![handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry1 and id is 1 raw text is:
March, r886.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
QUARTERLY.
INTRODUCTION.
THE DOMAIN OF POLITICAL SCIENCE.
THE term political science is greatly in need of definition.
Technical terms should have a limited and exact meaning;
but this particular term is used vaguely, not by the laity alone
but by professed experts. These speak sometimes of a political
science,'' at other times of a plurality of political sciences.
Again, the sciences which are commonly described as politi-
cal are often designated as social ; and besides the various
social sciences there appears to be a social science.
A more exact use of these terms is certainly desirable. This,
it seems to me, is more likely to be obtained by endeavoring to
establish the respective domains of the sciences in question
and their relation to each other, than by laying down dogmatic
definitions, the practical value of which is often overrated. A
neat definition is a very attractive thing. It seems to offer the
conclusion of wisdom in portable form. It is, in fact, the con-
densed result of a great deal of hard thinking; but to under-
stand it, to appreciate what it includes and what it excludes, the
thoughts of the definer must be thought over again until the
disciple has gained the same outlook over the subject as the
master- and then he no longer needs the definition.
Social science, in the broadest sense, deals with all the rela-
tions of man in society; more precisely, with all the relations
that result from man's social life. It may be questioned
whether it is proper to speak of a social science. We certainly
have no general social science in the sense in which we have
particular social sciences. In politics, in economics, in law and
Volume 1.]
[Number i.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/pclscceqry1&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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