own rapture1 but that standard upon the basis of which the division of labor is defended1--the good of the laboring man1--we shall see that we have no firm foundations for that self-satisfaction in which we are so fond of indulging4 ,the peasant travels on the railway1 the woman buys calico1 in the isba 7cottage7 there will be a lamp instead of a pine-knot1 and the peasant will light his pipe with a match1--this is convenient2 but what right have ,i to say that the railway and the factory have proved advantageous to the people8 ,if the peasant rides on the railway1 and buys calico1 a lamp1 and matches1 it is only because it is impossible to forbid the peasant's buying them2 but surely we are all aware that the construction of railways and factories has never been carried out for the benefit of the lower classes3 so why should a casual convenience which the workingman enjoys lead to a proof of the utility of all these institutions for the people8 ,there is something useful in every injurious thing4 ,after a conflagration1 one can warm one's self1 and light one's pipe with a firebrand2 but why declare that the conflagration is beneficial8 ,men of art and science might say that their pursuits are beneficial to the people1 only when men of art and science have assigned to themselves the object of serving the people1 as they now assign themselves the object of serving the authorities and the capitalists4 ,we might say this if men of art and science had taken as their aim the needs of the people2 but there are none such4 ,all scientists are busy with their priestly avocations1 out of which proceed investigations into protoplasm1 the spectral analyses of stars1 and so on4 ,but science has never once thought of what axe or what hatchet is the most profitable to chop with1 what saw is the most handy1 what is the best way to mix bread1 from what flour1 how to set it1 how to build and heat an oven1 what food and drink1 and what utensils1 are the most convenient and advantageous under certain conditions1 what mushrooms may be eaten1 how to propagate them1 and how to prepare them in the most suitable manner4 ,and yet all this is the province of science4 ,i am aware1 that1 according to its own definition1 science ought to be useless1 i4e41 science for the sake of science2 but surely this is an obvious evasion4 ,the province of science is to serve the people4 ,we have invented telegraphs1 telephones1 phonographs2 but what advances have we effected in the life1 in the labor1 of the people8 ,we have reckoned up two millions of beetles6 ,and we have not tamed a single animal since biblical times1 when all our animals were already domesticated2 but the reindeer1 the stag1 the partridge1 the heath-cock1 all remain wild4 ,our botanists have discovered the cell1 and in the cell protoplasm1 and in that protoplasm still something more1 and in that atom yet another thing4 ,it is evident that these occupations will not end for a long time to come1 because it is obvious that there can be no end to them1 and therefore the scientist has no time to devote to those things which are necessary to the people4 ,and therefore1 again1 from the time of ,egyptian and ,hebrew antiquity1 when wheat and lentils had already been cultivated1 down to our own times1 not a single plant has been added to the food of the people1 with the exception of the potato1 and that was not obtained by science4 ,torpedoes have been invented1 and apparatus for taxation1 and so forth4 ,but the spinning-whined1 the woman's weaving-loom1 the plough1 the hatchet1 the chain1 the rake1 the bucket1 the well-sweep1 are exactly the same as they were in the days of ,rurik2 and if there has been any change1 then that change has not been effected by scientific people4 ,and it is the same with the arts4 ,we have elevated a lot of people to the rank of great writers2 we have picked these writers to pieces1 and have written mountains of criticism1 and criticism on the critics1 and criticism on the critics of the critics4 ,and we have collected picture- galleries1 and have studied different schools of art in detail2 and we have so many symphonies and orchestras and operas1 that it is becoming difficult even for us to listen to them4 ,but what have we added to the popular bylini the epic songs1 legends1 tales1 songs8 ,what music1 what pictures1 have we given to the people8 ,on the ,nikolskaya books are manufactured for the people1 and harmonicas in ,tula2 and in neither have we taken any part4 ,the falsity of the whole direction of our arts and sciences is more striking and more apparent in precisely those very branches1 which1 it would seem1 should1 from their very nature1 be of use to the people1 and which1 in consequence of their false attitude1 seem rather injurious than useful4 ,the technologist1 the physician1 the teacher1 the artist1 the author1 should1 in virtue of their very callings1 it would seem1 serve the people4 ,and1 what then8 ,under the present regime1 they can do nothing but harm to the people4 ,the technologist or the mechanic has to work with capital4 ,without capital he is good for nothing4 ,all his acquirements are such that for their display he requires capital1 and the exploitation of the laboring- man on the largest scale2 and--not to mention that he is trained to live1 at the lowest1 on from fifteen hundred to two thousand a year1 and that1 therefore1 he cannot go to the country1 where no one can give him such wages1--he is1 by virtue of his very occupation1 unfitted for serving the people4 ,he knows how to calculate the highest mathematical arch of a bridge1 how to calculate the force and transfer of the motive power1 and so on2 but he is confounded by the simplest questions of a peasant3 how to improve a plough or a cart1 or how to make irrigating canals4 ,all this in the conditions of life in which the laboring man finds himself4 ,of this1 he neither knows nor understands any thing1--less1 indeed1 than the very stupidest peasant4 ,give him workshops1 all sorts of workmen at his desire1 an order for a machine from abroad1 and he will get along4 ,but how to devise means of lightening toil1 under the conditions of labor of millions of men1--this is what he does not and can not know2 and because of his knowledge1 his habits1 and his demands on life1 he is unfitted for this business4 ,in a still worse predicament is the physician4 ,his fancied science is all so arranged1 that he only knows how to heal those persons who do nothing4 ,he requires an incalculable quantity of expensive preparations1 instruments1 drugs1 and hygienic apparatus4 ,he has studied with celebrities in the capitals1 who only retain patients who can be cured in the hospital1 or who1 in the course of their cure1 can purchase the appliances requisite for healing1 and even go at once from the ,north to the ,south1 to some baths or other4 ,science is of such a nature1 that every rural physic-man laments because there are no means of curing working-men1 because he is so poor that he has not the means to place the sick man in the proper hygienic conditions2 and at the same time this physician complains that there are no hospitals1 and that he cannot get through with his work1 that he needs assistants1 more doctors and practitioners4 ,what is the inference8 ,this3 that the people's principal lack1 from which diseases arise1 and spread abroad1 and refuse to be healed1 is the lack of means of subsistence4 ,and here ,science1 under the banner of the division of labor1 summons her warriors to the aid of the people4 ,science is entirely arranged for the wealthy classes1 and it has adopted for its task the healing of the people who can obtain every thing for themselves2 and it attempts to heal those who possess no superfluity1 by the same means4 ,but there are no means1 and therefore it is necessary to take them from the people who are ailing1 and pest-stricken1 and who cannot recover for lack of means4 ,and now the defenders of medicine for the people say that this matter has been1 as yet1 but little developed4 ,evidently it has been but little developed1 because if 7which ,god forbid67 it had been developed1 and that through oppressing the people1--instead of two doctors1 midwives1 and practitioners in a district1 twenty would have settled down1 since they desire this1 and half the people would have died through the difficulty of supporting this medical staff1 and soon there would be no one to heal4 ,scientific co-operation with the people1 of which the defenders of science talk1 must be something quite different4 ,and this co-operation which should exist has not yet begun4 ,it will begin when the man of science1 technologist or physician1 will not consider it legal to take from people--,i will not say a hundred thousand1 but even a modest ten thousand1 or five hundred rubles for assisting them2 but when he will live among the toiling people1 under the same conditions1 and exactly as they do1 then he will be able to apply his knowledge to the questions of mechanics1 technics1 hygiene1 and the healing of the laboring people4 ,but now science1 supporting itself at the expense of the working-people1 has entirely forgotten the conditions of life among these people1 ignores 7as it puts it7 these conditions1 and takes very grave offence because its fancied knowledge finds no adherents among the people4 ,the domain of medicine1 like the domain of technical science1 still lies untouched4 ,all questions as to how the time of labor is best divided1 what is the best method of nourishment1 with what1 in what shape1 and when it is best to clothe one's self1 to shoe one's self1 to counteract dampness and cold1 how best to wash one's self1 to feed the children1 to swaddle them1 and so on1 in just those conditions in which the working- people find themselves1--all these questions have not yet been propounded4 ,the same is the case with the activity of the teachers of science1--pedagogical teachers4 ,exactly in the same manner science has so arranged this matter1 that only wealthy people are able to study science1 and teachers1 like technologists and physicians1 cling to money4 ,and this cannot be otherwise1 because a school built on a model plan 7as a general rule1 the more scientifically built the school1 the more costly it is71 with pivot chains1 and globes1 and maps1 and library1 and petty text-books for teachers and scholars and pedagogues1 is a sort of thing for which it would be necessary to double the taxes in every village4 ,this science demands4 ,the people need money for their work2 and the more there is needed1 the poorer they are4 ,defenders of science say3 ,pedagogy is even now proving of advantage to the people1 but give it a chance to develop1 and then it will do still better4 ,yes1 if it does develop1 and instead of twenty schools in a district there are a hundred1 and all scientific1 and if the people support these schools1 they will grow poorer than ever1 and they will more than ever need work for their children's sake4 ,what is to be done8 they say to this4 ,the government will build the schools1 and will make education obligatory1 as it is in ,europe2 but again1 surely1 the money is taken from the people just the same1 and it will be harder to work1 and they will have less leisure for work1 and there will be no education even by compulsion4 ,again the sole salvation is this3 that the teacher should live under the conditions of the working-men1 and should teach for that compensation which they give him freely and voluntarily4 ,such is the false course of science1 which deprives it of the power of fulfilling its obligation1 which is1 to serve the people4 ,but in nothing is this false course of science so obviously apparent1 as in the vocation of art1 which1 from its very significance1 ought to be accessible to the people4 ,science may fall back on its stupid excuse1 that science acts for science1 and that when it turns out learned men it is laboring for the people2 but art1 if it is art1 should be accessible to all the people1 and in particular to those in whose name it is executed4 ,and our definition of art1 in a striking manner1 convicts those who busy themselves with art1 of their lack of desire1 lack of knowledge1 and lack of power1 to be useful to the people4 ,the painter1 for the production of his great works1 must have a studio of at least such dimensions that a whole association of carpenters 7forty in number7 or shoemakers1 now sickening or stifling in lairs1 would be able to work in it4 ,but this is not all2 he must have a model1 costumes1 travels4 ,millions are expended on the encouragement of art1 and the products of this art are both incomprehensible and useless to the people4 ,musicians1 in order to express their grand ideas1 must assemble two hundred men in white neckties1 or in costumes1 and spend hundreds of thousands of rubles for the equipment of an opera4 ,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 ennui4 ,writers--authors--it appears1 do not require surroundings1 studios1 models1 orchestras1 and actors2 but it then appears that the author needs 7not to mention comfort in his quarters7 all the dainties of life for the preparation of his great works1 travels1 palaces1 cabinets1 libraries1 the pleasures of art1 visits to theatres1 concerts1 the baths1 and so on4 ,if he does not earn a fortune for himself1 he is granted a pension1 in order that he may compose the better4 ,and again1 these compositions1 so prized by us1 remain useless lumber for the people1 and utterly unserviceable to them4 ,and if still more of these dealers in spiritual nourishment are developed further1 as men of science desire1 and a studio is erected in every village2 if an orchestra is set up1 and authors are supported in those conditions which artistic people regard as indispensable for themselves1--,i imagine that the working-classes will sooner take an oath never to look at any pictures1 never to listen to a symphony1 never to read poetry or novels1 than to feed all these persons4 ,and why1 apparently1 should art not be of service to the people8 ,in every cottage there are images and pictures2 every peasant man and woman sings2 many own harmonicas2 and all recite stories and verses1 and many read4 ,it is as if those two things which are made for each other--the lock and the key--had parted company2 they have sprung so far apart1 that not even the possibility of uniting them presents itself4 ,tell the artist that he should paint without a studio1 model1 or costumes1 and that he should paint five-kopek pictures1 and he will say that that is tantamount to abandoning his art1 as he understands it4 ,tell the musician that he should play on the harmonica1 and teach the women to sing songs2 say to the poet1 to the author1 that he ought to cast aside his poems and romances1 and compose song-books1 tales1 and stories1 comprehensible to the uneducated people1--they will say that you are mad4 ,the service of the people by science and art will only be performed when people1 dwelling in the midst of the common folk1 and1 like the common folk1 putting forward no demands1 claiming no rights1 shall offer to the common folk their scientific and artistic services2 the acceptance or rejection of which shall depend wholly on the will of the common folk4 ,it is said that the activity of science and art has aided in the forward march of mankind1--meaning by this activity1 that which is now called by that name2 which is the same as saying that an unskilled banging of oars on a vessel that is floating with the tide1 which merely hinders the progress of the vessel1 is assisting the movement of the ship4 ,it only retards it4 ,the so-called division of labor1 which has become in our day the condition of activity of men of science and art1 was1 and has remained1 the chief cause of the tardy forward movement of mankind4 ,the proofs of this lie in that confession of all men of science1 that the gains of science and art are inaccessible to the laboring masses1 in consequence of the faulty distribution of riches4 ,the irregularity of this distribution does not decrease in proportion to the progress of science and art1 but only increases4 ,men of art and science assume an air of deep pity for this unfortunate circumstance which does not depend upon them4 ,but this unfortunate circumstance is produced by themselves2 for this irregular distribution of wealth flows solely from the theory of the division of labor4 ,science maintains the division of labor as a unalterable law2 it sees that the distribution of wealth1 founded on the division of labor1 is wrong and ruinous2 and it affirms that its activity1 which recognizes the division of labor1 will lead people to bliss4 ,the result is1 that some people make use of the labor of others2 but that1 if they shall make use of the labor of others for a very long period of time1 and in still larger measure1 then this wrongful distribution of wealth1 i4e41 the use of the labor of others1 will come to an end4 ,men stand beside a constantly swelling spring of water1 and are occupied with the problem of diverting it to one side1 away from the thirsty people1 and they assert that they are producing this water1 and that soon enough will be collected for all4 ,but this water which has flowed1 and which still flows unceasingly1 and nourishes all mankind1 not only is not the result of the activity of the men who1 standing at its source1 turn it aside1 but this water flows and gushes out1 in spite of the efforts of these men to obstruct its flow4 ,there have always existed a true science1 and a true art2 but true science and art are not such because they called themselves by that name4 ,it always seems to those who claim at any given period to be the representatives of science and art1 that they have performed1 and are performing1 and--most of all--that they will presently perform1 the most amazing marvels1 and that beside them there never has been and there is not any science or any art4 ,thus it seemed to the sophists1 the scholastics1 the alchemists1 the cabalists1 the talmudists2 and thus it seems to our own scientific science1 and to our art for the sake of art4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,but art1--science6 ,you repudiate art and science2 that is1 you repudiate that by which mankind lives6 ,people are constantly making this--it is not a reply--to me1 and they employ this mode of reception in order to reject my deductions without examining into them4 ,he repudiates science and art1 he wants to send people back again into a savage state2 so what is the use of listening to him and of talking to him8 ,but this is unjust4 ,i not only do not repudiate art and science1 but1 in the name of that which is true art and true science1 ,i say that which ,i do say2 merely in order that mankind may emerge from that savage state into which it will speedily fall1 thanks to the erroneous teaching of our time1--only for this purpose do ,i say that which ,i say4 ,art and science are as indispensable as food and drink and clothing1--more indispensable even2 but they become so1 not because we decide that what we designate as art and science are indispensable1 but simply because they really are indispensable to people4 ,surely1 if hay is prepared for the bodily nourishment of men1 the fact that we are convinced that hay is the proper food for man will not make hay the food of man4 ,surely ,i cannot say1 ,why do not you eat hay1 when it is the indispensable food8 ,food is indispensable1 but it may happen that that which ,i offer is not food at all4 ,this same thing has occurred with our art and science4 ,it seems to us1 that if we add to a ,greek word the word logy1 and call that a science1 it will be a science2 and1 if we call any abominable thing--like the dancing of nude females--by a ,greek word1 choreography1 that that is art1 and that it will be art4 ,but no matter how much we may say this1 the business with which we occupy ourselves when we count beetles1 and investigate the chemical constituents of the stars in the ,milky ,way1 when we paint nymphs and compose novels and symphonies1--our business will not become either art or science until such time as it is accepted by those people for whom it is wrought4 ,if it were decided that only certain people should produce food1 and if all the rest were forbidden to do this1 or if they were rendered incapable of producing food1 ,i suppose that the quality of food would be lowered4 ,if the people who enjoyed the monopoly of producing food were ,russian peasants1 there would be no other food than black bread and cabbage-soup1 and so on1 and kvas1--nothing except what they like1 and what is agreeable to them4 ,the same thing would happen in the case of that loftiest human pursuit1 of arts and sciences1 if one caste were to arrogate to itself a monopoly of them3 but with this sole difference1 that1 in the matter of bodily food1 there can be no great departure from nature1 and bread and cabbage-soup1 although not very savory viands1 are fit for consumption2 but in spiritual food1 there may exist the very greatest departures from nature1 and some people may feed themselves for a long time on poisonous spiritual nourishment1 which is directly unsuitable for1 or injurious to1 them2 they may slowly kill themselves with spiritual opium or liquors1 and they may offer this same food to the masses4 ,it is this very thing that is going on among us4 ,and it has come about because the position of men of science and art is a privileged one1 because art and science 7in our day71 in our world1 are not at all a rational occupation of all mankind without exception1 exerting their best powers for the service of art and science1 but an occupation of a restricted circle of people holding a monopoly of these industries1 and entitling themselves men of art and science1 and who have1 therefore1 perverted the very idea of art and science1 and have lost all the meaning of their vocation1 and who are only concerned in amusing and rescuing from crushing ennui their tiny circle of idle mouths4 ,ever since men have existed1 they have always had science and art in the simplest and broadest sense of the term4 ,science1 in the sense of the whole of knowledge acquired by mankind1 exists and always has existed1 and life without it is not conceivable2 and there is no possibility of either attacking or defending science1 taken in this sense4 ,but the point lies here1--that the scope of the knowledge of all mankind as a whole is so multifarious1 ranging from the knowledge of how to extract iron to the knowledge of the movements of the planets1 that man loses himself in this multitude of existing knowledge1--knowledge capable of endless possibilities1 if he have no guiding thread1 by the aid of which he can classify this knowledge1 and arrange the branches according to the degrees of their significance and importance4 ,before a man undertakes to learn any thing whatever1 he must make up his mind that that branch of knowledge is of weight to him1 and of more weight and importance than the countless other objects of study with which he is surrounded4 ,before undertaking the study of any thing1 a man decides for what purpose he is studying this subject1 and not the others4 ,but to study every thing1 as the men of scientific science in our day preach1 without any idea of what is to come out of such study1 is downright impossible1 because the number of subjects of study is endless2 and hence1 no matter how many branches we may acquire1 their acquisition can possess no significance or reason4 ,and1 therefore1 in ancient times1 down to even a very recent date1 until the appearance of scientific science1 man's highest wisdom consisted in finding that guiding thread1 according to which the knowledge of men should be classified as being of primary or of secondary importance4 ,and this knowledge1 which forms the guide to all other branches of knowledge1 men have always called science in the strictest acceptation of the word4 ,and such science there has always been1 even down to our own day1 in all human communities which have emerged from their primal state of savagery4 ,ever since mankind has existed1 teachers have always arisen among peoples1 who have enunciated science in this restricted sense1--the science of what it is most useful for man to know4 ,this science has always had for its object the knowledge of what is the true ground of the well-being of each individual man1 and of all men1 and why4 ,such was the science of ,confucius1 of ,buddha1 of ,socrates1 of ,mahomet1 and of others2 such is this science as they understood it1 and as all men--with the exception of our little circle of so-called cultured people--understand it4 ,this science has not only always occupied the highest place1 but has been the only and sole science1 from which the standing of the rest has been determined4 ,and this was the case1 not in the least because1 as the so-called scientific people of our day think1 cunning priestly teachers of this science attributed to it such significance1 but because in reality1 as every one knows1 both by personal experience and by reflection1 there can be no science except the science of that in which the destiny and welfare of man consist4 ,for the objects of science are incalculable in number1--,i undermine the word incalculable in the exact sense in which ,i understand it1--and without the knowledge of that in which the destiny and welfare of all men consist1 there is no possibility of making a choice amid this interminable multitude of subjects2 and therefore1 without this knowledge1 all other arts and branches of learning will become1 as they have become among us1 an idle and hurtful diversion4 ,mankind has existed and existed1 and never has it existed without the science of that in which the destiny and the welfare of men consist4 ,it is true that the science of the welfare of men appears different on superficial observation1 among the ,buddhists1 the ,brahmins1 the ,hebrews1 the ,confucians1 the ,tauists2 but nevertheless1 wherever we hear of men who have emerged from a state of savagery1 we find this science4 ,and all of a sudden it appears that the men of our day have decided that this same science1 which has hitherto served as the guiding thread of all human knowledge1 is the very thing which hinders every thing4 ,men erect buildings2 and one architect has made one estimate of cost1 a second has made another1 and a third yet another4 ,the estimates differ somewhat2 but they are correct1 so that any one can see1 that1 if the whole is carried out in accordance with the calculations1 the building will be erected4 ,along come people1 and assert that the chief point lies in having no estimates1 and that it should be built thus--by the eye4 ,and this thus1 men call the most accurate of scientific science4 ,men repudiate every science1 the very substance of science1--the definition of the destiny and the welfare of men1--and this repudiation they designate as science4 ,ever since men have existed1 great minds have been born into their midst1 which1 in the conflict with reason and conscience1 have put to themselves questions as to what constitutes welfare1--the destiny and welfare1 not of myself alone1 but of every man8 ,what does that power which has created and which leads me1 demand of me and of every man8 ,and what is it necessary for me to do1 in order to comply with the requirements imposed upon me by the demands of individual and universal welfare8 ,they have asked themselves3 ,i am a whole1 and also a part of something infinite1 eternal2 what1 then1 are my relations to other parts similar to myself1 to men and to the whole--to the world8 ,and from the voices of conscience and of reason1 and from a comparison of what their contemporaries and men who had lived before them1 and who had propounded to themselves the same questions1 had said1 these great teachers have deduced their doctrines1 which were simple1 clear1 intelligible to all men1 and always such as were susceptible of fulfilment4 ,such men have existed of the first1 second1 third1 and lowest ranks4 ,the world is full of such men4 ,every living man propounds the question to himself1 how to reconcile the demands of welfare1 and of his personal existence1 with conscience and reason2 and from this universal labor1 slowly but uninterruptedly1 new forms of life1 which are more in accord with the requirements of reason and of conscience1 are worked out4 ,all at once1 a new caste of people makes its appearance1 and they say1 ,all this is nonsense2 all this must be abandoned4 ,this is the deductive method of ratiocination 7wherein lies the difference between the deductive and the inductive method1 no one can understand72 these are the dogmas of the technological and metaphysical period4 ,every thing that these men discover by inward experience1 and which they communicate to one another1 concerning their knowledge of the law of their existence 7of their functional activity1 according to their own jargon71 every thing that the grandest minds of mankind have accomplished in this direction1 since the beginning of the world1--all this is nonsense1 and has no weight whatever4 ,according to this new doctrine1 it appears that you are cells3 and that you1 as a cell1 have a very definite functional activity1 which you not only fulfil1 but which you infallibly feel within you2 and that you are a thinking1 talking1 understanding cell1 and that you1 for this reason1 can ask another similar talking cell whether it is just the same1 and in this way verify your own experience2 that you can take advantage of the fact that speaking cells1 which have lived before you1 have written on the same subject1 and that you have millions of cells which confirm your observations by their agreement with the cells which have written down their thoughts1--all this signifies nothing2 all this is an evil and an erroneous method4 ,the true scientific method is this3 ,if you wish to know in what the destiny and the welfare of all mankind and of all the world consists1 you must1 first of all1 cease to listen to the voices of your conscience and of your reason1 which present themselves in you and in others like you2 you must cease to believe all that the great teachers of mankind have said with regard to your conscience and reason1 and you must consider all this as nonsense1 and begin all over again4 ,and1 in order to understand every thing from the beginning1 you must look through microscopes at the movements of amoebae1 and cells in worms1 or1 with still greater composure1 believe in every thing that men with a diploma of infallibility shall say to you about them4 ,and as you gaze at the movements of these cells1 or read about what others have seen1 you must attribute to these cells your own human sensations and calculations as to what they desire1 whither they are directing themselves1 how they compare and discuss1 and to what they have become accustomed2 and from these observations 7in which there is not a word about an error of thought or of expression7 you must deduce a conclusion by analogy as to what you are1 what is your destiny1 wherein lies the welfare of yourself and of other cells like you4 ,in order to understand yourself1 you must study not only the worms which you see1 but microscopic creatures which you can barely see1 and transformations from one set of creatures into others1 which no one has ever beheld1 and which you1 most assuredly1 will never behold4 ,and the same with art4 ,where there has been true science1 art has always been its exponent4 ,ever since men have been in existence1 they have been in the habit of deducing1 from all pursuits1 the expressions of various branches of learning concerning the destiny and the welfare of man1 and the expression of this knowledge has been art in the strict sense of the word4 ,ever since men have existed1 there have been those who were peculiarly sensitive and responsive to the doctrine regarding the destiny and welfare of man2 who have given expression to their own and the popular conflict1 to the delusions which lead them astray from their destinies1 their sufferings in this conflict1 their hopes in the triumph of good1 them despair over the triumph of evil1 and their raptures in the consciousness of the approaching bliss of man1 on viol and tabret1 in images and words4 ,always1 down to the most recent times1 art has served science and life1--only then was it what has been so highly esteemed of men4 ,but art1 in its capacity of an important human activity1 disappeared simultaneously with the substitution for the genuine science of destiny and welfare1 of the science of any thing you choose to fancy4 ,art has existed among all peoples1 and will exist until that which among us is scornfully called religion has come to be considered the only science4 ,in our ,european world1 so long as there existed a ,church1 as the doctrine of destiny and welfare1 and so long as the ,church was regarded as the only true science1 art served the ,church1 and remained true art3 but as soon as art