A Life of Synthesis

Bibliographic Data

ID3759596
AuthorsGeorge Caspar Homans
Year1968
Volume12
Issue1
Pages2-8
Publication date1968-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/000276426801200102
OpenAlexW1985012708
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

Publisher Summary This chapter presents various aspects related to a life of synthesis. There are two realities that any writer of a work of synthesis must face. First, unless he is an anthropologist describing a society for the first time, he will have to rely on the work of others on secondary sources. He will not be able to produce wholly new findings. His originality will at best lie in the synthesis itself. This means that he would necessarily be an intellectual parasite, and he had better be ready to tolerate the ambiguity of that role. The other reality that the writer of a work of synthesis must face derives from his purpose: to give the reader some intellectual control of a whole system. For this purpose, it is much more important to state initially generalizations that are largely true rather than to try from the first to enter all their qualifications in detail

Sociology · History and advancements in chemistry · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology

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