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)

Émile Durkheim Quotes

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.