Is civilization a disease?

The essay treats modern socialized wealth and commercial life as representative of a broader civilizational order and asks whether the structural principle that coordinates societies which have moved beyond tribal organization is humane or pathological. It analyzes trade in its comprehensive sense, considers ethical and anthropological grounds for judging civilization, and uses the metaphor of disease to clarify moral concerns without forcing the analogy. The author weighs trade's benefits against inherent anti-human tendencies, examines corrective institutions, and invites search for a more humane organizing principle for collective life.