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Feringer Notes - CIRCULATION OF THOUGHT - 1954 64 of 65 society and the others around the world.There seems to be no end to the states of poverty, crime, degeneration, anarchy, war, and the like. Natural science methods do not warn us against damage done by trying to change the time and timing of these processes. Children grow up too soon, kill, take drugs by age 10.Children bear children by age 10. Marriages are short-lived, as are many professional relationships.These and other social processes are out of kilter, and natural science methods have nothing to say about our conception of mis-timing in these matters. We instigate technology that constantly unbalances society, and no one is saying STOP. 4.ERH credits Jean Gerson with inventing the grammar school; his dream was that every child of Christendom should have schooling. He was the chancellor of the University of Paris, presiding at the Council of Konstanze in 1415. He said: ...it is more important to teach the children than these damn (older) students and the Ph.D.'s(p.9) 5.Considerable anarchy reigned within the church at that time. The theologians were split. Anselm and Abelard came on the scene 75 years. later. Social change, progress, the evolution of institutions, the establishment of a common spirit among people that would be the foundation for peace in a community - all take timesometimes hundreds of years.But our present social science, applying the methods of natural science, does not allow us to understand or even see the timespans of these events. 6.To be sure, some things in society can be predicted by mathematical calculations. Probabilities of election results, the occurrence of certain diseases, the numbers of school drop-outs.But this tells us nothing of what "individuals" are likely to do.Society is treated as an inert mass of things, as predictably reacting automatons. Creativity does not occur en mass, it is individual. WHAT SHOULD A MORE VIABLE SOCIAL SCIENCE DO? 7.1), much of our social knowledge can only be empirically known.We cannot understand concepts that we have not already experienced. 2), It must account for the fact that all researchers cannot possibly position themselves outside society, therefore they cannot possibly be unbiased, or objective, or undogmatic about people.The very questions they raise for study are biased. All social research must therefore take into account the researcher. This is not true for research in natural science. 3), Nature is not rational; it has characteristics that can be learned. But mutations always occur, neverpredicted. 4), Natural science has no direction, but human societies do (or must if they are to become viable) - which is to say, we all desire peace, justice, equal treatment under the law as elements of our goals. 5), A principle social goal is to change and grow, to become something we have never been before, and to create social progress from generation to generation."...the first thing you have to admit in the social sciences is that they imply the possibility of change." (p.24) 6) With interpersonal relations there is always some authority - of parents, of managers, of professions that certify.In the natural world there is no authority directing phenomena. 7) In human relations our very social existence is founded on speech, on our ability to communicate,
Feringer Notes - CIRCULATION OF THOUGHT - 1954 65 of 65 and therefore a viable social science must include speech as one of its principle elements.There is no speech between elements in nature. In social relations, the existence of peace or war, animosity or love explains much.There is no such concern in natural science. 8) A viable social science must be one in which the social scientist him/herself will be changed before he can hope to articulate something that is new and convince others of its truth. (p.31) Such a social scientist must be a judge. He "...must be so taken with the issue at hand that he himself first remodels his own way before he can say to others what they should do.He is the test case in whom the response must work itself out into reality." (p.32)In other words, social scientists must passionately believe that the welfare of society depends upon their work, and be willing to act on it. They must know and practice the value, that to speak the truth may require sacrifice on his part, and be willing to suffer the risk. In natural science, we make the atoms move.In the social sciences, the scientists themselves move. (p.33) 8..In short, a viable science of society must require that all events, including his own, involve the whole man.In natural science only the scientist's analytical and descriptive skills are required. 9.Finally, in natural science, laws (of nature) are discovered.In social life, laws are created through agreement, negotiation, and trust in order to create peace.Of course, those laws are constantly changed as man changes. 10.To repeat once again, a new type of social science must be centered on speech, on the articulation and circulation of truth, in the process of gaining lasting agreement as to the best rules for governing social relations and mores. End of Lecture Series CIRCULATION OF THOUGHT - 1954 Lectures 1-26 Feringer notes Notes started: Sept-'96 - Jan-'97 Last edited: 8-98
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