May 7, 1897. ] 



SCIENCE. 



733 



ment for any one man to have so impressed 

 himself upon the best thought in so many fields 

 of mental activity that all whose life work is con- 

 cerned with these subjects find it necessary to 

 define theii' relations to one such comprehensive 

 thinker. 



Of Mr. Spencer's 'Principles of Sociology' it 

 must be said, first, that it should not be judged 

 with reference to any conclusion that the critic 

 may have reached upon the question whether 

 or not there is a science of society. The phe- 

 nomena of society are the most complex and 

 perhaps the most elusive with which a serious 

 student can deal. It may be that scientific 

 opinion will presently be practically unanimous 

 that no laws of social causation can be formu- 

 lated which can be placed in the same category 

 with those laws that make up the physical 

 sciences. It will not follow, however, that 

 society cannot be studied in a scientific spirit 

 and by scientific methods. Whether or not, 

 then, Mr. Spencer has created a science of 

 sociology, he has at least demonstrated that 

 social phenomena can be studied with scientific 

 seriousness, and that if we do not thereby es- 

 tablish positive laws of social causation we 

 shall, at least, attain to broader and truer 

 views of social organization, of our personal 

 relations to our fellow men and of the expedi- 

 ency of various schemes of governmental policy. 



Of the wealth of illustration, the enormous 

 array of facts which Mr. Spencer has brought 

 together in these volumes, it is desirable to say 

 that they have been made the subject of some 

 unjust criticism. It is true that Mr. Spencer 

 has depended upon the reports of travelers, 

 explorers and missionaries for the greater part 

 of his material ; it is true that the observations 

 so obtained have not always been made with 

 critical discernment; but, on the other hand, it 

 is to be remembered that comparatively little 

 work has ever been done in sociological obser- 

 vation by trained observers. The test, there- 

 fore, that should be applied to Mr. Spencer's 

 data is the question : ' ' Has he on the whole made 

 a discriminating and critical use of such material 

 as was available ?" When judged by this stand- 

 ard, Mr. Spencer's work in sociology will be 

 found to be above the average level of treatises 

 on anthropology and ethnology. 



It is not necessary to speak in detail of Mr. 

 Spencer's analysis of social organization or of 

 his interpretation of social progress, as these 

 things have become already familiar to the 

 general reader. The organization of society, 

 like that of the plant or of the animal, becomes 

 complex through differentiations of activities 

 and of groupings ; it becomes unified through 

 the integration of small communities into great 

 nations. Social change, on the whole, is a prog- 

 ress from homogeneity to heterogeneity, in 

 both activity and organization. Another point, 

 however, and the one which is really vital in 

 Mr. Spencer's philosophy of human relations, 

 may be emphasized, because it is too often 

 overlooked. Mr. Spencer does not admit that 

 human nature is unchanging. Character, like 

 everything else, undergoes a progressive modi- 

 fication. The environment and circumstances 

 of a community are the environment of the in- 

 dividual character. Under conditions favoring 

 industry and peace human nature develops 

 the virtues of gentleness, truthfulness and in- 

 dustry ; under conditions necessitating pro- 

 longed or chronic warfare human nature be- 

 comes cruel, tyrannical or subservient, un- 

 truthful, all that is vicious. This contention is 

 maintained in all of Mr. Spencer's sociological 

 writings, and is the chief proposition of ' The 

 Principles of Sociology,' recurring again and 

 again in the successive parts on Domestic, 

 Ceremonial, Political, Ecclesiastical, Profes- 

 sional and Industrial Institutions. 



Mr. Spencer's final conclusions, as he sur- 

 veys the civilized world at the present moment, 

 are somewhat despondent. He sees everywhere 

 the revival of the military spirit and he looks 

 for a marked deterioration of individual and 

 national character in the immediate future. Of 

 the more distant future, however, he expects 

 better things, and at the conclusion of his work 

 he renews the prediction which he made nearly 

 fifty years ago: "The ultimate man will be 

 one whose private requirements coincide with 

 public ones. He will be that manner of man 

 who, in spontaneously fulfilling his own nature, 

 incidentally performs the functions of a social 

 unit, and yet is only enabled so to fulfil his 

 own nature by all others doing the like." 



Feanklin H. Giddings. 



