Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/538

 522 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the processes which he undertook to explain. Therefore, to be consistent with his general scientific position, and yet to give such explanation of the facts as their nature seems to demand, he sub- sumes this principle of ejective interpretation, which he says is the intellectual element of consciousness of kind, under the rubric of classification; and thus he would retain the approval of the above-mentioned thinkers.

But let us see what this "ejective interpretation" involves. Professor Giddings says that it is the interpretation of others in terms of one's self. But the processes which each individual recognizes as his own have a certain "warmth" and an " at-homeness " that no other processes have; they are internal. They are not only internal, but are also unique and individual; for no one else can have just those processes, nor can they be transferred in an unchanged state to anyone else. Therefore in this subjective interpretation there is an internal principle involved. We appreciate rather than observe the other man's action. If we were to stay with classification, then mere observa- tion would be sufficient. Professor Giddings, though he does not explicitly say so, shows by his actions that he is not satisfied with classification, and wants deeper insight into the phenomena; and the means of getting this he finds to be ejective interpretation, which, we see, must and does involve this appreciative element an element which cannot be put within the bounds which classify- ing science has set itself. It is further significant to note that the term "interpretation" has come to mean, not merely causal reference, but a process which is deeper, which involves apprecia- tion. The conclusion gotten from this particular starting-point, and based directly upon the remarks of a sociologist, is entirely the same as that gotten from general considerations in the American Journal of Sociology, Vol. X, pp. 370, 371. Furthermore, in the light of this, when he says that this ejective interpreta- tion "proceeds through a comparison of themselves and our- selves in which the various points of resemblance and difference are observed and classified," we see that also the comparison through the observation of resemblance and difference is an appreciative process, since it involves the appreciative apprehen-