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SOCIOLOGY
3"
In these cases there is a more or less clearly defined subject-
matter, but the character of the problems precludes the
application of the method of science. Neither the existence
of these problems nor the fact that man is a social animal
is therefore a sufficient legitimation of a sociology which
shall be a science and not a philosophy. To be a science,
sociology must not only have a well-defined subject-mat-
ter, but its specific problems must be capable of treat-
ment according to scientific methodology.!
This does not mean that sociology has to discover an
object which has previously been unknown. What is char-
acterized as an object in the most general sense is a com-
plex of definitions and relationships. Each of these com-
plexes, if discovered among a plurality of objects, may
become the subject-matter of a special science. Each sci-
ence rests upon an abstraction. It regards the actual total-
ity of any given thing from the viewpoint of some specific
concept. The totality as such cannot be grasped as a unity
by any science. Each science results, therefore, from a de-
composition of the unity of things and a corresponding
division of labor; and, by virtue of this decomposition, the
object is resolved into specific qualities and functions.
This differentiation and division of labor occur according
to a centralizing concept which makes possible the method-
ological co-ordination into one subject-matter of the simi-
lar factors and functions abstracted from different objects.
In the presence of the highly complex facts of historical
society, which cannot be interpreted from a single scien-
tific viewpoint, the concepts “politics,” “economics,” and
“culture” are indicative of such categories of cognition.
They may combine certain parts of the facts, with elimina-
tion of or merely accidental co-operation with the other
+ For the distinction between sociology and social philosophy, see Book I,
chapter iv.
