Abstract
IN his presidential address to Section H (Anthropology), Prof. C. Daryll Forde discusses the anthropological approach to the social sciences. The social sciences are often regarded as comprising all scholarly studies contributing to the portrayal of social conditions, including historical or descriptive accounts and those directed towards the solution of practical social problems. But more strictly considered, science seeks to establish valid generalizations concerning the properties of a range of natural phenomena, and its precision and explanatory value depend on the accuracy with which these properties are determined and the relations between them established. In this sense, social science must be concerned with the investigation of the nature and conditions of social relations, and should seek valid generalizations concerning variation in the social life of the human species. Interpretations of particular societies past or present, and predictions as to particular social developments in the future, depend for their penetration and reliability on achievement in this more strictly scientific field. This dependence of advance in descriptive and practical studies on the development and application of theory is generally recognized in the field of economics, but has been less readily appreciated by students of social history, politics and ethnology.
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Anthropological Approach in Social Science. Nature 160, 286–287 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160286b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160286b0