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The Two Drives in Man
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Man is, at one and the same time,
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a solitary being and a social being.
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As a solitary being,
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he attempts to protect his own existence
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and that of those who are closest to him,
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to satisfy his personal desires,
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and to develop his innate abilities.
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As a social being,
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he seeks to gain the recognition and affection
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of his fellow human beings,
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to share in their pleasures,
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to comfort them in their sorrows,
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and to improve their conditions of life.
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Only the existence of these varied,
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frequently conflicting, strivings accounts
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for the special character of a man,
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and their specific combination determines the extent
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to which an individual can achieve
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and in an inner balance
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and can contribute to the well-being of society.
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It is quite possible that the relative strength of these two drives is,
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in the main, fixed by inheritance.
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But the personality that finally emerges
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is largely formed by the environment
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in which a man happens to find himself during his development,
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by the structure of the society in which he grows up,
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by the tradition of that society,
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and by its evaluation of particular types of behavior.
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The abstract concept “society” means to the individual human being
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the sum total of his direct
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and indirect relations to his contemporaries
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and to all the people of earlier generations.
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The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself;
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but he depends so much upon society —
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in his physical, intellectual,
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and emotional existence —
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that it is impossible to think of him,
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or to understand him,
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outside the framework of society.
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It is “society” which provides man with food, clothing,
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a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought,
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and most of the content of thought;
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his life is made possible through the labor
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and accomplishments of the many millions past and present
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who are all hidden behind the small word “society”.