Scientific socialism is the term used by Friedrich Engels to describe the social-political-economic theory first pioneered by Karl Marx. The purported reason why this socialism is "scientific socialism" (as opposed to "utopian socialism") is because its theories are held to an empirical standard, observations are essential to its development, and these can result in changes/falsification of elements of theory.
Although Marx denounced "utopian socialism", he never referred to his own ideas as "scientific socialism". Similar methods for analyzing social and economic trends and involving socialism as a product of socioeconomic evolution have also been used by non-Marxist theoreticians, such as Joseph Schumpeter and Thorstein Veblen.
Read more about Scientific Socialism: Methodology, Similar Perspectives, Critique of The Notion of Socialism As A Science
Famous quotes containing the words scientific and/or socialism:
“Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.”
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“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”
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