The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 29

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Excerpt from The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 29: Bimonthly, July, 1923 May, 1924 I. Inventions are: (a) physical, mediating an adjustment of man to his natural physical environment, (b) social, consisting of some form of social organization, adjusting man to other men and all men together to nature, and (6) method inventions, which are forms of neuro-psychic technique, ranging in content from simple habits to complex scientific laws and formulas, which aid man in interpreting and controlling his relation to his physical and social environments. 2. The Sources of invention are in the nature of the inventor (hands, brain, and speech) and in the nature of his environ ment (models, materials, forces). 3. The process of inventing is empirical and by scientific projection, most important modern inventions being of the latter type. An empirical invention is chie¿y by direct copy, while a projected invention is by indirect copy. 4. Social progress is secured through inventions of the foregoing three types, and the method or scientific invention is preliminary to the highest degree of progress in physical and social inventions. 5. There are six major fields for future inventions: production, conservation, eugenics, euthenics, distribution, social organization. Invention is the process by which man has arisen above the dominance of his crude physical environment and has reached a position of control. He masters his environment, as the common expression has it, only through invention. In the course of time, he comes even to invent his environment. In this respect he is more able and successful where his social environment is in question than with respect to his physical environment. But even his physi cal environment he has been able to transform in many of its details, especially by rendering his adjustment to it increasingly indirect. And for this purpose he has created a socio-technic environment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.