abandoned the ,church1 and began to serve science1 while science served whatever came to hand1 art lost its significance4 ,and notwithstanding the rights claimed on the score of ancient memories1 and of the clumsy assertion which only proves its loss of its calling1 that art serves art1 it has become a trade1 providing men with something agreeable2 and as such1 it inevitably comes into the category of choreographic1 culinary1 hair-dressing1 and cosmetic arts1 whose practitioners designate themselves as artists1 with the same right as the poets1 printers1 and musicians of our day4 ,glance backward into the past1 and you will see that in the course of thousands of years1 out of milliards of people1 only half a score of ,confucius'1 ,buddhas1 ,solomons1 ,socrates1 ,solons1 and ,homers have been produced4 ,evidently1 they are rarely met with among men1 in spite of the fact that these men have not been selected from a single caste1 but from mankind at large4 ,evidently1 these true teachers and artists and learned men1 the purveyors of spiritual nourishment1 are rare4 ,and it is not without reason that mankind has valued and still values them so highly4 ,but it now appears1 that all these great factors in the science and art of the past are no longer of use to us4 ,nowadays1 scientific and artistic authorities can1 in accordance with the law of division of labor1 be turned out by factory methods2 and1 in one decade1 more great men have been manufactured in art and science1 than have ever been born of such among all nations1 since the foundation of the world4 ,nowadays there is a guild of learned men and artists1 and they prepare1 by perfected methods1 all that spiritual food which man requires4 ,and they have prepared so much of it1 that it is no longer necessary to refer to the elder authorities1 who have preceded them1--not only to the ancients1 but to those much nearer to us4 ,all that was the activity of the theological and metaphysical period1--all that must be wiped out3 but the true1 the rational activity began1 say1 fifty years ago1 and in the course of those fifty years we have made so many great men1 that there are about ten great men to every branch of science4 ,and there have come to be so many sciences1 that1 fortunately1 it is easy to make them4 ,all that is required is to add the ,greek word logy to the name1 and force them to conform to a set rubric1 and the science is all complete4 ,they have created so many sciences1 that not only can no one man know them all1 but not a single individual can remember all the titles of all the existing sciences2 the titles alone form a thick lexicon1 and new sciences are manufactured every day4 ,they have been manufactured on the pattern of that ,finnish teacher who taught the landed proprietor's children ,finnish instead of ,french4 ,every thing has been excellently inculcated2 but there is one objection1--that no one except ourselves can understand any thing of it1 and all this is reckoned as utterly useless nonsense4 ,however1 there is an explanation even for this4 ,people do not appreciate the full value of scientific science1 because they are under the influence of the theological period1 that profound period when all the people1 both among the ,hebrews1 and the ,chinese1 and the ,indians1 and the ,greeks1 understood every thing that their great teachers said to them4 ,but1 from whatever cause this has come about1 the fact remains1 that sciences and arts have always existed among mankind1 and1 when they really did exist1 they were useful and intelligible to all the people4 ,but we practise something which we call science and art1 but it appears that what we do is unnecessary and unintelligible to man4 ,and hence1 however beautiful may be the things that we accomplish1 we have no right to call them arts and sciences4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,but you only furnish a different definition of arts and sciences1 which is stricter1 and is incompatible with science1 ,i shall be told in answer to this2 nevertheless1 scientific and artistic activity does still exist4 ,there are the ,galileos1 ,brunos1 ,homers1 ,michael ,angelos1 ,beethovens1 and all the lesser learned men and artists1 who have consecrated their entire lives to the service of science and art1 and who were1 and will remain1 the benefactors of mankind4 ,generally this is what people say1 striving to forget that new principle of the division of labor1 on the basis of which science and art now occupy their privileged position1 and on whose basis we are now enabled to decide without grounds1 but by a given standard3 ,is there1 or is there not1 any foundation for that activity which calls itself science and art1 to so magnify itself8 ,when the ,egyptian or the ,grecian priests produced their mysteries1 which were unintelligible to any one1 and stated concerning these mysteries that all science and all art were contained in them1 ,i could not verify the reality of their science on the basis of the benefit procured by them to the people1 because science1 according to their assertions1 was supernatural4 ,but now we all possess a very simple and clear definition of the activity of art and science1 which excludes every thing supernatural3 science and art promise to carry out the mental activity of mankind1 for the welfare of society1 or of all the human race4 ,the definition of scientific science and art is entirely correct2 but1 unfortunately1 the activity of the present arts and sciences does not come under this head4 ,some of them are directly injurious1 others are useless1 others still are worthless1--good only for the wealthy4 ,they do not fulfil that which1 by their own definition1 they have undertaken to accomplish2 and hence they have as little right to regard themselves as men of art and science1 as a corrupt priesthood1 which does not fulfil the obligations which it has assumed1 has the right to regard itself as the bearer of divine truth4 ,and it can be understood why the makers of the present arts and sciences have not fulfilled1 and cannot fulfil1 their vocation4 ,they do not fulfil it1 because out of their obligations they have erected a right4 ,scientific and artistic activity1 in its real sense1 is only fruitful when it knows no rights1 but recognizes only obligations4 ,only because it is its property to be always thus1 does mankind so highly prize this activity4 ,if men really were called to the service of others through artistic work1 they would see in that work only obligation1 and they would fulfil it with toil1 with privations1 and with self-abnegation4 ,the thinker or the artist will never sit calmly on ,olympian heights1 as we have become accustomed to represent them to ourselves4 ,the thinker or the artist should suffer in company with the people1 in order that he may find salvation or consolation4 ,besides this1 he will suffer because he is always and eternally in turmoil and agitation3 he might decide and say that that which would confer welfare on men1 would free them from suffering1 would afford them consolation2 but he has not said so1 and has not presented it as he should have done2 he has not decided1 and he has not spoken2 and to-morrow1 possibly1 it will be too late1--he will die4 ,and therefore suffering and self-sacrifice will always be the lot of the thinker and the artist4 ,not of this description will be the thinker and artist who is reared in an establishment where1 apparently1 they manufacture the learned man or the artist 7but in point of fact1 they manufacture destroyers of science and of art71 who receives a diploma and a certificate1 who would be glad not to think and not to express that which is imposed on his soul1 but who cannot avoid doing that to which two irresistible forces draw him1--an inward prompting1 and the demand of men4 ,there will be no sleek1 plump1 self-satisfied thinkers and artists4 ,spiritual activity1 and its expression1 which are actually necessary to others1 are the most burdensome of all man's avocations2 a cross1 as the ,gospels phrase it4 ,and the sole indubitable sign of the presence of a vocation is self-devotion1 the sacrifice of self for the manifestation of the power that is imposed upon man for the benefit of others4 ,it is possible to study out how many beetles there are in the world1 to view the spots on the sun1 to write romances and operas1 without suffering2 but it is impossible1 without self-sacrifice1 to instruct people in their true happiness1 which consists solely in renunciation of self and the service of others1 and to give strong expression to this doctrine1 without self-sacrifice4 ,christ did not die on the cross in vain2 not in vain does the sacrifice of suffering conquer all things4 ,but our art and science are provided with certificates and diplomas2 and the only anxiety of all men is1 how to still better guarantee them1 i4e41 how to render the service of the people impracticable for them4 ,true art and true science possess two unmistakable marks3 the first1 an inward mark1 which is this1 that the servitor of art and science will fulfil his vocation1 not for profit but with self-sacrifice2 and the second1 an external sign1--his productions will be intelligible to all the people whose welfare he has in view4 ,no matter what people have fixed upon as their vocation and their welfare1 science will be the doctrine of this vocation and welfare1 and art will be the expression of that doctrine4 ,that which is called science and art1 among us1 is the product of idle minds and feelings1 which have for their object to tickle similar idle minds and feelings4 ,our arts and sciences are incomprehensible1 and say nothing to the people1 for they have not the welfare of the common people in view4 ,ever since the life of men has been known to us1 we find1 always and everywhere1 the reigning doctrine falsely designating itself as science1 not manifesting itself to the common people1 but obscuring for them the meaning of life4 ,thus it was among the ,greeks the sophists1 then among the ,christians the mystics1 gnostics1 scholastics1 among the ,hebrews the ,talmudists and ,cabalists1 and so on everywhere1 down to our own times4 ,how fortunate it is for us that we live in so peculiar an age1 when that mental activity which calls itself science1 not only does not err1 but finds itself1 as we are assured1 in a remarkably flourishing condition6 ,does not this peculiar good fortune arise from the fact that man can not and will not see his own hideousness8 ,why is there nothing left of those sciences1 and sophists1 and ,cabalists1 and ,talmudists1 but words1 while we are so exceptionally happy8 ,surely the signs are identical4 ,there is the same self-satisfaction and blind confidence that we1 precisely we1 and only we1 are on the right path1 and that the real thing is only beginning with us4 ,there is the same expectation that we shall discover something remarkable2 and that chief sign which leads us astray convicts us of our error3 all our wisdom remains with us1 and the common