Mihailovskii, like Lavrov, recognised the existence of psychology, side by side with sociology, as an independent science, differing here from his leader Comte, and accepting the views of Mill and Spencer. The sociologist must employ the subjective method as well as the objective; social and historical facts demand a psychological as well as a material explanation. Consequently Mihailovskii often speaks of "social psychology."
Mihailovskii explicitly protested against the idea that the subjective method was not inductive, and would conflict with experience. But in sociology, he said, in the explanation of the relationships between human beings, the objective method was not all-sufficing. The historical process, he declared, is teleological, for individual men, groups of men, and humanity as a whole, pursue aims. Now an aim implies a desire, the sentiment of what is agreeable, and the consciousness of duty. The sociologist, therefore, in his presentation of the historical process and of social organisation, must duly take into account this subjective element in man.
Mihailovskii demands that the observing sociologist shall allow his mind to permeate the observed object, man; the observer, as he puts it, must "merge" with the object, so that the observer may find himself in the place of the observed; he demands that the sociologist shall have the faculty of "impressionability" (imaginative insight).
But this is not to give an exhaustive account of Mihailovskii's subjective method. Every individual, he says, is member of a historically given group of human beings, of a class, and shares the opinions and desires of that class. Utterly different are the respective judgments formed by the feudalist and by the socialist concerning historical and social things. What standpoint should the scientific thinker assume? Mihailovskii admits that a man's views are invariably suggested by his social position. How, then, is scientific sociology possible? Mihailovskii adheres to the opinion of Comte. He who desires to devote himself to sociology must attain to a high moral level, that he may be able to do justice to all views and valuations, and that he may be able to overcome preconceived opinions based upon tradition (apperception).
For Mihailovskii, the objective method in sociology seems no more than a mask, assumed by men without conscience in order to befool their conscientious fellows. Mihailovskii
