Subjectivism and Objectivism in Sociology.

This article discusses the attempts made in Poland for a radical revision of the traditional approach to the opposition between objectivism and subjectivism in sociology. Research on the latter may and should have the character of research on the world of objects. At the same time, however, it should lead to an understanding of their human content, which is revealed in their social and individual genealogy. Another attempt made in order to provide a sociological interpretation of the basic philosophical problem is F. Znaniecki's principle--formulated in his Methodological Note--the principle of comprehending all phenomena of social life as those arising by way of a dialectical interaction of the elements and determinants playing basic part in the sphere of human relations: of the objective factor of the values and the subjective factor of attitudes. The analysis of Znaniecki's system, carried out after the second World War, were marked by a negation of the theoretical and methodological assumptions of that sociologist. Znaniecki understands experience as a passive perception, usually ordered due to the notional categories of reason. It is correct and justified from the scientific point of view to treat the wealth of life-records as full-fledged source of information about both the material conditions of life and the objective social and political relations.