THE ANATOMY OF REVOLUTION

159 Pages·1965·87.48 MB·English

by  CRANE BRINTON

THE ANATOMY
OF
BBVOL' lJTION
CRANE BRINTON
Revised and Expanded Edition
·
--
VINTAGE BOOKS
A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE
�
New York
/
To Alden and Helen Hoag
who listened to it aU
I have gone carefully over the origin�l text of this book,
making many changes throughout, and bringing the bibli­
ographical suggestions up to· date. Naturally the Russian
Revolution has· given me my greatest difficulties. I have
tried· to take account of the recrudescence of Terror in
1936-39 as well as the continued abnormal isolation of
Russia in a new section of Chapter Eight, section V,
"Russia: Permanent Revolution?" I still incline to the be­
lief that the great �ussian Revolution is over-as fa.Ji as
such great 'social movements can ever be said to be over.
Chapter One I have also in part rewritten, attempting to
make as clear as possible what I ,mean by the ... clinical"
character of the �ocial sciences. No doubt in the last fifteen
years what must be called "anti-scientism" has. increased,
at least on the surface of our Western thought. But I sus­
pect that only the very exalted new man of feeliD.g-or
the very careless reader-will hold that I am defending
Copyright, 1938, 1952, © 1965, by Prentice-Hall, Inc. old-fashioned views of science as a form, as indeed the
form, of absolute truth. Science no doubt has its own meta­
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copy­ physics-but like decent underclothing, its metaphysics is
right Conventions. Published in New York by Random House, not normally visible. I have in my brief _expository attempt
in Chapter One carefully observed the decencies. ·
Inc., and simultaneously in Toronto, Canada, by Random
In addition 'to those whom I have thanked for aid in my
House of Canada Limited.
prefaee to the firs� edition, I should like to thank especially
Mrs. Bernard Barber, Mr. Franklin Ford, and Mr. Henry
Reprinted by arrangement with Prentice-H,all, Inc.
Vyverberg, three of my students, whose researches hav�
enriched my knowledge of eighteenth-century France and
First published in 1938. Revised Edition published in 1952.
. the "prodromal symptoms:' of the great Revolution; and
Revised �d Expanded Edition pu1lished in 1965.
Miss Elizabeth F. Hoxie, whose discerning care is respon­
sible for the many corrections in the original text this re­
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
vised edition has made possible.
CRANE BRINTON
I
PREFACE TO THE VINTAGE ·EDITION Vii
lined in this book some of th� major differences that set
the Russian off from those revolutions with which it is
here compared. I should like to call the reader's at�enti?n
to a suggestive essay by T. H. von Laue of the Umversity
of California at Riverside, "Die, Revolution von aussen als
erste Phase der russischen Revolution 1917," in ]ahrbilcher
PHEFilCE
filr Geschichte Osteuropas, Vol. IV, no. 2 (Munich, 1956).
TO THE l'INTilGE Von Laue puts the Russian Revolution in a "new category
of modem revolutions," the "revolution of backward coun­
EDITION tries" (Revolution der rilckstiindigen Lander); and he fur­
ther emphasiz,es the extent to which the guiding ideas �nd
impulses of the Revolution of 1917 came from ou�side
.
Russia from a West more advanced economically, socially,
politic�lly. Obviously in contrast, England in �e early
seventeenth century, with its background of Elizabethan
greatness, France in 1789, still "la grande nation," were
A book of this sort must constantly tempt its author to quite tpe opposite ol "backward"; and, although they bo�
afterthoughts. Five years after my revision of 1952 I should drew as· did the Americans of 1776, on a reservor. r of West­
like now to make three brief comments. First, though I em ;ulture by no means limited to any one nation, theirs
still hold that the "desertion [or alienation] of t!J_e intel­ were nonetheless in no sense revolutions imported from
lectuals" is a real uniformity in the societies herein studied, the outside by a native minority .
