ABSTRACT
The irrationality, or ‘primal stupidity’ of the savage has been represented as an endeavour to solve the philosophical problems of the nature of the universe and of life. Irrationalism can flourish by the side of critical and scientific thought, and commingle with all the resources of modern intelligence, because the savage’s ‘primal stupidity’ is embedded in human tradition, and tradition has imposed itself upon every generation by the intrinsic sanctity of its authority. To palliate its natural imbecility, to extend its secure foundations, has been the long and laborious task of philosophical discipline and science. In the life and activities of primitive humanity the endeavour to apply rational thought to the control of existing conditions has been small, the endeavour to exercise that control by irrational means much greater. From the earliest stages of its growth, human intelligence has been checked by that authority.
