Making Sense of Durkheim's Methodological Prescriptions

In: Philosophy of the social sciences: an international journal = Philosophie des sciences sociales, Band 40, Heft 3, S. 539-551

Abstract

In his struggle to constitute sociology as a natural science, Durkheim fought against finalism, Gabriel Tarde's general project, efforts at theoretical synthesis unconnected to specific empirical problems, and ideological analysis. The article dwells on these four "epistemological battles," especially on Durkheim's (unfortunately failed) effort toward purging the social sciences from ideological analysis.