New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-04
A GREAT TASK ENDED
THE LAST WORDS OF HERBERT sPEN-
GERS SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.


GERS SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.
THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY. BY Herbert
SRfncs5 xG system. d O. 3c syDh eR
d. Appleton Co.
THE WILL TO BELIEVE And 1 Other ESSAYS sme IN
octave. pp xvii. sss Longmans Green Co.
While this volume Of Mr.. Spencer's is the
eighth IN the series of ten which he. according
to his plan at the outset devotes to the SYM
thetic Philosophy, 1t contains the concluding
words Of the system. In only one particular
does the author find that he has fallen short
of his original programme. He promised three
volumes Of Sociology, and there are three; out
II he had treated all the subordinate topics sun
another volume would have to be added Al
that volume were written. 1t would treat VI
progress--linguistic. intellectual. moral ana @s-
,het.c But for an invalid of seyenty-siS' MT
Spencer thinks, the studies requisite Tor such
work are out Of the question. However, the
world, being by this time assured OF his ihoom-
table persistence. will not betray much sur
prise II the philosopher completes not merely
tho tale Of volumes-that he has ALREADY dome
bur also the whole range OF topics included IN
his plan. Meanwhile some topics which h'd
not been foreseen at the outset forced them
and 50 the volumes as they stand contain much
that the public did not expect. Altogether, Mr.
spcncer thinks that he has kept his bargain
with that public made thirty-six years ago.
AS to the volume in hand. only the last part
will be new to those who hare followed him at
tentiycly. The first division, on Eecleslastlch
Institutions hiss existed in book form Tor some
time past and the second division, on Prores-
siona institutions. has been printed IN the form
Of review articles.
The world is thoroughly familiar with Mr..
Spencors method OF deriving all religious ideas
from the primeyal worship Of dead ancestors
He occasionally displays naive surprise at the
fact that men OF learning do not universally &C.
cept his theory at this point. But from his own
point Of view II does not seem necessary to
draw such hard and fast lines about a subject
which is wholly uncertain. The general doc
trine of animisn would serve the purpose just
as we'll as the specia. variation o: it shown in
ancestor worship. Almost every expert OBJ
server thinks he knows just how primeval
savages felt about such matters; but then, as
each expert differs more or less decidedly from
every other expert, the ordinary person, curl
Gus to learn, finds only new puzzles in place OF
solutions In fact, Mr.. Spencer may be much
nearer universal primitive thought in his
own settled beliefs than in the specific opin-
Ions which he attributes TO his earliest savages.
When he says that the conception to which the
explorer of Nature tends lis much less that OF
Universe OF dead matter than that OF Uni
verse everywhere alive" he is not putting forth
a novelty, but only stating anew ar opinion
which is older than history. II science finds 1t
hard to deny life in sense to all things, how
much more difficult must 1t have been for
savage man to avoid investing every stick and
stone with some Of his own attributes 1t. Is
feasible, and in accordance with the process of
natural selection. 10 suppose that there was
infinite variety in the snperstitions Of primeval
man. and that the process toward Mr.. Spen-
GERS worship Of the Unknowable has always
been what it is now, according to him. namely,
the casting aside Of ideas as soor as they were
seen to be extraneous and useless to the object
matter Of religion" That process would imply
'incoherent homogeneity.'' infinite array Of
Powers with no differentiation at the beginning
and at the end the coherent heterogeneity' of
an infinite number of attributes harmonized and
integrated in an Ultimate Reality. Inscru-
table Existence. But where is the 'incoherelt
heterogeneity'' in ancestor worship. perhaps the
narrowest and most definite continuance in the
way Of religion that ever invented by man?
The simple fact Of the case is that in this
business OF specializing on religions, all roads
lead to Rome. The Spectator has to derive
monotheism somehow, and no matter where he
starts. monotheism is what he reaches before he
can get any further. Against the primitive reve'
latonists or those who hold to innat, ideas Mr..
Spencers line Of instances is unanswerabls.
But the roads are many which would have fui-
filed a., the conditions of his theory or evolution
as truly as the one which he has chosen. Pos
sIbly the truth of the matter. speaking histori
caliy lies on all of them together, not any one
In particular
As to his derivation Of all professional instta-
tons from an ecclesiastical origia which forms
the text OF the second division OF this volume il
is not easy to see how ii can be gainsaid. Tho
idea can be put In many different ways, but the
actual process as seen from without will always
be the same. Still Mr.. Spencer might have In
cluded the process easily under the general top,o
Of Industrial institutions additional
ample of the division of labor. There was time
when the priest did al the intellectual work for
his tribe Then. as,the work increased he had
to have assistants, and these developed special
tendencies toward medicine. law and so forth.
1t was not necessarily because the priest was q
religious parsonage that ne became the source OF
the various professj1ns but because he was a
man of business. whose occupations gradually
multiplied beyond his power to attend to them.
Where it was possible to keep many diverse
Offices united in one person this DONE as at
Rome, where in the palmiest days Of the Re-
public the same man might regulate the police
Of the city. direct the affairs Of the Empire, pro-
pose laws. act as judge priest, and command
an army 1t would seem, on looking away from