ABSTRACT
Sociology is a child of modern democratic society and therefore also a child of Europe and Europeans throughout the world, particularly in the United States of America. People have posed questions about their societies since the time of classical Greek philosophy, but the sociologist does not simply extend philosophical inquiry. As a particular intellectual discipline, sociology arose in Europe at a time when modern political thought and a recognition of the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution were emerging. With its origins in the democratic revolution, as well as those of science and technology, sociology defines itself in opposition to philosophical and prescriptive traditions and their reflections on society. The intention of sociologists was to break with the philosophical tradition that since the time of Aristotle had contemplated the best possible political regime. Political philosophy no longer appeared to provide an adequate understanding of the political reality of modernity and the harsh transformations that were to be seen in the material conditions of life. A modern form of inquiry was all the more vital for sociologists because they were supporters of the scientific ideal of their century. They wanted to be in line with the aims of rational knowledge and to distance themselves from their own society in order to observe it objectively. Contrary to the philosophers, sociologists claimed themselves to be scientific and not prescriptive. They did not ask how society should function but instead they posed the question of how it does function. In a scientific society, they set themselves the task of being scientific, by analytically separating the cognitive and prescriptive and making a distinction between knowledge and action. Their task followed that of Spinoza’s maxim “do not deplore, laugh, hate, but understand”. This is why sociologists, as in any other scientific endeavor, base their analyses on inquiry in the widest sense of the term, such as an historical inquiry in the style of Max Weber, qualitative inquiries inspired by the work of anthropologists, or inquiries by questionnaires and statistical analyses.
