The Fetish of the "Disciplines"

Author(s): Benjamin Schwartz

Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Aug., 1964), pp. 537-538
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2050236 .
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The Fetishofthe"Disciplines"

Commentsby BENJAMINSCHWARTZ

r HE followingrepresentsan amplification of some ratherpoorlyexpressedre-

marks made at the panel on ChineseStudiesand the Disciplinesat the recent
meetingof theAssociationforAsian Studies.
The essentialpoint (banal but nevertheless true) is thatwhatevera man's disci-
pline,the broaderand deeperhis generalculture-his"generaleducation,"the more
willinghe is to bringwhateverwisdomhe has to bear on the subjecthe is treating.
Whetherthis wisdom derivesfromthe "methodology"of his disciplineor not, it
increasesthe likelihoodof his sayingsomethingsignificant. Conversely, the mechan-
ical applicationof an isolated "discipline"narrowlyconceivedin termsof a self-
contained"model"or "system"to a culture(whethercontemporary or "traditional")
whichhas not been studiedin any of its otheraspectsby a personof limitedculture
maylead to sterileand evenpreposterous results.
These propositions do, of course,implya doubtconcerningthenotionof theiron-
clad purityof the disciplineswithinthe fieldof human studies.This does not mean
thatwithinthefieldsof economics,sociology,and politicalscienceone may not find
separatepropositionsand theorieswhich can be consideredgenerallytrue. It is a
questionof whether,imbeddedin the conventionaldivisionof the socialand human
sciencesas now constituted, one can findwhollydiscreteself-contained and autono-
mous "models"or "systems," each witha built-indynamicprincipleof itsown. One
may even raise the question whetherthe field of economics (that much envied
paradigm) in spite of its much vauntedmathematicalmodels can as a whole, in
all its aspects,be considereda completelyautonomousdiscipline.It is interesting to
note thateven while the older social scientific disciplinesare making an enormous
effort in timeand moneyto provethepurityand integralautonomyof theirmethod-
ologies,newcomerssuch as game theory,cybernetics, communications, etc. are seced-
ing and declaringtheirindependence.
What is involvedis not the questionof methodsof empiricalinvestigation. Any
avenue which providesaccess to information-documentary, archaeological,inter-
viewingetc.-should be welcomedby all. Even here the notionthatsome methods
are moreinfallibly "scientific"thanothersignoresthebuilt-inlimitations and defects
of all methods.Again the notionthatour failureto achieveuniversalagreementon
"whatmakes China (or anyotherculture)tick"is simplydue to thelack of a proper
methodof empiricalinvestigation betraysan enormouslysimple-minded readingof
the human situation.
The real difficulty,however,lies not on the empiricalbut on the "Platonic"side-
in the assumptionthatsociology,anthropology, politicalscience,etc. each should be
conceivedof as possessinga self-contained systemor model to be treatedin isolation
fromotheraspectsof humanexperience. A model,be it noted,is notan idea or theory
eventhoughit may employideas and theoriesgenerallyderivativefromothersas its
537

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538 BENJAMIN SCHWARTZ
to notethatMax Weber,who has providedso manyof the
bricks.It is interesting
ideashimself, was mostpassionatelyconcerned of the
withthearea of interaction
economic, thepolitical,and thereligious, it maybe
etc.He was eveninterested,
timidly suggested,in ultimate implications.
philosophic

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