The Mind and Society

Statement of points of view. Logico-experimental and non-logical experimental sciences. Differences between them. The experimental field is absolutely and in all respects distinct from the non-experimental field. In these volumes we are to confine ourselves strictly to the experimental field. Our research is essentially relative, essentially contingent, and all the propositions we enunciate are to be taken as valid only "within the limits of time, space and experience known to us." Such a research is in process of continuous development; it proceeds by successive approximations and in no wise aims at attaining the certain, the necessary, the absolute. The language of the logico-experimental and non-logico-experimental sciences and ordinary language. Explanation of various terms that are used in these volumes. Definitions are mere labels that are used to help us keep track of things. Names defined in that way may be replaced at will with letters of the alphabet.

Definition and classification of logical and non-logical actions. The latter are sometimes admirably adapted to the realization of logical purposes. Non-logical action in animals. In human beings. Human language. In human beings non-logical impulses are sometimes expressed in language. Theology and rites of worship. Theories and the facts in which they originate. Different intensities in different peoples of the forces that hold certain non-logical inclinations together and of the forces that prompt innovation. The Romans and the Athenians, the English and the French. Mysterious powers that words seem to have over things. The extreme limits of theological and metaphysical theories. In the manifestations of non-logical impulses there is a constant element and an element that is exceedingly variable. Example: Weather-magic. Interpretations adapt themselves to the non-logical inclination of people. They show a multiple evolution. A first encounter with the necessity of making a sharp distinction between the logico-experimental truth of a doctrine and its social utility or any other utility that it may have. The logical form human beings give to non-logical actions.

If non-logical actions are of such great importance how have the many men of talent who have concerned themselves with human societies failed to perceive them? They have perceived them, now taking them into account implicitly, now considering them under other names without arriving at any general theory, now noting the particular case without grasping its general bearing. Examples from various authors. The imperfection, from the scientific standpoint, of ordinary language tends to promote logical interpretations of non-logical conduct. Examples. Human beings are somehow prone to shun considering non-logical actions and therefore to disguise them with logical vestments of one sort or another. Classification of the devices that are used for that purpose. Comment on the various categories. The attitude of practical men towards non-logical conduct.

The ordinary terms "religion," "morality," "law." Do they correspond to anything definite? Study of the term "religion." The terms "natural law" and "law of nations." Type-doctrines and, deviations from them. The materials that go into theories and the nexuses by which they are brought together. Examples. The use sociology makes of facts. The unknown has to be explained by the known. The present helps to an understanding of the past and to some lesser extent the past to understand the present. Probability of the conclusions that science reaches. Classification of propositions that add something to the uniformity that experience reveals, or which ignore it. Study of abstract entities known independently of experience.

How get from a theory to the facts in which it may possibly originate? Theories in which abstract entities are explicitly referred to origins that lie beyond experience. Summary of the results that our induction so far has achieved. The chief one is that in non-logico-experimental theories, c, there is a quasiconstant element, a, and a very variable element, b. The element a is the principle that is functioning in the mind of the human being, b is the explanation he gives of it or of the conduct which it inspires. Some examples. In theories that add something to experience, premises oftentimes are left at least partially implicit, yet those premises play a very important role in the reasoning that is used to constitute the theory. Efforts that have been made to derive doctrines, c, from arbitrary principles, a.

Had we been following a deductive procedure this chapter would have stood first in this work. Resemblances and differences, as regards the elements a and b, between logico-experimental and non-logico-experimental sciences. The element a corresponds to certain instincts but is far from covering them all. Furthermore, interests too have to be considered among the forces determining social forms. Objective and subjective aspects of theories. Examples of a technique for distinguishing a from b. We finally assign names (they are quite arbitrary) to the things a, b and c, for mere convenience in talking about them: we call the things a "residues," the things b "derivations," the things c "derivatives." Residues as corresponding to instincts are devoid of any exactness. An analogy between the investigations we have been making in social phenomena and investigations in philology. That analogy arises in the fact that language is just one among the many social phenomena. Classification of residues. Study of Classes I and II.