people do not understand1 and do not accept1 and do not need it4 ,our position is a very difficult one1 but why not look at it squarely8 ,it is time to recover our senses1 and to scrutinize ourselves4 ,surely we are nothing else than the scribes and ,pharisees1 who sit in ,moses' seat1 and who have taken the keys of the kingdom of heaven1 and will neither go in ourselves1 nor permit others to go in4 ,surely we1 the high priests of science and art1 are ourselves worthless deceivers1 possessing much less right to our position than the most crafty and depraved priests4 ,surely we have no justification for our privileged position4 ,the priests had a right to their position3 they declared that they taught the people life and salvation4 ,but we have taken their place1 and we do not instruct the people in life1--we even admit that such instruction is unnecessary1--but we educate our children in the same ,talmudic-,greek and ,latin grammar1 in order that they may be able to pursue the same life of parasites which we lead ourselves4 ,we say1 ,there used to be castes1 but there are none among us4 ,but what does it mean1 that some people and their children toil1 while other people and their children do not toil8 ,bring hither an ,indian ignorant of our language1 and show him ,european life1 and our life1 for several generations1 and he will recognize the same leading1 well-defined castes--of laborers and non-laborers--as there are in his own country4 ,and as in his land1 so in ours1 the right of refusing to labor is conferred by a peculiar consecration1 which we call science and art1 or1 in general terms1 culture4 ,it is this culture1 and all the distortions of sense connected with it1 which have brought us to that marvellous madness1 in consequence of which we do not see that which is so clear and indubitable4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,then1 what is to be done8 ,what are we to do8 ,this question1 which includes within itself both an admission that our life is evil and wrong1 and in connection with this1--as though it were an exercise for it1--that it is impossible1 nevertheless1 to change it1 this question ,i have heard1 and ,i continue to hear1 on all sides4 ,i have described my own sufferings1 my own gropings1 and my own solution of this question4 ,i am the same kind of a man as everybody else2 and if ,i am in any wise distinguished from the average man of our circle1 it is chiefly in this respect1 that ,i1 more than the average man1 have served and winked at the false doctrine of our world2 ,i have received more approbation from men professing the prevailing doctrine3 and therefore1 more than others1 have ,i become depraved1 and wandered from the path4 ,and therefore ,i think that the solution of the problem1 which ,i have found in my own case1 will be applicable to all sincere people who are propounding the same question to themselves4 ,first of all1 in answer to the question1 ,what is to be done8 ,i told myself3 ,i must lie neither to other people nor to myself4 ,i must not fear the truth1 whithersoever it may lead me4 ,we all know what it means to lie to other people1 but we are not afraid to lie to ourselves2 yet the very worst downright lie1 to other people1 is not to be compared in its consequences with the lie to ourselves1 upon which we base our whole life4 ,this is the lie of which we must not be guilty if we are to be in a position to answer the question3 ,what is to be done8 ,and1 in fact1 how am ,i to answer the question1 ,what is to be done8 when every thing that ,i do1 when my whole life1 is founded on a lie1 and when ,i carefully parade this lie as the truth before others and before myself8 ,not to lie1 in this sense1 means not to fear the truth1 not to devise subterfuges1 and not to accept the subterfuges devised by others for the purpose of hiding from myself the deductions of my reason and my conscience2 not to fear to part company with all those who surround me1 and to remain alone in company with reason and conscience2 not to fear that position to which the truth shall lead me1 being firmly convinced that that position to which truth and conscience shall conduct me1 however singular it may be1 cannot be worse than the one which is founded on a lie4 ,not to lie1 in our position of privileged persons of mental labor1 means1 not to be afraid to reckon one's self up wrongly4 ,it is possible that you are already so deeply indebted that you cannot take stock of yourself2 but to whatever extent this may be the case1 however long may be the account1 however far you have strayed from the path1 it is still better than to continue therein4 ,a lie to other people is not alone unprofitable2 every matter is settled more directly and more speedily by the truth than by a lie4 ,a lie to others only entangles matters1 and delays the settlement2 but a lie to one's self1 set forth as the truth1 ruins a man's whole life4 ,if a man1 having entered on the wrong path1 assumes that it is the true one1 then every step that he takes on that path removes him farther from his goal4 ,if a man who has long been travelling on this false path divines for himself1 or is informed by some one1 that his course is a mistaken one1 but grows alarmed at the idea that he has wandered very far astray and tries to convince himself that he may1 possibly1 still strike into the right road1 then he never will get into it4 ,if a man quails before the truth1 and1 on perceiving it1 does not accept it1 but does accept a lie for the truth1 then he never will learn what he ought to do4 ,we1 the not only wealthy1 but privileged and so-called cultivated persons1 have advanced so far on the wrong road1 that a great deal of determination1 or a very great deal of suffering on the wrong road1 is required1 in order to bring us to our senses and to the acknowledgment of the lie in which we are living4 ,i have perceived the lie of our lives1 thanks to the sufferings which the false path entailed upon me1 and1 having recognized the falseness of this path on which ,i stood1 ,i have had the boldness to go at first in thought only--whither reason and conscience led me1 without reflecting where they would bring me out4 ,and ,i have been rewarded for this boldness4 ,all the complicated1 broken1 tangled1 and incoherent phenomena of life surrounding me1 have suddenly become clear2 and my position in the midst of these phenomena1 which was formerly strange and burdensome1 has become1 all at once1 natural1 and easy to bear4 ,in this new position1 my activity was defined with perfect accuracy2 not at all as it had previously presented itself to me1 but as a new and much more peaceful1 loving1 and joyous activity4 ,the very thing which had formerly terrified me1 now began to attract me4 ,hence ,i think1 that the man who will honestly put to himself the question1 ,what is to be done8 and1 replying to this query1 will not lie to himself1 but will go whither his reason leads1 has already solved the problem4 ,there is only one thing that can hinder him in his search for an issue1--an erroneously lofty idea of himself and of his position4 ,this was the case with me2 and then another1 arising from the first answer to the question3 ,what is to be done8 consisted for me in this1 that it was necessary for me to repent1 in the full sense of that word1--i4e41 to entirely alter my conception of my position and my activity2 to confess the hurtfulness and emptiness of my activity1 instead of its utility and gravity2 to confess my own ignorance instead of culture2 to confess my immorality and harshness in the place of my kindness and morality2 instead of my elevation1 to acknowledge my lowliness4 ,i say1 that in addition to not lying to myself1 ,i had to repent1 because1 although the one flows from the other1 a false conception of my lofty importance had so grown up with me1 that1 until ,i sincerely repented and cut myself free from that false estimate which ,i had formed of myself1 ,i did not perceive the greater part of the lie of which ,i had been guilty to myself4 ,only when ,i had repented1 that is to say1 when ,i had ceased to look upon myself as a regular man1 and had begun to regard myself as a man exactly like every one else1--only then did my path become clear before me4 ,before that time ,i had not been able to answer the question3 ,what is to be done8 because ,i had stated the question itself wrongly4 ,as long as ,i did not repent1 ,i put the question thus3 ,what sphere of activity should ,i choose1 ,i1 the man who has received the education and the talents which have fallen to my shame8 ,how1 in this fashion1 make recompense with that education and those talents1 for what ,i have taken1 and for what ,i still take1 from the people8 ,this question was wrong1 because it contained a false representation1 to the effect that ,i was not a man just like them1 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 years4 ,i propounded the query to myself2 but1 in reality1 ,i had answered it in advance1 in that ,i had in advance defined the sort of activity which was agreeable to me1 and by which ,i was called upon to serve the people4 ,i had1 in fact1 asked myself3 ,in what manner could ,i1 so very fine a writer1 who had acquired so much learning and talents1 make use of them for the benefit of the people8 ,but the question should have been put as it would have stood for a learned rabbi who had gone through the course of the ,talmud1 and had learned by heart the number of letters in all the holy books1 and all the fine points of his art4 ,the question for me1 as for the rabbi1 should stand thus3 ,what am ,i1 who have spent1 owing to the misfortune of my surroundings1 the year's best fitted for study in the acquisition of grammar1 geography1 judicial science1 poetry1 novels and romances1 the ,french language1 pianoforte playing1 philosophical theories1 and military exercises1 instead of inuring myself to labor2 what am ,i1 who have passed the best years of my life in idle occupations which are corrupting to the soul1--what am ,i to do in defiance of these unfortunate conditions of the past1 in order that ,i may requite those people who during the whole time have fed and clothed1 yes1 and who even now continue to feed and clothe me8 ,had the question then stood as it stands before me now1 after ,i have repented1--,what am ,i1 so corrupt a man1 to do8 the answer would have been easy3 ,to strive1 first of all1 to support myself honestly2 that is1 to learn not to live upon others2 and while ,i am learning1 and when ,i have learned this1 to render aid on all possible occasions to the people1 with my hands1 and my feet1 and my brain1 and my heart1 and with every thing to which the people should present a claim4 ,and therefore ,i say1 that for the man of our circle1 in addition to not lying to himself or to others1 repentance is also necessary1 and that he should scrape from himself that pride which has sprung up in us1 in our culture1 in our refinements1 in our talents2 and that he should confess that he is not a