The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind

The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind (1912)
by Benoy Kumar Sarkar
3175706The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind1912Benoy Kumar Sarkar

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1949, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 74 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY AND THE HOPE OF MANKIND

BENOY—KUMAR—SARKAR

THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY AND THE HOPE OF MANKIND

THE

SCIENCE OF HISTORY

AND THE

HOPE OF MANKIND

BY
BENOY KUMAR SARKAR, M.A.

Lecturer in Political Science, Bengal National College, Calcutta
(National Council of Education, Bengal)

Author of "The Aids to General Culture Series" in English and "The Science of Education and the Inductive Method of Teaching Series" in Bengali

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND GO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA

1912

All rights reserved

PREFACE

THE present work is based on the Lectures on the Science of History which I delivered to my classes in History at the Bengal National College, Calcutta. My object was to survey, not historically but according to the philosophico-comparative method, the phenomena of civilisation and point out the laws or generalisations that may be deduced out of the facts of universal history.

Human civilisation, like physical facts and phenomena, requires to be studied in such a way as to lead to the detection of uniformities in the sequences and co-existences of social events and movements. History has to be put on the same level with physics and other natural sciences, so that predictions may be possible in the social world as in the physical.

My best thanks are due to Professor Radhakumud Mukerji, M.A., of the National Council of Education, Bengal, for kindly looking over the proofs.

B. K. SARKAR.

Calcutta,
June, 1911.

CONTENTS

SECTION PAGE
I. PROBLEMS OF HISTORY 1
II. THE SCOPE AND FUNCTION OF HISTORY 8
III. THE SCIENCE OF LIFE 13
IV. THE WORLD-FORCES IN ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL HISTORY 24
V. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND NATIONAL ADVANCEMENTS IN MODERN TIMES 33
VI. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE FORMS OF GOVERNMENTAL MACHINERY 50
VII. RELATIVITY OF RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND OF OTHER ASPECTS OF HUMAN LIFE TO THE CONJUNCTURE OF CIRCUMSTANCES 57
VIII. RECAPITULATION 66
IX. THE WORLD'S GREATEST MEN 68
X. THE OUTLOOK 75