ABSTRACT
It seems clear from what has already been said that comparative studies are indispensable for any examination of human problems or any evaluation really able to help in making decisions for the future. There are, as we have seen, two main reasons for this: we are by nature incapable of seeing anything with god-like objectivity, but make all our observations through a nexus of social involvement; and, even if we could see some things with detachment, in a world of such rapid and total change there are few signposts from the past. On the other hand, rather than reinforce a point which readers will almost inevitably have accepted before taking up a book with this title and persisting so far with their reading, it may be better at present to consider once again a feature which has been shown to be an integral part of any sustained examination of anything: that such examination includes an element of purpose or follow-up implicit in the very question “What is it?” and still more in “What comes next?”
