This chapter is concerned first and foremost with Albert
Schäffle. ¹ We come then to the man whom we have mentioned in
other connections, but who should be remembered by sociologists
chiefly as one of the first to propose to Germans a scheme that pur-
ported to be a comprehensive sociology in the later sense of the term. ²

Schäffle was a pathetic figure in modern history. It is certain
that his political enemies accused him of the whole gamut of political
crimes, from incompetence to treason. The most direct evidence
available as to the reasons for his reputation and his ostracism is
in the Autobiography, and in the Preface to Das gesellschaftliche
System, 3d ed. ( 1873), pp. vi-xxi. It is not certain that one who is
unacquainted with Austrian politics of the period can read even
this evidence correctly. As nearly as it can be interpreted from
this distance, the substance of the political issue which cost Schäffle