ABSTRACT
In our consideration of the philosophy of social science up to this point attention has been mainly focused upon the branch of philosophy called epistemology-the theory of knowledge. In tracing the origins of social science special emphasis was put upon the importance of the physical sciences which, during the period from Copernicus to Newton, established canons of scientific method that the early social scientists aspired to emulate. Only occasionally, as in discussing utopian social thought in Chapter 8, has it been necessary to make reference to another branch of philosophymetaphysics. In this chapter I pursue this further in order to examine more fully the foundations of the view that the organization of humans into social collectivities is an aspect of a more general harmonious order of nature, and to assess the influence of this view upon the development of modern social science. I undertake this discussion following the examination of classical political economy in the preceding chapter, since one of the prevalent contentions in nineteenth-century social thought was that the science of political economy had demonstrated, or claimed to have demonstrated, that the principle of natural harmonious order was operative in man’s economic relations with his fellows.
