Social wisdom can be detected within both the theologies of the ancients and the more contemporary assertions of those who embrace the central tenets of the philosophical system of Humanism, and that aspect of existential epistemology which embraces the teleological dynamic. In these realms whether the source is a prophetic Judaism or the Christian gospels, the revelations of Mohammed at the center of an Islamic consciousness, or the assertions of primary texts within Buddhism, and in sacred Hindu pronouncements, can a normative predicate be discovered.

In other sources which are secular in character such as Aristotelian and Kantian epistemological prescriptions, and within the optimistic life-affirming existentialism of Camus, can we unearth a commonalty of vision and moral definition that speaks to the most imperative requirement of all civilizations; i.e. to regard both the individual human life and the collectivity of mankind as inviolate entities and sentient beings of unparalleled intrinsic value.