THE PURPOSE OF SOCIOLOGY. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. IX.
THE three concluding papers of this series will treat respect- ively of the three phases of social dynamics enumerated in the tabular scheme placed at the end of the paper on "The Mechanics of Society," in the last number of this JOURNAL, page 254, viz.; i, "Social Genesis;" 2, "Individual Telesis ; " and 3, "Collective Telesis." Before passing, however, to the more detailed examination of these topics it was thought best to introduce the very important subject of the purpose, need, occasion, or raison d'etre of sociology. The object of this is not to formulate an answer to those who deny the existence of a social science. To such no answer would probably be satis- factory. But it is becoming more and more apparent that among those who acknowledge the possibility of the science, and who are actually contributing to its development, there are two fairly distinct schools, not only in the world at large but even in America, and, indeed, they have already become as clearly differentiated in this country as they are abroad. While none of the adherents of either of these schools have definitely formulated any of the doctrines that distinguish them, their writings differ in certain fundamental respects that are sufficient to warrant their rough classification as above stated. The fun- damental difference has primarily to do with just this ques- tion as to the utility, and especially the object or purpose of sociology.
It is difficult to select terms that will clearly indicate this difference. They might be characterized respectively as the Static and the Dynamic schools. The objection to these terms is that both recognize dynamic phenomena, although one of them devotes little attention to it. More correctly speaking, it
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