I am more than ever convinced that a certain alienation .I should like to add two other suggestive recent works
among intellectuals is normal in the modem West-nmmal in German: J(arl Griewank, Der neuzeitliche Revqlutions­
in the sociological sense developed by Durkheim and his becrriff ·(Weimar, 1955), and Willy Andreas, Das Zeitalter
school. The whole subject of the role of the intellectual N: poleons und die Erhebung der Vij lker (Heidelberg,
classes in human societies is worth all the attention it can 1955).
get. Coiin Wilson's recent The Outsider (Boston, 1956) is
-pertinent here. CRANE BRINTON
Second, events in Russia since the death of Stalin surely , Cambridge, ·November 1956
reinforce the commonplace that the great Russian Revolu-.
tion is quite over, finished. What is going on now is a
working out of what. went on from 19'17 to 1924, the years
of what may be called the Russian Revolution proper.
That working out must be very different from the working
out of the "principle� of 1776, and 178g."
Third, although I am convinced that the Russian Revolu­
tion belongs, as a "popular" revolution, a revolution_of the
Left, along with the English, American, and French· revo­
lutions, I do not think its relation to these earlier revolu­
tions is by any means a simple one of affiliation, let alone
repetition. Indeed, I have perhaps not sufficiently under-
li.CKNOWLE:(JGltJENTS CONTENTS
I wish to thank the following authors and publishers for Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
permission to quote from copyrighted works: I. The Field of Study 3
n. The Bare Elements of Sc,ientific Methods 8
m. The Application of Scientific Methods to
F._Beck and W. Godin, Russian Purge and the Extraction This Study 13
of Confession. The Viking Press, New Yor� 1951. IV. Limitations of the Subject 21
W. H. Chamberlin, The Russian Revolution, 1917-1921.
Chapter 2 THE OLD REGIMES
The Macmillan Company; New York, 1935.
I. The Diagnosis of Preliminary Signs 27
Waldemar Gurian, editor, The Soviet Union: Background, n. Structural Weaknesses, Economic and
Ideology, Reality. University of Notre Dame Press, Political 28
Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951. m. The Transfer of AUegiance of the Intel-
·
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer. Harper & Row, Publishers, lectuals 39
IV. Classes and Class Antagonism& so
Inc. New York, 1951.
A. M. Schlesinger, The Colonial Merchants and the Amer-• v. Summary 65
ican Revolution. Columbia University Press, New Chapter 3 FIRST STAGES OF REVOLUTION
York, 1918. I. The Eternal Figaro • 67
n. The Events of the First Stages 6g
m. Spontaneity or Planning? 77
IV. The Role of Force 86
v. The Honeymoon go
Chapter 4 TYPES OF REVOLUTIONISTS
1. The Cliches gz
n. Economic and Social Position: Rank and
File 95
m. Economic and Social Position: Leaders 101
IV. Character and Disposition -105 _
,-v. Summary 119
Chapter 5 THE RULE OF THE MODERATES
i. The Problem of the Moderates 121
n. Events During the Rule of the Moderates 124
m. Dual Sovereignty 132
X CONTENTS·
IV. Weaknesses of the Moderates - 137
v. Summary 145
Chapter 6 THE ACCESSION OF THE EXTREMISTS.
I. The Cq!tp d'Etat
Chapter
· n. Organization of the Extremists
m. Fitness of the EXtremists
IV. The Machinery of Dierotorship l
Chapter 7 REIGNS OF TERROR AND VIRTUE
INTBOD IJCTION
I. Pervasiveness of the Terror
n. The Terror and the Outsider
m. The Terror and the Insider: The Reli­
gious Parallel 182
IV. Explanations of the Terror 198
Chapter 8 THERMIDOR
I. Universality of the Thermidorean Reac-
tion 205
n. Amnesty and Repression 207 1. The Field of Study
m. Return of the Church 214
IV. The Search for Pleasure 218 Revolution is one of the looser words. The great
v. Russia: Permanent Revolution? 225 French Revolution, the American Revolution, the In­
VI. Summary 235 dustrial Revolution, a revolution in Haiti, a social revolu­
Chapter 9 A SUMMARY OF THE WO. RK OF tion, the American Negro revolution, a revolution in our
REVOLUTIONS thinking, or in the ladies' garment trade, or in the automo­
I. Changes in Institutions and Ideas 237 tive industry-the list could be almost e,ndless. Indeed, at
n. Some Tentative Uniformities 250 one end of its spectrum of meanings revolution has come
m. A Paradox of Revolution 261 in common usage to be hardly more than an emphatic
Epilogue: 1964 265 synonym for "change," perhaps with a suggestion of sud­
den or striking change. Even such emphasis is not always
BibliographicaIl. AHpipsteonrdicixa l Writing on the Four Revolu- implied. The editors of Fortune in their U.S.A.: The Per­
tions · manent Revolution, though they have borrowed their title
A. England B. America C. France from Leon Trotsky, obviously mean no more than "perma­
D. Russia nent change of a good kind," or "progress," or "develop­
n. The Wisdom of the Ages ment." They do not even mean what Jefferson meant when
mIV.. TThhee SMoa�rixoilsotgsy of Revolutions "hree vsiasiido ni"n ehviesr yle tntienre, tteoe nS aymeuaersl :kore rscoh ewvoaul lidn be18 1d6e stihraabt lea.
