Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/39

 FOUR SYNTHESISTS 2$

when man's ability to overcome obstacles is smallest. This reminds one of what Comte calls a "melancholy coincidence," that man is mostly in need of exactly those attributes of which he possesses least. Consciously or otherwise, Lilienfeld follows Spencer; he, too, speaks of increased heterogeneity, but follows in greater detail the development of individuals and of groups. The direction of progress is indicated by Lilienfeld's hierarchi- cal potentiation of forces, which in the order of their natural succession in the advancement of society represent the following order: machanical, chemical, organic, emotional, intellectual, and social. Each of these is based upon and is the outgrowth of the preceding. Lilienfeld also compares quite elaborately organic and inorganic forces ; and, like Spencer, speaks of inner and outer systems of organic and social development. Generally speaking, Schaeffle dwells more on the how than on the what of social life, and bases his long list of finely elaborated theses of social development on his characteristic discussion of social selection. His representation of land and population, repre- senting the active and passive factors, respectively, in human progress, is well known to students of sociology. Schaeffle's assertion that increasing authority is a characteristic of advancing civilization deserves special mention ; and his brilliant discussion of what he calls the "civil creation " comprises one of his most valuable contributions to social philosophy. To him the sociolo- gist is a pitiable and cowardly spirit if he does not assist vigor- ously in the perfection of civilization, the highest expression of all the civil creation. The very words "civil creation" protest against anything like laissez faire, and impose upon all students of society the great practical task of " driving politics."

4. General or universal laws. From earliest times social philosophers have attempted to formulate general or universal laws. These attempts, however, did not go beyond a more or less vague expression of the feeling that universal laws must exist. Poets of all times have told mankind that the race was approaching an epoch when "all the earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law." The earliest classifications of phenomena dis- tinguished between those which were attributable to objects