Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Social Sciences: As Perceived by a Philosophy Major
Alasdair MacIntyre critiques the social sciences in After Virtue; among other faults, they can't seem to predict anything. Another flaw...or virtue: the ideas in a social science tome can be, and usually are, adequately summarized on the jacket, often making the book itself superfluous.
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3 comments:
true fact, except that sometimes you miss something really incredible buried somewhere beyond the book jacket. social theory work is often that way, having much hidden within, while quantitative social science is more narrow, and thus more obvious from the book jacket. the only reason to open it is to evaluate the statistical soundness of the claim.
as for predictive (in) capability - that is the dark, dirty secret of economists everywhere. the word science puts a false hope into the endeavor - when perhaps prediction isn't, or shouldn't, be the point of social inquiry? the world is so large now i think there must be some important role left for description and synthesis, for the Effort to understand as its Own goal.
think of the old political and social theorists - what has been more true (and thus predictive and helpful, albeit mostly to advertising companies) than, for example, the idea that in an individualist culture, property is identity?
and fashion replaces culture
btw -- Doctor Drivel is astounded and appreciative that anyone would comment on his blog
(ed was obviously in college when she wrote that comment. she cant make heads or tails of it now!)
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