Abstract
Until a few decades ago social structures and social processes were usually regarded as inexpressible in mathematical terms. This negative attitude towards the possibility of mathematical sociology betrayed a faulty understanding of both mathematics and sociology. Indeed, it presupposed that mathematics, when applied, is applied to the objects or referents of the discourse, and it presupposed that the method of science consists in the set of techniques employed in the physical sciences. Thus the famous, or rather infamous, dichotomy between the Naturwissenschaften and the Geisteswissenschaften was reinforced by a wrong philosophy of mathematics and of science.
Revised version of Bunge (1969b).
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© 1973 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Bunge, M. (1973). Mathematical Modeling in Social Science. In: Method, Model and Matter. Synthese Library, vol 44. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2519-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2519-5_7
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