"Except perhaps for such irreducible sexual groups as parents and their children, the ‘man’ of classical liberalism (whose literary symbol was Robinson Crusoe) was a social animal only insofar as he co-existed in large numbers. Social aims were therefore the arithmetical sum of individual aims. Happiness (a term which caused its definers almost as much trouble as its pursuers) was each individual’s supreme object; the greatest happiness of the greatest number, was plainly the aim of society."
Eric Hobsbawm

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

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Chap. 13 : Ideology: Secular

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hobsbawm