Reading and summarizing

Read some extracts from Vilfredo Pareto’s work “Mind and Society” and do the tasks that follow.

Vilfredo Pareto

(1916)

Mind & Society

(1)Human society is the subject of many researches. Some of them constitute specialized disciplines: law, political economy, political history, the history of religions, and the like. Others have not yet been distinguished by special names. To the synthesis of them all, which aims at studying human society in general, we may give the name of sociology. That definition is very inadequate. It may perhaps be improved upon - but not much; for, after all, of none of the sciences, not even of the several mathematical sciences, have we strict definitions. Nor can we have. Only for purposes of convenience do we divide the subject-matter of our knowledge into various parts, and such divisions are artificial and change in course of time. Let us put names aside and consider things.

(2)In the same way, we have something better to do than to waste our time deciding whether sociology is or is not an independent science - whether it is anything but the "philosophy of history" under a different name; or to debate at any great length the methods to be followed in the study of sociology. Let us keep to our quest for the relationships between social facts, and people may then give to that inquiry any name they please. And let knowledge of such relationships be obtained by any method that will serve. We are interested in the end, and much less or not at all interested in the means by which we attain it.

(3)Faith by its very nature is exclusive. If one believes oneself possessed of the absolute truth, one cannot admit that there are any other truths in the world. So the enthusiastic Christian and the pugnacious free-thinker are, and have to be, equally intolerant. For the believer there is but one good course; all others are bad. The Mohammedan will not take oath upon the Gospels, nor the Christian upon the Koran. But those who have no faith whatever will take their oath upon either Koran or Gospels - or, as a favour to our humanitarians, on the Social Contract of Rousseau; nor even would they scruple to swear on the Decameron of Boccaccio, were it only to see the grimace Senator Berenger would make and the brethren of that gentleman's persuasion.' We are by no means asserting that sociologies derived from certain dogmatic principles are useless; just as we in no sense deny utility to the geometries of Lobachevski or Riemann. We simply ask of such sociologies that they use premises and reasonings which are as clear and exact as possible.

(4)Current in any given group of people are a number of propositions, descriptive, preceptive, or otherwise. For example: "Youth lacks discretion." "Covet not thy neighbour's goods, nor thy neighbour's wife." "Love thy neighbour as thyself." "Learn to save if you would not one day be in need." Such propositions, combined by logical or pseudo-logical nexuses and amplified with factual narrations of various sorts, constitute theories, theologies, cosmogonies, systems of metaphysics, and so on. Viewed from the outside without regard to any intrinsic merit with which they may be credited by faith, all such propositions and theories are experimental facts and as experimental facts we are here obliged to consider and examine them.

(5)That examination is very useful to sociology; for the image of social activity is stamped on the majority of such propositions and theories, and often it is through them alone that we manage to gain some knowledge of the forces which are at work in society - that is, of the tendencies and inclinations of human beings. For the man who lets himself be guided chiefly by sentiment for the believer, that is - there are usually but two classes of theories: there are theories that are true and theories that are false. The terms "true" and "false" are left vaguely defined. They are felt rather than explained. Oftentimes three further axioms are present:

• The axiom that every "honest" man, every "intelligent" human being, must accept "true" propositions and reject "false" ones. The person who fails to do so is either not honest or not rational.

• The axiom that every proposition which is "true" is also "beneficial," and vice versa. When, accordingly, a theory has been shown to be true, the study of it is complete, and it is useless to inquire whether it be beneficial or detrimental.

• At any rate, it is inadmissible that a theory may be beneficial to certain classes of society and detrimental to others - yet that is an axiom of modem currency, and many people deny it without, however, daring to voice that opinion.

(6)Were we to meet those assertions with contrary ones, we too would be reasoning a priori; and, experimentally, both sets of assertions would have the same value - zero. If we would remain within the realm of experience, we need simply determine first of all whether the terms used in the assertions correspond to some experimental reality, and then whether the assertions are or are not corroborated by experimental facts. But in order to do that, we are obliged to admit the possibility of both a positive and a negative answer; for it is evident that if we bar one of those two possibilities a priori, we shall be giving a solution likewise a priori to the problem we have set ourselves, instead of leaving the solution of it to experience as we proposed doing. On all that we can know nothing a priori. Experience alone can enlighten us.

Tasks

1. Name the passages defining the term “sociology”.

2. Summarize passage 3 in several sentences. Begin with:

The author claims that …

A careful account is given to …

V.Pareto has given rise to …

3. Read passage 4 and speak about Pareto’s attitude to the propositions given. Begin with:

The passage provides information on …

The author claims that …

He point out that …

4. Compress passages 5 and 6 into a statement using the phrases:

The examination allows …

The purpose of the examination is to …

The passage emphasizes that …

5. Summarize the content of the text.

SPEAKING

Chairing a Conference

Vocabulary to use

to welcome

to consider such subjects as

to chair the session

an agenda

a scientific program

to schedule

to cancel

a panel session

a working group session

a stimulating discussion

Speech patterns

I have a great pleasure to introduce …

Our first guest will speak on …

I now give the floor to …

Please feel free to ask questions and make comments.

Are there any questions?

I’d like to thank you all for a stimulating discussion.

All the topics seem to have been exhausted.

Our time is up. The discussion is closed.

I think we have done a good job. Thank you all.

Answer the questions:

1. Have you ever had an opportunity to chair a meeting?

2. What were your feelings?

3. How many speakers took part in the meeting?

4. What topics were on the agenda?

5. Were there any questions and comments?

6. Was the discussion stimulating?

Work in pairs:

Tell your partner about the experience of chairing a meeting.

Act out the situation: You are a chairman opening a Students’ Scientific Conference. You are given 5 minutes to do it.