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Sociology can be and has been thought of in turn as (1) social physics (the economists, Auguste
Comte), (2) social biology (Spencer), (3) social psychology. Each of these conceptions has a
plausible side, although only the third, in my opinion, is as comprehensive as it is insightful. But the
worst idea one can have of our science is, I think, as (4) a social ideology.
Now that we have defined the social group and the social fact, it remains for me to speak of their
relationship, the social state, and of the logic which regulates the composition of social states and
their evolution or rather evolutions. This would also be the moment to ask wherein lies the distinction
between healthy and morbid states of society, and whether Mr. Durkheim, whom we encounter here
once again, is correct in saying that a high rate of criminality is not a pathological social state but on
the contrary “an integral part” of the health of the national body—a peculiar view to which, he says,
he is led logically by the application of his method. I should also say a word about method. But
besides the fact that this would take us much too far and it is already time to finish, I believe that the
best method for each of us is one which develops by itself from study, just as primitive peoples create
their original customs and legislation through action. One learns to swim by jumping into the water.
If I were to formulate a maxim on this subject, it would treat the essential moral, and not just
intellectual, conditions required for the discovery of truth. A little modesty and simplicity suit both an
adolescent science and a young man embarking on life; the science, for one, should avoid a
doctrinaire tone and academic jargon. One must bring to it a familiar and well-intentioned bent of
mind and above all a love of the subject matter. The first condition for a naturalist is to love life, to
fraternize with all the living, to sense the good hidden in the worst of things. For even the tiger is
good, the boa constrictor is good, and I am told that the rattlesnake only agitates his rattle to warn the
passerby of the danger, rather like our cyclists. Similarly, the first condition for a sociologist is to
love social life, to sympathize with men of all races and all nations united around one hearth, to seek
with curiosity and discover with joy the affectionate devotion that lies hidden in the hut of the
reputedly most ferocious savage or in the retreat of the miscreant, and, finally, never to believe easily
in the stupidity or the absolute wickedness of man in the past, nor in his present perversity, and never
to give up hope for his future.