ABSTRACT
Health and illness, growth and decay, maturation and degeneration, anabolism and catabolism, life and death were useful ideas in organizing and comprehending observable organic phenomena. In literary naturalism, too, the imagery of growth and decay, vivacity and morbidity was common. If the vacillation regarding a concept of pathology was caused by science, morality, and humane sympathy, the opposition to such a concept was founded essentially in the stress on the subject's internal view of phenomena. The operative resolution of the dilemma was found in a conception of social disorganization. Pathology is very likely a misconception when applied to the realm of subjective existence. But, like many misconceptions, it reflects a partial truth. It is presumptuous and hardly useful to depict those who conceived of personal and social pathology as simple fools. Partly, as suggested thus far, the idea of pathology was transferred to the study of man as part of the generalization of science.