Study of Classes III and IV.

Study of Classes V and VI.

Human beings are persuaded chiefly by sentiments (residues). How derivations are evolved. Derivations are used both by the non-logico-experimental and the logico-experimental sciences, but the non-logico-experimental sciences credit derivations with a capacity to influence the constitution of society directly, whereas the logico-experimental sciences view them merely as manifestations of the forces that are at work in society. They therefore go looking for the forces to which derivations more or less vaguely correspond. The role that we thus ascribe to sentiment has been recognized by a number of writers who have dealt with human societies, but not very distinctly. The logic of sentiments. The proofs that are offered for derivations are not, oftentimes, the reasons why they win assent. Classification of derivations. Study of Classes I, II and III.

Study of derivations, Class IV.

Two problems present themselves: How do residues and derivations function? What bearing do they have, in so functioning, on social utilities? The common view is that human conduct depends as a rule on derivations, and to some extent at times on sentiments. The fact is that in general derivations result from sentiments and conduct. Residues as related to the specific individuals in whom they appear. Distribution of residues and changes in society as a whole. Classes of residues are fairly stable, genera vary somewhat more. The undulatory forms such phenomena assume. Relations of residues and derivations to other facts in society. Effects on doctrines of discrepancies between residues and logico-experimental principles. Examples. In non-logico-experimental spheres, a strictly logical reasoning may lead to conclusions that go far wide of realities, whereas in reasoning illogically under the guidance of sentiment, we may come much closer to the facts. Conflicts between theory and practice. How vague indefinite derivations are adapted to given purposes. Derivations are normally of scant effect as regards modifying residues. How social measures and legal enactments come to be accepted. Myths and, in general, ideals. Ideals and their relations to other facts in society. Classification of the problems arising under such relationships. Study of the problems. What relation is there between happiness and one's observance of prevailing norms of religion or morality? Classification of the solutions that are commonly offered to this problem. Study of those solutions. That study demonstrates the experimental fatuousness of many doctrines, but at the same time their great social utility. Propagation of residues. Of derivations. Interests. The economic sphere in society. Pure economics. Applied economics. Instead of discarding economic theories we are obliged to supplement and improve them. Social heterogeneity and circulation between elements in society. Élites and their circulation. Higher and lower class in general.

The elements that serve to constitute society. The state of equilibrium. Organization of the social system. "Composition" of residues and derivations. Various sorts of interdependence. How they may be taken into the reckoning in sociology. Properties of the social system. Utility. Various types of utility. Maximum of utility of an individual or community. Maximum of utility for a community. Residues and derivations in their bearing on utility. Virtually all the reasonings that are used in discussing social problems are derivations. Examples. Composition of utilities, residues and derivations. The writing of history. The use of force in society. Ruling and subject classes as regards the use of cunning and force. Means the ruling class has at its disposal for defending its rule. Stability and change in society. Cycles of interdependence in social phenomena. Protectionism. "Capitalists" are not all of one kind. "Speculators." Forms of government. Democracy. Governments are efficient in so far as they learn how to utilize residues. Efforts to modify residues are very likely to fail. Consent and force as the foundations of governments. Modern governments. Demagogic-plutocracy. Costs of the various types of régime. Political parties. Proportions of Class I to Class II residues in ruling and subject classes. The economic consequences of the various sorts of government. Governments depending primarily upon force. Governments that depend in the main on cunning. Mixed types. Economic and social periodicity. The wave-like forms that such phenomena assume. The relation of fluctuations in doctrines to fluctuations in the psychic state of society. Common errors in viewing such phenomena. Interdependence of waves. Examples. The science of society as a whole.

Proportions of Class I to Class II residues as one of the main factors in the social equilibrium. Indexes of social utility. Examples. Equilibrium in the various social strata. Effects that the means used for maintaining that equilibrium have upon Class I and Class II residues and consequently upon the social equilibrium itself. Examples. Evolution of Roman society and analogies with similar developments in modern societies. The trends toward crystallization and free initiative are mutually successive phenomena. That is just a particular case of the general law that social movements progress in waves.