This lecture addresses the nature of social research by defining it,distinguishing between its various types,and clarifying its most important goals,while clarifying the most important intellectual stations that paved the way for its emergence, starting with the philosophical thought embodied in the thought of Socrates,Plato,and Aristotle,to Arab civilization,throught Khaldunian thought,to the scientific renaissance.the signs of the emergence of social research appeared with the emergence of positivism among Saint-Simon,Comte,and Durkheim.