Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/796

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7/6 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

and Hearn and Fustel de Coulanges brought to light the reli- gious factor. Now it is the economic factor that is exalted. As motive to marriage the attraction of the sexes is reinforced, it appears, by man's desire for a servant and woman's desire for a protector. Children are reared, not from parental love alone, but also because a daughter can be sold for cash, while the son can be kept as a helper, a protector, and an avenger. Grosse therefore hits the bull's eye when he says : " If we wish to grasp a particular social structure say a form of family organization in its essence and significance, we must study it in its natural connection with the civilization in which it grows, lives, and works."

As regards noetics, by which term we would designate the science that deals with the phenomena that arise from efforts to satisfy the craving for truth, and aesthetics, or the science that treats of the phenomena that arise in connection with endeavors to satisfy the craving for the beautiful, there is no doubt that, owing to their close and immediate dependence upon the psy- chology of the individual mind, they will retain a good deal of independence with respect to sociology. We are, in fact, coming to recognize in inventions and discoveries the first causes of many of the great transformations in society. Even in these branches of inquiry, however, new social factors are coming for- ward. In tracing the evolution of philosophies, sciences, and the fine arts, more causes and influences are being recognized. Attempts to resume the history of intellectual progress without taking due note of changes in the state of society have shown opinions and movements succeeding one another without mean- ing or logic. Those who would comprehend intellectual or aesthetic advance must consent to take into consideration such factors as the geographical environment, the prevailing occupa- tions, the plane of comfort, town life, the influence of a leisure class, the attitude of the priesthood, the organization of educa- tion, the diffusion of learning, and the degree of honor attaching to intellectual and artistic pursuits.

The piers on which rests economics, the greatest of the social sciences and' (save linguistics) the most independent, are certain