It may be objected that society in this sense has no definite limits, but seems to include the whole range of experience. That is to say, the mind is all one growth, and we cannot draw any distinct line between personal thought and other thought. There is probably no such thing as an idea that is wholly independent of minds other than that in which it exists; through heredity, if not through communication, all is connected with the general life, and so in some sense social. What are spoken of above as personal ideas are merely those in which the connection with other persons is most direct and apparent. This objection, however, applies to any way of defining society, and those who take the material standpoint are obliged to consider whether houses, factories, domestic animals, tilled land, and so on are not really parts of the social order. The truth, of course, is that all life hangs together in such a manner that any attempt to delimit a part of it is artificial. Society is rather a phase of life than a thing by itself; it is life regarded from the point of view of personal intercourse. And personal intercourse may be considered either in its primary aspects, such as are treated in this book, or in secondary aspects, such as groups, institutions, or processes. Sociology, I suppose, is the science of these things. CHAPTER IV SYMPATHY OR COMMUNION AS AN ASPECT OF SOCIETY THE MEANING OF SYMPATHY AS HERE USED—ITS RELATION TO THOUGHT, SENTIMENT, AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE—THE RANGE OF SYMPATHY IS A MEASURE OF PERSONALITY, _e.g._, OF POWER, OF MORAL RANK, AND OF SANITY—A MAN’S SYMPATHIES REFLECT THE STATE OF THE SOCIAL ORDER—SPECIALIZATION AND BREADTH—SYMPATHY REFLECTS SOCIAL PROCESS IN THE MINGLING OF LIKENESS WITH DIFFERENCE—ALSO IN THAT IT IS A PROCESS OF SELECTION GUIDED BY FEELING—THE MEANING OF LOVE IN SOCIAL DISCUSSION—LOVE IN RELATION TO SELF—THE STUDY OF SYMPATHY REVEALS THE VITAL UNITY OF HUMAN LIFE.