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PREFACE.

HE general thesis of this book was first published in a prospectus distributed in April, 1901. The prospectus is necessarily a mere sketch, omitting all development of details. A brief, but more satisfactory, presentation was made in the American Journal of Sociology, for May, 1902, in a paper entitled "The Capitalization of Social Development." That paper is a condensation of the work now published.

The book attempts to bring the doctrine of social evolution more definitely into relation with facts established by the newer treatment of history and life. The nineteenth century accumulated a greater mass of knowledge about human society than had been possessed in any previous age. Scientific research flung out into bold relief the fact that present-day civilization is the outcome of an unfinished growth-process which began on the levels of animality long before the times of written history. The remains of prehistoric ages, buried in ascending order in the soil of the continents, were extensively studied, with impressively uniform results wherever the investigation was carried. The sources of history, from ancient to modern times, were critically sifted. Altogether, through the labors of an army of inquirers, an immense mass of material has been accumulated, not only in immediate connection with the study of history and prehistoric archæology, but along with the pursuit of investigations into the customs, manners, and arts of the lower races, the facts of human and animal psychology, and the action of the earth's physical forces. This material, however, is largely undigested. It affords a promising field for the inductive organization of knowledge about

society; but in large part the field lies fallow. To be more specific, the doctrine of evolution, as applied to human society, has thus far given us a gross map of a territory, a standpoint from which to approach the subject; but it has not opened up sufficiently concrete views of social phenomena, nor given us a practical and intimate idea of the facts. Dazzled by the achievements of evolutionary science, we are prone to think the whole story has been told. The great fact of development having been brought into relief, we have tended to accept the fact without pausing to ask what have been the actual conditions under which this vast upward movement of humanity has taken place. This book, as already suggested, is published in the belief that materials now at the disposal of sociological investigators lend themselves to a more positive treatment than they have yet received.

In attempting to give a more definite and concrete form to the doctrine of social evolution, the present work lays down a proposition whereof the validity is to be tested, not by prejudice, but by the logical methods of science. We are not entirely sure about the value of our thesis. No new facts are brought forward; but an attempt is made to apply to facts already established what is thought to be, on the whole, a new interpretation. To the general student, educated according to present standards, it is safe to say that our thesis will come with all the force of a novel proposition. If it appeal to the scholar, he will cautiously add the conception to his intellectual outfit.

Our examination involves a sweeping survey of social development, commencing on the levels of prehistoric animality, and passing up through the great historic civilizations that have contributed to the world's higher progress. The general thesis indicates what we conceive to be one of the most important factors of social evolution. The reader may be assured in advance, however, that we identify this principle with only a small part of social science. The danger is ever present of erecting

special principles into complete philosophies; and as we have emphasized this in the text, there is no need for special stress upon it here.

The application of the main thesis to universal history involves an inquiry into the decline and fall of the earlier historic civilizations. The line of human progress has, indeed, passed up from prehistoric beginnings through the ancient oriental and classic worlds into modern western society. But the ancient civilizations, despite their progress, did not endure; and the wrecks of many nations lie along the path of social development. Some of the later institutions of progressive society have issued from the struggles of earlier historic societies with the problem of their decline and fall; and if our inquiry should ignore the retrogressive aspects of human history we should be embarrassed in the treatment of these later institutions. Social development, as revealed by universal history, is not only a struggle for progress, but a struggle against retrogression.

Modern historical criticism shows that the decline of ancient oriental society coincided with the rise of Judaism upon the wreck of an earlier Semitic heathenism. The decline of classic civilization, in its turn, coincided with the rise of Christianity upon the basis of Judaism. Our treatment of the decline and fall of the earlier historic nations turns upon the rise of these two great religions. In other words, this inquiry carries us into the fascinating and absorbing fields of Old and New Testament history and criticism. The relevancy of this part of our work will be apparent to the scholar. To the mind still possessed by the idea that life is composed of a number of distinct "worlds," or "departments," this will seem at first like an unwarranted digression. We do not, however, touch upon the problems of Biblical research with the aim of pronouncing upon them from conventional standpoints. With the validity of religious doctrines a work on sociology can have nothing to do, for a discussion of the absolute content of the realities with which

sociology deals carries us at once out of the domain of sociology. The right of sociology to deal freely from its own standpoint with our sacred literature needs to be emphasized.

The modern school of Biblical criticism is undoubtedly engaged in a successful application of the same scientific principles that have been brought to bear upon history at large. But if certain positions advanced in this book are valid, Biblical criticism has not been brought so fully into line with scientific research as it might. Men like Wellhausen, and Robertson Smith, and Cheyne adhere to many conclusions based on the most rigid scientific grounds; but it presently becomes evident that they are, after all, preoccupied by an apologetic religious interest. This interest may be more subtle than in the case of more orthodox and less heretical men; but it is there nevertheless; and at a certain point in their work its influence begins to run counter to their own scientific principles. It seems to us that the critical school has not sufficiently utilized the sources, both inside and outside the Bible, which are available to the investigator. The general result of Biblical criticism has been toward the assimilation of the history of Israel with the growth of society at large. Sometimes this assimilation is complete; sometimes it is partial. The defects in the critical process hitherto, as we see them, result from the fact that as a rule Biblical scholars lack the sociological standpoint. This indeed is inevitable. Criticism of our sacred literature is only a part of the wider critical movement which has subjected the world's literature to the rigid test of scientific principles; and this critical movement is itself a necessary antecedent of scientific sociology.

One of the most epoch-making discoveries ever made is, that the social world in which we live is itself an object of scientific investigation. Human society constitutes the subject-matter of a general science. Like other sciencesand more than many of them sociology, the science of

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