Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/20

 6 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

is the declaration by specialists that the contrivances relied upon by the traditional sciences as tools of precision are bungling sub- stitutes for adequate means of the sort of research now in order. It is, furthermore, refusal to join any longer in making up a majority for votes of confidence in an archaic conception of science.

The men who are, in nanie or in spirit, in the sociological movement, have found out that the results with which the con- ventionalists are satisfied are relatively meaningless partial prod- ucts within the whole problem of experience. They are saying, more or less directly, to their self-satisfied colleagues, "You may fool yourselves to the end of the chapter, if you will; you may fool academic authorities and the helpless public for a long time ; but you cannot fool all the people all the time ; and we prefer to put in our work creating a demand for a science that is more real, more precise, more conclusive than yours."

In short, the knowledge problem is: What, how, why, and of what account are the processes of sentient action which fall within the human range of research? The methodological prob- lem then is: What means of discovery are at human disposal for solving the knowledge problem ?

The sociological answer to the latter question is substantially that the categories and the technique of the older social sciences serve merely the preliminary purpose of assembling some of the raw material of the problem; while the ultimate treatment within our powers at present is sociological criticism on its situation side, supported by psychological criticism on its process side, with psychological and sociological treatment combined in the subse- quent valuation-synthesis.

All this is as mystical to the man who has simply the horizon of the concrete social sciences as the differential calculus is to the man who knows only his arithmetic. Just as the mathematician knows that one reality vouches for the arithmetic and the calcu- lus, so psychologists and sociologists know that one reality manifests itself in the lesser and the greater social processes.

From this general statement we may proceed to a few more particular propositions.