Political Science in the International Field

Pitman B. Potter

American Political Science Review, 1923, vol. 17, issue 3, 381-391

Abstract: Political science, like all other branches of social science, has, in the past century, become increasingly inductive in method. Attempts to deduce conclusions regarding the details of political organization and practice by speculative thought concerning the nature of man, of liberty, of authority, of society, and so on, have now largely ceased. In their place we have efforts to collect as much data as possible concerning actual forms of state organization and governmental methods, and efforts to analyze that data and discover therein the main lines of causation and the fundamental principles of politics.This is all a matter of common knowledge. It is, moreover, a change which most of us regard with approval. The reason for calling attention to it here, therefore, is principally to point out its effect upon the study of the international field by political scientists.There are several consequences which flow from the placing of political science upon the basis of inductive method. The consequence of which we think most frequently is that of rendering our conclusions more certain and secure, and of reducing as much as possible the element of subjective personal judgment therein.

Date: 1923
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