Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/259

 THE CLAIMS OF SOCIOLOGY 245

With this object in view, I have heretofore laid down these propositions: (i) There is not now a science of sociology. (2) There never will be, for sociology is based upon a methodo- logical concept that is not valid. These propositions have called forth replies published in the July number of this journal which I shall now examine. They virtually concede the truth of the first proposition, for they go no farther than to claim that sociology is a science in the making, and that the difficulties it experiences in finding itself are just such in their general nature as every recognized branch of science has had to pass through in its development. But it does not follow that sociology will ever extricate itself. Scholastic systems quite as elaborate and highly classified as sociology now is, were unable to stand the strain and had to be discarded — as, for instance, alchemy and astrology. Whether or not any projected system of knowledge will endure depends not upon its purpose, nor upon the zeal of its advocates, but upon the security of its fundamental concept, and its serviceability in providing systematic accommodation for verified data. I submit, therefore, that what Professors Small and Ell wood have to say about the importance of the aims of sociology is quite beside the mark. All that might have been said of alchemy and astrology in their day of scientific preten- sion, but that did not save them from being discredited and re- jected by the scientific world. The point at issue is not whether sociology means well, but whether it is true — true in the sense that it has a vision of reality and is not misled by appearances.

Let us consider the reasons advanced for believing that soci- ology has in it the making of a science. Professor Small, while contending that it is "the most impressive body of social science in the world,"^ does not define it as a science, but holds that it should be regarded as a methodological movement or endeavor. He admits that European scholarship has not taken much stock in sociology as such, but he explains this by saying that it has something just as good, and which indeed is sociology in

^ Cf. "The Vindication of Sociology," Am. Jour, of Sociol., XV, 9.