Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences

Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences

Author: Roy Bhaskar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-29

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1351048430

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A picture has indeed held modern Western philosophy captive, that of the universe as a vast machine whose iron laws are best understood as exceptionless empirical regularities which, as it were, determine the future before it happens. This fantastic conception commands the assent, not just of positivistically-minded naturalists but of all the great anti-naturalists who champion a very different view of human action as a domain of freedom ‘that somehow cheats science’. The most fundamental move in Roy Bhaskar’s system of philosophy, the germ of everything that followed, was to reconceptualise the natural world in transcendental realist terms, ‘turning Kant around using his own method’. On this account, the universe is characterized by deep structures, mechanisms and fields that generate the flux of phenomena, and is in open, creative and emergent process. This completely recasts the terms of the debate between naturalism and anti-naturalism by remedying its false grounds and shows how philosophy can be liberated from its anthropocentric/anthropomorphic prison and rendered consistent with the best insights of modern natural science. There is necessity in nature quite independent of humans, but in an open world causation is multiple and conjunctural, the actual course of the unfolding of being is highly contingent and the bases of human freedom can be understood scientifically. Written as a DPhil thesis when Bhaskar was in his mid-twenties, Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences brilliantly launches this reconceptualisation and explores its implications for social science in the course of carrying through the metatheoretical destruction of empiricism. It will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in the development of Bhaskar’s thought, in transcendental realism, and in the critique of empiricism, more generally of the philosophical discourse of Western modernity.


Book Synopsis Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences by : Roy Bhaskar

Download or read book Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences written by Roy Bhaskar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A picture has indeed held modern Western philosophy captive, that of the universe as a vast machine whose iron laws are best understood as exceptionless empirical regularities which, as it were, determine the future before it happens. This fantastic conception commands the assent, not just of positivistically-minded naturalists but of all the great anti-naturalists who champion a very different view of human action as a domain of freedom ‘that somehow cheats science’. The most fundamental move in Roy Bhaskar’s system of philosophy, the germ of everything that followed, was to reconceptualise the natural world in transcendental realist terms, ‘turning Kant around using his own method’. On this account, the universe is characterized by deep structures, mechanisms and fields that generate the flux of phenomena, and is in open, creative and emergent process. This completely recasts the terms of the debate between naturalism and anti-naturalism by remedying its false grounds and shows how philosophy can be liberated from its anthropocentric/anthropomorphic prison and rendered consistent with the best insights of modern natural science. There is necessity in nature quite independent of humans, but in an open world causation is multiple and conjunctural, the actual course of the unfolding of being is highly contingent and the bases of human freedom can be understood scientifically. Written as a DPhil thesis when Bhaskar was in his mid-twenties, Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences brilliantly launches this reconceptualisation and explores its implications for social science in the course of carrying through the metatheoretical destruction of empiricism. It will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in the development of Bhaskar’s thought, in transcendental realism, and in the critique of empiricism, more generally of the philosophical discourse of Western modernity.


Metatheory in Social Science

Metatheory in Social Science

Author: Donald Winslow Fiske

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1986-03-15

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0226251926

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What is the nature of the social sciences? What kinds of knowledge can they—and should they—hope to create? Are objective viewpoints possible and can universal laws be discovered? Questions like these have been asked with increasing urgency in recent years, as some philosophers and researchers have perceived a "crisis" in the social sciences. Metatheory in Social Science offers many provocative arguments and analyses of basic conceptual frameworks for the study of human behavior. These are offered primarily by practicing researchers and are related to problems in disciplines as diverse as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy of science. While various points of view are expressed in these nineteen essays, they have in common several themes, including the comparison of social and natural science, the role of knowledge in meeting the demands of society and its pressing problems, and the nature and role of subjectivity in science. Some authors hold that subjectivity cannot be studied scientifically; others argue that it can and must be if progress in knowledge is to be made. The essays demonstrate the philosophical pluralism they discuss and give a wide range of alternative positions on the future of the social and behavioral sciences in a postpositivist intellectual world.


Book Synopsis Metatheory in Social Science by : Donald Winslow Fiske

Download or read book Metatheory in Social Science written by Donald Winslow Fiske and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1986-03-15 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the nature of the social sciences? What kinds of knowledge can they—and should they—hope to create? Are objective viewpoints possible and can universal laws be discovered? Questions like these have been asked with increasing urgency in recent years, as some philosophers and researchers have perceived a "crisis" in the social sciences. Metatheory in Social Science offers many provocative arguments and analyses of basic conceptual frameworks for the study of human behavior. These are offered primarily by practicing researchers and are related to problems in disciplines as diverse as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy of science. While various points of view are expressed in these nineteen essays, they have in common several themes, including the comparison of social and natural science, the role of knowledge in meeting the demands of society and its pressing problems, and the nature and role of subjectivity in science. Some authors hold that subjectivity cannot be studied scientifically; others argue that it can and must be if progress in knowledge is to be made. The essays demonstrate the philosophical pluralism they discuss and give a wide range of alternative positions on the future of the social and behavioral sciences in a postpositivist intellectual world.


