Sir William Beveridge, in a farewell address at the: London School of Economies, of which he is the director, emphasized the need for observation and detachnient in the study of the social sciences, Sir Josiah Stamp presided and the Earl of Athlone, Chancellor of London University, was present.
Speaking on the place of the social sciences in human knowledge, Sir William Beveridge said that the conditions of economics and other social sciences to-day presented a paradox, More and more students each year came to study social sciences in universities, But there Was not a corresponding recognition, either by men of affairs or by scientists in other fields, of. the authority of those who taught such subjects. For that there was one reason for which social scientists Were not responsible—the corton Yature both of the general public and of other scientists to understand the nature of economic problems and the distinctions, say, between the nature of economics and engineering or sociology and biology. The engineer, or any other technician, considered alternative means of meeting a given need.
The economist described and ex" plained the behaviour of mankind in the use of scarce retour Their spheres were different, and engineering skill was no guide in the solution of economic problems. Mice were not men, and to argue direct from mice, or from fruiteflies, to human society was to court disaster, Past incursions of natural scientists, without special training, into the sociological field had seldom been useful.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.