Important philosophical questions arise in connection with at least three points in the current considerations of grouping. These points are: (1) the scientific determination of the bases of grouping, (2) the theory of the social process underlying the practices of grouping, and (3) the beliefs about the kind of society we should have, as implied in the purposes of grouping. In fewer words, grouping becomes a problem for philosophy in the assumptions of its science, of its social psychology, and of its social program.

IN the years immediately following the World War, a small group in this country organized to study and promote the application of Christian ideals to “the main areas of failure in American life”—international affairs, race and industrial relations, and the church as a community institution. Through stages recounted in the early pages of the present book, this group gradually became less sure of what the Christian ideals meant, and more disposed to search for light directly in the four troubled areas mentioned. It finally chose to be known as The Inquiry.