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Quote by Emile Durkheim

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

Quote by Emile Durkheim

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Emile Durkheim
Emile Durkheim

Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist born on April 15, 1858, and died on November 15, 1917, is considered the father of sociology. His work profoundly influenced the understanding of social structure, social functions, and collective consciousness. more

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“Science does not rest upon solid bedrock. The bold structure of its theories rises, as it were, above a swamp. It is like a building erected on piles. The piles are driven down from above into the swamp, but not down to any natural or 'given' base; and if we stop driving the piles deeper, it is not because we have reached firm ground. We simply stop when we are satisfied that the piles are firm enough to carry the structure, at least for the time being.”

“Science even more than the Gospel teaches us humility. She cannot look down on anything, she does not know what superiority means, she despises nothing, never lies for the sake of a pose, and conceals nothing out of coquetry. She stops before the facts as an investigator, sometimes as a physician, never as an executioner, and still less with hostility and irony.”