Sociology 2270A/B Lecture Notes - Robert Neelly Bellah, Social Fact, Instrumentalism
16 Apr 2014
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Durkheim"s epistomology: the sum is more than its parts. To treat facts of a certain order as things is therefore not to place them in this or that category of reality; it is to observe towards them a certain attitude of mind. As the sociologist penetrates into the social world he should be conscious that he is penetrating into the unknown. At times the word is simple and obvious - it refers to some specific social group. At other times its meaning is darker and more mysterious. It is not identical with the group of individuals that compose it and their dwelling place. " rather, it is above all a composition of ideas, beliefs and sentiments of all sorts which realise themselves through individuals. Foremost of these ideas is the moral ideal which is its principal raison d" tre. You get a claim about what is knowable and how one can know it: a methodological claim, an ontological claim.