Index 297 ' Jefferson was clearly thinking of a wholesale change in the
governing personnel of a nation, in the political and to
some extent · the social, economic, cultural complex of
habits and institutions a people lived under. He may have
been thinking of the great French Revolution, or of noth-
4 THE ANATOMY OF ·REVOLUTION INTRODUCTION 5
ingm orev ioletnhta hni so wns uccesstiopo onw er tihne Highotr,i ntegnraatli onaolires vme,wn i tNho us, Philipp�
electoifo1 n8 oo. le1tain-c- an makea Frencahr istofcereaclto mfortable
Fort hougwhe u set hen oun" revolutiaonnds, t"i mlolr e abouat r evolutiIonRn u.s stihae w ordi ss tielnls hrianse d
perhaiptsas d jecti"vree volutiontaori yn,d"i caat meo st a holy woIrnCd h.i naan dC ubar evolutsieo�nmr sa ther
variseedot f c hangewse,k eepi n.t hec orneotfos u rm ind. moret haan w ord.
a muchm ored efinimteea ninag k,i ndo fc entrtaolu gh Ata nyr atree,v oluitnii otsnst ricatsie nri tlso osseern se
corneo te rodeodu ti ntloo ossetrra toafm eaninWge. t hink iso ricmeo rei nt himsi d-twentcieentthu fruyl ltyo pical.
oft heg reaotv rturnse inp reviousstlaybp loel itsioccaile ties Then ineteecnetnht urwyh,i cht hougihttw asa boutto
int h�p ast-tEhneg liRsehv olutoifot nh e1 64oa'nsd i ts abolifsohr eiwganr st,h ougahlts toh aitt w asa boutto
sequienl1: 688t,h eA mericRaenv oluttihoeFn r,e ncRhe v­ abolitshhek inodf i nternoarlc ivwialr w e associwaitteh
olutiaonnd i tsn ineteenth-cseenqtuuerltysh ,eR ussian revolutiaonnd,i ndeewdo uldm aker evolut'uinonne ces­
Revolutoifo1 n9 17a ndi ttsw entieth-cseenqtuuerolyrs ; saryC.h angwea ss titlolb et hec haracteorfio sutrci ucl ­
we thinokfn ationalriesvto lutliiokntesh et wentieth-cen­ tureb,u ti tw ast ob eo rdedpye,a cefgurla,d ucahla nge.
turrye volutiinIo rnesl aannddA lgerWiea .m aya lstoh ink Ourg randfatchaetrcsph'h ras"ee,v olutniootnr ,e volu­
ofv ioleanncdet errpowrg,e sa ndg uillotBiuntoe usr.f o­ tionn,o"w h asa farawsaoyu ndW.e livien t hem idsotf
cusi so n drasti·scu,d desnu bstitutioofon n eg rouipn thea laruomfsw ara ndr evolutoifow nh,a tc anb e not
chargoef t her unnionfga territpoorliiatilce anlt ibtyy unfaicrallyl weodr ld-wriedveo lutWieo lni.v ien,d eeidna,
anothegrr ouph itherntoot r unnintgh atg overnment. worlwdh erien a ctufaalc tth eg overnmetnhtec, o nstitu­
Theries o nef urthiemrp licatitohner: e volutisounbasrtiy­ tiont,h ew holmeo ralj,u ridipcoalli,t istcraulc toufrt eh e
tutioofno neg roufpo !'a no�erif, n otm adeb y actual UniteSdt atiessj usatb outth eo ldestth,em ostc ontinu­
violeunptr isiinsmg a,d eb yc oup d'etat, Putsch, ors ome ouslfyu nctionoiftn hge,g reastt ato�fso urw orldT.h e
othekri nodf s kulldugIgfet rhyec. h angiesm adew ithout parad-oi.xsu navoidatbhlinese: w c ountirsiy n s omes enses
violenicnae freeel ectiaosni ,nt heB ritieslhe ctioofn oneo ft heo ldest-otlhdaesnro cialist oBlrdiettrha ain.n ,
1945w hicgha ves ocialism (ptoomw oesrto fu sA meri­ theF iftFhr encRhe public,t hoalandn eyrs ovireetp ublic,
canas revolutitohnianrgyt) h,e tnh es trongest expressiono ldeirn,c reditbhlaynt, h eg overnmeonftt sh osiem me­
thec ommentatorasl lcotawhn e mselivste hse" Britirsehv ­ morilaaln dosft heE astI,n diaan dC hina.
