POWER AND MORALITY; WHO SHALL GUARD THE GUARDIANS? With Walter A. Lunden. An Extending horizons book. Boston: P. Sargent, 1959. 202p.

This work was coauthored by one of Sorokin's former students from Minnesota and Harvard, Walter A. Lunden. The first half of the book is a broad history of power and corruption stemming from Genghis Khan to New Jersey's Frank Hague. It encompasses not only monarchs, rulers, and political leaders of democracies and totalitarian states but covers corruption in city and state government, in industry and finance, and even that of Catholic popes when their authority extended over sovereign states. Clearly supported by these findings is not only Machiavelli's assertion that "a prince who wishes to maintain the state must often do evil" but Lord Acton's dictum, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Today's rulers are not much different from those who preceded them, but nuclear power provides an unprecedented capacity to destroy the world:

For the past few years [nuclear and bacterial] weapons have been manufactured on a gigantic scale by the governments of the United States, Soviet Russia and Great Britain. At the present time, the number of stockpiled weapons ... is sufficient to bring about the aforementioned calamity [extermination of the human race, and life itself]. The danger in this situation is intensified by the fact that this immense fund of deadly power is monopolistically controlled by a mere handful of governmental rulers, . . . leaders of science and technology and captains of industry and finance. . . Thus the power which they hold is infinitely greater and more absolute than that of any of the monarchs, dictators, or military conquerors of the past.

The overriding question is Who shall guard the guardians? To this age-old query Sorokin and Lunden suggest a government of scientists, sages, and saints that will move us from sensate government to Integral leadership. Surprisingly, they are optimistic about three current trends in the qualifications of new world leaders: a growing requirement for intelligence and wisdom; an increasing demand for moral integrity; and pressure to replace tribal (nationalistic) perspectives with more universal outlooks toward the good of humankind.

Increasing intelligence is rightfully or wrongfully associated with the emergence of scientists and experts as administrators who plan and control important government programs. Sorokin and Lunden argue that politicians are increasingly becoming figureheads and implementers of policies developed by their more scientifically competent advisers and committees. As this trend accelerates, we will see the statesman-politician replaced by the scientist.127 But will this mean better government or simply a replacement of one oligarchy by another? Indeed, the argument can be made that modern instruments of destruction and suppression have been developed largely by scientists. Furthermore, the knowledge of a scientific administrator is too specialized and narrow to provide the leadership currently required; it must be directed by the wisdom of the sage. That is, a pansophic intellectual capable of integrating scientific understanding into a broader blueprint for reconstruction and progress.128 To be successful, the blueprint must contain a body of moral principles that serve a universal good. Therefore, pansophic leaders must also be ethical leaders capable of steering humankind through moral relativism to a set of universal norms similar to the Judeo-Christian Commandments that can be applied cross-culturally.

Unhappily, there has been a lag in moral development. Scientific truths are universals, but moral standards remain circumscribed by the boundaries of the tribe. Humankind today is a unified, tangibly interdependent group in which all are dependent on the whole for survival. This universal interdependence suggests that parochial tribal morality and its nationalistic expression are obsolete and dysfunctional. Consequently, world leadership must focus on the development of a code of conduct capable of integrating all nations into a moral community. This imperative has gone beyond being a pious wish and has become an urgent necessity.
Global morality requires that governments include people who can provide such leadership. Practically, this is not as difficult as it appears. Many of those scientists, scholars, and philosophers who are active in government are people of eminent moral integrity and leadership who have already contributed ethical guidance to public policy. However, their effectiveness would be substantially increased if they participated in discovering new techniques for moral development and transformation such as those studied by Sorokin's Center.
Moral transformation also requires the active participation of religious leaders and the spiritual involvement of exceptional altruists and holy ones. These apostles would provide role models around which others could rally to promote change. These religious leaders must also promote more ecumenical moral education. Collectively, they have access to a substantial portion of the world's population. In the past, great religious leaders have decisively changed the course of history. The demands of a new international moral order now challenge current leaders to rise to past historical accomplishments.

To be effective, moral change must be sustained at the grassroots level. The faithful, working in their neighborhoods and communities, are the foundations for ecumenical change, and must be supported by local and national leaders. The faithful are the key to moral transformation. They, along with guardians of the guardians, will move us toward a new global moral community directed by the Integral leadership of scientists, sages, and saints. The present government of politicians is a symptom of the decaying sensate order. It has ruled through two world wars and now governs human relations in a thermomodern age. By mobilizing its altruistic potential, humankind may prevent these leaders from plunging us into an apocalyptic war. If altruism can buy us a few decades of peace under the guidance of a unified creative force, then the most dangerous part of the declining sensate transition will pass and a solid foundation for the emerging Integral order will be built. This demands that a new benevolent elite of scientists, sages, and religious leaders assume increasing control now. With their Integral leadership a new Integral and emancipatory social order will emerge.

The body of work between Reconstruction (1948) and Morality (1959) not only is a blueprint for social reconstruction but also contains the domain assumptions andoperationalizations of a nascent discipline. Power and Morality completes the outline for the new applied science or art of Amitology, beginning with ego transcendence and culminating in a new moral community for the brotherhood of nations. The Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism provided an answer to the questions of whether a moral society based on prosocial behaviors is possible, and if so, how it can be attained. The current issue was whether scientists, intellectuals, and citizens would rise to the challenge. That is, will they deepen their understanding of altruism, institutionalize the codes of values and norms necessary for social improvement, and move us toward an Integral social order?