ABSTRACT
Causal relations in the social order lack simplicity and clarity. Likewise, in making a prediction, we use some "preferred" causal relation. The idea that a system-based mode of prediction is the right one was broached by Saint-Simon, developed by Auguste Comte, and triumphed with Karl Marx. The idea that an excessive size is incompatible with a given form occurs in Aristotle: beyond a certain level of the population, the organization of the state is adapted to a nation that is governed, rather than to a city that governs itself. In a work with fundamental implications for social science, D'Arcy W. Thompson worked out in a fascinating way the applications of Galileo's principle to the structure of living beings, and showed how internal propulsions and external pressures lead to changes in a form. It is unnecessary to recall how Montesquieu established his natural relationship between the size of a regime and its political structure.
