THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JANUARY, 1873. 



THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. 



By HERBERT SPENCER. 

 VI. Subjective Difficulties Intellectual. 



IF you watch the management of a child by a mother of small ca- 

 pacity, you may be struck by the inability she betrays to imagine 

 the child's thoughts and feelings. Full of energy which he must ex- 

 pend in some way, and eager to see every thing, her little boy is every 

 moment provoking her by his restlessness. The occasion is perhaps a 

 railway journey. Now he strives to look out of the window; and 

 now, when forbidden to do that, climbs on the seats, or meddles with 

 the small luggage. " Sit still," " Get down, I tell you," " Why can't 

 you be quiet ? " are the commands and expostulations she utters from 

 minute to minute partly, no doubt, to prevent the discomfort of fel- 

 low-passengers. But, as you will see at other times, when no such 

 motive comes into play, she endeavors to repress these childish activi- 

 ties mainly out of regard for what she- thinks propriety, and does it 

 without any adequate recognition of the penalties she inflicts. Though 

 she herself lived through this phase of extreme curiosity this early 

 time Avhen almost every object passed has the charm of novelty, and 

 when the overflowing energies generate a painful irritation if pent up ; 

 yet now she cannot believe how keen is the desire for seeing which she 

 balks, and how difficult is the maintenance of that quietude on which 

 she insists. Conceiving her child's consciousness in terms of her own 

 consciousness, and feeling how easy it is to sit still and not look out of 

 the window, she ascribes his behavior to mere perversity. 



I recall this and kindred experiences to the reader's mind, for the- 

 purpose of exemplifying a necessity and a difficulty. The necessity is 

 that, in dealing with other beings and interpreting their actions, we 

 are obliged to represent their thoughts and feelings in terms of our 



VOL. II. 17 



