Sociology is one method among many, not a master science

Evidence

Does this not, he asks (as is maintained by that “exaggerated” notion of “society” which was mentioned earlier by him) does this not reduce all sciences of man to mere parts of the science of social life? Since Simmel is convinced that the “special social sciences” wifl continue no matter how sociology may develop, the answer can only be negative. Hence, in order to establish sociology as a science which is yet no Utopian “master science,” a different route must be taken. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 418

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that for Simmel the special social sciences remain independent and sociology is not a superordinate discipline.
• XREF: connects to: Handing critique off to sociology makes academic division of labor a methodological principle — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 701