Abstract

The essay developes the principles of the antique resp. medieval ars memorativa, which was a skill of memorizing large amounts of varying informations. Then the parsonian theory of society is analysed and it is shown, that it is constructed according to the same principles. Hence it follows the thesis, that at least special kinds of sociological (and psychological) theories can be considered as modernized forms of the old ars memorativa. The author defends this thesis against a set of nearby objections. It is not tried to prove the historical truth of thesis, i.e. to show, that the tradition of theoretical literature indeed roots in the tradition of antique resp. medieval ars memorativa. In any case an examination of this question might yield new insight in the prehistory of theoretical thought.