The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-02-26
SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY.
DIR. Cleveland Reviews the Field be-
fore the s. S. Club.
A Sharp Discussion as to the Worth
of Modern Civilization.

the evening was read by Dr. CleVe-
land, on the subject of 1.-The Methods
of Sociological Study" and was an
able one, very thoroughly covering
the field in general way. The dis
cussion was led by Prof. Rowe, who
entered into the subject rather more
from technical standpoint, then did
the paper Upon the subject DIR.
Cleveland said, in part:
Is sociology really science, or is it
only the sum of the sciences that deal
with man? To be science it must
be a separate science. In actual life
phenomena overlap and intermingle.
The human mind has its linn. tations
and in studying the multiform pheno-
mena of human life must separate the
phenomena that seem most directly
kindred from the phenomena that
are only remotely kindred, and make
the kindred phenomena the subject of
it's especial investigation. Political
economy deals with man in his ply
steal needs and considers the laws of
their supply. Sociology is the study
of social phenomena and of the laws
of their grouping. But what are
social groups other than aggregates of
individuals?
To consider society as an organism
of which individual men and the
many various groups Of men are vital
and organic parts, is to consider a
mere figure of speech. In real life
there is no such organism. The
family, the church the state are
groups of individuals acting together
for purposes of individual benefit.
The behaviour of the group is deter
mined by the purpose of the individ-
uals composing it. Can sociology dis
cover the law of the evolution of the
corporation separate from the purpose
of the individual men who form it
and obtained it's charter? Does the
corporation necessarily mean SECRETARY
association and that human fellow
ship that is really society, or does it
mean only the purpose of few
individuals who have combined foI
ends of individual power and gain?.
According to Auguste Comte the
supreme aim of sociology is to dis
cover the nature, the natural causes
opd tho pofuro1 loyuc of tho 1orror
group we call human society. Ac-
cording to Comte, who was the first to
use the term, sociology is the study
and the Interpretation of human So
ciety according to the laws and in the
terms of natural causation. Its theme
is not heredity, nor work and wages,
nor ownership of land, nor the waste
of war, nor hypnotism, but human as
ISOLATION, human society, and it's task
is to explain society as whole.
1t must be admitted that in the
past while sociology has been cath
olic it has not been coherent it has
depictated society by enumerating it's
parts and has failed to demonstrate
the underlying unity which it's
friends, by their assumptions, allege
exists. 1t has not made clear that
besides the lesser human groups there
is larger group into union
with which all lesser groups tend by
natural causes. Until this is shown
it can hardly be said, rightly, that
there is such science as sociology.
In our time it can be said that the
aim of sociological study is to find such
unity and to discover its laws and to
differentiate the phenomena that are
distinctively social from phenomena
that are not distinctively social. The
task is large one and has been as
yet only partly accomplished. 1t has
great difficulties TO surmount. Society
is not an entity, thing apart from
the' individuals that compose it.
Many of the human groups that are
regarded as important factors in any
real science of society, are in antagon-
ism to each other and have been com
bined by motives that do not make for
social unity. 1t is difficult to mark
of the province of sociology and keep
it distinct from the province of other
develope and we'll defined sciences and
from what is not strictly societary in
nature and tendency. Sociology is
not psychology, is not political econ
omy, is not ethics. Its specific pro-
vince is to consider the genesis, the
nature and the natural laws of socie-
tary facts and processes and to classify
it's findings in an orderly theoretic
relation.
Sociology does not include every
thing that is in society, nor every
thing that is conditioned by society.
Unless what is called sociology is
something other than the sum of the
sciences that deal with man, it is not
entitled to be called science, and it's
method is not greatly different from
that Of inventory and catalogue. If
sociology is ever to become real and
true science, it must be set off more