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History and the Social Sciences: some Reflections on the Re-Integration of Social Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Extract

About twenty-five years ago, the fields and methods of the different academic disciplines concerned with the study of man and his works, and the relations between these disciplines, were a favorite theme of discussion. At that time, the so-called social sciences were experiencing a spectacular expansion in scope simultaneously gaining depth through the constant refinement of their methods. Increasing division of labor in research focused attention on marginal areas, giving rise thereby to several new specialties which threatened to encroach upon already established disciplines. These sometimes heated discussions were, as a whole, a healthy sign of the progress made by the new science of man, which then went through the growing pains of its adolescence. They also meant a staking out of claims between professional groups, a search for new labels and standards, and a reshuffling and re-naming of college courses and text books. This process of reorientation resulted in the organizational structure within which both research and teaching in the American institutions of higher learning have been carried out ever since. Once the demarcation lines had been drawn, however, interest in problems pertaining to the logic of science decreased; and the scholars in the different fields settled down to putting in practice what had now been defined as their proper task.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1951

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References

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25 The phrase einfühlendes Nacherleben has been variously translated as empathy, sympathetic introspection, vicarious personal experience of somebody else's action, or ideational reproduction of a system. The term verstehen is usually simply rendered with the English “understand” which has caused considerable confusion. Cf. particularly footnote 2 on page 87 of Henderson, A. M.'s and Parsons, Talcott' translation of Max Weber: The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (New York, 1947).Google Scholar

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