Patrick Baert

Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Towards Pragmatism

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

In this ground-breaking new text, 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. His lively account places key intellectual figures within the social and political contexts in which they were writing, and clearly shows how their views translated into empirical research. In the final chapter, Baert sets out his own pragmatist perspective on the potential of social research for critique, arguing that it can help researchers learn as much about their own presuppositions as their subjects of study. Philosophy of Social Science: Towards Pragmatism is both an authoritative textbook, and an original proposal for an exciting new research agenda. This lively textbook will be helpful to upper-level students looking for a detailed and yet lucid account of the main positions in the philosophy of social science. It will also appeal to those researchers who are sympathetic towards the pragmatist view that knowledge has the potential to increase the scope of human possibility.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Polity Press
• Seitenzahl: 264
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. November 2005
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 161mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 450g
• ISBN-13: 9780745622460
• ISBN-10: 0745622461
• Artikelnr.: 22235919

Autorenporträt

Patrick Baert is University Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements.
Introduction.
Chapter 1. Emile Durkheim's naturalism.
Introduction.
An uneasy relationship with positivism.
How to be a proper sociologist.
Application: the study of suicide.
Evaluation.
Further reading.
Bibliography.
Chapter 2. Max Weber's interpretative method.
Introduction.
Transcending the Methodenstreit.
Ideal types and different types of action.
Application: the Protestant Ethic.
Evaluation.
Further reading.
Bibliography.
Chapter 3. Karl Popper's falsificationism.
Introduction.
What science is about.
The controversy with Kuhn.
How to make social science scientific.
The problem with historicism and utopianism.
Methodological individualism.
Evaluation.
Further reading.
Bibliography.
Chapter 4. Critical realism.
The realist bandwagon.
Realism, reality and causality.
Creative scientists at work.
Contributions to social theory.
Application: British politics.
Evaluation.
Further reading.
Bibliography.
Chapter 5. Critical Theory.
Introduction.
The Early Frankfurt School.
Jürgen Habermas.
Further reading.
Bibliography.
Chapter 6. Richard Rorty and Pragmatism.
Introduction.
American pragmatism and Rorty.
The myth of scientific method.
The new left and the cultural left.
Evaluation.
Further reading.
Bibliography.
Chapter 7. A Pragmatist philosophy of the social sciences.
Outline of a pragmatist view.
Cultural anthropology.
Archaeology.
History and social sciences.
Some concluding remarks.
Notes.
References and Bibliography.
Index

Rezensionen

"Baert's summary of influential perspectives in thehistory of social-scientific concept formation is very useful andcan be recommended as a current brand-leader amongst textbooks inthis field ... This book extends its scope beyond the provision ofreliable summary and it leads theory forward in an engaged andproductive direction."
British Journal of Socioliogy

"Patrick Baert has written another well argued and lucidintroduction to methodological and theoretical problems in socialresearch."
Sociological Review

"Patrick Baert elegantly and skilfully demonstrates thecontinuities between philosophical and social scientific concernsin this field. This book contains both an outstanding criticaldiscussion and a powerful argument for a pragmatistposition."
William Outhwaite, University of Sussex

"Baert's thorough-going pragmatism is an enormouslypromising redirection of philosophical debate in and about thesocial sciences. This is an ambitious treatment of canonicalfigures whose philosophical reflection has been influential in thesocial science - Durkheim, Weber, Popper, the criticalrealists, Habermas, and several latter day pragmatists. Crucially,it is a treatment that exemplifies what Baert advocates: hecontextualizes these theorists and their arguments, puts them indialog with one another, and extracts philosophical lessons thatnot only bear on
philosophical traditions of debate but that are consequential forsocial scientists as well. I recommend it to anyone, philosopher orsocial scientist, student or established professional, who thinkscritically about the goals and assumptions of the socialsciences."
Alison Wylie, University of Washington