Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/678

 664 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

mind, a way of looking at and of interpreting social phenomena, and a reliance on the methods of science in order to secure verifi- able knowledge. With Comte he will learn gradually to abjure metaphysical discussions. Admitting, as one must, that final ex- planations and questions in respect to the ultimate are worth asking and may at some distant time be answered, yet it seems more worth while to relegate this search to philosophy and to content one's self with an anthropocentric interpretation of things taking place on the earth or at most within the solar system. By ignoring the ultimate in this manner the sociologist admits an "ignoramus" in some matters and hence again may refuse to dogmatize, preferring to emphasize with science the relativity of knowledge. Yet here once more one may have to admit a certain weakness in sociological theorizing. Though the science would preferably base itself on verifiable knowledge, yet in practice, owing to the temporary lack of such knowledge in the newer psy- chology, it of necessity lapses into the sin of philosophizing on other than scientific data and methods. In discussions involving the use of the terms "worth" or "value," the "social will," or "social ideal," or "social purpose," or the "unity of knowledge," and the like, there is a metaphysical element almost inevitable under present conditions, especially if one is eager to work out at once a complete system of sociology. Yet perhaps some sins may be overlooked if one's sociological conscience is awake and the danger appreciated. In time such hypotheses may become verifiable, and until then one might better admit that there is some basis for charges of inconsistency.

Our final emphasis in the teaching of sociology consists in the attempt to develop in the student a sort of meliorism or optimism in respect to social problems ; not a visionary optimism, in essence, fatalism, but an optimism founded on scientific knowledge, on the conviction that the progress of civilization lies in men's hands, and that by scientific prevision society can expedite its own development. Taking warning from the many failures of Utopian dreamers, students are rather discouraged from becoming "re- formers," but are urged to engage in the constructive movements of civilization. Honest daily work, high ideals, and a forward