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CHAPTER X. 



OF THE INVERSE DEDUCTIVE, OR HISTORICAL 

 METHOD. 



1 . THERE are two kinds of sociological inquiry. 

 In the first kind, the question proposed is, what effect 

 will follow from a given cause, a certain general con- 

 dition of social circumstances being pre-supposed. 

 As, for example, what would be the effect of imposing 

 or of repealing corn laws, of abolishing monarchy or 

 introducing universal suffrage, in the present condition 

 of society and civilization in any European country, 

 or under any other given supposition with regard to 

 the circumstances of society in general : without refer- 

 ence to the changes which might take place, or which 

 may already be in progress, in those circumstances. 

 But there is also a second inquiry, namely, what are 

 the law r s which determine those general circumstances 

 themselves. In this last the question is, not what 

 will be the effect of a given cause in a certain state 

 of society, but what are the causes which produce, 

 and the phenomena which characterize, States of 

 Society generally. In the solution of this question 

 consists the general Science of Society; by which 

 all the conclusions of the other and more special 

 kind of inquiry must be limited and controlled. 



2. In order to conceive correctly the scope of 

 this general science, and distinguish it from the subor- 

 dinate departments of sociological speculation, it is 

 necessary to fix with precision the ideas attached to 

 the phrase, "a State of Society. " What is called a 



