322 THEORY AND ADMINISTRATION 



In taking this position we are not to be understood as denying to 

 sociology the right and title to a place among the other social sciences 

 as concerned with a distinct and important body of social phenomena. 

 Our criticism extends only to the point of refusing to entertain its 

 claim to be the science logically antecedent to political science. We 

 fully agree with Professor Giddings that it is quite feasible, as well 

 as eminently desirable, that special and exclusive study should be 

 made of those peculiar and essential facts which concern the genesis, 

 organization, and evolution of human association. It may be that 

 from this study it is possible to obtain, upon the objective side, laws 

 of growth which may be stated in terms of a physical process, and 

 that upon its subjective side social phenomena may be interpreted by 

 reference to discoverable motives or facts of human consciousness 

 of kind. Whether, as thus pursued, sociology may claim an existence 

 as a science independent from, but coordinated with, the other social 

 sciences, we do not say. But we are not ready to concede either that 

 political philosophy has yielded, or properly may yield, to the social 

 psychologist all inquiries as to political origins. 



Political Philosophy and the Philosophy of History 



Political philosophy is related to the philosophy of history only 

 through its own history, but here the relationship is very intimate. 

 Political theories, however abstract their form of statement, have 

 ever been the product of the objective conditions and needs of their 

 times. Also, though in much less measure, they have, when formu- 

 lated, influenced the course of historical movements. Thus, in 

 tracing their development, one necessarily discovers and discusses the 

 same fundamental motive ideas which the philosophical historian 

 has to deal with in his efforts to explain and rationalize the past. 

 Thus, not only does an adequate grasp upon political theory enable 

 one correctly to determine the thoughts and intentions of men of 

 the past, but a history of the development of political theories, in 

 its reflection of the thoughts and actuating motives at the basis 

 of important political movements, furnishes the historical student 

 with an insight into the logic of events which he can obtain from 

 no other source. Especially where, as in the history of the United 

 States, questions of constitutional right have required practical 

 solution, a knowledge of political theory and of its history is of the 

 greatest value. A noteworthy illustration of this is seen in Professor 

 McLaughlin's article, " Social Compact and Constitutional Con- 

 struction," contributed to the American Historical Review. 



