THE WORKING FAITH OF THE SOCIAL 

 REFORMER 



II 



THE MISUSE OF METAPHORS IN THE 

 HUMAN SCIENCES 



MAN must interpret unfamiliar objects in the light of things 

 already known ; hence he is prone to think in Metaphors, 

 and has sought to employ physical categories to explain social 

 facts. Dominant categories : their nature and succession. 

 The application of irrelevant categories and how it gives rise 

 to insoluble problems and to the despair of knowledge. 



The metaphorical use of physical and biological categories 

 and its distortion of the facts in Logic, Epistemology, and 

 Ethics : " the foundation " of knowledge. 



The application of physical categories to social problems 

 illustrated by reference to the dispute as to the relative signi- 

 ficance of" Character " and " Environment." The discussion 

 proceeds on a false assumption : character and environment 

 are two names for the same thing. The self and the world 

 imply and even are each other ; and the growth of both is 

 concurrent. 



Results of the adoption of this view in the practical reform 

 of society, and how they correspond to the results of actual 

 experience. When the character is formed, that is, when the 

 self has internalized its environment, attempts to reform it 

 fail ; for a vitiated character turns all opportunities into its 

 own substance. The methods that society must employ when 

 a vicious character is already formed. Society must employ 

 different methods when character is not yet fixed, and attempt 

 to do more. How biological metaphors have prevented social 

 action in relation to the children of its useless or criminal 

 parents. That vicious propensities are not hereditary : and 

 that the risks of State interference are not so great as is 

 assumed and are worth the running. 



