Medicine as social science: the case of Freud on homosexuality

This paper considers the question of whether the explanation of homosexual orientation offered by Sigmund Freud qualifies as a genuine explantation, judged by the criteria of the social sciences. It is argued that the explanation, namely that homosexual orientation is a function of atypical parental influences, is indeed an explanation of the kind found in the social sciences. Nevertheless, it is concluded that to date Freud's hypotheses about homosexuality are no more than unproven speculations. Also considered is the question of whether the very topic of homosexuality falls or ought to fall within the domain of medical inquiry.