olutiboycn o nsenBtu.ti" s a revolubtyico onn serneta lal y We Americatnhse,ns ,e emi nm anyw ayst ob ea stable
revolution? socieitnty h eI nidosfts ocietuinedse rgorienvgo lutionary
Thet er"mr evolutitorno"u btlheess emantincoitos ntl y changew.e ·a rea littalfer aoifdr evolutionwsr-otnhge
becauosfei twsi der angien p opuluasra geJ?,u ta lsboe ­ kindo fr evolutiotnhseC, o mmuniosrtt heF asciksitn d.
causiet i so neo ft hesweo rdsc hargewdi the motional Indeesdo,m eo fo urc rithioclsd t hawte aree ssenti�lly
contenItn.d eeadn,y c omplestoec ioloofgr ye volutiino n reactioensasreyn,t oiuatlo lfty o ucwhi tthh ek inodL hopes
ourW esterwno rlwdo ulhda vet ot ake ianctcoo utnhte anda spiratiinoo tnhse pre oplwehsi cihn o urselav ceesn ­
way diffegrreonutp isn d ifferetnitm easn dp lacweesr e turayn dm orea gos purr·uesdo n tor evolutAirnoonl.d
movedb y thec omplex assoocfi" artieovnosl :uatnido n" Toynbekee eptse lluisnw ge haved esertoeudro wnr evo­
"revolutioTnhaerD ya.u"g hteorfts heA mericRaenv olu� lutitohna,wt e faitlor ealitzheat th ee choeosft ha'sth ot
tiofinn dj oya nde levatiinto hnet hougdhftw hatw ento n fireda tC oncoradr es tihlela rrdo untdh ew orldT.h ese
herien 1 776b,u tn oti nw hath asg on'e oni nR ussisai n,c e critaircens o d oubutn faiBru.tw e are a stabsloec ieatsy ,
Novembe1r9,1 7'o, ri nC hinaT.h eo ldF rencuhp per Westerns ocietgioe,as n dc linign s pitoef a llt hahta s
classheasv en eveqru itree covefrreodm t hes hocokf t he happenes<Ii ncteot heh opefnuiln eteenth-"ceevnotluur­y
Reigonf T erronro;t hing-niottsa ssociawtiitohtn h e tionn,o tr evolutiPoenr.h"a wpesc annodtom ucha sy ett o
6
THE ANATOMY OF REV-OLUTION · INTRODUCTION 7
co?"nolt �ep rocesosfes so cicahla ngPee.r hawphsa tg oes economipcosl,i ticsacli enchei,s tosroyc,i oloagny4_,t he
onm humang rourpe latimounsstb ef ora lontgi mteo u s likBeu.t w em ayw elclo nsitdheer possoifba iplpirtoya cp­
asu ncontrollaasbt lheew eather. Revmoalyub tieoa nss ingt hes tudoyf r evolutiinos nosm ethionftg h es pirtihte
"inevitabtlheu" ndaesr stormosf-taenands u sefualsa natursacli enctiasrtr tioeh si wso rk.
