NEO-DARWINIAN SOCIOLOGISTS gI 
for group strength thus affording a wholesome antidote to 
Nietzsche; (2) the value he places on religion as a factor in group 
survival; (3) his criticism of the over-emphasis on the intellectual 
element in social progress as in the writings of Buckle, though here 
he is weak in failing to appreciate the value of the intellect in 
active social adaptation; and (4) his doctrine of projected effi- 
ciency which, though untenable as formulated by him, is most 
suggestive especially as a principle of social control. As such it 
means merely that the group that would be immortal must use 
forethought and see to it that those qualities and conditions are 
developed which make for group strength not only in the present 
but in the distant future and that those which weaken the group 
are eliminated, — but this is entirely foreign to the thought of 
our author. 
The most serious objections to Kidd’s social philosophy are 
(rt) his use of the deductive and analogical method almost ex- 
clusively, rather than the inductive; (2) his loose, inconsistent 
use of biological formulae as applied to social progress; (3) his 
hyper-acute imagination which reads into biological theories 
what was never intended by the author; (4) his dogmatic setting 
forth of mere hypotheses as assured laws; (5) his use of the term 
organism to include the future, for there can be no organism apart 
from organization; and (6) his conception of reason as diametri- 
cally opposed to faith on the one hand and to everything that 
does not favor narrow self-interest on the other. This is due to 
his failure to recognize the function of the self-regarding sentiment 
as it expands to include ever wider circles of individuals with 
whom self-interest is identified. Just as reason leads us to deny 
ourselves a present for a future enjoyment, and one that is sensual 
for one that is intellectual, so it may lead us to deny an egoistic 
satisfaction for one that comes as a result of success to our family, 
club, church or state. Moreover Kidd fails utterly to note the 
function of reason in mitigating social misery. He pictures the 
awful condition of the poor in industrial centers and cites this as 
an example of the sacrifice required on the part of the toiling 
masses that the group may succeed and that social progress may 
1 For the development of this thought, see infra, chs. VII, XV, and Conclusion. 
