Rules of Sociological Method Quotes

“Hence we are the victims of an illusion which leads us to believe we have ourselves produced what has been imposed upon us externally.”
― Émile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method

“Every time a social phenomenon is directly explained by a psychological phenomenon, we may rest assured that the explanation is false".”
― Émile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method

“The pathological forms of a phenomenon are no different in nature from the normal ones, and consequently it is necessary to observe both kinds in order to determine what that nature is. Sickness is not opposed to health; they are two varieties of the same species and each throws light on the other. This is a rule long recognized and practiced both in biology and psychology, and one which the sociologist is no less under an obligation to respect.”
― Émile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method

“[M]ost social institutions have been handed down to us already fashioned by previous generations; we have had no part in their shaping; consequently it is not by searching within ourselves that we can uncover the causes which have given rise to them. Furthermore, even if we have played a part in producing them, we can hardly glimpse, save in the most confused and often even the most imprecise way, the real reasons which have impelled us to act, or the nature of our action. Already, even regarding merely the steps we have taken personally, we know very inaccurately the relatively simple motives that govern us. We believe ourselves disinterested, whereas our actions are egoistic; we think that we are commanded by hatred whereas we are giving way to love, that we are obedient to reason whereas we are the slaves of irrational prejudices, etc. How therefore could we possess the ability to discern more clearly the causes, of a different order of complexity, which inspire the measures taken by the collectivity? For at the very least each individual shares in only an infinitesimally small part of them; we have a host of fellow-fashioners, and what is occurring in the consciousness of others eludes us.”
― Émile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method

“Todo meio é ele próprio um fim.”
― Émile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method

“A ciência pode perfeitamente nos dizer de que maneira as causas produzem seus efeitos, não que finalidades devem ser buscadas; ela observa, explica, mas não julga: o bem e o mal não existem para ela.”
― Émile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method