benefactor of the people and a distinguished man1 who does not refuse to share with the people his useful acquirements1 but that he should confess himself to be a thoroughly guilty1 corrupt1 and good-for-nothing man1 who desires to reform himself and not to behave benevolently towards the people1 but simply to cease wounding and insulting them4 ,i often hear the questions of good young men who sympathize with the renunciatory part of my writings1 and who ask1 ,well1 and what then shall ,i do8 ,what am ,i to do1 now that ,i have finished my course in the university1 or in some other institution1 in order that ,i may be of use8 ,young men ask this1 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 superiority4 ,and hence1 one thing which they will in no wise do1 is to bear themselves honestly and critically towards that which they call their culture1 and ask themselves1 are those qualities which they call their culture good or bad8 ,if they will do this1 they will infallibly be led to see the necessity of renouncing their culture1 and the necessity of beginning to learn all over again2 and this is the one indispensable thing4 ,they can in no wise solve the problem1 ,what to do8 because this question does not stand before them as it should stand4 ,the question must stand thus3 ,in what manner am ,i1 a helpless1 useless man1 who1 owing to the misfortune of my conditions1 have wasted my best years of study in conning the scientific ,talmud which corrupts soul and body1 to correct this mistake1 and learn to serve the people8 ,but it presents itself to them thus3 ,how am ,i1 a man who has acquired so much very fine learning1 to turn this very fine learning to the use of the people8 ,and such a man will never answer the question1 ,what is to be done8 until he repents4 ,and repentance is not terrible1 just as truth is not terrible1 and it is equally joyful and fruitful4 ,it is only necessary to accept the truth wholly1 and to repent wholly1 in order to understand that no one possesses any rights1 privileges1 or peculiarities in the matter of this life of ours1 but that there are no ends or bounds to obligation1 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 others4 ,and this confession of a man's obligation constitutes the gist of the third answer to the question1 ,what is to be done8 ,i tried not to lie to myself3 ,i tried to cast out from myself the remains of my false conceptions of the importance of my education and talents1 and to repent2 but on the way to a decision of the question1 ,what to do8 a fresh difficulty arose4 ,there are so many different occupations1 that an indication was necessary as to the precise one which was to be adopted4 ,and the answer to this question was furnished me by sincere repentance for the evil in which ,i had lived4 ,what to do8 ,precisely what to do8 all ask1 and that is what ,i also asked so long as1 under the influence of my exalted idea of any own importance1 ,i did not perceive that my first and unquestionable duty was to feed myself1 to clothe myself1 to furnish my own fuel1 to do my own building1 and1 by so doing1 to serve others1 because1 ever since the would has existed1 the first and indubitable duty of every man has consisted and does consist in this4 ,in fact1 no matter what a man may have assumed to be his vocation1--whether it be to govern people1 to defend his fellow-countrymen1 to divine service1 to instruct others1 to invent means to heighten the pleasures of life1 to discover the laws of the world1 to incorporate eternal truths in artistic representations1--the duty of a reasonable man is to take part in the struggle with nature1 for the sustenance of his own life and of that of others4 ,this obligation is the first of all1 because what people need most of all is their life2 and therefore1 in order to defend and instruct the people1 and render their lives more agreeable1 it is requisite to preserve that life itself1 while my refusal to share in the struggle1 my monopoly of the labors of others1 is equivalent to annihilation of the lives of others4 ,and1 therefore1 it is not rational to serve the lives of men by annihilating the lives of men2 and it is impossible to say that ,i am serving men1 when1 by my life1 ,i am obviously injuring them4 ,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 obligations1 because this obligation is a law of life1 departure from which entails the inevitable punishment of either bodily or mental annihilation of the life of man4 ,if a man living alone excuses himself from the obligation of struggling with nature1 he is immediately punished1 in that his body perishes4 ,but if a man excuses himself from this obligation by making other people fulfil it for him1 then also he is immediately punished by the annihilation of his mental life2 that is to say1 of the life which possesses rational thought4 ,in this one act1 man receives--if the two things are to be separated--full satisfaction of the bodily and spiritual demands of his nature4 ,the feeding1 clothing1 and taking care of himself and his family1 constitute the satisfaction of the bodily demands and requirements2 and doing the same for other people1 constitutes the satisfaction of his spiritual requirements4 ,every other employment of man is only legal when it is directed to the satisfaction of this very first duty of man2 for the fulfilment of this duty constitutes the whole life of man4 ,i had been so turned about by my previous life1 this first and indubitable law of ,god or of nature is so concealed in our sphere of society1 that the fulfilment of this law seemed to me strange1 terrible1 even shameful2 as though the fulfilment of an eternal1 unquestionable law1 and not the departure from it1 can be terrible1 strange1 and shameful4 ,at first it seemed to me that the fulfilment of this matter required some preparation1 arrangement or community of men1 holding similar views1--the consent of one's family1 life in the country2 it seemed to me disgraceful to make a show of myself before people1 to undertake a thing so improper in our conditions of existence1 as bodily toil1 and ,i did not know how to set about it4 ,but it was only necessary for me to understand that this is no exclusive occupation which requires to be invented and arranged for1 but that this employment was merely a return from the false position in which ,i found myself1 to a natural one2 was only a rectification of that lie in which ,i was living4 ,i had only to recognize this fact1 and all these difficulties vanished4 ,it was not in the least necessary to make preparations and arrangements1 and to await the consent of others1 for1 no matter in what position ,i had found myself1 there had always been people who had fed1 clothed and warmed me1 in addition to themselves2 and everywhere1 under all conditions1 ,i could do the same for myself and for them1 if ,i had the time and the strength4 ,neither could ,i experience false shame in an unwonted occupation1 no matter how surprising it might be to people1 because1 through not doing it1 ,i had already experienced not false but real shame4 ,and when ,i had reached this confession and the practical deduction from it1 ,i was fully rewarded for not having quailed before the deductions of reason1 and for following whither they led me4 ,on arriving at this practical deduction1 ,i was amazed at the ease and simplicity with which all the problems which had previously seemed to me so difficult and so complicated1 were solved4 ,to the question1 ,what is it necessary to do8 the most indubitable answer presented itself3 first of all1 that which it was necessary for me to do was1 to attend to my own samovar1 my own stove1 my own water1 my own clothing2 to every thing that ,i could do for myself4 ,to the question1 ,will it not seem strange to people if you do this8 it appeared that this strangeness lasted only a week1 and after the lapse of that week1 it would have seemed strange had ,i returned to my former conditions of life4 ,with regard to the question1 ,is it necessary to organize this physical labor1 to institute an association in the country1 on my land8 it appeared that nothing of the sort was necessary2 that labor1 if it does not aim at the acquisition of all possible leisure1 and the enjoyment of the labor of others1--like the labor of people bent on accumulating money1--but if it have for its object the satisfaction of requirements1 will itself be drawn from the city to the country1 to the land1 where this labor is the most fruitful and cheerful4 ,but it is not requisite to institute any association1 because the man who labors1 naturally and of himself1 attaches himself to the existing association of laboring men4 ,to the question1 whether this labor would not monopolize all my time1 and deprive me of those intellectual pursuits which ,i love1 to which ,i am accustomed1 and which1 in my moments of self-conceit1 ,i regard as not useless to others8 ,i received a most unexpected reply4 ,the energy of my intellectual activity increased1 and increased in exact proportion with bodily application1 while freeing itself from every thing superfluous4 ,it appeared that by dedicating to physical toil eight hours1 that half of the day which ,i had formerly passed in the oppressive state of a struggle with ennui1 eight hours remained to me1 of which only five of intellectual activity1 according to my terms1 were necessary to me4 ,for it appeared1 that if ,i1 a very voluminous writer1 who had done nothing for nearly forty years except write1 and who had written three hundred printed sheets2--if ,i had worked during all those forty years at ordinary labor with the working-people1 then1 not reckoning winter evenings and leisure days1 if ,i had read and studied for five hours every day1 and had written a couple of pages only on holidays 7and ,i have been in the habit of writing at the rate of one printed sheet a day71 then ,i should have written those three hundred sheets in fourteen years4 ,the fact seemed startling3 yet it is the most simple arithmetical calculation1 which can be made by a seven-year-old boy1 but which ,i had not been able to make up to this time4 ,there are twenty-four hours in the day2 if we take away eight hours1 sixteen remain4 ,if any man engaged in intellectual occupations devote five hours every day to his occupation1 he will accomplish a fearful amount4 ,and what is to be done with the remaining eleven hours8 ,it proved that physical labor not only does not exclude the possibility of mental activity1 but that it improves its quality1 and encourages it4 ,in answer to the question1 whether this physical toil does not deprive me of many innocent pleasures peculiar to man1 such as the enjoyment of the arts1 the acquisition of learning1 intercourse with people1 and the delights of life in general1 it turned out exactly the reverse3 the more intense the labor1 the more nearly it approached what is considered the coarsest agricultural toil1 the more enjoyment and knowledge did ,i gain1 and the more did ,i come into close