Evolution Social and OrganicLewis, Arthur M. (Arthur Morrow)
Philosophy
Evolution Social and Organic
Lewis, Arthur M. (Arthur Morrow)
Evolution; Socialism; Sociology
Turning now to “Pure Sociology,” we are told that the subject-matter
of sociology is “human achievement.” When we ask, in what does this
achievement consist, we are informed that: “Achievement does not
consist in wealth. Wealth is fleeting and ephemeral. Achievement is
permanent and eternal.”
Again the sum total of the things which constitute achievement may be
summed up in the one word “inventions.”
Achievement with Ward is another name for civilization. Page after
page is given to an enumeration of its particulars,--music, painting,
poetry, exploration, industry and many other things which we have
not space even to mention. The one thing that is vital here is that
“achievement,” while it does not include perishable wealth, nor yet the
actual, perishable machinery by which the wealth has been produced,
does nevertheless undoubtedly include that something described by
Socialists as the “process of production.”
This is of prime importance because now when we turn to Ward’s “Applied
Sociology,” we find that not only achievement, but “improvement” is the
theme of that branch of the science.
And now listen to this great American sociologist, who has so far
outstripped all his contemporaries as to be practically without
a rival, this thinker whose monumental works have gained him an
international reputation; listen and compare what follows with the
hocus-pocus that usually comes from the official chairs:
“The purpose of applied sociology is to harmonize achievement with
improvement. If all this achievement which constitutes civilization
has really been wrought without producing any improvement in the
condition of the human race, it is time that the reason for this was
investigated. Applied sociology includes among its main purposes the
investigation of this question. The difficulty lies in the fact that
achievement is not socialized. The problem, therefore, is that of the
socialization of achievement.
“We are told that no scheme for the equalization of men can
succeed; that at first it was physical strength that determined the
inequalities; that this at length gave way to the power of cunning, and
that still later it became intelligence in general that determined the
place of individuals in society. This last, it is maintained is now,
in the long run, in the most civilized races and the most enlightened
communities, the true reason why some occupy lower and others higher
positions in the natural strata of society. This, it is said, is the
natural state and is as it should be. It is moreover affirmed that
being natural there is no possibility of altering it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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