34 W. G. Langzi'orthy Taylor 



IV 



THEORY OF THE PROCESS OF PROGRESSIVE DIFFERENTIATION ! THE 



WAV IN WHICH INDUSTRIES ARE MUTUALLY ADJUSTED 



IN THE PROCESS OF PROGRESS 



A. Analogy of Equilibrium 



The proper logical distinction between this topic and the two 

 that have preceded, — between differentiation and the environ- 

 ments, or conjunctures, — is the distinction between short- and 

 long-time causes. It is confusion of these fundamentally variant 

 views that is the cause of bad logic in most cases, and it is only 

 common sense or good judgment that supplies the needed cor- 

 rective where sound conclusions are actually drawn. Good judg- 

 ment has already been explained to be the capacity or ability, 

 innocently of self-consciousness, to combine a number of static 

 positions in such a way as to produce a kinetic conclusion, one 

 that is real to life as practically apprehended. Writers and read- 

 ers instinctively shift the scene of the drama from the practical 

 to the ideal, without the help of explanatory clauses. Let them 

 fail in this, let them carelessly state or connote ideal premises in 

 connection with practical conclusions, or the reverse, and they 

 are confronted with a Hon scqititur which the untrained mind 

 does not readily notice. Only too often a similarity of phrase- 

 ology applicable in the two environments, the actual, practical, 

 or present, and the abstract, theoretical, or future, helps to mis- 

 lead the unwary. The error consists in the failure to note that 

 one part of the reasoning has reference ,to a shorter period of 

 time than another part, for the terms used are, in general, equally 

 applicable to long and to short periods. For example, by the 

 clever distinction between labor that is merely productive and 

 labor that produces solely for the consumption of productive la- 

 borers, Mill is able to distinguish between labor that is devoted to 

 production for immediate consumption, and labor the product of 

 which is destined for ultimate consumption only in the indefinite 

 future, i. e., capital ; for productive labor is defined as labor which 

 results in any material product, having value, even though it be a 



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