Practice question · Multiple choice
Comte placed sociology last in his hierarchy of the sciences, after mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology. What does that ordering claim about the discipline?
Hints
- The hierarchy runs from the most general and simplest to the least general and most complex.
- Being last in a chain of dependence is a claim about difficulty, not about rank.
Show the answer
D. It studies the most complex object and depends on findings of every prior science
Why
The ordering is a claim about dependence and complexity: you cannot explain a society without knowing something about the organisms in it, and biology already presupposes chemistry. Comte meant it as the highest possible compliment, sociology is the crown of the sciences because it comes last, not because it is a poor relation.
Practise Comte and Marx
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