[Merton states that anomie represents] An acute disjunction between the cultural norms and goals and the socially structured capacities of members of… - Robert K. Merton

Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue.

It is likely that the emphasis upon the metaphysical and epistemological implications of the sociology of knowledge can be traced, in part, to the fact that the first proponents of this discipline stemmed largely from philosophical rather than scientific circles. The burden of further research is to turn from this welter of conflicting opinion to empirical investigations which may establish in adequate detail the uniformities pertaining to the appearance, acceptance and diffusion, or rejection and repression, development and consequences of knowledge and ideas.

No man knows fully what has shaped his own thinking