The Riddle of the Sphinx

"This book, a collection of essays, addresses the question "How can we achieve a better, i.e., more soundly based and systematically unified understanding of the human world?" Human problems abound in our world: there is crime, mental illness, industrial conflict, and violent suspicion between nations, races, creeds, and cultures. While improved theories cannot solve all our problems, increased insight might help. The disciplines supposed to aid us such as psychology or sociology disappoint our hopes. There is conflict not only between them but among them and there is lack of clarity about concepts and methods. Until recently salvation was sought by clinging closely to the immensely successful methods of the physical sciences but there is increasing recognition in the human sciences that observation, which provides evidence of the physical sciences, needs to be supplemented by understanding, because human beings talk, and communications are an indispensable source of knowledge. The critical question addressed in this book then is: once we are forced to abandon the rigor of disciplines such as physics how can the human disciplines be systematic and develop clear criteria for the adequacy of conclusions?"--BOOK JACKET.