and loving communion with men1 and the more happiness did ,i derive from life4 ,in answer to the question 7which ,i have so often heard from persons not thoroughly sincere71 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 me1 ,i received also the most satisfactory and unexpected of answers4 ,it appeared that all ,i had to do was to make physical labor the habitual condition of my life1 and the majority of my false1 but precious1 habits and my demands1 when physically idle1 fell away from me at once of their own accord1 without the slightest exertion on my part4 ,not to mention the habit of turning day into night and vice versa1 my habits connected with my bed1 with my clothing1 with conventional cleanliness1--which are downright impossible and oppressive with physical labor1--and my demands as to the quality of my food1 were entirely changed4 ,in place of the dainty1 rich1 refined1 complicated1 highly-spiced food1 to which ,i had formerly inclined1 the most simple viands became needful and most pleasing of all to me1--cabbage-soup1 porridge1 black bread1 and tea v prikusku4 #bch ,so that1 not to mention the influence upon me of the example of the simple working-people1 who are content with little1 with whom ,i came in contact in the course of my bodily toil1 my very requirements underwent a change in consequence of my toilsome life2 so that my drop of physical labor in the sea of universal labor became larger and larger1 in proportion as ,i accustomed myself to1 and appropriated1 the habits of the laboring classes2 in proportion1 also1 to the success of my labor1 my demands for labor from others grew less and less1 and my life naturally1 without exertion or privations1 approached that simple existence of which ,i could not even dream without fulfilling the law of labor4 ,it proved that my dearest demands from life1 namely1 my demands for vanity1 and diversion from ennui1 arose directly from my idle life4 ,there was no place for vanity1 in connection with physical labor2 and no diversions were needed1 since my time was pleasantly occupied1 and1 after my fatigue1 simple rest at tea over a book1 or in conversation with my fellows1 was incomparably more agreeable than theatres1 cards1 conceits1 or a large company1--all which things are needed in physical idleness1 and which cost a great deal4 ,in answer to the question1 ,would not this unaccustomed toil ruin that health which is indispensable in order to render service to the people possible8 it appeared1 in spite of the positive assertions of noted physicians1 that physical exertion1 especially at my age1 might have the most injurious consequences 7but that ,swedish gymnastics1 the massage treatment1 and so on1 and other expedients intended to take the place of the natural conditions of man's life1 were better71 that the more intense the toil1 the stronger1 more alert1 more cheerful1 and more kindly did ,i feel4 ,thus it undoubtedly appeared1 that1 just as all those cunning devices of the human mind1 newspapers1 theatres1 concerts1 visits1 balls1 cards1 journals1 romances1 are nothing else than expedients for maintaining the spiritual life of man outside his natural conditions of labor for others1--just so all the hygienic and medical devices of the human mind for the preparation of food1 drink1 lodging1 ventilation1 heating1 clothing1 medicine1 water1 massage1 gymnastics1 electric1 and other means of healing1--all these clever devices are merely an expedient to sustain the bodily life of man removed from its natural conditions of labor4 ,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 sealed1 by means of mechanical arrangements1 of evaporation1 and plants1 of the air best fitted for breathing1 when all that is needed is to open the window4 ,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 working1 and should shut all the valves so that the boiler should not burst4 ,only one thing is needed1 instead of all these extremely complicated devices for pleasure1 for comfort1 and for medical and hygienic preparations1 intended to save people from their spiritual and bodily ailments1 which swallow up so much labor1--to fulfil the law of life2 to do that which is proper not only to man1 but to the animal2 to fire off the charge of energy taken win in the shape of food1 by muscular exertion2 to speak in plain language1 to earn one's bread4 ,those who do not work should not eat1 or they should earn as much as they have eaten4 ,and when ,i clearly comprehended all this1 it struck me as ridiculous4 ,through a whole series of doubts and searchings1 ,i had arrived1 by a long course of thought1 at this remarkable truth3 if a man has eyes1 it is that he may see with them2 if he has ears1 that he may hear2 and feet1 that he may walk2 and hands and back1 that he may labor2 and that if a man will not employ those members for that purpose for which they are intended1 it will be the worse for him4 ,i came to this conclusion1 that1 with us privileged people1 the same thing has happened which happened with the horses of a friend of mine4 ,his steward1 who was not a lover of horses1 nor well versed in them1 on receiving his master's orders to place the best horses in the stable1 selected them from the stud1 placed them in stalls1 and fed and watered them2 but fearing for the valuable steeds1 he could not bring himself to trust them to any one1 and he neither rode nor drove them1 nor did he even take them out4 ,the horses stood there until they were good for nothing4 ,the same thing has happened with us1 but with this difference3 that it was impossible to deceive the horses in any way1 and they were kept in bonds to prevent their getting out2 but we are kept in an unnatural position that is equally injurious to us1 by deceits which have entangled us1 and which hold us like chains4 ,we have arranged for ourselves a life that is repugnant both to the moral and the physical nature of man1 and all the powers of our intelligence we concentrate upon assuring man that this is the most natural life possible4 ,every thing which we call culture1--our sciences1 art1 and the perfection of the pleasant thing's of life1--all these are attempts to deceive the moral requirements of man2 every thing that is called hygiene and medicine1 is an attempt to deceive the natural physical demands of human nature4 ,but these deceits have their bounds1 and we advance to them4 ,if such be the real human life1 then it is better not to live at all1 says the reigning and extremely fashionable philosophy of ,schopenhauer and ,hartmann4 ,if such is life1 'tis better for the coming generation not to live1 say corrupt medical science and its newly devised means to that end4 ,in the ,bible1 it is laid down as the law of man3 ,in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread1 and in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children2 but nous avons change tout ca1 as ,moliere's character says1 when expressing himself with regard to medicine1 and asserting that the liver was on the left side4 ,we have changed all that4 ,men need not work in order to eat1 and women need not bear children4 ,a ragged peasant roams the ,krapivensky district4 ,during the war he was an agent for the purchase of grain1 under an official of the commissary department4 ,on being brought in contact with the official1 and seeing his luxurious life1 the peasant lost his mind1 and thought that he might get along without work1 like gentlemen1 and receive proper support from the ,emperor4 ,this peasant now calls himself the ,most ,serene ,warrior1 ,prince ,blokhin1 purveyor of war supplies of all descriptions4 ,he says of himself that he has passed through all the ranks1 and that when he shall have served out his term in the army1 he is to receive from the ,emperor an unlimited bank account1 clothes1 uniforms1 horses1 equipages1 tea1 pease and servants1 and all sorts of luxuries4 ,this man is ridiculous in the eyes of many1 but to me the significance of his madness is terrible4 ,to the question1 whether he does not wish to work1 he always replies proudly3 ,i am much obliged4 ,the peasants will attend to all that4 ,when you tell him that the peasants do not wish to work1 either1 he answers3 ,it is not difficult for the peasant4 ,he generally talks in a high-flown style1 and is fond of verbal substantives4 ,now there is an invention of machinery for the alleviation of the peasants1 he says2 there is no difficulty for them in that4 ,when he is asked what he lives for1 he replies1 ,to pass the time4 ,i always look on this man as on a mirror4 ,i behold in him myself and all my class4 ,to pass through all the ranks 7tchini7 in order to live for the purpose of passing the time1 and to receive an unlimited bank account1 while the peasants1 for whom this is not difficult1 because of the invention of machinery1 do the whole business1--this is the complete formula of the idiotic creed of the people of our sphere in society4 ,when we inquire precisely what we are to do1 surely1 we ask nothing1 but merely assert--only not in such good faith as the ,most ,serene ,prince ,blokhin1 who has been promoted through all ranks1 and lost his mind--that we do not wish to do any thing4 ,he who will reflect for a moment cannot ask thus1 because1 on the one hand1 every thing that he uses has been made1 and is made1 by the hands of men2 and1 on the other side1 as soon as a healthy man has awakened and eaten1 the necessity of working with feet and hands and brain makes itself felt4 ,in order to find work and to work1 he need only not hold back3 only a person who thinks work disgraceful--like the lady who requests her guest not to take the trouble to open the door1 but to wait until she can call a man for this purpose--can put to himself the question1 what he is to do4 ,the point does not lie in inventing work1--you can never get through all the work that is to be done for yourself and for others1--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 pleasure2 and in appropriating to myself that just and simple view with which the laboring man grows up and lives1--that man is1 first of all1 a machine1 which loads itself with food in order to sustain itself1 and that it is therefore disgraceful1 wrong1 and impossible to eat and not to work2 that to eat and not to work is the most impious1 unnatural1 and1 therefore1 dangerous position1 in the nature of the sin of ,sodom4 ,only let this acknowledgement be made1 and there will be work2 and work will always be joyous and satisfying to both spiritual and bodily requirements4 ,the matter presented itself to me thus3 ,the day is divided for every man1 by food itself1 into four parts1 or four stints1 as the peasants call it3 7#a7 before breakfast2 7#b7 from breakfast until dinner2 7#c7 from dinner until four o'clock2 7#d7 from four o'clock until evening4 ,a man's employment1 whatever it may be that he feels a need for in his own person1 is also divided into four categories3 7#a7 the muscular employment of power1 labor of the hands1 feet1 shoulders1 back1--hard