Page 45 - CONSCIENCISM By Kwame Nkrumah_Neat

3 8 CONSCIENCISM PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIETY 39
the distinction between socialism and democracy. Whereas in
society. Redemption could not however mean a society languishing
democracy it is sufficient to affirm a mere egalitarianism, in social­
in drugged serenity. Internal dissensions persisted on all sides,
ism it is necessary to affirm a convertible involvement ofeach in all.
society was twisted by swift change, but always out of a melee
In other words, whereas the monists in social terms sought to
there emerged in course oftime a discernible pattern.
transform an oligarchic society into a democratic one, Anaxagoras
Strife, and an emergent pattern, a seeming attunement, which
sought to transform a democratic one into a socialist society.
served as a resting point until contending forces should once again
Indeed, once Anaxagoras had emphasized socialistic responsi­
become pronouncedly factious, this see-saw, this sweltering social
bility ofeach for all and all for each, the next step was to emphasize
environment gave birth in the mind of Heraclitus to the idea that
the intrinsic worth of the 'individual. Thus a sodal progressive
the universe itself is an attunement of forces perpetually in strife.
movement, which started with the supervention of a people over
From that moment the idea ofa fInite history was killed and that
a class, ended with the separating out, the cult, ofindividuals. It was
of the dialectic ofhistory born.
left to the Sophists to achieve this. This phase was given its most
In the examples chosen I have tried to illustrate the way in which
defInitive utterance in the Protagoran statement that man is the
early materialist philosophy of a monist kind is suggested by
measure of all things. The universe had passed from the hands of
social phenomena, and in turn inspires social phenomena and
the gods into the hands of men. This Protagoran view, which was
policy. I can perhaps illustrate the way in which idealist philosophy
a passionate testimony to the new place of mall in the scheme of
serves the same function by citing the philosophy ofAnaxagoras.
things, was quickly perverted by lesser minds into a grasping
In this philosophy the diverse things of the universe were said to
idealistic subjectivism. In this transformed form, it was a claim that
arise from seeds. These seeds ofthe things that are were conceived
reality was a replica of the subjective will. Indeed, it was in this
after such a fashion that they represented minute universes, each
form that Socrates criticized it. It was necessary to destroy this
seed in fact containing the whole range ofdiversity in the macro­
idealistic subjectivism; fIrst, because it was but a short step from it
cosmic universe. Each specific object was nothing but an accretion
ofseeds. The whole agglomeration of seeds constituting the uni­ to solipsism, the view that only oneself exists and other things
exist as one's experiences; and, second, because in addition to
verse was said by Anaxagoras to have an external principle of
damaging the possibility of science and the public and objective
motion. Naturally a principle ofmotion was required to regulate
grounding oftruth, it undermined the foundations ofsociety; for
the quantities ofseed involved in each object if this was to be the
it made social reality, too, depend upon the subjective will. The
source of the differences between things; and this principle of
original attempt to redeem society by giving it a united foundation,
motion was for Anaxagoras an intellectualist one. He called it not/s,
by asserting the unity and brotherhood of man, now promised
reason, mind.
Anaxagoras, too, can be exhibited as supporting an egalitarian­ to destroy the society which it had set out to save. Egalitarianism
ism. Indeed, his theory ofthe unity of nature is in certain respects desperately needed to be distinguished from anarchism, for
a more rigorous and close one than that of the monists. He did anarchism is the political expression of subjective idealism.
Socrates consequendy made it his duty to destroy this form of
not affirm a mere identity of basic make-up. He put forward
the Protagoran maxim. His social aim in seeking this destruction
a theory of the participation of anyone kind of object in every
was to restore the objectivity of society. Socrates, too, was a firm
other kind of object. In his philosophy, nature was more firmly
theoretical believer in egalitarianism. He exemplifIed this in his
united than in allY other philosophy. The distinction between his
whole life by his unwavering contempt for pomp, circumstance
view and that of the monists, ifgiven social expression, becomes