storimna parchceodu ntryside. Ouraim int hef ollowsitnugd iys t hem odesotn eo f
Butw e understtahnudn derstorsmosw -eo mru stb e­ attempttioen sgt ablaisst hh,es cienmtiisgth tc,e rtafiirns t
lievuen lewses givuep twot housayneda rosf W estern approximaotifou nnsi formtiotib eesn oteidnt hec ourosfe
scientifisct udy-bettthearnd idt hee arlipeero plwehso fousru ccesrsefvuoll utiinom nosd ems tatetsh:eE nglish
sawi nt hemT horo rJ upitaetwr o rkw;e cant akcee rtain Revolutoifot nh e1 64o'tsh,eA mericRaenv oluttihoen,
steptsop rotect ouargsaeilntvshetes m W.e cana tl eatsrty great FrReenvcohl utainodnt ,h er ecent-porre sent-rev­
tou nderst.aa rnedvolutwihoent,h weer wanto neo rn ot. olutioinn R ussiWae.r ew e attempttionfi gn da n ideal
· Yetw e shalnlo tg of art oward undersotnaenu dnilnegs s typef orr evolutiwoenr,ew e seekian gk indo fP lato_n ic
we ca.nm aintationw aridt ·if, not.i ndiffereantcl ee,a st ideoaf r evolutwieo mni,g hbte fairrleyp roacwhietdh
detachment. pickifnogu nri cnee arte volut.wihoincsmh a dea lmostto o
Thisl aswto rdo,n em ayh opei,s n otj usat f avorable gooda caset,o op erfeac pta tteBrnu.t w e arem akinngo
wayo fs ayingw hat" inifdferencsea"y su nfavoraAb ly. sucaht tempItts. h oulbdev ercyl eatrh anto ta lrle vol�­
physicmiaaynf eefla frr oimn differteonwta rhdi sp atient, tionpsa,s pt,r eseanntd,f uturwei,lc lo nfotromt hep attern
buth ew ilnlo tb ea goodp hysicuinalne hsesi sd etache-d herder awnO.u rf ou�re volutairoenn ostn ecessaervielny
in ¥s observaatnidot nr eatmoefnh ti sp atienmta'lsa dy. "typiciantl h" es ensteh ew ord" typicahla"sf orl iterary
We mayd odghee rae wholleu rkisnegto fp hilosophical critiocrsm oraliTshtesya. r es implfyo uirm portraenvto lu­
difficultainedss ,a ys� mplyt hawth atw e commonlcya ll tionwsi twhh icwhe havec hosetnob egian w orko fs ys­
modems cienhcaesa se neo fi tbsa siecl ementthsed etach­ tematizasttiiiolninl t isn fancy.
mento ft hes cientTihse'ts .c ientasi sa tp,riv ate person,­ Att hipso inittm ayb eo bjecttehda sti ncteh es ocial
mayl ovaen dh ateh,o pea ndf earas; a scientist, hem ust scienhcaevse baepeinn tgh e·. natusrcaile �fcoerss everal
tryt o_l eavael tlh ibse hinwdh enh ee ntehrissl aboratory, centuraiensdg, o tn o furt·hf eorrwartdh,a tth eyo ught
hicsl inoirch ,i sst udy. thereftoortry e ands tanodn t heiorw nf eett,h atth ey
Toa ttemtpotm aintaiintn h ea nalyosfih su mana ffairs oughtto w orko utt heiorw nm ethodwsi thobuott hering
�e detachmeonftt h ep hysicoirst th ec hemiisstv ery abouwth ath asb eendo nei nt hen atur·sacli encTehse.ri es
difficulatn,d t oa greamta nyu prigahntd i ntelligent a kerneolf t ruth thisi no bjectiCoenr.t aiwnrliyt elrisk e
peoplsee emusn profitaebvleent, r easonYoouuss .h ould, FourioerrH erbert Spwehnoch earv,ep roclaitmheedm ­
thefye ehla,t Mea oo rC astroa ltlh et imeb eforweh ile selvleis teratlhleNy e wtonosr t heD arwinosf s ocial
anda fteyro us taerxtp lainhimin; go thrniesey o;u expla� scienacpep,e atroh aveg onew ronfgr omt hes tarAt p.r o­
natiomna ye dgien teox tenuation. phetisco uld rawinugp onp hilosoapnhdyt hea r-:-tsa
Butt ou nderstalal nidsb yn o� eants op ardoanl lA.t Spengl·ae Tro,ynbefeo,ri nstance-pwriolbla b·lIIyk'e l aat
anyr atet,h es cientuinfidce rstanodfit nhgep lac·eo tfh e leaasstm uchs ensoeu to ft hes tudoyf m eni ns ocieatsy
mosquiitnyo e llfoewv ehra sn otl edu st ot oleraonftc hea 't wiltlh es ocial scientitsott a kwoehv oe urnt arlteireeds t he
'particutlyaproe f m osquiQtuoi.t teh ec ontraWrey c.a n­ methodasn dm aterioafpl hsy siocrsb ioloYgeyt.o neh esi­
noto,f c ourseex,p ecstu chi mmediaatned a pparently tatteost umt hes tudoyfm eni ns ociewthyo lloyv etro t he
spectar_:c ruelsaulatssw ereo btainweidt hy ellofwe ver Spengleorrse vent o.t heT oynbeeasn;d o neh esitates
fromt hes tudoyf m an ins ocieftryo,m w hata rea bit equaltloya cceptth er adicsaelp aratDiiolnt haenyd h is
