ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the natural economic order, allowing time and world-space for its operations, will regain its benevolent sway and that the present economic system is remarkably sane and strong. It explores the major instincts or impulses in the psychological life of man and enquiring what institutional forms would give them satisfaction, at once adequate for the individual and tolerable for society—give them, in brief, reasonable satisfaction. The book discusses the institutional manifestations of, and impediments to, certain impulses of almost universal validity throughout human nature. It argues that "Hunger is hunger, but the hunger that is satisfied with cooked meat eaten with knife and fork is a different kind of hunger from one that devours raw meat with the aid of hands, nails, and teeth.".
