Émile Durkheim Quote

Science cannot describe individuals, but only types. If human societies cannot be classified, they must remain inaccessible to scientific description.


'Montesquieu's Contribution to the Rise of Social Science' (1892), in Montesquieu and Rousseau. Forerunners of Sociology, trans. Ralph Manheim (1960)


Science cannot describe individuals, but only types. If human societies cannot be classified, they must remain inaccessible to scientific description.

Science cannot describe individuals, but only types. If human societies cannot be classified, they must remain inaccessible to scientific description.

Science cannot describe individuals, but only types. If human societies cannot be classified, they must remain inaccessible to scientific description.

Science cannot describe individuals, but only types. If human societies cannot be classified, they must remain inaccessible to scientific description.