Natural-Law Social Science: A Methodical Synopsis of Socio-economics as an Exact Philosophical Science

Underlying the institutional politics of the Irish university question was the clash between scientific rationalism a papal-championed revival of the scholastic philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. But in social science, as the growth of a Catholic social movement and a succession of Irish-published sociology textbooks illustrate, a natural law perspective long went unchallenged by secular alternatives. It was Catholic clerical academics who first embraced an empirical approach to social science in the Ireland of the 1950s but in the succeeding decade they found themselves marginalised by a new breed of state technocrats who perceived empirical social research as a useful tool for their planning project.

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A Brief Comment on American Exceptionalism

Catholic Social Science Review ◽

10.5840/cssr20202536 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

pp. 291-294

Author(s):

Joseph A. Varacalli ◽

Keyword(s):

Social Science ◽

Long Range ◽

Natural Law ◽

American Exceptionalism ◽

Radical Feminism ◽

Adequate Treatment ◽

Outright Rejection ◽

American Experiment

This Comment concerns itself with the concept of “American Exceptionalism.” More specifically, following Stephen M. Krason, this Comment lays out the different variations of American Exceptionalism (religious, secular, utopian, and realistic) and provides a preliminary critique of these options from the perspective of the Natural Law and Catholic social science. It also addresses its outright rejection by such modern worldviews as Marxism and radical feminism. This Comment also includes a brief discussion of the long range viability of the American Experiment and the prospects of American civilization developing and sustaining a realistic version of American Exceptionalism. This Comment is intended as an initial foray into the topic, hopefully leading eventually, I hope, to a fuller and more adequate treatment.

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Community Management of Young and Disabled Children

Australasian Journal of Special Education ◽

10.1017/s1030011200020236 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 25-30

Author(s):

John F. Irvine

Keyword(s):

Health Education ◽

Social Science ◽

Natural Law ◽

The Other ◽

Community Management ◽

Disabled Children ◽

Community Network ◽

Or Management ◽

The Disabled ◽

Resource Families

AbstractCommunity management is proposed as a sound, economical and demonstrably successful alternative in the management of young and disabled children. The author seeks to go beyond the health-education debate in this matter towards a welfare oriented model based upon principles drawn from a diversity of disciplines. One such principle incorporates the natural law of utilising forces to counterbalance forces – a principle fundamental to most areas of science but one which is rarely extrapolated for use within social science generally, or management of the disabled specifically. In the Darling Downs project in Queensland, Australia, resource families are deployed to counterbalance or assist “disabled” families with the support of professionals in the community network. The paper sets out the variously derived principles underlying the Darling Downs project and then provides a detailed description of other aspects of the framework including funding, administration, services, procedures and current developments. The programme is then analysed in terms of its anticipated directions, strengths/weaknesses, limitations and applicability to the other situations.

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