Talcott Parsons quotes - page 2

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. (Talcott Parsons)
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
Empirical interest will be in the facts so far as they are relevant to the solution of these problems. View quote
Talcott Parsons
If observed facts of undoubted accuracy will not fit any of the alternatives it leaves open, the system itself is in need of reconstruction. View quote
Talcott Parsons
The part an actor played on stage was once written on a separate roll of paper. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
Culture has been distinguished from the other elements of action by the fact that it is intrinsically transmissible from one action system to another from personality to personality by learning and from social system to social system by diffusion. This is because culture is constituted by "ways of orienting and acting," these ways being "embodied in" meaningful symbols. View quote
Talcott Parsons
In a sense the present work is to be regarded as a secondary-study of the work of a group of writers in the field of social theory. But the genus "secondary study" comprises several species; of these an example of only one, and that perhaps not the best known, is to be found in these pages. The primary aim of the study is not to determine and state in summary form what these writers said or believed about the subjects they wrote about. Nor is it to inquire directly with reference to each proposition of their "theories" whether what they have said is tenable in the Hght of present sociological and related knowledge. Both these questions must be asked repeatedly, but what is important is not so much the fact that they are asked, or even answered, but the context in which this takes place. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. (Talcott Parsons)
The main concern of the study is with the outline of a theoretical system. Its minor variations from writer to writer are not a matter of concern to this analysis. View quote
Talcott Parsons
In so far as such a theory is empirically correct it will also tell us what empirical facts it should be possible to observe in a given set of circumstances. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
The system becomes logically closed when each of the logical implications which can be derived from any one proposition within the system finds its statement in another proposition in the same system. View quote
Talcott Parsons
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. View quote
Talcott Parsons
In a sense the present work is to be regarded as a secondary-study of the work of a group of writers in the field of social theory. But the genus "secondary study" comprises several species; of these an example of only one, and that perhaps not the best known, is to be found in these pages. View quote
Talcott Parsons