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"Thus, in general, in the first instance, the direction of interest in empirical fact will be canalised by the logical structure of the theoretical system."
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Explore more quotes by Talcott Parsons


"Among those who are satisfactory in this respect it is desirable to have represented as great a diversity of intellectual tradition, social milieu and personal character as possible."


"The conception that, instead of this, contemporary society is at or near a turning point is very prominent in the views of a school of social scientists who, though they are still comparatively few, are getting more and more of a hearing."


"Of course there may well be particular reasons why Spencer rather than others is dead, as there were also particular reasons why he rather than others made such a stir."


"The functions of the family in a highly differentiated society are not to be interpreted as functions directly on behalf of the society, but on behalf of personality."


"From all this it follows what the general character of the problem of the development of a body of scientific knowledge is, in so far as it depends on elements internal to science itself."


"If there are four equations and only three variables, and no one of the equations is derivable from the others by algebraic manipulation then there is another variable missing."


"Now obviously the propositions of the system have reference to matters of empirical fact; if they did not, they could have no claim to be called scientific."


"That is, a system starts with a group of interrelated propositions which involve reference to empirical observations within the logical framework of the propositions in question."


"The implications of these considerations justify the statement that all empirically verifiable knowledge even the commonsense knowledge of everyday life - involves implicitly, if not explicitly, systematic theory in this sense."
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