WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Otago Witness, Issue 3292, 18 April 1917, Page 14

WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

OPENING OF IHE SESSION. There was a good attendance of members of the Dunedin Workers' Educational Association at the Otugo University on tho 12th for the opening of the session, during which a scries of lectures are to be delivered on economic subjects by the Ven. Archdeacon Woodthorpe. At the outset the lecturer stated that ho proposed on account of the gravity of the world outlook to give a general introduction to the sciences of sociology and economics, and to grapple with some problems that pressed rather heavily on the people to-day. He j stated that philosophy was the attempt to deal with the problem of the universe as a whole. It postulated that the universe was_ a rational system, and revealed itself to intelligence. Science dealt with aspects of tho universe, assumed its principles from the philosophical sciences, and needed to bo reinterpreted by philosophical reflection. It was generally agreed that science dealt with the facts given in experience—actually describing them, classifying them, and deducing from them general principles or laws. Philosophy studied that which was not given in experience, but which experience pre-supposcd; it studied what underlay experience, its so-called postulates, and the goals or ideals which ought to be realised in experience. Sbience was the goal of ideas 'which ought to bo realised. Man was dependent upon his follow-man alike in his natural wants, and in the necessaries of life. He therefore associated himself with other beings and sought alliances. Wo could traco tho history of man to "the remotest periods of antiquity, but always and everywhere ho was a social being. He lived in social groups, in families, clans, communities, tribes, or • nations, and engaged in various forms of activity. What then were the conditions and forms under which men associated with each other? What were the forms of activity in which man engaged in common with other men? How did men influence each other? What were tho forms of their 'relations? And, finally, what were the laws by which the development of man's social lifo was regulated? This study 'was called sociology. It endeavoured to discover tho laws, principles, and relations of social phenomena, and availed itself of tho knowledge thus- gained to benefit humanity. The term sociology is a hybrid term as invented by Auguste Comte. It is a compound of the Latin "Socius" and tho Greek "Logos" science. Sociology was, therefore, the science of comradeship or association. Beneath all tho forms and processes of human society la - the fact of association itself, or ns Giddings called it "tho consciousness of kind." Sociology had thus to trace out and relate to one another the operations of the two principles of evolution and of consciousness of kind in human societies. Ic took those parts of tho sciences of biology and of psychology which related, to societies of men; and it constituted itself into a science by correlating these datawith tho facts of human society.' Thus conceived it was broader than political theory, which was only ono of its departments. Political theory only dealt with political associations, united by a constiturtion and living under a government; sociology dealt with' all association. Political theory assumed as a datum that man was a political being; it did not explain, as sociology sought to do, how he came to be a political being. The sociologist would start from habits, instincts, emotions, but at any rate ho would end in a conception of association as based on intelligent reason. The political theorist started at the opposite end with rational association; but admitted that there existed, and must be taken into account, a sub-rational area of instinct. The lecturer dealt with sociology and its relation to other sciences, and was listened to 'with interest throughout. At the conclusion of tho address a general discussion took place oil the subject of the lecture.