Suchergebnisse

The metatheoretical suppositions underlying Emile Durkheim's theory of the social are investigated. Issues treated include: (1) the problem of establishing scientific rigor in studying the social, while distinguishing social from natural science; (2) determining & defining the objects of empirical study; (3) the problem of induction & abstraction in science; (4) epistemological & ontological problems of objectivity; & (5) types of social causality. It is argued that, in the case of his study of suicide, Durkheim's insistence that sociology's point of departure be empirical data is contradicted by his tacit presupposition of social cohesion. 22 References. J. Anderson