optimisticcaallllyet dh es ociaslc iences�-anthropologfyo,l.l owmearl<;seb etweeNna t urwisse_nschaften (thnea tural
8
THE ANATOMY OF REVOLUTION INTRODUCTION 9
sciences) and Geisteswisseruchaften (the historical or so­ his neate�t uniformities are n�t absolutes, but are subject
cial sciences) . The long tradition of what may be called to correction that he is safer in regarding these uniformi­
scientific rationalism has in our society made conquests not ties as based on observations rather than on the will of
to be lightly .abandoned even in this postwar world. That God, or· the nature of things, or on reality. Or more radi­
�adition makes it imperative for us to attempt to continue, cally, he should regard these uniformities as his invention
and extend, the kind of work we.call scientific. rather than his discovery.
There"has, indeed, been a great deal of nonsense written This brings us easily to_ the �econd point. Science mak�s
under the protecting name of science. It is easy to sympa­ no attempt to study or describe reality--certai?ly not ui�­
thize with Mr. M;tX Lerner's outburst: mate reality. Science is not even concerned With trut;b, m
the sense that word has for theologians, for most philoso­
I am frankly skeptical when people working on the phers, for a good many other people, and perhaps for
study of societies begin arming themselves with scal­ common sense. The desire· to find a final cause, an un­
pels, slide-rules and test-tubes. For they are promising moved mover, a Ding an sich, seems to be so common in
more than they can possibly fulfill. The pfotestations men that we have no grounds for believing that this search
of complete objectivity that we have been hearing is not in one form or another, a fairly constant and in fact
from students of society in the past quarter century essential element in human society. Only, scientists as
take on a religious note; it is as if they were wash­ scientists can have no part in such a search. Eddington,
ing themselves in the blood of the scientific Iamb. Jeans, even Whitehead, ceased to. prac�ce science while
csmpclaSitlrnaboaeeirdtmnaeatirr dcn elao.tiys nlno Tolga irafmhs es tcfeMmphioisteoareeirnssmt d us tifilLi aewnbtsroedlect,ern e M obrmidesbnuretru j.at'tae ss anL ctscv dotioehaefbornmutrmjntygeeeese c mf rontie.caf tpowa r Sstennoa c s wh ri bteceeohtneo orro tifimedp ss tsrehmtho.c ooeb oo\¥1 m anpfab e upi1 tltstyhhpt o eotet hh tdarhesel e ko n smtsemotoe pti a i stinbstuoctc ynfeig · e droaan tennohacrdydsee­ swtbpffhacaehoiicelTeterityhnerrsh ',y vts iaiw ebrsnd itfiueit d,nnstr w eet adonhl lofnoo e pr ut tkoushshbskcvrir tsnieeu,euo pgrsnw nitt nti:ibi h ctgssusii ttecs t hmhrt bsheatt y,ihntae s oetoe nuatlnl ooyoffs ta, ga emcbyi runts.e eska n a. el"d�Sncl pic soaDseti nt i�c fucas�oouirtnscrnabm�gmefinee vn td rotlIeeo yShfrsu b sa fsebhstya �.iai ewmtesthpAp�hi�.ildn tieesl tdl, cn efa p montlsh.to o�o i iet ll"so ov tt sgohehtoi.nnoee­­ _
cal depths yawn at this point, but we shall have to try and
II. The Bare Elements of Scientific Methods igdoe aash eoand i nind uspctiitoen o ifs tphreomb.a bTlhye t hpeo pcuh�taerfi zsaotuiorcne ooff Bthaec oenriraon­
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smhpNearaeripnvkwpceeteid opna nlelfe'ldsa cmo iltfnase w.in mn sIdeo neqdh tueeatrnahrvmlee pbicnnheoaofyncotsyt rieec bmb se,te pehaenoesn r fga"saroadry mi fisaprersemr avool ovfyl lea updyetosm"itko;a aenbnnr .l oiicnsWrah nephh dahaj usyta d sshtig chtaesoes,, irscanecan lhnyaten temiomrotmen e w saib noneovrstkfo w clwvaelee eisatcnh ro s,ono fuamcitcte tepasti tshcu aioannanlgdt c seblccepeohatsneu�idcmta eele pcs!>. lt CefuhAaaaecrcltrn t�ust,ehc a;mh� lleatyv mn oadelt v hstec ehsoi os,n s um�cngeiodehptne t tteubhidasyetl,
is that the physicist has been sharply reminded that even a working Inind.
