reverse, it is concrete science, and therefore the heir and successor of all philosophy.
It is heir to all philosophy, because notwithstanding the break with the old philosophy which the new method of treating human society has effected, and the superceding of philosophy by science, there is a continuity of thought running through philosophy and the science of human society just as there is a continuity of human society itself notwithstanding the changes in the form of its organization, or just as there is continuity in the economic structure of human society notwithstanding the different "economies" which were prevalent at different stages of its development.
The Marxian science is the result and logical sequence of the whole development of mankind. Marx found awaiting him the component parts of his philosophy: the dialectic or evolutionary method of contemplating the world, and the materialistic view, the view that the material conditions of the world being the only thing we know are therefore the only thing we can take cognizance of. His was the new combination and the method of application which, however, were loudly demanded by the needs of the time.
In order, however, that we may come unbiased to the study of this science which is variously known as "economic materialism," "dialectic materialism," or "The Materialistic Conception of History," we must rid ourselves of some prejudices which cling to the name because of the association of the words which represent the ideas forming its component parts, in vulgar parlance, with certain objectionable moral and mental qualities. Dialectics is commonly associated with a certain mental trick by which a shrewd debater seemingly proves something which may be quite untrue; the reasoning by which the proof is produced contains a mental shuffling of cards. It is sometimes used in the same sense as "sophistic,"—another much-abused term. But worse yet are the vulgar associations of materialism. A materialist is commonly supposed to be a man who is gross, mean and egotistical. A materialist phi-
