THE IDEA OF SCIENCE: LOGIC OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

INTRODUCTION

Human has always been inquisitive needing to understand why things behave in certain way, and is trying
to link observation with prediction for which there have been various knowledge scientist, thinkers and
philosophers who used various methods to give justification for an event. Among the various methods,
the method of science is most commonly used.

The idea of science in sociology is not new it dates back to the emergency of sociology as a separate
discipline. The pioneer of the subject like August Comte, Herbert spencer, George Simmel, Durkheim place
sociology in the family of natural and perfect science. Although the discipline is defined as “the scientific
study of social aspect and human behavior” ( Mack Young) , many sociologists frequently feel “insecure”
about the status of sociology as a scientific discipline (Ritzer 446) Therefore, it becomes important to
discuss the question of whether sociology is a science. Before discussing whether sociology is essentially
a science or not, it is essential to define and discuss as to what is science .

The term “science” is normally, though not exclusively, perceived to denote natural sciences and all other
subject as non-sciences as “science” is referring primarily to disciplines which employ the scientific
method to study the subject matter. The notion of “scientific method” is usually referring to a process of
generating scientific knowledge, which generally includes making observations, collecting and analysing
data, as well as conjecturing and testing hypothesis and theories. The earliest sciences to grow were
physical and natural sciences due to their success in exploring the physical and natural world and is being
able to arrive at universal laws, they came to be viewed as models for other sciences to match it is said
because the science which are in highly developed stage, as in physics the laws which have established
will form a hierarchy in which many special laws appear as logical consequences of small no of general
laws expressed in a very sophisticated manner ( T.B Bottomore), for e.g. In biology the evolutionary
scheme has led to the science of genetics and formulation of universal laws of heredity.

Sociology as a science

August Comte who is considered to be the father of sociology in his classification of the sciences, made
sociology both logically and chronologically prior to the other sciences and suggested that like natural
sciences a sociologist is concerned only with the factual study thereby making it a positive science which
is capable of employing the methods of natural sciences in sociology. Beside this the other sociologist
argues that like natural sciences a sociologist cannot afford to be anything else but scientific method of
study. Much of the early sociology is affected by the thinkers of the enlightment of the 18 th century as
they began to study human conditions by using the methods of natural sciences.

Herbert spencer who is influenced by biology viewed society as an organism like entity, a unified whole
made up of inter-connected parts and advocated methods of positive sciences to be used for the study of
social phenomenon

Emile Durkheim regarded sociology to be a positive science according to him social facts constitute the
subject matter of sociology and in his work rules of sociological method he gave a detailed methods which
are to be employed by a sociologist to study social phenomenon empirically. Although he was especially
concerned to emphasis the autonomy of sociology and to specify the particular range of phenomenon
with which it could deal so he did not support that sociology could be a complete science, or that it could
be pursued in isolation from other social sciences.

Beside the above thinkers there are other like Radcliff brown, Malinowski and Parson in later stage
continued to view sociology as a positive science.

Sociology is a science to the extent that it develops a body of organized verified knowledge
which is based on scientific investigation. Sociology forsakes myth, folklore and bases its
conclusions on scientific evidence. The social behavior of men can be studied through scientific
investigation as any other natural phenomenon. So from the discussion we can say that the
discipline is scientific in its method and intentions as it follows the scientific methods of
observation, experimentation and comparison. In its scientific intension sociology aims at
exact description and explanation by formulation of general statements.

Logic of scientific Enquiry

For scientific enquiry it is essential that a observer must have pointed approach, a vast laboratory,
unchanging products for experimentation and after the analysis of data , the scientist should try to
generalize his conclusion and verify the truth of his generalizations. It is essential that the scientific
enquiry must bear facts as these are not with the ideal situation i.e as they are ought to be, thus the
sicientific enquiry is factual. In scientific enquiry there is a close relationship between the cause and
effect and their validity can be examined at any time under any circumstances