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7 Soc. F. 1 (1928-1929)
Behavior and Mechanism

handle is hein.journals/josf7 and id is 11 raw text is: Volume VII SOCIAL FORCES September, 19z8 BEHAVIOR AND MECHANISM' C. JUDSON HERRICK HE modern period of biology began with the recognition that vital processes are natural events, not acts of the caprice of some supernatural spirit or ghostly presence. Today quali- fied biologists, with very few exceptions, accept this doctrine without reserve and devote themselves to the task of finding out just how the activities of living bodies are related with those of inorganic nature from which we derive our sustenance and our vital energies. This does not mean that the behavior of living bodies is just like that of dead machines; but it does mean that every- thing that goes on in a living body is related in an orderly way, that is in causal sequences, with the events of the world in which that body lives. The laws of biology are not those of physics and chemistry, but they are congruous with them and the rules of these relationships are rapidly being discovered and recorded. In the study of human nature how far can we go with the methods of natural science? The human body has come to be what it is by a natural process of evolu- 1The substance of this paper will appear in Volume III of the New World Series, edited by Bak.r Brownell and published by D. Van Nostrand Company. tion that has taken many millions of years. The behavior patterns of this body have, of course, grown up parallel with the development of the bodily mechanisms that behave. This body does many things that no other animal body can do. It clears land of forest and plants it to wheat. It builds machines to plant and harvest the wheat. It grinds the wheat and makes bread of the flour. It markets the wheat, the flour and the bread by complicated systems of trans- portation, finance and speculation. It creates works of art and enjoys them. It develops ideals of present and future conduct and character. There are mental factors in all of these distinctively human activities, and these factors are inextricably interwoven with all problems of human behavior. Can we write a natural history of this mental aspect of human conduct as well as of the physical and physiological aspects? A man engages in agriculture or manu- facturing or commerce because in this way he can satisfy some of his needs or wants. His needs are very personal; his wants may be known to himself alone. But his con- duct in satisfying these needs and wants is open to general inspection. This be- havior we can study scientifically much SOCIAL FORCES, VOL. VII, NO. 1 Number I

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