David Hume, [amazon_link id=”0140432442″ target=”_blank” ]A Treatise of Human Nature[/amazon_link], Book 1, Introduction:

“’Tis evident, that all the sciences have a relation, greater or less, to human nature; and that however wide any of them may seem to run from it, they still return back by one passage or another. Even Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Natural Religion, are in some measure dependent on the science of Man; since they lie under the cognizance of men, and are judged of by their powers and faculties. ’Tis impossible to tell what changes and improvements we might make in these sciences were we thoroughly acquainted with the extent and force of human understanding, and could explain the nature of the ideas we employ, and of the operations we perform in our reasonings …… If therefore the sciences of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Natural Religion, have such a dependence on the knowledge of man, what may be expected in the other sciences, whose connexion with human nature is more close and intimate?”

In other words, understanding human nature is the foundation of all knowledge. And science needs social science.

[amazon_image id=”1484033590″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]A Treatise of Human Nature[/amazon_image]