Volume 15: Circulation Of Thought (1956)

One 1-hour lecture, a fragment of the original course.

The spirit of mankind is one, and …the mind is nothing but the little dam called your skull inside which there is a little energy dammed up before it disgorges into the great stream. There is not one idea, gentlemen, there is not one science, one act of knowledge, there’s not one act of education and there is not one act of common sense which is not meaningful only within the unity of the whole human spirit, of the solidarity of society… the circulation of thought presupposes that there is one thought, one thinking process for all mankind.

—May 11, 1956

In this lecture, Rosenstock-Huessy outlines the fundamental assumptions of his sociology, which is neither the study of natural processes in man nor the study of individuals. Society consists of interactions in which”the action of one person and the passion of another person are lawfully connected.” At the same time, one must recognize that “laws” in society, while necessary, must sometimes be broken, as marriages, although vital, may have to end in divorce.