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	Sat, 13 Feb 93 15:43:23 -0800 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oc -odq -oQ/var/spool/lqueue -oi -fsocgrad-relay socgrad-list
Date:    Sat, 13 Feb 93 18:43 EST
From: <CGH2@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: The unimportance of philosophy to sociology
To: socgrad@ucsd.edu
'Famous a metaphysical entity that was imagined by Kant and is still admired by
many good souls.  It is called the categorical imperative, and there are
plenty of people who pretend to know what it is, though they can never make it
clear to anyone who insists on remaining in touch with reality. Kant's formula
reconciles, as usual, the egotistic with the alturistic principle, which is
here represented by 'universal law', a notion pleasantly coddling to sentiments
of equality, sociality, and democracy.  A customary trait in all such formulae
is that they are so vague in meaning that one can get out of them anything one
chooses.  And for that reason it would have been a great saving of breath to
say, 'Act in a way pleasing to Kant or his disciples,' for 'universal law' in
the end be dispensed with anyhow.'
     Vilfredo Pareto Vol.3 The Mind and Society pg. 965  Dover edition, 1963