Freedom and determinism: some implications of nineteenth century German philosophy for sociological methodology

Abstract

The main theme of the thesis is freedom versus determinism. The writer defends human ‘freedom’ as a meaningful notion, particularly with regard to sociological methodology. In order to establish what is precisely involved in the notion of human freedom Chapters One, Two and Three deal with the development of the notion of freedom in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, Kant and Hegel respectively. Chapter Four includes a summary of what the notion of human freedom consists of but for the most part is concerned with an analysis of positivist methodology in sociology and the reasons why it cannot take account of freedom as an essential aspect of human behaviour. Some implications of this for the future development of sociological methodology are discussed.