Some Reflections on Method in the Study of Politics

Abstract

NO ASPECT of political science today is such a subject of dispute and a source of frustration as its methodology. Over the years new and controversial proposals for procedure in our study of political life have been regularly brought forward. Yet the problem of method seems to have been advanced but little; more than enlightenment, one must confess, the controversy has produced confusion. The result, still worse, is that the embarrassing question is increasingly being raised whether, for many years, political science has made any notable contribution either to our basic knowledge of social affairs or to the realization of the good life, or even if it constitutes an independent scientific discipline.' Yet we cannot abandon the problem of methodology because it remains unsolved, or ignore it out of sheer frustration. We should not deceive ourselves, either, that we can escape any of our difficulty through taking individual refuge in one small corner of the field, one means of approach, or one special perspective, no matter how intensively we may succeed in cultivating it. Any solution will be effective only to the extent that it clarifies and is rooted firmly in the vital core of political activity.2 Only thus can we acquire perspective in our attention to more specific political phenomena, which otherwise are selected and defined far too casually. We feel, likewise, that methodology must become once again a common concern rather than that of a relatively small number of specialists. Excessive specialization has had two unfortunate consequences. In the first place, we have moved on an uneven front, so that at any one time excessive attention has been given to the development of this or that aspect of the subject, depending upon the special interests and qualifications of particular scholars. Methodological studies have as a result lost the breadth of view necessary for any lasting and useful achievement. And, secondly, the product of this specialization has rapidly developed into analysis of such refinement that it is comprehensible only to other specialists of equal competence and similar training. Under these circumstances the often valuable work of those mainly concerned with methodology remains largely in the