Abstract
Adolphe Quetelet was one of the most prominent figures of the second half of the nineteenth century, yet in present-day histories of several social sciences the impact of his ideas is widely ignored. The first part consists of a sketch of his life and work. Astronomer and statistician, he sought to apply the mathematical tools of astronomy to create was has been called a ‘mathematics of society’. In particular he demonstrated regularities in the incidence of various social phenomena, notably crime, whose implications were widely debated. In the second part the influence he exerted on some key figures in the then emerging social sciences is traced in some detail; these figures include Durkheim, Galton, Marx, and Tylor. He also advocated the wider use of statistics and his call had a powerful impact on the then emerging fields such as administration, economics, sociology and psychology. He influenced some of his most famous contemporaries, including Florence Nightingale, Karl Marx and Francis Galton.
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 473 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | SpringerPlus |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Sep 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- behavioural sciences
- determinism
- influence
- nineteenth century
- Quetelet forgotten
- statistics
Cite this
}
Quetelet and the emergence of the behavioral sciences. / Jahoda, Gustav.
In: SpringerPlus, Vol. 4, No. 1, 473, 04.09.2015.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Quetelet and the emergence of the behavioral sciences
AU - Jahoda, Gustav
PY - 2015/9/4
Y1 - 2015/9/4
N2 - Adolphe Quetelet was one of the most prominent figures of the second half of the nineteenth century, yet in present-day histories of several social sciences the impact of his ideas is widely ignored. The first part consists of a sketch of his life and work. Astronomer and statistician, he sought to apply the mathematical tools of astronomy to create was has been called a ‘mathematics of society’. In particular he demonstrated regularities in the incidence of various social phenomena, notably crime, whose implications were widely debated. In the second part the influence he exerted on some key figures in the then emerging social sciences is traced in some detail; these figures include Durkheim, Galton, Marx, and Tylor. He also advocated the wider use of statistics and his call had a powerful impact on the then emerging fields such as administration, economics, sociology and psychology. He influenced some of his most famous contemporaries, including Florence Nightingale, Karl Marx and Francis Galton.
AB - Adolphe Quetelet was one of the most prominent figures of the second half of the nineteenth century, yet in present-day histories of several social sciences the impact of his ideas is widely ignored. The first part consists of a sketch of his life and work. Astronomer and statistician, he sought to apply the mathematical tools of astronomy to create was has been called a ‘mathematics of society’. In particular he demonstrated regularities in the incidence of various social phenomena, notably crime, whose implications were widely debated. In the second part the influence he exerted on some key figures in the then emerging social sciences is traced in some detail; these figures include Durkheim, Galton, Marx, and Tylor. He also advocated the wider use of statistics and his call had a powerful impact on the then emerging fields such as administration, economics, sociology and psychology. He influenced some of his most famous contemporaries, including Florence Nightingale, Karl Marx and Francis Galton.
KW - behavioural sciences
KW - determinism
KW - influence
KW - nineteenth century
KW - Quetelet forgotten
KW - statistics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84941037226&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.springerplus.com/
U2 - 10.1186/s40064-015-1261-7
DO - 10.1186/s40064-015-1261-7
M3 - Article
VL - 4
JO - SpringerPlus
T2 - SpringerPlus
JF - SpringerPlus
SN - 2193-1801
IS - 1
M1 - 473
ER -