Philosophy of Social Science

Mark Risjord is Professor of Philosophy at Emory University.

1. Introduction

1.1. What is the Philosophy of Social Science?

The Democratic Peace

Azande Witchcraft

Freedom Riders and Free Riders

Philosophy in the Social Sciences

1.2. A Tour of the Philosophical Neighborhood

Normativity

Naturalism

Reductionism

Excelsior!

2. Objectivity, Values, and the Possibility of a Social Science

2.1. The Ideal of Value-Freedom

The United States Census

Dimensions of Value-Freedom

A Moderate Thesis of Value-Freedom

2.2. Impartiality and Theory Choice

Risk and Error

What About Objectivity?

2.3. Essentially Contested Ideas

Value-Neutrality and Emancipatory Research

Objection: Values and the Logic of Discovery

Value Presuppositions and Implicatures

2.4. Wrap up

Chapter Summary

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

3. Theories, Interpretations, and Concepts

3.1. Aggression, Violence, and Video Games

3.2. Defining theoretical concepts



The Empiricist View of Concepts and Theory Structure
Realism, Instrumentalism, and the Problem of Construct Validity

3.3. Interpretivism



Ideal Types and Verstehen
Hermeneutics and Meaning
Thick Description and its Challenges

3.4. Realism and Social Concepts



Social Constructions
Realism about Social Kinds
Looping Effects

3.5. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading

4. Interpretive Methodology

4.1. Evidence for Interpretation



Qualitative Research Methods and Their Presuppositions
Authority and Authenticity
Reflexivity

4.2. Rationality, Explanation, and Interpretive Charity



The Problem of Apparent Irrationality
Relativism and Rationality
The Principle of Charity

4.3. Cognition, Evolution, and Interpretation



Bounded and Unbounded Rationality
Cognitive Roots of Culture
Interpretation and Cognitive Explanation
The New Questions of Naturalism

4.4. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading
Notes to Chapter 4

5. Action and Agency

5.1. Explaining Action



Admiral Tryon and Instrumental Rationality
The Function of General Laws in History
Reasons and Causes
Re-enactment: Verstehen Revisited

5.2. The Games People Play



Rationality and Utility
Games and Strategies
Equilibria
Nash Equilibria and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
Multiple Equilibria and Coordination Problems

5.3. Agency



The Psychological Plausibility of Rational Choice Theory
Rational Fools?
Game Theory in the Laboratory
Instrumentalism and Structuralism

5.4. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading

6. Reductionism: Structures, Agents, and Evolution

6.1. Explaining Revolutions

6.2. Social Theory and Social Ontology



The Individualism-Holism Debate
Definition and Theoretical Reduction
Supervenience
Methodological Localism

6.3. Agents and Social Explanations



Methodological Individualism
Microfoundations and Moderate Explanatory Individualism
Agency and Mechanistic Explanation

6.4. Evolutionary Explanations



Functions in Evolutionary Perspective
Selectionist Explanations of Cooperation and the Evolution of Norms
Consequences of Selectionism for the Social Sciences

6.5. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading

7. Social Norms

7.1. Disenchanting the social world



Is and Ought
Normativism
Good Bad Theories

7.2. Norms and Rational Choices



Convention
Conventionality and Normativity
Social Norms

7.3. Normativity and Practice



Norms and practices
Problems for Practice Theory
Practices Without Regularities

7.4. Reductionism and Naturalized Normativity



Normativism and Holism
Norms, Naturalism, and Supervenience
Prospects for Naturalized Normativity

7.5. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading

8. Intentions, Institutions, and Collective Action

8.1. Agency and Collective Intentionality



Team Reasoning
Joint Commitment
Group agency

8.2. Joint Intentionality



Cooperation Again: Ontogeny and Development
Plans and Joint Intentions
We-intentions and the We-mode
Acting as a Group Member

8.3. Intentions and Institutions



The Strange Tale of the Druid Penny
Function and Rules in Institutions
Explaining Social Institutions

8.4. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading

9. Causality and Law in the Social World

9.1. The Democratic Peace Hypothesis

9.2. Are There Social Scientific Laws?



Characteristics of Natural Laws
Creativity and Complexity

9.3. Conceptualizing Causation



Constant Conjunction
Linear Equation Modeling and Causal Regularities
Interventionism
Capacities and Nomological Engines

9.4. Models and Mechanisms



Secret Springs and Principles
Correlations, Black Boxes, and Processes
Middle Range Theory and Agent-Based Models

9.5. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading

10. Methodologies of Causal Inference

10.1. Bayesian Networks and Causal Modeling



Confounds and Common Causes
Bayesian Inference
Challenges to Causal Modeling

10.2. Case Studies and Causal Structure



The Apparent Value of Case Studies
Epistemological Challenges of Case Studies
Justification and Discovery

10.3. Experimentation



What Can We Learn From Social Scientific Experimentation?
Quasi-Experiments and Randomized Controlled Trials

10.4. Extrapolation and Social Engineering



Evidence-based Policy
The FCC Auction
Breaking the Extrapolator’s Circle
Performativity and Social Engineering

10.5. Wrap up



Chapter Summary
Discussion questions
Further Reading