Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/492

 47 2 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

sociologist tries to look upon life from a point of view which commands all that science permits us to know about the total facts of human life ; and, whatever his special division of labor, he tries to adjust it to the whole of life as seen from this point of view.

The genus sociologist includes, then, a great many species. Some of them are dealing exclusively with the largest generali- zations that can be derived from discoverable facts of human society. They are working away upon a positive philosophy of visible human experience, as a substitute for all the philosophies built upon preconceived notions of life. In so far as they succeed in bringing the facts into focus they will presently make life easier and better for everybody ; but they are of practically no imme- diate use whatever to the average man, and it would be much better for all concerned if in professional matters this type of sociologist and the average man could be content to go their several ways and never bother themselves about each other. Everybody will be happier a hundred and a thousand years from now because Charles Darwin serenely pursued his studies for a generation without asking the public to applaud his work, and without turning aside to do anything that the public could under- stand. Meanwhile hundreds of men every year learned to apply in practical ways what was known about the physical conditions of life, yet without contributing to the development of biology. Both kinds of men have their place, and there is work in like ways for both general sociologists and practical social workers who have but a vague notion of society in general, and who con- sequently cannot properly be called sociologists.

Then there are sociologists who are working on some minute phase of social activities, let us say some problem in the psy- chology of social action. Their general idea of life unites them with all the rest of the sociologists, but their division of labor is concerned with some detail of the machinery of life. These men again will in the end make every farm and home and shop in the world a fitter place for human beings ; but meanwhile they have practically nothing to do directly with the public, nor the public with them. Their work, like that of the former type, must filter