Empiricism, Explanation, and Rationality

Empiricism, Explanation, and Rationality

Author: Len Doyal

Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul Books

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Empiricism, Explanation, and Rationality by : Len Doyal

Download or read book Empiricism, Explanation, and Rationality written by Len Doyal and published by Routledge & Kegan Paul Books. This book was released on 1986 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences

Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences

Author: Paul A. Roth

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2019-05-15

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1501746219

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Paul A Roth's book examines an important controversy in the philosophy of the social sciences that has developed since the demise of logical positivism and its conception of rationality. Roth contends that this controversy—a dispute over the canons of rationality—is the product of the mistaken belief in methodological exclusivism. Drawing on work in contemporary epistemology by W. V. O. Quine, Richard Rorty, and Paul Feyerabend, he argues that no single theory of human behavior has methodological priority; indeed, the existence of a plethora of theories for the study of human behavior, he believes, is an inevitable consequence of our epistemic situation.


Book Synopsis Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences by : Paul A. Roth

Download or read book Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences written by Paul A. Roth and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-15 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul A Roth's book examines an important controversy in the philosophy of the social sciences that has developed since the demise of logical positivism and its conception of rationality. Roth contends that this controversy—a dispute over the canons of rationality—is the product of the mistaken belief in methodological exclusivism. Drawing on work in contemporary epistemology by W. V. O. Quine, Richard Rorty, and Paul Feyerabend, he argues that no single theory of human behavior has methodological priority; indeed, the existence of a plethora of theories for the study of human behavior, he believes, is an inevitable consequence of our epistemic situation.


New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory

New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory

Author: William Outhwaite

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1987-12-08

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1349189464

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The demise of empiricist philosophies of science has contributed to the current disarray of philosophy in the social sciences. This book argues that a realist analysis of the structures and processes which make up the social world can provide a way out of its present impasse. These processes, ranging from the interpersonal negotiation of meaning to the constraining influence of administrative or market structures, cannot be understood as mere constructs either in the minds of the theorist or of the social factors themselves, since they actually generate the social world as we know it. The author develops some implications of this approach and presents a realist view of some of the principal theoretical traditions and controversies within sociology and other social sciences.


Book Synopsis New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory by : William Outhwaite

Download or read book New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory written by William Outhwaite and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 1987-12-08 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The demise of empiricist philosophies of science has contributed to the current disarray of philosophy in the social sciences. This book argues that a realist analysis of the structures and processes which make up the social world can provide a way out of its present impasse. These processes, ranging from the interpersonal negotiation of meaning to the constraining influence of administrative or market structures, cannot be understood as mere constructs either in the minds of the theorist or of the social factors themselves, since they actually generate the social world as we know it. The author develops some implications of this approach and presents a realist view of some of the principal theoretical traditions and controversies within sociology and other social sciences.


Empiricism, Explanation and Rationality

Empiricism, Explanation and Rationality

Author: Len & Roger Doyal & Harris

Publisher:

Published: 2013-10-14

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780415847377

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This introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences provides coherent answers to questions about empiricism, explanation and rationality


Book Synopsis Empiricism, Explanation and Rationality by : Len & Roger Doyal & Harris

Download or read book Empiricism, Explanation and Rationality written by Len & Roger Doyal & Harris and published by . This book was released on 2013-10-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences provides coherent answers to questions about empiricism, explanation and rationality


The Formation of Critical Realism

The Formation of Critical Realism

Author: Roy Bhaskar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-01-25

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1134050658

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This series of interviews, conducted in the form of exchanges between Roy Bhaskar - the originator of critical realism (and the later philosophy of meta-reality) - and Mervyn Hartwig, a leading commentator on critical realism, tells a riveting story of the formation and development of critical realism.


Book Synopsis The Formation of Critical Realism by : Roy Bhaskar

Download or read book The Formation of Critical Realism written by Roy Bhaskar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-01-25 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series of interviews, conducted in the form of exchanges between Roy Bhaskar - the originator of critical realism (and the later philosophy of meta-reality) - and Mervyn Hartwig, a leading commentator on critical realism, tells a riveting story of the formation and development of critical realism.


Theory and Credibility

Theory and Credibility

Author: Scott Ashworth

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-07-20

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0691213836

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Ashworth et al address this key challenge in the field with a new vision of how to connect empirical and theoretical work, one rooted in the idea of "all else equal." Theory, the authors argue, implicitly rests of the idea of "all-else-equal," and it's precisely this question that empirical work attempts to confirm. Thus theory and empirics have an intrinsic connection, and in recognizing this scholars can bridge the gap between the two. The first part of the book examines the "all-else-equal" connection and goes on to show how how theoretical models yield empirical implications and how substantive identification is the lynch-pin of a credible research design. The second part then follows the progressive back-and-forth between theory and empirics in existing scholarship, breaking these interactions into five types: reinterpreting, elaboration, distinguishing, disentangling, and modeling the research design. .


