SOURCE: "Graham Wallas and The Great Society," in Educational Theory, Vol. 18, No. 2, Spring, 1968, pp. 151-63.

In the following essay, Heslep probes Wallas's normative analysis of the modern "Great Society, " particularly as it applies to morality, happiness, and education.

I

Graham Wallas is usually recognized as a major contributor to the literature on the Great Society, a term which is again in currency. First, he is commonly acknowledged as the person who initially publicized the term. Before the publication of his book The Great Society¹ the term was rarely used;² and since then it has become a stock item in the vocabulary of social philosophers.

Second, the reference which he gave to the term has been well received. In contrast with the present-day popular reference of the term; his is existential rather than normative. Instead of employing the term to refer to some society which should be created, he...