JACKEYN A. GREMIOStudent 1. What distinguishes sociology from othersciences?Ø Sociologyas the scientific study of the society and the social interactions bears itsown uniqueness with regards to other sciences. Sociology for me is course thathas “A FOCUS THAT IS NOT FOCUSED”. Sounds weird but let’s get to it deeper.
Come to think of it. When sociologists conduct a certain study, they have thespecific topic of concern – the focus. Let’s try to use the example on teenagepregnancy.
When the researcher studies about teenage pregnancy, they do notstudy teenage pregnancy per ce all throughout instead they are more interestedon the outside factors. They are trying to look at the bigger picture. What arethe reasons, who are responsible, what is the role of the differentinstitutions, what influences it, and etc. To put it simply, what sociologistslook for are the relevant and related concepts that will lead them to the focusat the end.
In addition, they don’t study the individual instead, theindividual as a member and a product of the society. The individual as a partof a bigger picture. 2. Why are the precursors ofmodern social science still important?Ø Precursorsof modern social sciences are still important simply because, it is whereeverything started. In everything we do, history really matters. Without itsroots, it will not grow and develop. We need to look back and understand fullyhow these precursors have lead and influenced the development of the modernsocial sciences. 3.
Why is it enlightening to makeone’s own implicit theories explicit?Ø Toput it simply, it is really enlightening to make the UNCLEAR, CLEAR. We’llnever know unless we understand. We have to convert concepts on the basis ofour own capacity to grasp the points given. How will we understand everythingwhen we do not understand and the basis are unclear to us to begin with? Wehave to grasp these theories clearly, detail by detail, for us to know it’sworth and application, its purpose and relevance to our society as a whole.
4. Why can classical sociologicaltheory be important to contemporary social sciences?Ø Onething never goes old. Even though situations that are true day may not be truetomorrow, still some situations serve its relevance in the modern society. Justlike our classical sociological theories. These were taken up and written for along time and knowing how the society revolves, there must be so many omitted ideasand revisions. But even so, they’re not just a historical story but a livingdocument that modern thinkers seeks to interpret to pave the way inunderstanding today’s world. These theories had played its important role inthe development of sociology and are only right and just to be used. Not justfor credits but it has proven its application and relevance.
5. What is the relationship between religious andscientific knowledge, according to Comte?Ø Toaddress this question, I quote “Comte defines religion as ‘the state ofcomplete harmony peculiar to human life … when all the parts of Life areordered in their natural relations to each other’ (1851, v. 2, 8;E.,v.
2, 8). Comte also defines religion as a consensus, analogous to whathealth is for the body. Religion has two functions, according to the point ofview from which one considers existence: in its moral function, religion shouldgovern each individual; in its political function, it should unite allindividuals.
Religion also has three components, corresponding to the threefolddivision of the cerebral table: doctrine, worship, and moral rule (discipline). Comte’s discussion ismainly about the first two. If one considers the first to be related to faithand the second to love, their relation takes two forms: ‘Love comes first andleads us to the faith, so long as the growth is spontaneous; but when itbecomes systematic, then the belief is constructed in order to regulate theaction of love’ (1852, v. 2, 152; E.
, v. 2, 83). At first, Comte hadfollowed the traditional order and presented doctrine before worship, but hesoon gave priority to worship, and saw this change as a considerable stepforward.” While “the sciences are related to one another in an encyclopedicscale that goes from the general to the particular, and from the simple to thecomplex: moving from mathematics to sociology, generality decreases andcomplexity increases.
“6. What was Comte’s main motive to write hisclassical book “The Course on the Positive Philosophy?”Ø Accordingto the “Positive Philosophy of August Comte” by Daryl Worthington,” written ata time when traditional ideas of politics, the state and society were beingbent and twisted like never before, Comte believed that the positivist approachwas the only way to make sense of the chaos”On the other hand, Comte wrotehis book for he believes that in times of chaos or negativities, positivism isthe way to change and develop the society. But bottom line, Comte believed thatpositivism can make the society perfect. It is also a way that could be appliedin order to improve the society for the benefits of its members.
