Let's think again about the semantics of causal ascriptions. Suppose that we want to know what caused a building crane to collapse during a windstorm. We might arrive at an account something like this: An unusually heavy gust of wind at 3:20 pm, in the presence of this crane's specific material and structural properties, with …
Mechanisms and intellectual movements
I am particularly interested in the idea that we can explain social outcomes by identifying the social mechanisms that (often, typically, occasionally) bring them about. I also find the evolution of science and systems of ideas to be particularly fascinating within contemporary sociology, in that this aspect of human life embraces both rationally directed thought …
Modest predictions in history
Image: the owl of Minerva In spite of their reputations as historical determinists, Hegel and Marx each had their own versions of skepticism about "learning from history" -- in particular, the possibility of predicting the future based on historical knowledge. Notwithstanding his view that history embodies reason, Hegel is famous for his idea in the …
The Perestroika debate in political science
A debate has been raging in the discipline of political science for at least a decade, over the nature of the scientific status and methods of the discipline. Fundamentally, the "dissidents" argue that a narrow and "scientistic" conception of what good political science research ought to look like has reigned and has repressed other, more …
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Chaos and coordination in social life
Much social behavior is chaotic, in that it simply emerges from the independent choices of numerous agents during a period of time. It is analogous to Brownian motion -- particles in a liquid moving in random motions as a result of innumerable bumps and pushes at the molecular level. However, there are also many patterns …
The flea market analogy
Is the flea market a helpful analogy for understanding the social world ("The Dis-unity of Science")? Does it serve to provide a different mental model in terms of which to consider the nature of social phenomena? What it has going for it is heterogeneity and contingency, and an obvious share of agent-dependency. The people who …
The "dis"-unity of social science
One of the central goals of Vienna Circle philosophy of science was the idea of the unity of science. The idea included at least two separable parts: methodological unity and unity of content under a single system of laws. On the methodological side there was the idea that the logic of explanation and confirmation should …
Social "laws" and causal mechanisms
Are there social regularities? Is there anything like a "law of nature" that governs or describes social phenomena? My view is that this is a question that needs to be approached very carefully. As a bottom line, I take the view that there are no "social laws" analogous to "laws of nature", even though there …
A non-naturalistic approach to social science
The most basic error that is conveyed by the naturalist framework into the premises of sociology—the folk epistemology—that was shared by Durkheim, Mill, and Comte, is the assumption that all phenomena are subject to laws; that the relevant laws are abstract and obscure; and that there is an orderly relationship between gross phenomena and a …
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How does philosophy help guide the sciences?
Philosophy observes the sciences. But it has also played a role in the formation of the sciences. And this is especially true in the case of the social sciences. The idea here is an elusive one. It is that the founders of the social sciences – perhaps similar to all intellectual or creative founders – …
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Understanding Society 