The Expanded Social Scientist's Bestiary

A Guide to Fabled Threats to, and Defenses of, Naturalistic Social Science

The Expanded Social Scientist's Bestiary cover

The Expanded Social Scientist's Bestiary

A Guide to Fabled Threats to, and Defenses of, Naturalistic Social Science

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Description

The (Expanded)Social ScientistOs Bestiary addresses a number of important theoretical and philosophical issues in the social sciences from the perspective of contemporary philosophy of science. The book discusses and critiques the various arguments that purport to establish that it is a mistake to believe that a naturalistic social science- i.e. social science that in some way resembles the natural sciences- can be produced. It is intended to guide social scientists-researchers, teachers, and students-so that they will not fall victim to the beasts they will encounter in the course of their inquiries. Such beasts include holism, post-positivistic work in the philosophy of science, Kuhnian relativism, the denial of objectivity and value neutrality, hermeneutics and several others, both good and bad. This expanded and revised edition contains four new chapters tackling such contemporary beasts as Popperian rules, narrative research, and various forms of constructivism. The chapters presented in this volume are, as far as possible, self-contained so that each chapter can be consulted without the necessity of having read the others, thus making this volume an invaluable guide for faculty members and graduate students in the whole of the social sciences and related applied fields.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface: On Good and Bad Beasts
Chapter 2 Constructivism and its Many Ugly Faces: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Chapter 3 Hermeneutics and Naturalistic Social Inquiry
Chapter 4 Holistic Tendencies in Social Science
Chapter 5 Narrative Research: Telling Stories about Stories
Chapter 6 Naturalistic Ideals in Social Science
Chapter 7 New Philosophy of Science
Chapter 8 Objectivity and Subjectivity
Chapter 9 Popperian Rules for Research Design
Chapter 10 Positivism
Chapter 11 Qualitative Research and its Warrant
Chapter 12 Social Construction of Knowledge
Chapter 13 Theories and Laws
Chapter 14 Values in Social Inquiry

Product details

Published 15 Nov 2000
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 296
ISBN 9780742579392
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

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