The Basis for Social Order Man, said Aristotle, is a social animal. This sociability requires peaceful congregation, and the history of mankind is mainly a movement through time of human collectivities that range from migrant tribal bands to large and complex civilizations. Survival has been due to the ability to create the means by which men in groups retain their unity and allegiance to one another. Order was caused by the need and desire to survive the challenge of the environment. This orderly condition called the "state", and the roles that maintained it, file "law". With time the partner to this tranquility, man marched across the centuries of his evolution to the brink of exploring the boundaries of his own galaxy. Of all living organisms, only man has the capacity to interpret his own evolution as progress. As social life changed, the worth and rights of each member in the larger group, of which he was a part, increased. As the groups grew from clans to civilizations, the value of the individual did not diminish, but became instead a guide to the rules that govern all men.