METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES OF STUDYING THE HISTORY OF SLOVAK SOCIOLOGY

This study compares two methodological approaches towards the examination of the history of sociology. The first one, the systematisation of sociological theories, deals mainly with the analysis and systematisation of sociological knowledge. The second approach is directed primarily at the history as such, and is therefore more descriptive. On the other hand, it also enables one to uncover the development contexts of sociology as a scientific discipline. The author suggests that the historic approach contributes more, because the systematisation of sociological theories has a higher significance for the investigation of the development of sociology in larger units (for example, within whole world, a continent, or in countries rich in sociological production). In the next part, it is argued that in respect to the particularities of Slovak sociology (i.e. an important influence of non-scientific factors, scarce sociological theory, the 'unimportance' of Slovak sociology, influence from other national sociologies) it is advantageous to take a historical approach and focus mainly on the relevant nexus of its development and interaction with society.