Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/168

 I 54 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

function, and organization. There is a synthetic standpoint which is not to be confused with the search for a unificatory social principle which has been a will-o'-the-wisp to so many sociologists. Let us assume, then, that the sociologist whether or not he be a sectional investigator, yet as sociologist is faithful to the general conception of the science and seeks some higher ultra-sectional standpoint, from which all available knowledge of man, and his action and reaction with environment, may be drawn together and focused for two purposes. The first of these two puposes is a speculative one the understanding and interpreting of that unfolding process or drama of social evolution in which we are all interested as spectators and participants. The second purpose is practical the utilization of our knowledge, gathered and unified from its manifold sources, for the directing, as far as may be, and in part controlling, of this evolutionary process. The first task of sociology as pure science is thus the delib- erate, systematic, and ever-continuing attempt to construct a more and more fully reasoned social theory a theory of the origin, growth, and destiny of humanity. The second task of sociology as applied science is the construction of principles applicable to the ordering of social life, in so far as concrete problems can be shown to come within the range of verifiable knowledge.

Regarded from this point of view the closeness of sociology to philosophy and to religion, on the one side, and to the arts of statesmanship and of education on the other, is manifest. And this juxtaposition of the sociologist to the philosopher and the theologian, to the statesman and the educationist, profoundly distinguishes the sociologists from the specialist investigator who occupies himself exclusively with the study of some particular one of the many recognized approaches to social knowledge. The sociologist derives his general attitude, his mental tendency and outlook, from philosophy, but the positive contents of his study he derives from the sciences, drawing in turn upon the whole circle of the positive sciences material, mental, and moral. Thus, as Comte, Spencer, and subsequent sociologists have so fully pointed out, in order to acquireanadequateequipment