Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/237

* POLITICAL SCIENCE. 201 POLITICAL SCIENCE. constitution, static and juii.^tic facts are often placed unduly in the foreground. The discussions in the American Congress are usually given a juristic turn, so that, for instance, the considera- tion of measures dealing with economic subjects like the trusts will be based primarily on consti- tutional arguments. The greatness of such states- men as Lincoln consists in their knowledge of the true motive powers and in their readiness « hen necessary to modify juristic principles so as to adapt them to the living forces of politics — "to' throw the Constitution overboard in order to save the Constitution." International law and diplo- macy similarly bear a close relationship to each other. Not only is the former largely a result of the efforts of the most enlightened diplomatists, but its enforcement is always conditioned by the actual grouping of the various factors in inter- national politics. The study of comparative legis- lation furnishes materials to general jurispru- dence, and this in turn enables the legislator to secure gi-eater harmony and a more effective structure in his legal enactments. Practical poli- ties, while primarily founded upon the grouping of interests, cannot afford to overlook the prin- ciples of political theory which pervade the thought of the people and give direction to their action and to their enthusiasms. Political theory, on the other hand, should strive to be an expres- sion of the cardinal facts of actual political life, and conseipiently the theory of democracy can no longer rest upon the original concept of an ideal state of nature. The intimate conriectiori between practical politics and political ethics would not seem to need emphasizing, were it not for the fact that certain writers like Machiavelli have disso- ciated political considerations from ethical prin- ciples, and also that in the practical politics of the lower type but very little application of ethical motives can be perceived. Even the de- tails of administrative technique have a close connection with dynamic politics, for often a method of action which seems thoroughly con- venient, and indeed almost necessary from the administrative point of view, may be subject to grave objections when the political life of the State is considered. The LiTEKATiRE OF Political Science. It has been intimated with some truth that politics has not as yet fully nuide good its claim to rank as a science, because political literature lacks that succession of effort which constitutes the progres- sive element in the natural sciences. In the latter an investigator will take up the work where his predecessor has left off. In politics there has been no such development by successive, long con- tinued effort ; any writer considers himself well qualified to contribute a valuable discussion on a subject with which all men of common sense are supposed to be competent to deal. In fact, some of the most famous writers on politics, such as. for instance, Locke and Rousseau, had no politi- cal or legal training whatever. In many cases great philosophers have aimed to give complete- ness to their general system of thought by con.- structing a part on political science, which is. however, in such cases usually composed merely of deductions from general theoretical principles. The constitutional studies of Aristotle and the principles developed in his Politics form a .soimd basis for the science of the State; but, unfortu- nately, he had no successors to carry on the work in his spirit for almost two thousand years. During the iliddle -gc.-. Ari...totlc exercised a jirofound influence upon scholastic philosophy, which followed his doctrines very closely. Machi- avelli took up the thread, and on the basis of a keen study of political facts, both in the rec- ords of Roman history and in the life of his own times, constructed his jjrinciples of practical politics. His work is fi>inded upon actual ob- servation, but, like Adam Smith, he deals ex- clusively with certain definite human activities and characteristics to the exclusion of all others, and constructs for us the Political Man — ani- mated solely by the will to gain political power. .Jean Bodin lived in the thick of the religious struggles in France, and his work is a direct result of the need he felt for a definite basis of authority in the shifting circumstances of his time. His theory of sovereignty may be called the portal of modern political science, because it first clearly focu.ses all political action in the sovereign and places the source of political power within the .State itself; but the theory is pri- marily juristic and has given rise subsequently, to many theoretical constructions which do not accurately express the forces of political life. Three of the great philosophers of the seventeenth century, Hobbes, Spinoza, and Locke, developed political theory as a part of their philosophical system ; but, though starting from similar prem- ises, they arrive at entirely different conclusions. The thought of their age was primarily mathe- matical, and their method is purely deductive, developing a system of political structure from a few princi|)les assumed as axiomatic, in the man- ner of a theorem in geometry. The impulse which was given at this time to the mathematical sci- ences, and through them to the physical, led to an effort on the part of Montesquieu to explain the connection between political institutions and physical environment. Scientific in the sense ci basing his results upon induction from facts, Montesquieu lacks the critical spirit of the His- torical School and is often captivated by mere fanciful analogies. Burke has a scientific con- ception of politics in the sense of seeing in insti- tutions a natural development and of basing his political principles upon a careful study of politi- cal experience ; but he idealizes the past and looks upon the present rather with the eyes of the statesman who is defending certain forms of political life than in the spirit of the scientific investigator. Rousseau, Kant, and the entire Classical Liberal School, are all given to a priori reasoning: taking as their starting point the ra- tional individual, they endeavor to construct a system of government in which his independence may be preserved. The fact that Roi.sseau's the- orv' has by varying interpretations Ijeen made the basis of Liberalism, of democracy, and even of State socialism indicates the ease with which the deductive method may be used to produce any result desired. In the nineteenth century a truly scientific method began to be applied to the study of polit- ical facts. Savigny, Maine, Ihering, Pollock, Maitland. and .fudge Holmes have applied the historic method to institutional and legal facts. The careful observation and analysis of contem- porary institutions has led to ifruitful results in the works of De To<'queville. Baaehot. Blunt- schli. ^Yoodrow Wilson. .. L. Lowell, and Ostro- gorski. Writers like .Tellinek and Burgess, while juristic in their method, give careful attention to