This searching examination of human development provides new perspectives on the moral, political, scientific, emotional, and intellectual divisions of our time. Lancelot Law Whyte presents an original historical examination of the methods of thought that have led humankind in general, and the West in particular, into many of its deepest troubles. A physicist by profession, Whyte searched beyond the boundaries of specialization for creative ways to approach the basic problem facing modern Western civilization: Why are we so competent technically and yet unable to order our own affairs, socially and personally? He takes the reader with him on a journey that is nothing less than a new interpretation of the general development of human consciousness.