Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/532

 512 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The sociology of Quetelet is mathematical, mechanical, and physical; his theory of averages is mainly static; with him, evolution is accessory; with Comte and Spencer, dynamics pre- dominates; in the work of the latter it almost entirely absorbs statics. The sociology of Spencer, in spite of the fact that it may be reduced to the most general laws of energy, is mainly descriptive ; that of Comte is mainly abstract, and is wanting in statics or descriptions ; thus Spencer is the mean between Comte and Quetelet; they complement each other; however, united they still remain incomplete.

In short, it is necessary henceforth to subject ourselves to the rigor of slow but sure scientific methods. The general statics and dynamics of societies and of humanity should have for their bases correct statistics of all the facts relating to the seven classes of social phenomena. Statistics, whether represented by diagrams or not, show quantitatively the condition and the movement of societies. It is true that, by themselves, they do not permit a perception of qualitative value, except for deter- mined periods and civilizations. Statistics, by itself, is not able to construct an abstract sociology, nor is it able to construct any of the particular abstract social sciences which are the foundation of abstract sociology. Nevertheless, the quantitative factor is not a negligible element of the qualitative factor ; it is even a first and fundamental condition of all qualitative differ- entiation. There is no discontinuity between the quantitative and the qualitative aspects ; but the first is mainly historical, the second, abstract and universal. The one implies the other; they are not contradictory. From the error of believing the contrary springs without doubt the fact that many of the most eminent economists, demographers, aestheticians, moralists, jurists, and political scientists acknowledge only historical laws. However, this error is less fatal than that of the metaphysicians who venture to conceive of natural laws not founded upon gen- eralization from particular historical laws, and from the ele- mentary social facts which constitute the basis of the latter.

To sum up : In the first place, statistics are necessary for enumeration and quantitative knowledge of all the elements of