labor1 from which you sweat2 7#b7 the employment of the fingers and wrists1 the employment of artisan skill2 7#c7 the employment of the mind and imagination2 7#d7 the employment of intercourse with others4 ,the benefits which man enjoys are also divided into four categories4 ,every man enjoys1 in the first place1 the product of hard labor1--grain1 cattle1 buildings1 wells1 ponds1 and so forth2 in the second place1 the results of artisan toil1--clothes1 boots1 utensils1 and so forth2 in the third place1 the products of mental activity1--science1 art2 and1 in the forth place1 established intercourse between people4 ,and it struck me1 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 capacities1 and myself produce all these four sorts of benefits which men make use of1 so that one portion of the day1 the first1 should be dedicated to hard labor2 the second1 to intellectual labor2 the third1 to artisan labor2 and the forth1 to intercourse with people4 ,it struck me1 that only then would that false division of labor1 which exists in our society1 be abrogated1 and that just division of labor established1 which does not destroy man's happiness4 ,i1 for example1 have busied myself all my life with intellectual labor4 ,i said to myself1 that ,i had so divided labor1 that writing1 that is to say1 intellectual labor1 is my special employment1 and the other matters which were necessary to me ,i had left free 7or relegated1 rather7 to others4 ,but this1 which would appear to have been the most advantageous arrangement for intellectual toil1 was precisely the most disadvantageous to mental labor1 not to mention its injustice4 ,all my life long1 ,i have regulated my whole life1 food1 sleep1 diversion1 in view of these hours of special labor1 and ,i have done nothing except this work4 ,the result of this has been1 in the first place1 that ,i have contracted my sphere of observations and knowledge1 and have frequently had no means for the study even of problems which often presented themselves in describing the life of the people 7for the life of the common people is the every-day problem of intellectual activity74 ,i was conscious of my ignorance1 and was obliged to obtain instruction1 to ask about things which are known by every man not engaged in special labor4 ,in the second place1 the result was1 that ,i had been in the habit of sitting down to write when ,i had no inward impulse to write1 and when no one demanded from me writing1 as writing1 that is to say1 my thoughts1 but when my name was merely wanted for journalistic speculation4 ,i tried to squeeze out of myself what ,i could4 ,sometimes ,i could extract nothing2 sometimes it was very wretched stuff1 and ,i was dissatisfied and grieved4 ,but now that ,i have learned the indispensability of physical labor1 both hard and artisan labor1 the result is entirely different4 ,my time has been occupied1 however modestly1 at least usefully and cheerfully1 and in a manner instructive to me4 ,and therefore ,i have torn myself from that indubitably useful and cheerful occupation for my special duties only when ,i felt an inward impulse1 and when ,i saw a demand made upon me directly for my literary work4 ,and these demands called into play only good nature1 and therefore the usefulness and the joy of my special labor4 ,thus it turned out1 that employment in those physical labors which are indispensable to me1 as they are to every man1 not only did not interfere with my special activity1 but was an indispensable condition of the usefulness1 worth1 and cheerfulness of that activity4 ,the bird is so constructed1 that it is indispensable that it should fly1 walk1 peek1 combine2 and when it does all this1 it is satisfied and happy1--then it is a bird4 ,just so man1 when he walks1 turns1 raises1 drags1 works with his fingers1 with his eyes1 with his ears1 with his tongue1 with his brain1--only then is he satisfied1 only then is he a man4 ,a man who acknowledges his appointment to labor will naturally strive towards that rotation of labor which is peculiar to him1 for the satisfaction of his inward requirements2 and he can alter this labor in no other way than when he feels within himself an irresistible summons to some exclusive form of labor1 and when the demands of other men for that labor are expressed4 ,the character of labor is such1 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 joy4 ,only a false creed1 ,greek text which cannot be reproduced1 to the effect that labor is a curse1 could have led men to rid themselves of certain kinds of work2 i4e41 to the appropriation of the work of others1 demanding the forced occupation with special labor of other people1 which they call division of labor4 ,we have only grown used to our false comprehension of the regulation of labor1 because it seems to us that the shoemaker1 the machinist1 the writer1 or the musician will be better off if he gets rid of the labor peculiar to man4 ,where there is no force exercised over the labor of others1 or any false belief in the joy of idleness1 not a single man will get rid of physical labor1 necessary for the satisfaction of his requirements1 for the sake of special work2 because special work is not a privilege1 but a sacrifice which man offers to inward pressure and to his brethren4 ,the shoemaker in the country1 who abandons his wonted labor in the field1 which is so grateful to him1 and betakes himself to his trade1 in order to repair or make boots for his neighbors1 always deprives himself of the pleasant toil of the field1 simply because he likes to make boots1 because he knows that no one else can do it so well as he1 and that people will be grateful to him for it2 but the desire cannot occur to him1 to deprive himself1 for the whole period of his life1 of the cheering rotation of labor4 ,it is the same with the starosta village elder1 the machinist1 the writer1 the learned man4 ,to us1 with our corrupt conception of things1 it seems1 that if a steward has been relegated to the position of a peasant by his master1 or if a minister has been sent to the colonies1 he has been chastised1 he has been ill-treated4 ,but in reality a benefit has been conferred on him2 that is to say1 his special1 hard labor has been changed into a cheerful rotation of labor4 ,in a naturally constituted society1 this is quite otherwise4 ,i know of one community where the people supported themselves4 ,one of the members of this society was better educated than the rest2 and they called upon him to read1 so that he was obliged to prepare himself during the day1 in order that he might read in the evening4 ,this he did gladly1 feeling that he was useful to others1 and that he was performing a good deed4 ,but he grew weary of exclusively intellectual work1 and his health suffered from it4 ,the members of the community took pity on him1 and requested him to go to work in the fields4 ,for men who regard labor as the substance and the joy of life1 the basis1 the foundation of life will always be the struggle with nature1--labor both agricultural and mechanical1 and intellectual1 and the establishment of communion between men4 ,departure from one or from many of these varieties of labor1 and the adoption of special labor1 will then only occur when the man possessed of a special branch1 and loving this work1 and knowing that he can perform it better than others1 sacrifices his own profit for the satisfaction of the direct demands made upon him4 ,only on condition of such a view of labor1 and of the natural division of labor arising from it1 is that curse which is laid upon our idea of labor abrogated1 and does every sort of work becomes always a joy2 because a man will either perform that labor which is undoubtedly useful and joyous1 and not dull1 or he will possess the consciousness of self-abnegation in the fulfilment of more difficult and restricted toil1 which he exercises for the good of others4 ,but the division of labor is more profitable4 ,more profitable for whom8 ,it is more profitable in making the greatest possible quantity of calico1 and boots in the shortest possible time4 ,but who will make these boots and this calico8 ,there are people who1 for whole generations1 make only the heads of pins4 ,then how can this be more profitable for men8 ,if the point lies in manufacturing as much calico and as many pins as possible1 then this is so4 ,but the point concerns men and their welfare4 ,and the welfare of men lies in life4 ,and life is work4 ,how1 then1 can the necessity for burdensome1 oppressive toil be more profitable for people8 ,for all men1 that one thing is more profitable which ,i desire for myself1--the utmost well-being1 and the gratification of all those requirements1 both bodily and spiritual1 of the conscience and of the reason1 which are imposed upon me4 ,and in my own case ,i have found1 that for my own welfare1 and for the satisfaction of these needs of mine1 all that ,i require is to cure myself of that folly in which ,i had been living1 in company with the ,krapivensky madman1 and which consisted in presupposing that some people need not work1 and that certain other people should direct all this1 and that ,i should therefore do only that which is natural to man1 i4e41 labor for the satisfaction of their requirements2 and1 having discovered this1 ,i convinced myself that labor for the satisfaction of one's own needs falls of itself into various kinds of labor1 each one of which possesses its own charm1 and which not only do not constitute a burden1 but which serve as a respite to one another4 ,i have made a rough division of this labor 7not insisting on the justice of this arrangement71 in accordance with my own needs in life1 into four parts1 corresponding to the four stints of labor of which the day is composed2 and ,i seek in this manner to satisfy my requirements4 ,these1 then1 are the answers which ,i have found for myself to the question1 ,what is to be done8 ,first1 ,not to lie to myself1 however far removed my path in life may be from the true path which my reason discloses to me4 ,second1 ,to renounce my consciousness of my own righteousness1 my superiority especially over other people2 and to acknowledge my guilt4 ,third1 ,to comply with that eternal and indubitable law of humanity1--the labor of my whole being1 feeling no shame at any sort of work2 to contend with nature for the maintenance of my own life and the lives of others4 ,footnotes3 #afi ,an omission by the censor1 which ,i am unable to supply4 ,,trans4 #agh ,we designate as organisms the elephant and the bacterian1 only because we assume by analogy in those creatures the same conjunction of feeling and consciousness that we know to exist in ourselves4 ,but in human societies and in humanity1 this actual sign is absent2 and therefore1 however many other signs we may discover in humanity and in organism1 without this substantial token the recognition of humanity as an organism is incorrect4 #bch v prikusku1 when a lump of sugar is held in the teeth instead or being put into the tea4