1. The term and scope. The “social sciences”, a term in use in England and France from the early 19th century, obviously embrace a number of sciences which deal with social matters. The difficulty in defining the concept and scope of the social sciences is in the word “social”.

Man with each of his fellows, man with society, man with his material background (of economics) and the being of man himself is something to be conceived “socially”. Hence if “social” and the relevant sciences are applied to the life of men in common, the scope is immen…