The ramifications of the “city-as-hive” are underscored by philosopher Susanne Langer, who reminds her readers of significant disanalogies between cities and hives: 

“Its citizens are the whole and only individuals. They are not a “living mass,” like a swarm of semi-individuated bees. The model of the hive has brought with it the concept of human masses, to be cared for in times of peace, deployed in times of war, educated for use or sacrificed for the higher good of their state. In the specious analogy of animal and human society, the hive and the city, lies, I think, the basic philosophical fallacy of all totalitarian theory, even the most sincere and idealistic—even the thoroughly noble political thought of Plato” 

—Langer, Susanne K. 1962. Philosophical Sketches. London: Oxford University Press.

PLB

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