Chapter 17 — That In Times Marked By Equality Of Conditions And Sceptical Opinions, It Is Important To Remove To A Distance The Objects Of Human Actions

A dense and important chapter that argues for the social function of long-term thinking in sceptical democratic societies. Religious faith naturally orients people toward distant goals — eternal happiness — and this trains them to defer immediate desires, sustain long efforts, and build things that last.

When faith weakens, the horizon of human action contracts to the immediate. People begin to live day to day, chasing small pleasures, unable to sustain the effort required for great undertakings.

In a democratic society already inclined toward restlessness and material preoccupation, this contraction is especially dangerous. The moralist's and legislator's task is therefore to find secular analogues for the distant goals that religion provided — to give democratic citizens a reason to think and act across generations.