A Realist Philosophy of Social Science

A Realist Philosophy of Social Science PDF Author: Peter T. Manicas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139457063
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 7

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Book Description
This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.

A Realist Philosophy of Social Science

A Realist Philosophy of Social Science PDF Author: Peter T. Manicas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139457063
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 7

Get Book Here

Book Description
This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.

Realist Inquiry in Social Science

Realist Inquiry in Social Science PDF Author: Brian D. Haig
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473943124
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Realist Inquiry in Social Science is an invaluable guide to conducting realist research. Written by highly regarded experts in the field, the first part of the book sets out the fundamentals necessary for rigorous realist research, while the second part deals with a number of its most important applications, discussing it in the context of case studies, action research and grounded theory amongst other approaches. Grounded in philosophical methodology, this book goes beyond understanding knowledge justification only as empirical validity, but instead emphasises the importance of theoretical criteria for all good research. The authors consider both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and approach methodology from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. Using abductive reasoning as the starting point for an insightful journey into realist inquiry, this book demonstrates that scientific realism continues to be of major relevance to the social sciences.

A History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences

A History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences PDF Author: Peter T. Manicas
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631165835
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
This ambitious critical history of the variety of disciplines we group together as the social sciences argues that the defining characteristic of social science, both historically and in the present, is ideology. Based originally on a flawed ideal of science, the 'social sciences' have incorporated and refined a set of assumptions about the nature of state and society, assumptions which have been institutionalized with the growth of modern universities. The book is in three main parts. It deals firstly with the history of certain key ides from the early modern period (assessing thinkers from Hobbes and Marx to Hegel, Weber, and Kuhn), before exploring the institutional and social features which have shaped the emergence of modern social science. Manicas goes on to reveal the ideological component of mainstream social science, concluding by suggesting and alternative realist philosophy for the future. Rigorous in scholarship and engaging in presentation, the book offers a brilliant combination of wide-ranging historical scholarship and a firm location in the current theoretical dilemmas of the social sciences.

Method in Social Science

Method in Social Science PDF Author: R. Andrew Sayer
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415076072
Category : Social sciences
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Widely praised on its first publication, this second edition directly reflects new developments in the areas of philosophy and method.

The Realist Image in Social Science

The Realist Image in Social Science PDF Author: Derek Layder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This work sets out to provide a critique and account of the development of the new realist philosophy of social science as it is specifically applied to sociology and social psychology. The author attempts to confront the problems and ambiguities which exist in the programme as it now stands.

Realism and Social Science

Realism and Social Science PDF Author: Andrew Sayer
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761961246
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Realism and Social Science offers an authoritative guide to critical realism and an assessment of its virtues in comparison with other leading traditions in social science. It is illustrated throughout with relevant and accessible examples.

Knocking on the Door

Knocking on the Door PDF Author: Christopher Bonastia
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691119342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Knocking on the Door assesses this near-miss in political history, exploring how HUD came surprisingly close to implementing rigorous antidiscrimination policies, and why the agency's efforts were derailed by Nixon."--Jacket.

A Realist Theory of Science

A Realist Theory of Science PDF Author: Roy Bhaskar
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1844672042
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
A Realist Theory of Science is one of the few books that have changed our understanding of the philosophy of science. In this analysis of the natural sciences, with a particular focus on the experimental process itself, Roy Bhaskar provides a definitive critique of the traditional, positivist conception of science and stakes out an alternative, realist position. Since it original publication in 1975, a movement known as ‘Critical Realism’, which is both intellectually diverse and international in scope, has developed on the basis of key concepts outlined in the text. The book has been hailed in many quarters as a ‘Copernican Revolution’ in the study of the nature of science, and the implications of its account have been far-reaching for many fields of the humanities and social sciences.

Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Philosophy of the Social Sciences PDF Author: Patrick Baert
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745622461
Category : Pragmatism
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Patrick Baert analyses the central perspectives in the philosophy of social science, critically investigating the work of Durkheim, Weber, Popper, critical realism, critical theory, and Rorty's neo-pragmatism.

Mapping Reality

Mapping Reality PDF Author: Jane Azevedo
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791495485
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
With postmodernism and postructuralism sweeping the social sciences and humanities, a whole generation of students from disciplines as diverse as history, English literature, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology are learning that "truth" is bogus--a tired old liberal humanist fiction. Language is incapable of telling the truth, and science, nothing but a socially constructed discourse, functions to maintain the status quo. There is much to be said for this point of view, but ironically, relativists face precisely the same quandary, for if all claims to knowledge are equally valid, then de facto the knowledge claims of the most powerful are the ones disseminated and acted upon. This timely book offers a way out of the current realist/relativist impasse. Azevedo uses the insights of evolutionary epistemology to develop a naturalist realist methodology of science, the "mapping model of knowledge," and applies it to solving the conceptual, practical, and ethical problems faced by sociology as a discipline. The model is developed from the practice of the natural sciences, and comes with an easily applied and powerful heuristic based on mapping, filling the gap left by the downfall of positivist and empiricist methodologies. It shows the inescapably social nature of science, but argues that scientific theories can in fact be validated in perspective-neutral ways --not despite the social and interest-driven nature of science, but because of it.