10 THE ANA T·O MY 0 F R E V 0 L UTI 0 N INTR ODU C·TION ll
Let no one be frightened of the term "conceptual. ' where his conceptual scheme came from, or whether it
scheme." The meaning is really very simple: thunder and preceded or followed on facts, or whether it is "subjective"
lightning impinge on our senses of hearing and sight­ and the facts "objective." These questions �e leaves to the
probably the mere differentiating of this sound and this philosophers, who have not settled them yet after two
flash from other sounds and flashes means that we are thousand years of debate. But the scientist does, by his
employing a conceptual scheme. Certainly when we think recognition that a conceptual scheme is as essential to his
of Jupiter with his bolts, Thor with his hammer, or the activity as are observed facts, emancipate himself com­
.elecp:ical discharge 'of . modem physics, we have clearly pletely from self-styled "scientific" materialists, positivists, �
arranged our sensecperceptions in accordance with definite. empiricists,. who naively assert that our sense-perceptions
conceptual schemes. w� possess, indeed, the basic ,ele­ filtered through a "mind" are somehow in themselves an
ments of three different theories of thunder and lightning, orderly and sole reality, or a "reflection" of such a reality.
three differently stated uniformities in these phenomena. For, note particularly, the facts with which the scientist
But the crucial reason why we should prefer our electrical deals are not phenomena, sense-perceptions, the "external
discharge to Jupiter or Thor as a conceptual scheme is that world," those dear absolutes of innocent positivists, but
it is more useful, and that we can by using it get on better merely statements about phenomena. A properly verifiable
also with other conceptual schemes we use for similar pur­ statement about Cromwell or Lenin is then as much a fact
poses. But in the sense which the Word true has for the as the reading of a thermometer in a laboratory. We ca:q­
theologian1 and most moralists and philosophers, our elec­ not here go into the thorny problem of what satisfactory
trical discharge is not a bit truer than the old notions about verification is; the practicing scientist, the practicing his­
Jupiter and Thor. torian, the practicing judge (and, one hopes, jury) have
-
We may even use two contradictory conceptual their own well-tried craft-methods of verification.
schemes, choosing one or the other of convenjence, or from Folirth, though the scientist is very careful indeed about
habit. We are• . all of us educated out of the old Ptolemaic matters of definition, and is as disdainful of sloppiness as __
conceptual scheme, which saw the sun mov�g about a any historian and of bad thinking as any logician, he dis­
stationary earth, into the Copernican conceptual scheme, trusts rigidity and attempts at perfection. He is interested
which sees the earth moving about a stationary sun. 'Ein­ less in beauty and neatness of definition than in h�ving his
stein, of course, used a conc:eptual scheme somewhat definitions fit not his sentiments and aspirations, but the
different from both of .these, but most of us are not yet up facts. Above all, he does not dispute over words. He is less
to Einstein; in daily .life we all, however, contentedly say interested in the accurate theoretical distinction between a
"the sun rises," and should be very pedantic indeed if we mountain and a hill than he is in making ,sure that he is
insisted on saying in Copernican terms "the earth has re­ dealing with concrete elevations on this earth. He does not
volved. into sight of the sun." expect class terms to be perfect, mutually exclusive; when
The scientist, then, goes to work roughly in some such he distinguishes between a plant and an animal, he is not
fashion as this .. He starts with a conceptual scheme of at all offended if you "tall his attention to a living thing
som·e sort, and with questions, or even hypotheses, which that seems to belong to both his classifications at once. He
he frames in terms of that scheme. He then hunts for a sets to work studying the living thing .and will, if neces­
suitable supply of facts. These facts he seeks to arrange in sary, modify his class terms. But he is quite willing also, if
• uniformities or theories. which will answer his questions, it proves more convenient, to set up a new class term of
and 'perhaps suggest other questions. He. then immerses . borderline plant-animals. This simple willingness to be
himself again in the hunt for facts, and emerges with new guidec;l by convenie�ce is of course one of the amazing
