SOCIOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY 47 



PAUL VON LILIENFELD (1829-1903) 

 The Analogical Method 



Lilienfeld is perhaps the best representative of the analogical 

 school, for though Schaffle has made large use of the organic 

 analogy it is not essential to his system as proven by the fact that 

 in his Sociology he dispensed with the concept entirely, and 

 his whole temperament and method, together with his emphasis 

 on the psychical factors in society and social progress, give war- 

 rant for placing him hi another class. 



Lilienfeld may well be termed a social realist for he insists 

 "dass diese oder jene Gesellschaftsgruppe, dieser oder jener Staat 

 ivirkliche, lebendige Organismen, gleich alien iibrigen Organismen 

 in der Nature, sind, die sich im Raum und in der Zeit nicht nur 

 ideell, sondern reell entwickeln und wahrnehmen lassen." l 



Many likenesses between society and a biological organism are 

 enumerated, the individuals in the former corresponding to the 

 cells in the latter, 2 the political, juridical and industrial institu- 

 tions corresponding to the central nervous system while the inter- 

 cellular substance in the body has its analogue in such social 

 achievements as works of art, written laws and ideas, by means of 

 which society projects itself hi concrete form. 3 



While holding that there is no break in the cosmic process, yet 

 he shows how the forces working in organic life differ from those 

 in the inorganic realm, becoming ever more active, complex, and 

 differentiated, culminating in freedom and purposeful action. 4 

 He mentions five ways in which the former shows its superiority 

 to the latter: (i) in the organic cycle of growth and decay activi- 

 ties are never repeated; (2) an organism has an inner unity of 

 life; (3) there is a correlation of materials and forces working 

 toward an end; (4) there is a struggle to come to completion and, 

 (5) there is a storing up and transmission of surplus energy. 5 

 In the first and last items he has made real contributions to social 



1 Gedanken iiber die Socialwissenschaft der Zukunft, i, p. 27. Cf. Pathologie 

 Sociale, Preface. 



2 Gedanken, ii, pp. viii f. * Gedanken, i, pp. 56, 57. 

 8 Pathologie Sociale, pp. 95 ff. B Ibid., pp. 57 f. 



