INTRODUCTION 



appeared (1873), but the " Principles of Socio- 

 logy/* as a part of the " Synthetic Philosophy," 

 were still in process of preparation. On the other 

 hand, Fiske's personal studies had prepared him 

 to treat the problems of social evolution with a 

 good deal of independence. The place which the 

 philosophical study of history occupied in his 

 mind has already been indicated above (§ 6). 

 The Preface to the " Cosmic Philosophy " 

 names the year 1866 as the date of the writing 

 of chapters xvii. and xviii. It now becomes es- 

 pecially necessary that, without indeed following 

 too closely the text of the remaining chapters 

 of Fiske's Part II., we should give a summary 

 of the positions that they represent. 



A study of Sociology must be based upon a 

 conviction that social phenomena are subject to 

 law. Fiske interprets this conviction in a famil- 

 iar way, and accordingly finds the belief in the 

 " Freedom of the Will " an obstacle to the 

 progress of sociological study and of historical 

 science. In chapter xvii., on " Sociology and 

 Free Will," a chapter decidedly more youthful 

 in spirit and in method than is the most of the 

 book, he attacks the problem of freedom with a 

 vigorous"gayety of polemic which leaves nothing 

 to be desired in the way of plainness of speech. 

 Interpreting freedom as equivalent to the law- 

 lessness of volitional phenomena, Fiske makes 

 Ixviii 



