Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/272

258 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY follow the lead of the temperance reformer, and say his act is bad because he makes such a bad bargain. On the other hand, one can appreciate the work of the philosopher in the same way. He delights to make pleasure for all after-time, and in so doing finds his own greatest pleasure; and the statement that the regarding of the greatest sum of pleasure as the test of conduct would be like declaring that, when you had an atomic weight of 98, you had sulphuric acid, is not a fair criticism; for the problem here is not to find a definite quality, but the largest effect of given forces. It is even the dream of chemistry to state its qualities in terms of motion, and the problem here is a much easier problem—a problem in manufacture, the shaping of my energy in such a way that it will bring the most pleasure to the most men. Psychology has not given up the hope of stating the difference between red and blue, if not in terms of ether-waves, in number of cells and amount of retinal energy released or of brain-change produced. Differences in the taste of several wines may ultimately be stated in the same fashion, while the warmth of the red tone, and the sadness of the black, may be stated in the amount of nervous release they effect within us, or the differing impacts they transfer to our organs.

The same discussion of value which goes on in political economy may be stated thus also. One school maintains that value is determined by effort; the other, that value is measured by effects. But if one could measure the struggle which society has made through countless years to shape the hand, would he not have an accurate test for all its work? Or, on the other hand, if one could consider all the effects radiating therefrom, both to the worker and to society, would not the measure be complete? Is there not between action and reaction, between effort and effect, between cause and consequent, a constant equation? and may the process not be stated equally well from either side? If the world is homogeneous at core, its differences can at length be stated quantitatively; but they will just equal the complete list of qualities which we endeavor to state now. The attempt of the utilitarian to state the world of human acts from the side of reaction is not inherently impossible. If all