PREFACE 
still to be obtained. It will be the great task of the twenti- 
eth century. 
But that liberation of the individual from the clutches 
of the great leviathan implies a mastery over that leviathan. 
The liberation of the individual from those impersonal 
forces means a mastery over those impersonal forces. It 
means the substitution of a rational social structure for the 
uncontrolled and uncontrollable social world in which we 
live. 
That liberation and mastery can be obtained. What is 
needed is an earnest desire to do so on the part of the indi- 
viduals composing society, a consensus of opinion among 
the majority with regard to the ends to be obtained, and 
an adequate knowledge with regard to the means to these 
ends. 
The first two points do not immediately concern us here. 
Our problem is the problem of the adequacy of our knowl- 
edge about social life and the means of obtaining it. It con- 
cerns the methodology of the social sciences. 
It is undoubtedly true that there is an approximately 
adequate knowledge available for certain problems which 
are left unsolved on account of prejudice and selfishness; 
but let us not overstate the case. Our knowledge and fun- 
damental understanding of social life is hardly sufficient to 
guarantee the desired results from its application to the 
handling of the great social problems. A few enthusiastic 
social reformers have sufficient religious faith in their own 
doctrines to promise us a happier and better world if we 
will only follow their suggestions, but it is perhaps just as 
well for the world and for their own reputation that they 
are not too hard pressed to make good. The Russian ex- 
periment has not been completely convincing. 
Among the more earnest students of social life there is 
a growing realization of the inadequacy of our knowledge 
a. 
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