ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the practical objectives which Barrington Moore prescribes for social science, and especially for himself, in the 1950s. By the 1950s men and women engaged in the natural and social sciences had ceased to regard criticism of the established order as part of their function. The Enlightenment may be summed up in two words: criticism and power. From the classics the philosophes derived legitimacy and a useful store of intellectual models in their attack upon religious superstition. Their conviction was that in a disenchanted world free from myths the control exercised by human beings over their destiny could be greatly increased through the application of reason. David Hume recognised that there were severe limitations upon prediction in human affairs but argued that through 'a cautious observation of human life' and judicious collection and comparison of practical experiments it was possible to establish a useful science in the political sphere.
