Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 1 of 7 University of Trento School of Social Sciences PhD Program in Sociology and Social Research 2017/2018 MAIN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Instructor: Prof. Domenico Tosini (University of Trento) SLIDES AND ASSIGNMENTS AVAILABLE AT GOOGLE DRIVE > UNITN.IT > DOMENICO TOSINI: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0b75f1humrwpmqwhpz1jpcwdsa1k&usp=sharing Objectives The course examines some of the most important epistemological issues in the social sciences. It consists of a general overview of crucial questions debated in early and recent phases of the history of such disciplines. Our review begins with a discussion of conditions and limitations of those attempts aimed at an objective and value-free scientific enterprise. This is followed by an examination of certain epistemological positions concerning similarities and differences between the social sciences (also known as Geisteswissenschaften since the so-called Methodenstreit of 1890s) and the natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften) particularly which forms (if any) of laws might be discovered and applied in sociology and other social sciences. Criticisms of this possibility are prominent in the case of the interpretativist research programs, such as the phenomenological orientations and the hermeneutic approaches, presented in the third session. An additional issue taken into account in the course has to do with the holism versus individualism controversy. Arguments in favor of the holist conceptions is the topic of the fourth session. Fifth session will focus on methodological individualistic theorists and on the inconveniences of reductionist accounts. The final session will investigate the most important approaches to causality in the social sciences, in terms of their epistemological presuppositions and limitations.
Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 2 of 7 Class schedule and teaching method A 12-hours course (4 hours a week for 3 weeks) based on the analysis and discussion of specific reading assignments. Requirements No specific previous information on the course s content is required as a prerequisite. Class attendance and reading assignments will be critical components of the course experience. are optional and recommended to those students who would like to deepen some aspects. Additional references and didactic materials might be provided in class, during office hours, or by e-mail. Office Hours Room 19 at the Department of Sociology and Social Research Via Verdi 26, 3 rd floor. The instructor is mostly available on Wednesday, 11.30 13.00 pm. (http://www5.unitn.it/people/en/web/persona/per0004668#ricevimento) Contact details Domenico Tosini Dept. Sociology and Social Research University of Trento Via Verdi 26, I-38122 Trento (Italy) +39-0461-281324 (phone) +39-0461-281348 (fax) domenico.tosini@gmail.com http://www.domenicotosini.org
Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 3 of 7 Course outline and reading assignments Session 1. The Objectivity and the Ideal of Value Freedom The course begins with an overview of some examples of positions related to the role played by values in social research. Conditions and limitations of an objective and value-free scientific analysis are taken into account, moving from the classical contribution of Max Weber. Key questions: How values influence the different phases of social research? Under which circumstances do values undermine the objectivity of our investigations? Is there any way to safeguard objective and value-free social sciences? Weber, Max 1949 [1904]. Objectivity in Social Science and Social Policy. Pp. 49-112 in The Methodology of the Social Sciences, edited by Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch. Glencoe (Ill.): The Free Press. Foucault, Michel 2001 [1966]. The Order of Things: An Archeology of Human Sciences. London: Routledge. Habermas, Jürgen 1986 [1968]. Knowledge and Human Interests. Cambridge (UK): Polity Press. Martin, Michael and Lee McIntyre (eds.) 1994. Chapters 34-40 (pp. 535-639). Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science. Cambridge (Mass.): The MIT Press. Merton, Robert K. 1968. Chapter 3 (pp. 73-138). Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: The Free Press. Risjord, Mark 2014. Chapter 2 (pp. 14-33). Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction. London: Routledge. Session 2. The Possibility of Laws in the Social Sciences An analysis of those standpoints focusing on similarities and differences between the social sciences (also known as Geisteswissenschaften since the so-called Methodenstreit of 1890s) and the natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften), in terms of their approaches to their respective fields. Key questions: What is the logical structure of the deductive-nomological model of the scientific explanation? Which forms (if any) of laws might be discovered and
Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 4 of 7 applied in sociology and other social sciences? What is the role of ideal-types in social research, as originally theorized by Max Weber? Kincaid, Harold 1990. Defending Laws in the Social Sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 20 (1): 56-83. Boudon, Raymond 1991 [1984]. Theories of Social Change: A Critical Appraisal. Cambridge (UK): Polity Press. Hempel, Carl G. 1942. The Function of General Laws in History. Journal of Philosophy 39: 35-48. Kinkaid, Harold 2004. There are Laws in Social Science. Pp. 169-185 in Contemporary Debate in Philosophy of Science, edited by Christopher Hitchcock. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Martin, Michael and Lee McIntyre (eds.) 1994. Chapters 3-10 (pp. 37-156). Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science. Cambridge (Mass.): The MIT Press. Risjord, Mark 2014. Chapter 3 (pp. 34-56). Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction. London: Routledge. Session 3. Interpretativist Research Programs An examination of the key ideas associated with the interpretativist research programs in the social sciences such as the phenomenological orientations and the hermeneutic approaches with special reference to their emphasis on the sense-making processes in humans and the so-called hermeneutic circle affecting any scientific enterprise. Key questions: Which epistemological principles identify the interpretativist orientations in the social sciences? What distinguishes their idea of human and social sciences with respect to the empiricist positions examined in the previous session? Schütz, Alfred 1954. Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences. The Journal of Philosophy 51 (9): 257-273. Føllesdal, Dagfinn 1979. Hermeneutics and the Hypothetic-Deductive Method. Dialectica 33 (3-4): 319-36. Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 5 of 7 Risjord, Mark 2014. Chapter 3 (pp. 34-56). Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction. London: Routledge. Staudigl, Michael and George Berguno (eds.) 2014. Schutzian Phenomenology and Hermeneutic Traditions. Dordrecht: Springer. Von Wright, George Henrik 1971. Explanation and Understanding. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Session 4. Arguments for Holist Analyses With respect to the holism versus individualism controversy, this session offers an analysis of the arguments in favor of the holist conceptions in the social sciences. Certain, typical notions associated with these arguments are examined, such as societal facts, multiple realizability, supervenience, non-reductive-individualism, and methodological localism. Key questions: Which are the main levels of contrast between holist and individualistic orientations? Which are the main epistemological and empirical elements supporting the holist positions? Mandelbaum, Maurice 1955. Societal Facts. British Journal of Sociology 6: 305-317. Durkheim, Émile 1938 [1895]. The Rules of the Sociological Method. New York: The Free Press. Gilbert, Margaret 1989. On Social Facts. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Luhmann, Niklas 1995 [1984]. Social Systems. Stanford (CA): Stanford University Press. Pettit, Philip 1988. Defining and Defending Social Holism. Philosophical Explorations 1 (3): 169-184. Sawyer, Keith R. 2005. Social Emergence: Societies as Complex Systems. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. Session 5. Methodological Individualistic Standpoints With respect to the holism versus individualism controversy, this session offers an analysis of the arguments in favor of the individualistic conceptions in the social sciences. Certain, typical notions associated with these arguments are examined, such as methodological individualism, rationality, microfoundations, reductionism.
Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 6 of 7 Key questions: What distinguishes methodological individualism from those epistemological orientations arguing for the holist positions? Which are the main versions within the methodological individualism? Watkins, J. W. N. 1957. Historical Explanations in the Social Sciences. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 8 (3): 104-117. Boudon, Raymond 1982 [1977]. The Unintended Consequences of Social Action. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Bouvier, Alban 2011. Individualism, Collective Agency, and the Micro-Macro Relation. Pp. 199-216 in The Sage Handbook of the Philospophy of the Social Sciences, edited by Ian C. Jarvie and Jesus Zamora-Bonilla. London: Sage. Coleman, James 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press. Elster, Jon 2007. Explaining Social Behavior. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. Health, Joseph 2014. Methodological Individualism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/methodological-individualism. Session 6. Questions and Approaches Related to Causality An introduction to the most important orientations concerning the causality in the social sciences the neo-humean regularity approach, counterfactual approach, manipulation approach, and mechanism and capacities approach in terms of their epistemological presuppositions and limitations. Key questions: Which are the main intellectual questions in the philosophical discussion of causality? Which are the main approaches to causality in the social sciences, their epistemological assumptions and limitations? Risjord, Mark 2014. Chapter 9 (pp. 208-236). Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction. London: Routledge. Brady, Henry E. 2008. (pp. 217-249). Causation and Explanation in Social Science. Pp. 217-270 in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, edited by Janet M. Box- Steffensmeier, Henry E. Brady and David Collier. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tosini Syllabus Main Epistemological Issues in Social Sciences (2017/2018) Page 7 of 7 Gerring, John 2012. Chapters 8-9 (pp. 197-255). Social Science Methodology. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. Goldthorpe, John H. 2000. On Sociology. Chapter 7 (pp. 137-160). On Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kinkaid, Harold (ed.) 2012. Chapters 2-9 (pp. 21-228). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ragin, Charles C. 1987. The Comparative Method. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.