or modified uniformities. The scientist is not interested m things about the scientist and one of the most difficult for '
12 THE ANATOMY OF RE.YOLUTION INTRODUCTION 13
us who have not had a scientific training to adapt ourselves All in all, there is no reason why we should feel that the
to. Most of us are early trained to prefer our opinions to natural scientist uses methods, set standards, forever quite
our convenience. · · unattainable by the social scientist. Natural science as the
·Fifth, perfectly respectable scientific work can be and is more innocent materialists.of the last century saw it-ex­
constantly done in fields where the kind of controlled ex­ act, infallible, a cosmos built on what in modem folk-usage
perimentation classically associated for instance with is called induct�on-must seem remote to a struggling
physics and chemistry is not possible. We may call this economist or sociologist. But natural science as. it has al­
sort of scientific work, based indeed on experimental work ways been understood by its ablest practitioners and is
auxiliary to it, but not in itself a series of controlled experi­ now widely understood-natural science as expounded
·ments, clinical. The clinician is best known in the -medical methodologically by a Poincar6--is no such thin substitute
sciences, where he appears very early in fifth-century for Divine Providence; n<;l such metaphysical abstraction.
·
Greece with Hippocrates. The clinician works through the Only God is exact, infallible, omniscient, unchanging, and
case method. His data are amassed, not through experi­ modem science has been content to leave the search for
ments he can control, but through a series of cases which God to disciplines fitted by long success for such a search.
he observes and compares. Th;e clinician, again, is not
sloppy; but he can rarely be.rigorously exact. He is helped m. The Application of Scientific Methods
greatly when he can draw ·on experimental sciences-or­ to This Study
ganic phemistry, for example. But in his own' right the
good clinician is a good scientist. Obviously the social Of the bare elements of scientific thinking-con­
sciences can depend but to a limited extent on actual ceptual scheme, facts, especially "case histories," logical
·
controlled experimentation; but they . can be clinical operations, uniformities-the social science$ in general
sciences depending more on observation than on experi­ come out well on the score· of facts. Even in the field of
mentation. history, where neither laboratory nor questionnaire meth­
Finally, scientific. thinking cannot be, except perhaps in ods of research are availflble, 01Jr existing supply of facts is
suggesting problems, what nowadays most of us know well surprisingly good. . You cannot draw Cromwell back to life,
enough as wishful thinking. The scientist's own hopes and but neither can you call the dinosaurs back to life. What
fears, his own standards of what he would like to have we know about Cromwell from ·the written record is in
'prevail on this earth must 'be kept as far. as possible out of many, ways as reliable as what we laJ-ow about dinosaurs
his work, and especially out of his -observations of, or from the fossil record. To say that history is a fable agreed
dealing with, facts. How far such hopes and fears and upon, or a set of tricks played upon the dead, is to slander,
standards enter into his choice of conceptual schemes, how or at least to misjudge, the great body of industrious and
far they influence the kind of questions he asks, are sober workers who have 'Carried on the study of history.
difficult Rroblems we may perhaps be permitted to dodg�. Notably the last" century or so has seen the formation of a
Sufficient that the techniques ·of most. of the established bOdy of research workers in history who, with all their
sciences provide a very effective check on the cruder forms faults, maintain standards comparable in some ways to
of wishful thinking. History, which because it has been so those maintained by similar groups in the natural sciences.
long an art and a craft is perhaps the most respectable of These research workers do not indeed uncover the simple
the social sciences, provides in the technical training un­ raw material of facts. The humblest antiquarian arranges
dergone by most professional historians a surprisingly the facts he digs out of his documents into some kind of
effective and not wholly dissimilar check on th� more vi­ pattern .. Such a process of arrangement, however, is not
olent forms ofp artisan :writing and thinking. the conscious theorizing of the physical scientist. It was
.