Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1293

Carbon of a letter from Heath to Percy W. Bridgman, 10 Buckingham Place, Cambridge, Massachusetts

January 15, 1940

 

Dear Doctor Bridgman:

I am coming to Boston to talk to a selected luncheon group at the Chamber of Commerce next Thursday, January 18th, and will be in and about Boston for a few days.

I am going to talk on the Science of Society (and of History) as a discovery of its mode of operation — the formulation of its uniformities — precisely as the invariables (in the statistical sense) are formulated by the natural sciences.

By these invariables I mean the phenomena that are always operatively present and observable in history and, thus, independently verifiable. (It is really simpler than it sounds.)

I am going to forecast for the field of the common or public services (government) a successful engineering technique that in origin, principle and mode of operation will be precisely the same as that which in the mechanical, chemical and electrical fields has resulted in the superior means of transportation and communication and other material services that the world enjoys today. And I am going to predicate the new Science of Society and its practical application upon the same motivation of the individuals who shall practice it and upon far greater profits (fortunes) and rewards than have been won in the present-existing technological and engineering fields,

I know that this will be a matter of profound interest to minds like yours that are deeply stirred by the current signs of social decay, but still have an “irrational faith in the rational mind,” and a desire to examine those operative and verifiable aspects of social phenomena upon a knowledge of which an effective engineering will spontaneously and profitably arise as it has done in other fields. I am, therefore, bold enough to request an opportunity of setting these matters informally and in some detail before you and, if possible, also before several of your friends or associates who would be similarly interested. Your critical reactions will be highly valued and appreciated.

Please communicate with me at the Commander Hotel where I expect to arrive Wednesday night or Thursday morning of this week.

Sincerely yours,

                                Spencer Heath

SH:L