Any historical act performed with a future objective in view...

Any historical act performed with a future objective in view and governed by the laws of history is a purposive act related to its final cause, that is its objective. This objective may be good or bad, beneficial or harmful. On this basis an active historical movement in the domain of historical norms should be purposive and responsible. In relation to an action its objective has a future-looking aspect. It influences man because it exists in his mind.

Otherwise as far as its external existence is concerned, it is no more than a wish for the future. As it has no real existence, it is its mental existence that induces man to make efforts and take action. Thus the future objective or the goal for which man makes an effort initiates and promotes his activity through its mental existence. Man can form in his mind a vivid picture of his goal with all its characteristics and conditions.

Now as we have found out a distinguishing feature of historical phenomena, or rather one of their characteristics which does not exist in the case of any other phenomena in the world of nature, we find that every action in the field of history is related to its objective, which is its final cause as well as its rationale. In other words, this distinguishing feature consists in the role of the final cause in the action.

In fact it is the mental existence of its final cause which motivates the action and mentally lays down its guide-lines, which form the relevant norms of history. The norms of history apply only to those actions which are purposive and have a goal besides being linked with other natural phenomena in a sequence of cause and effect. It must be understood that every purposive act is not a historical act and hence every purposive act is not governed by the laws of history.

To enter into the domain of the norms of history an act must have besides the dimensions of a cause and a goal, a third dimension also. This dimension must have a social aspect. In other words, the act in question should affect society as a whole and the person who performs it should be a member of that society. It makes no difference whether the effect of the act is comparatively limited or extensive, but it must go beyond the individual level.

A man eats when he feels hungry, drinks when he feels thirsty and sleeps when he gets sleepy. But these acts, though purposive and performed to achieve certain objects, are individual acts, the effect of which does not go beyond a particular individual.