ABSTRACT
The idle man is a burden upon himself, just as he is a weight upon society. Idleness constitutes a state of sickness in man. Social organisation at present, which accords the highest degree of respect to idleness and to the kind of work that is least useful to society, is thus essentially and radically defective. Physiological observations have shown that societies as well as individuals are subject to two moral forces of equal intensity and acting alternately: one is the force of habit, the other the force that is born of the desire for new sensations. It is clear that in the system which will overcome the force of revolution, the most important influence must be that of men with peaceful occupations and habits, and that the ablest of these men ought to be in charge of national interests. Philosophers have not yet managed to bring about an agreement between Protestants and Catholics.
