History and Sociology

"history can, if so desired, be reduced to the gradual discovery of the truth as it appears to us today. In this case, history is no more than the discovery of currently accepted truths. But if we employed such a method in the case of sociology, the consequences would be unfortunate, for there is great danger that each sociologist would write a different history of sociology, each of such histories obligingly leading up to the current situation and the present truth, i. e., the truth held by the sociologist in question."

Introduction to "Main Currents in Sociological Thought", by Raymond Aron.