Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/35

 FOUR SYNTHESISTS 21

the processes and products which imply coordinated action, and trace out with scientific accuracy the structure, growth, and func- tion of those agencies. Lilienfeld makes sociology essentially a synthetic science ; yet in one place he protests against making it an all-inclusive science. Schaeffle characterizes the special social sciences which he enumerates in a carefully arranged order as building stones out of which a philosophy of philosophies is to be constructed.

, From the point of view of the dogmatic discussion of method, our four sociologists contribute relatively little ; although the problem of methodology receives attention at the hands of each of them. Comte, for instance, speaks of direct and indirect methods, meaning by the latter those methods which are appli- cable to a science because of its relation to other sciences, which in case of sociology is clearly indicated in his well-known hierarchy. Direct methods, according to him, embrace obser- vation, experiment, and comparison, supplemented by historical studies. His emphasis of experimentation in society is note- worthy because, quite to the contrary of what is " vulgarly sup- posed " in the learned world, it is possible to perform experiments in the domain of social phenomena. Spencer's combination of induction and deduction appears in every one of his chapters ; in fact, the reader is made to feel that the distinguished English- man, not unlike our great lawyers when they outline a brief, first thought out, all by himself, a certain problem ; and then brought to bear upon his own conclusions such facts and general principles as the arts of induction and deduction could place at his command. Having established the truth of his proposition on the basis of induction, he applies to it the test of deduction, which, of course, confirms the proposition. In his brilliant chapters entitled "Retrospect" and "Prospect" the hands of the great master are seen. If he holds in his left hand the weapon of induction, he is almost always certain to swing in his right that of deduction ; and the two together drive home with relent- less vigor the truth and the validity of the general proposition. Lilienfeld contributes less than any one of this group to the question of method. He protests against the prevailing dogmatic