ABSTRACT
A more realistic picture of the primitive age, and one which does have implications for contemporary morality, is presented by the class of cultural history which Lovejoy and Boas have christened hard primitivism. The common theme of this type of analysis is the corrupting effect of modern technology and modern society. The primitivism which sees peculiar virtues in the original generation of humans is of course closely akin to the primitivism which holds up as ideals contemporary races of uncivilised peoples. The comparative method of formulating value judgements was used by Golden Age theorists largely in relation to imaginary countries, but by progressivists with real groups of people. From the fifth century BC on, however, real noble savages began to be enormously popular. The accounts of these remote tribes generally dwell with approval on their lack of economic and technological sophistication, and on their superior justice and temperance.
