Last and First Men · Chapter
IV: The Culture of the First World State explained
This chapter describes the culture of the First World State, a civilization that achieved unprecedented material prosperity and technological advancement, yet suffered from a decline in intelligence and a spiritual emptiness.
What happens
This chapter describes the culture of the First World State, a civilization that achieved unprecedented material prosperity and technological advancement, yet suffered from a decline in intelligence and a spiritual emptiness. The society is ruled by the fanatical worship of movement, embodied in the deity Gordelpus, and is characterized by a barren complacency. The chapter explores the religious practices, including sacred flying and dancing, and the peculiar status of the Negro race as a sacred caste. It also mentions two heresies: a phallic cult and the ultimate Socratics, who sought intellectual truth through definition.
Themes in this chapter
Society and Collective Identity
The First World State is a highly organized society that suppresses individuality and critical thought, leading to a collective identity centered on worship of movement and progress.
Spiritual and Philosophical Aspiration
The culture's religious practices, such as sacred flying and dancing, are a distorted form of spiritual aspiration, while the heresies of the phallic cult and the ultimate Socratics represent attempts to find deeper meaning.
The Limits of Knowledge
The ultimate Socratics misunderstand Socrates' emphasis on clear thinking, reducing it to a futile exercise in defining superficial things, illustrating the limits of intellectual pursuit in a society that has lost true intelligence.
Humanity and the Other
The treatment of the Negro race as a sacred yet outcast caste reflects the theme of the Other, as they are both revered and violently persecuted.
Characters to notice
- The First Men
The entire civilization of the First World State, characterized by material prosperity but intellectual decline.
- Gordelpus
The Prime Mover, the deity whose worship dominates the culture, demanding swift and intricate activity.
- Socrates
The ancient philosopher whose ideas inspired the heresy of the ultimate Socratics, though they misunderstood his spirit.
- The Americans
Their culture dominated the planet, and their historical guilt over slavery led to the sacred caste of Negroes.
- The Negroes
A sacred and outcast caste, entrusted with the most sacred dancing, and subject to a violent annual ritual.
Key passages
“But unfortunately his intelligence had by now seriously declined. And so this age, far more than the notorious 'nineteenth century,' was the great age of barren complacency.”
The people of this era had lost much of their intellectual capacity, making it an age of empty self-satisfaction, even more so than the nineteenth century.
Highlights the theme of intellectual decline and societal complacency.
“For the all-pervading idea which tyrannized over the race was the fanatical worship of movement.”
The dominant and oppressive belief of the era was an extreme devotion to constant activity and motion.
Captures the central religious and cultural obsession of the First World State.
“This dual role was epitomized in an extravagant ritual which took place once a year in each of the great national parks.”
The contradictory status of the Negroes as both sacred and outcast was symbolized in an annual, dramatic ceremony in national parks.
Illustrates the complex and violent treatment of the Negro caste.