FORMULAE OF SOCIAL PROGRESS 191 



cal correlates as is done in physiological-psychology. But this 

 process, as Miinsterberg has shown, leaves out the very heart of 

 the phenomena compared. Evaluations differ from moment to 

 moment, and social facts are the outcome of these ever-shifting 

 evaluations. 



3. His broad use of the term imitation is questionable, 1 its 

 exact meaning left undefined and its modus operandi mis-explained 

 by use of mechanical similes. Indeed his discussion of suggestion 

 and imitation is now passee. 2 



4. He made the mistake common to many social philosophers 

 of trying to find one all-comprehensive element or principle as 

 a sociological solvent. 3 



M. M. Davis credits Tarde's social logic as giving the following 

 valuable suggestions: " It helps us to conceive how beliefs and 

 desires (inventions) agree, disagree, or combine, and thus, how 

 systems of ideas are built up. We see that the social life of a 

 people must be an organic whole because of the inherent necessity 

 for logical harmony between those different ideas and sentiments 

 existing in individual minds, which are represented objectively 

 in social institutions. We see that social change must come about 

 through the appearance and adoption (imitation) of new ideas, 

 (inventions) which are either in harmony with the existing sys- 

 tem, or are connected with such strong beliefs and desires that 

 they substitute themselves for parts of this system and occasion a 

 re-synthesis. The relative strength of such beliefs and desires 

 determines whether or not an invention will be established 

 socially, that is, be imitated." 4 Davis criticizes Tarde, however, 

 for his over-emphasis on this one factor to the practical exclusion 



1 Cf. Small, op. cit., pp. 626 f.; Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, 

 p. 478; Wallis, The Great Society, p. 120. 



a Cooley, Human Nature and the Social Order, pp. 25 f.; Wallis, op. cit., pp. 131 f.; 

 Thorndike, Original Nature of Man, ch. VIII. 



3 This criticism may be passed on the endeavor of the present writer to interpret 

 social progress by the principle of adaptation, but this difference should be noted: 

 The term imitation is supposed to have definite content and is used by Tarde to 

 explain a process which includes innovation, repetition, opposition, and adaptation, 

 whereas the term adaptation is used in this volume merely to describe a series of 

 relationships existing or that should exist. 



4 Davis, Psychological Interpretations of Society, p. 22. 



