826 SOCIAL STRUCTURE 



or not at all, kept apart nor even recognized as being distinct, viz., 

 the biological, the psychological, and the sociological in what I call 

 the exclusive sense, the subject of this third conception only being 

 entirely new, as compared with the subjects of other sciences or 

 departments of philosophy. It seems to me to be our fundamental 

 task as philosophical sociologists to deduce from this last conception, 

 and others implied in it, a system of social structure which shall 

 contain the different notions of collective entities in their mutual 

 dependence and connection; and I firmly trust that out of such a_ 

 system will be gained a better and more profound insight into the 

 evolution of society at large, and into its historical phases, as the 

 life of these collective entities. It is therefore in the struggles, first 

 between any of these groups and the individuals composing it; 

 second, between their different forms and kinds for instance, 

 the struggles between church and empire; between church and 

 cities; between church and state; between cities and other cor- 

 porations; between the sovereign state and feudal communities, 

 and consequently established orders or estates ; between single states 

 and a federal state it is in these and similar struggles, presup- 

 posing the existence of those collective entities, that the growth and 

 decay of higher civilizations exhibit themselves most markedly. 



When we speak of a house, a village, or a city, the idea imme- 

 diately arising in our minds is that of a visible building, or of larger 

 or smaller groups of buildings; but soon we also recollect the vis- 

 ible contents of these buildings, such as rooms and cellars and 

 their furniture; or, when groups of buildings are concerned, the 

 roads and streets between them. The words "house," "village," 

 and "city" are, however, used in a different sense when we have 

 in mind the particular contents of buildings which we call their 

 inhabitants, especially their human occupants. Very often, at 

 least in many languages, people are not only conceived of as the 

 inhabitants of, but as identical with, the buildings. We say, for 

 instance, "the entire house," "the whole village" meaning a 

 lot of people the idea of whom is closely connected with the idea 

 of their usual dwelling-place. We think of them as being one with 

 their common habitation. Nevertheless it is still a visible union 

 of individuals which we have in mind. This visible union, how- 

 ever, changes into an invisible one, when it is conceived of as last- 

 ing through several generations. Now the house will become iden- 

 tified with a family or perhaps with a clan. In the same manner 

 a village community or a township will be imagined as a collect- 

 ive being, which although not in all, yet in certain important 



