mplied
by this conception need not be that of Comte. In the Positive Philosophy
history is part of sociology; the interest in it is to discover the
sociological laws. In the view of which I have just spoken, history
is permitted to be an end in itself; the reconstruction of the
genetic process is an independent interest. For the purpose of the
reconstruction, sociology, as well as physical geography, biology,
psychology, is necessary; the sociologist and the historian play
into each other's hands; but the object of the former is to establish
generalisations; the aim of the latter is to trace in detail a singular
causal sequence.

14. The success of the evolutional theory helped to discredit
the assumption or at least the invocation of transcendent causes.
Philosophically of course it is compatible with theism, but historians
have for the most part desisted from invoking the naive conception of a
"god in history" to explain historical movements. A historian may be a
theist; but, so far as his work is concerned, this particular belief is
otiose. Otherwise indeed (as was remarked above) history could not be a
science; for with a deus ex machina who can be brought on the stage to
solve difficulties scientific treatment is a farce. The transcendent
element had appeared in a more subtle form through the influence of
German philosophy. I noticed how Ranke is prone to refer to ideas as
if they were transcendent existences manifesting themselves in the
successive movements of history. It is intelligible to speak of certain
ideas as controlling, in a given period,--for instance, the idea of
nationality; but from the scientific point of view, such ideas have
no existence outside the minds of individuals and are purely psychical
forces; and a historical "idea," if it does not exist in this form, is
merely a way of expressing a synthesis of the historian himself.

15. From the more general influence of Darwinism on the place of history
in the system of human knowledge, we may turn to the influence of the
principles and methods by which Darwin explained development. It had
been recognised even by ancient writers (such as Aristotle and
Polybius) that physical circumstances (geography, climate) were factors
conditioning the character and history of a race or society. In the
sixteenth century Bodin emphasised these factors, and many subsequent
writers took them into account. The investigations of Darwin, which
brought them into the fo