CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



Science offers to supersede religion as guide to conduct In form of theoretical 

 sociology Appealing to biology and evolution Sociology distinguished 

 from politics From economics From social philosophy Akin to evolu- 

 tionary ethics Our point of view ; morality taken for granted. 



WHEN the French garrison left Rome in 1870, fears were 

 openly expressed that anarchy would break out, but the 

 Italian troops were promptly marched in, and all went 

 quietly. Religion is supposed to be a retreating force 

 in modern life, and many, even of those who are no 

 friends to religion, suffer grave apprehensions as they 

 look forward to a state of society emancipated from all 

 religious restraint; but others tell us that science will 

 find a remedy. Religion may go off duty, but science 

 will take its place. Never was this conception more 

 confidently advanced, or with more elaboration, than in 

 the first founding of sociology under its present name. 



We must clear the ground, however, by a distinction. 

 It is theoretical sociology that we have in view, a 

 coherent, deliberate body of doctrines, making, among 

 other claims, the startling claim which we have noted 

 above. Much that goes under the name of sociology is 

 matter of quite a different kind. We may call it 

 practical sociology, and we may describe it as a some- 



B 



