Title: The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of the social sciences /
Authors: Turner, Stephen P., 1951-; Roth, Paul Andrew, 1948-
Publisher: Blackwell Pub.,
Year: 2003
Subjects: Social sciences Philosophy; Social Sciences [MESH]; Philosophy [MESH]
Abstract: "The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of the Social Sciences collects newly commissioned essays that examine fundamental issues in the social sciences. The philosophy of the social sciences is concerned with a wide range of problems that pertain to explanations of human action and thought. This volume is the first of its kind to survey the full range of issues that philosophy of social science now encompasses. These include postmodernism, science studies, feminist philosophy, evolutionary accounts of social life, rational choice theory, practice theory, and causal modeling. The book also provides a retrospective look at the origins of the problem of the scientific character of social science and the changes that the field has undergone. Written by an international cast of leading philosophers, each essay offers an examination of the hottest issues in this field. It is a must-read for philosophers of social science and philosophically inclined social scientists. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: Introduction. Ghosts and the machine: issues of agency, rationality, and scientific methodology in contemporary philosophy of social science / Stephen P. Turner, Paul A. Roth -- Cause, the persistence of teleology, and the origins of the philosophy of social science / Stephen P. Turner -- Phenomenology and social inquiry: from consciousness to culture and critique / Brian Fay -- Twentieth-century philosophy of social science in the analytic tradition / Thomas Uebel -- Critical theory as practical knowledge: participants, observers, and critics / James Bohman -- Decision theory and degree of belief / Piers Rawling -- The methodology of rational choice / Lars Udehn -- Mathematical modeling in the social sciences / Paul Humphreys -- The practical turn / David G. Stern -- Science & technology studies and the philosophy of social sciences / Steve Fuller -- "See also literary criticism": social science between fact and figures / Hans Kellner -- The descent of evolutionary explanations: Darwinian vestiges in the social sciences / Lynn Hankinson Nelson -- How standpoint methodology informs philosophy of social science / Sandra Harding -- Beyond understanding: the career of the concept of understanding in the human sciences / Paul A. Roth.