the society of the future

258 Pages·2008·12.65 MB·English

THE SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE
Library of Congress Catalogue Number 57-8806
Printed in Holland
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THE SOCIETY
OF THE FUTURE
by
H. VAN RIESSEN Ph.d.
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, DELFT
Translated and edited under the supervision
of
DAVID HUGH FREEMAN
THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Distributed by
BAKER BOOK HOUSE
Grand Rapids 6, Mich.
THE PRESBYTERIAN
AND REFORMED PUBLISHING Co.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNA.
,-e,
TO MY WIFE

EDITOR'S PREFACE
The Society of the Future is the first work to appear in English by
H. van Riessen, a prominent member of a school of philosophy that
has developed in the Netherlands, under the leadership of Herman
Dooyeweerd.
Dr. Van Riessen has earned a master's degree in engineering and a
doctor's degree in philosophy. In addition to many other publications
he is the author of a 700 page treatise on Philosophy and Technique.
At present he is a professor of philosophy at the Delft University of
Technology in the Netherlands.
The English reader who is unfamilar with the school of philosophy
to which Dr Van Riessen belongs will be surprised, if not genuinely
disturbed, by the introduction of articles of faith into an analysis of
society.
Van Riessen fully realizes that it is most unusual to introduce Chris-
tian beliefs into philosophical and sociological discourse. However, he
is convinced that it is possible to demonstrate on philosophical grounds
that a religiously value free approach to society is impossible. Such
a demonstration is further available to the English reader in the four
volume translation of H. Dooyeweerd's, A New Critique of Theoretical
Thought, H. J. Paris, Amsterdam, and the Presbyterian and Reformed
Publishing Co. Philadelphia.
The critical reader ought to avoid a hasty and final judgment with
regard to the merit of mixing sociology and religion until he has
become familiar with this approach.
The work of translation was complicated by the untimely death of
my collaborator, B. D. Dykstra who worked on the first draft. The
responsibility of making a new translation, with the assistance of Mr.
Dykstra's material, fell on my shoulders. Invaluable assistance was
further provided by the author and by my friend and collaborator
H. de Jongste. Mr. De Jongste is untiring in his devotion to the work
of translation and this work is one of many translation projects that
have been mutually undertaken.
I wish to express further appreciation to J. Marcellus Kik, for his
valuable suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript; to
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Craig and to Mrs. Lewis Grotenhuis, for
assistance in proof reading; to Professor Carolyn Zekny, Chairman
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of the Department of Sociology, Wilson College, and to Dr. Dirk
Jellema, of the Case Institute of Technology for their friendly advice
and encouragement; to Mrs. Maxine Minnich, for her painstaking and
careful typing of the manuscript; and last but not least to the
generousity of Dr. Samuel G. Craig, and his son whose interest in the
subject at hand made the translation and publication of this work
possible.
DAVID HUGH FREEMAN
Department of Philosophy
University of Rhode Island
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FOREWORD
The present American edition of my book "The Society of the
Future" has been prepared with my wholehearted consent and in
compliance with the request made by both of the publishers con-
cerned. I am all the more ready to give my consent as there is nothing
better for me to wish than giving publicity in other countries to
the results of my study, and especially in the United States which is
at present the leading power in Western civilization. Such publicity
is all the more important as the American cultural lead is concerned
with the formation of the future society. The reader will not be slow
to notice that in my opinion the most alarming social phenomenon in
the twentieth century is the continuous direction of society towards
collectivism. On some points I think I may say that the U.S.A. takes
the lead in the collectivistic development as compared with Western
Europe, and in other respects the States put up a much stronger
resistance to the general tendency.
In America technique has made greater progress; its mass production
is of far greater importance to the country in which it made its first
appearance; the American tendency towards equality; the con-
centration of economic power; American activism allowing too little
scope to the contemplative side of life to develop; the change-over
to the consumer's style of life in the period of abundance that has
already started; all these factors are conducive to collectivism in the
present circumstances. On the other hand the practical mind of the
Americans, their striving for decentralization, the great variety in the
way they tackle problems, their dynamic attitude in life, their respect
for the personality, their communal sense, frankness and ease in social
intercourse and their profound respect for freedom and democracy
put them in a better position to oppose the prevailing collectivistic
trend.
In the last chapter I have explained the manner and the means to
avoid the dangers of collectivistic developments in the future — for
such developments will end in totalitarianism — and I have indicated
the way how to realize the possibility of the liberation of society.
On my journey tot the U.S.A. made at the invitation of the F.O.A.
in 1954 for the purpose of studying human relations in industry I was
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pleased to find that my therapy was not idle fiction. Under the
guidance of leading progressive personalities in industrial life and
in Universities a great deal of such therapy was already being put
in practice.
There is one more aspect of this study that requires some comment
in this introduction because some of my readers might think it strange.
In this book they will repeatedly find references to Biblical
revelation, and there are principles posited here whose root is not
found in science itself but is factually based on the Bible. This study
is, therefore, not a neutral, "value-free" inquiry. I am of the opinion,
however, that at least in this field such a neutral inquiry cannot
exist, because consciously or unconsciously every thinker starts from
pre-scientific pre-suppositions which, to him at least, have the
character of the certainties of faith. To my mind a man of science
will render his science a service by being aware of such pre-sup-
positions and explicitly introducing them and working with them.
It was necessary to make various changes in this edition. Many
references to Dutch writers and to Dutch conditions had to be
cancelled, whereas for the sake of American readers it was thought
desirable to discuss American literature on the subject in greater
detail than in the original text. For this reason and also on account
of the utilization of the results of my journey to the U.S.A. the last
chapter has been considerably altered and enlarged.
The translation of the Dutch text into English was attended with
the customary difficulties. In a way this task of rendering the original
into English required genuine creative ability; for it implied the
reproduction of the sphere of the book and involved reflection on the
different usage of various words and conceptions in the Dutch
and the American worlds of thought. As far as I can judge of these
matters the efforts of the translators have been succesful.
This English version is the work of Professor David H. Freeman,
the Department of Phylosophy of The University of Rhode Island;
and of the late Reverend B. D. Dijkstra, whose enthusiastic devotion
to the first draft of the translation will always remain in living and
grateful memory.
I wish to thank Prof. Freeman sincerely for all the care, trouble
and time he has so successfully devoted to this translation. Trans-
oceanic cooperation is an extremely difficult proposition, and it is
certainly in the final analysis owing to him that the task could be
accomplished.
On the Dutch side of the ocean Mr. H. de Jongste undertook the
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