38 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ciable effect on those who shut out from consideration the reactive in- 

 fluence on moral nature, entailed by the action of a system of intel- 

 lectual culture which habituates parents to make the public responsible 

 for their children's minds. Nor do I think it likely that many of 

 those who wish to change fundamentally the political status of women 

 will be influenced by the considerations above set forth on the com- 

 parative psychology of the sexes. But, without acceptance of these 

 illustrative conclusions, there may be acceptance of the general con- 

 clusion, that psychological truths underlie sociological truths, and 

 must therefore be sought by the sociologist. For whether discipline 

 of the intellect does or does not change the emotions ; whether na- 

 tional character is or is not progressively adapted to social conditions ; 

 whether the minds of men and women are or are not alike — are ob- 

 viously psychological questions ; and either answer to any one of 

 them implies a psychological conclusion. Hence, whoever, on any of 

 these questions, has a conviction to which he would give legislative 

 expression, is basing a sociological belief upon a psychological belief ; 

 and cannot deny that the one is true only if the other is true. Hav- 

 ing admitted this, he must admit that without preparation in Mental 

 Science there can be no Social Science. For, otherwise, he must assert 

 that the randomly-made and carelessly-grouped observations on Mind, 

 common to all people, are better as guides than observations cau- 

 tiously collected, critically examined, and generalized in a systematic 

 way. 



No one, indeed, who is once led to dwell on the matter, can fail to 

 see how absurd is the supposition that there can be a rational inter- 

 pretation of men's combined actions, without a previous rational in- 

 terpretation of those thoughts and feelings by which their individual 

 actions are prompted. Nothing comes out of a society but what 

 originates in the motive of an individual, or in the united similar mo- 

 tives of many individuals, or in the conflict of the united similar mo- 

 tives of some having certain interests with the diverse motives of 

 others whose interests are different. Always the power which initiates 

 a change is feeling, separate or aggregated, guided to its ends by in- 

 tellect ; and not even an approach to an explanation of social phe- 

 nomena can be made, without the thoughts and sentiments of citizens 

 being recognized as factors. How, then, can there be a true account 

 of social actions without a true account of these thoughts and senti- 

 ments ? Manifestly, those who ignore Psychology as a preparation 

 for Sociology, can defend their position only by proving that while 

 other groups of phenomena require special study, the phenomena of 

 Mind, in all their variety and intricacy, are best understood without 

 special study ; and that knowledge of human nature gained hap-hazard 

 becomes obscure and misleading in proportion as there is added to it 

 knowledge deliberately sought and carefully put together. 



