Talcott Parsons Quotes
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But the scientific importance of a change in knowledge of fact consists precisely in j its having consequences for a system of theory.
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The hypothesis may be put forward, to be tested by the s subsequent investigation, that this development has been in large part a matter of the reciprocal interaction of new factual insights and knowledge on the one hand with changes in the theoretical system on the other.
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Sociology should... be thought of as a science of action-of the ultimate common value element in its relations to the other elements of action.
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But the fact a person denies that he is theorising is no reason for taking him at his word and failing to investigate what implicit theory is involved in his statements.
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A scientifically unimportant discovery is one which, however true and however interesting for other reasons, has no consequences for a system of theory with which scientists in that field are concerned.
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It is probably safe to say that all the changes of factual knowledge which have led to the relativity theory, resulting in a very great theoretical development, are completely trivial from any point of view except their relevance to the structure of a theoretical system.
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Science is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other-only in certain types of society can science flourish, and conversely without a continuous and healthy development and application of science such a society cannot function properly.
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The part an actor played on stage was once written on a separate roll of paper.
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The importance of certain problems concerning the facts will be inherent in the structure of the system.
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Special emphasis should be laid on this intimate interrelation of general statements about empirical fact with the logical elements and structure of theoretical systems.
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Empirical interest will be in the facts so far as they are relevant to the solution of these problems.
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Theory not only formulates what we know but also tells us what we want to know, that is, the questions to which an answer is needed.
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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.
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If capitalism begins as the practical idealism of the aspiring bourgeoisie, it ends ... as an orgy of materialism.
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Spencers god was Evolution, sometimes also called Progress.
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If observed facts of undoubted accuracy will not fit any of the alternatives it leaves open, the system itself is in need of reconstruction.
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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.
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It is that of increasing knowledge of empirical fact, intimately combined with changing interpretations of this body of fact - hence changing general statements about it - and, not least, a changing a structure of the theoretical system.
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A theoretical system does not merely state facts which have been observed and that logically deducible relations to other facts which have also been observed.
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A gloss is a total system of perception and language.
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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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