# Conclusion explained — Culture and Anarchy > Chapter companion for Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold. ## What happens The narrator concludes by reaffirming the value of culture as the path to perfection and safety, arguing that true order and progress come not from the imperfect operations of Liberal politicians or the anarchic impulses of the masses, but from the pursuit of right reason, the cultivation of a 'best self,' and the sacredness of the State as the vessel for human perfection. He contrasts the vulgar, self-interested politics of Barbarians, Philistines, and the Populace with the disinterested, Hellenising work of culture, which alone can transform society and guide humanity toward sweetness and light. ## Themes in this chapter ### Culture vs. Anarchy The narrator explicitly positions culture as the 'most resolute enemy of anarchy,' arguing that only through the pursuit of right reason and the best self can society achieve true order and perfection. ### Sweetness and Light The conclusion reiterates that the world needs sweetness and light more than fire and strength, and that the true business of culture is to spread belief in right reason and intelligible law. ### Hebraism vs. Hellenism The narrator envisions a future synthesis where Hebraism's discipline in self-conquest prepares humanity to embrace Hellenism's reason and beauty, walking by the true light. ## Character check-ins ### Narrator The narrator speaks in the first person plural ('we'), defending culture against its critics and advocating for a state founded on right reason and the best self. ### Mr. Bright Mentioned as a Liberal leader whose political promises are tied to the transfer of heritage from Barbarians to Philistines. ### Barbarians Depicted as one of the old ruling classes, whose ordinary self is expressed in the State and who shrink from treating the State as too serious. ### Philistine Represented as the middle class that seeks to inherit the heritage from the Barbarians, but whose ordinary self also falls short of the best self. ### Socrates Invoked as the exemplar of disinterested consciousness and the power to challenge stock notions, whose influence surpasses that of political orators. ### Mr. Odger Mentioned as a potential future figure who, with Mr. Bradlaugh, aims to oust both Barbarians and Philistines for the Populace. ## Key lines > Through culture seems to lie our way, not only to perfection, but even to safety. Culture is the path not just to human excellence but also to social and political security. _The narrator asserts that culture is essential for both individual perfection and societal stability._ > For we have seen how much of our disorders and perplexities is due to the disbelief, among the classes and combinations of men, Barbarian or Philistine, which have hitherto governed our society, in right reason, in a paramount best self. Our social problems stem from the ruling classes' rejection of reason and a higher self, relying instead on their ordinary, selfish interests. _The narrator diagnoses the root of social disorder as the failure of the Barbarians and Philistines to govern by right reason._ > But for us—who believe in right reason, in the duty and possibility of extricating and elevating our best self, in the progress of humanity towards perfection—for us the framework of society, that theatre on which this august drama has to unroll itself, is sacred. For those of us who believe in reason and human perfectibility, the structure of society is a sacred stage for this noble drama. _The narrator emphasizes the sacredness of the social order as the necessary context for human progress._ > And not as the Barbarians and Philistines, whose honesty and whose sense of humour make them shrink, as we have seen, from treating the State as too serious a thing, and from giving it too much power. Unlike the Barbarians and Philistines, who avoid taking the State seriously or granting it authority, we see the State as the vessel of our best self. _The narrator contrasts the trivial view of the State held by the ruling classes with the reverent view held by lovers of culture._ > Aristotle says that those for whom alone ideas and the pursuit of the intelligible law of things can, in general, have much attraction, are principally the young, filled with generous spirit and with a passion for perfection; but the mass of mankind, he says, follow seeming goods for real, bestowing hardly a thought upon true sweetness and light. Aristotle observed that only the young and idealistic are drawn to ideas and the pursuit of truth, while most people chase superficial goods and ignore true beauty and wisdom. _The narrator cites Aristotle to acknowledge the difficulty of spreading culture, but refuses to accept this as a permanent limitation._ > For is not this the right crown of the long discipline of Hebraism, and the due fruit of mankind’s centuries of painful schooling in self-conquest, and the just reward, above all, of the strenuous energy of our own nation and kindred in dealing honestly with itself and walking steadfastly according to the best light it knows—that when in the fullness of time it has reason and beauty offered to it, and the law of things as they really are, it should at last walk by this true light with the same staunchness and zeal with which it formerly walked by its imperfect light? The ultimate purpose of Hebraic self-discipline is to prepare humanity to embrace Hellenic reason and beauty with the same fervor it once applied to its imperfect moral code. _The narrator envisions a synthesis of Hebraism and Hellenism, where the discipline of the former enables the embrace of the latter._ > We, on the other hand, are for giving the heritage neither to the Barbarians nor to the Philistines, nor yet to the Populace; but we are for the transformation of each and all of these according to the law of perfection. We do not support any single class inheriting power; instead, we advocate for the transformation of all classes according to the ideal of perfection. _The narrator rejects class-based politics in favor of a universal transformation through culture._ > Socrates has drunk his hemlock and is dead; but in his own breast does not every man carry about with him a possible Socrates, in that power of a disinterested play of consciousness upon his stock notions and habits, of which this wise and admirable man gave all through his lifetime the great example, and which was the secret of his incomparable influence? Though Socrates is dead, every person has within them the potential for the same disinterested self-examination that made him so influential. _The narrator universalizes Socrates' method of critical reflection as a model for cultural and personal growth._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/culture_and_anarchy_se/chapters/conclusion - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/culture_and_anarchy_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/culture_and_anarchy_se/chapters