social import interprets them

Question

Hello,What could the following phrase mean?"Human  relations should become such that their full social import interprets them."I would appreciate any help.Nik

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

Nik, I have now read this five times. It makes as little sense to me now as it did the first time. Is there more context that could help us understand what the "them" is referring to, if it's not "human relations"?

Marius Hancu · Answer

It's not easy, ladies and gentlemen:
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It is clear, however, that reason would operate in a vacuum, unless
these values of enlightenment -- of science, aesthetic appreciation,
and human associations -- can take on forms which are freed from the
social restrictions placed upon them by the groups which have
possessed them.

The phrase "republic of letters" has signified this
freeing of culture from its class connotation. In a sense it
constitutes an ideal world, which does not mean that these values
exist in a world by themselves, but that the products of science, art,
and human association can and should take on forms which would bring
them within the province of any mind and nature able to respond to
them.

Now the claims of such ideal values lie not simply or primarily
in the widening of the community that enjoys them, but in the
superiority and efficiency of the science, art, and human relations
which are so freed.

It is not until science has become a discipline to
which the research ability of any mind from any class in society can
be attracted that it can become rigorously scientific, and it is not
until its results can be so formulated that they must appeal to any
enlightened mind that they can have universal value.

Artistic creation and aesthetic appreciation must attain forms which
have the same universality of objectivity; human relations should
become such that their full social import interprets them.

Reason is then a medium within which values may be brought into
comparisons with each other, in abstraction from the situations within
which they have come into conflict with each other; and within this
impartial medium it becomes possible to reconstruct values and our
conduct growing out of them.

George Herbert Mead. "Philanthropy from the point of view of ethics"
http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Mead/pubs2/papers/MEAD_1930b.html

Marius Hancu · Answer

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import

Function: noun

1 : something contained as signification or intention : PURPORT, MEANING<trying vainly to fathom the import of the speaker's words> <a gesture whose import he knew immediately>

2 : WEIGHT, CONSEQUENCE, SIGNIFICANCE<less concerned about the literary value of his books than about their social import> <a man of great import>

.........

synonym see IMPORTANCE

(21 Sep. 2006).
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Marius Hancu · Answer

You should talk to some Mead experts, but ...
I think Mead's talking about the principles underlying the human relationships, not the actual relationships. An attempt at a translation:

The (principles directing the) human relations should become such that their full social implementation/realization (in other words, the society itself) truly reflects them.

Eager-to-learn · Answer

Barbara and Marius, thank you very much for your help. I was hoping that I had missed the meaning of the phrase because of some set expression that I did not know. But it is obvious that it is more a matter of philosophy than language.

Marius, thank you for the suggested translation. But I am still a little confused. I am actually translating this into another language, it's not a word for word translation, so I only have to get the meaning across. Could you tell me if the following sounds plausible?

Human relations should become such so as to reflect their full social significance. ->
Human relations should, as much as possible, be socially significant/oriented. ->
Human relations should ideally be less selfish and more caring and just towards the whole of community.

Does that sound at all right, or am I way off?

Thanx,
Nik

Anonymous · Answer

I told you, talk to some Mead experts.

Everything else from my part is useless, as the sentence per se is confusing for me.

Marius Hancu · Answer

That was me in the last message, in my anon embodiment. Forgot to log in.

social import interprets them

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