Book Synopsis Theory and Credibility by : Scott Ashworth

Download or read book Theory and Credibility written by Scott Ashworth and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ashworth et al address this key challenge in the field with a new vision of how to connect empirical and theoretical work, one rooted in the idea of "all else equal." Theory, the authors argue, implicitly rests of the idea of "all-else-equal," and it's precisely this question that empirical work attempts to confirm. Thus theory and empirics have an intrinsic connection, and in recognizing this scholars can bridge the gap between the two. The first part of the book examines the "all-else-equal" connection and goes on to show how how theoretical models yield empirical implications and how substantive identification is the lynch-pin of a credible research design. The second part then follows the progressive back-and-forth between theory and empirics in existing scholarship, breaking these interactions into five types: reinterpreting, elaboration, distinguishing, disentangling, and modeling the research design. .


Metatheory in Social Science

Metatheory in Social Science

Author: Donald W. Fiske

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1986-03-15

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780226251929

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What is the nature of the social sciences? What kinds of knowledge can they—and should they—hope to create? Are objective viewpoints possible and can universal laws be discovered? Questions like these have been asked with increasing urgency in recent years, as some philosophers and researchers have perceived a "crisis" in the social sciences. Metatheory in Social Science offers many provocative arguments and analyses of basic conceptual frameworks for the study of human behavior. These are offered primarily by practicing researchers and are related to problems in disciplines as diverse as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy of science. While various points of view are expressed in these nineteen essays, they have in common several themes, including the comparison of social and natural science, the role of knowledge in meeting the demands of society and its pressing problems, and the nature and role of subjectivity in science. Some authors hold that subjectivity cannot be studied scientifically; others argue that it can and must be if progress in knowledge is to be made. The essays demonstrate the philosophical pluralism they discuss and give a wide range of alternative positions on the future of the social and behavioral sciences in a postpositivist intellectual world.


Book Synopsis Metatheory in Social Science by : Donald W. Fiske

Download or read book Metatheory in Social Science written by Donald W. Fiske and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1986-03-15 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the nature of the social sciences? What kinds of knowledge can they—and should they—hope to create? Are objective viewpoints possible and can universal laws be discovered? Questions like these have been asked with increasing urgency in recent years, as some philosophers and researchers have perceived a "crisis" in the social sciences. Metatheory in Social Science offers many provocative arguments and analyses of basic conceptual frameworks for the study of human behavior. These are offered primarily by practicing researchers and are related to problems in disciplines as diverse as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy of science. While various points of view are expressed in these nineteen essays, they have in common several themes, including the comparison of social and natural science, the role of knowledge in meeting the demands of society and its pressing problems, and the nature and role of subjectivity in science. Some authors hold that subjectivity cannot be studied scientifically; others argue that it can and must be if progress in knowledge is to be made. The essays demonstrate the philosophical pluralism they discuss and give a wide range of alternative positions on the future of the social and behavioral sciences in a postpositivist intellectual world.


The Cambridge Companion to Logical Empiricism

The Cambridge Companion to Logical Empiricism

Author: Alan Richardson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-09-03

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 1139826433

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If there is a movement or school that epitomizes analytic philosophy in the middle of the twentieth century, it is logical empiricism. Logical empiricists created a scientifically and technically informed philosophy of science, established mathematical logic as a topic in and tool for philosophy, and initiated the project of formal semantics. Accounts of analytic philosophy written in the middle of the twentieth century gave logical empiricism a central place in the project. The second wave of interpretative accounts was constructed to show how philosophy should progress, or had progressed, beyond logical empiricism. The essays survey the formative stages of logical empiricism in central Europe and its acculturation in North America, discussing its main topics, and achievements and failures, in different areas of philosophy of science, and assessing its influence on philosophy, past, present, and future.


Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Logical Empiricism by : Alan Richardson

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Logical Empiricism written by Alan Richardson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-09-03 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If there is a movement or school that epitomizes analytic philosophy in the middle of the twentieth century, it is logical empiricism. Logical empiricists created a scientifically and technically informed philosophy of science, established mathematical logic as a topic in and tool for philosophy, and initiated the project of formal semantics. Accounts of analytic philosophy written in the middle of the twentieth century gave logical empiricism a central place in the project. The second wave of interpretative accounts was constructed to show how philosophy should progress, or had progressed, beyond logical empiricism. The essays survey the formative stages of logical empiricism in central Europe and its acculturation in North America, discussing its main topics, and achievements and failures, in different areas of philosophy of science, and assessing its influence on philosophy, past, present, and future.