Recollection and foresight are possible; the new medium facilitates calculation, planning, and a new kind of action which intervenes in what happens to direct its course in the interest of what is foreseen and desired.
This quote highlights how symbols facilitate planning and action based on foresight.
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They are reflections into the singular human being of customs and institutions; they are not natural, that is, “native,” organic propensities.
The local communities without intent or forecast found their affairs conditioned by remote and invisible organizations.
Custom consolidates what accident may have originated; established power has a way of legitimizing itself.
The clear consciousness of a communal life, in all its implications, constitutes the idea of democracy.