Abstract
Dr. Nathan Leites of the RAND Corporation, author of The Operational Code of the Politburo and other works, is presented here in an article, written in 1949 but hitherto unpublished, on same dynamics of human nature as they relate to democratic beliefs. Dr. Leites asserts, first, that too many discussions of democ racy, including many learned ones, neglect or refuse to put forward their ulti mate preferences for a certain kind of man and society. Ultimate preferences about human nature cannot be challenged by logical empiricism. Ultimate gen eralizations about human nature can be challenged by the so-called scientific method and tested for conformance to events.
Secondly, given ultimate preferences about human nature, which are compatible with the scientifically tested limitations of human nature, one may build a "demo eratic" system—that is, a system wherein the environment is guaranteed, to put it exaggeratedly, to produce democratic people conforming to the ultimate preference.
Thirdly, the contributions of political scientists to our knowledge of late environ ment, and that of psychologists to early environment, help to tell what is neces sary to adjust men to a society which permits democratic human activities as defined by the irreducible, ultimate preferences on which we may agree!
Dr. Leites asserts in conclusion that democracy may be threatened, not only by communist aggression, but by uncontrolled destructiveness or badly controlled destructiveness that results in moral uncertainty and dysfunctions of conscience.
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