Social scientists are suffering from an inferiority complex. They have watched with awe and envy the achievements of science and technology and the extent to which the spirit of free inquiry has been responsible for such achievements. Social scientists, in trying to emulate the real scientists, have overlooked the fact that they write about things which are affected in different ways by human behaviour. A nation or a society or a section of a nation or society consists of individuals and each individual is in some respects an island unto himself. Individuals are not subject to inevitable movements as the objects dealt with in the sciences are.
Human behaviour is determined by countless variables, including free choice.
In this context it seems futile to attempt to develop absolute or near absolute concepts, theories and solutions for human problems in the same way, or almost the same way, that scientists in the natural and physical sciences attempt to develop concepts, theories and solutions. Social scientists too often do not realise the factors which limit and inhibit the studies they are pursuing. The above comments are not intended to deny the inherent value of all empirical social science research. There has been much valuable research. But a great deal of research has emanated from the social sciences which ignores or fails to give due weight to basic common sense perspectives, the values and institutions of the western order, the lessons of history and the reality of a world composed of individuals each one different from the other.