Philosophy of Social Science
A Contemporary Introduction
Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy Series

The Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction examines the perennial questions of philosophy by engaging with the empirical study of society. The book offers a comprehensive overview of debates in the field, with special attention to questions arising from new research programs in the social sciences. The text uses detailed examples of social scientific research to motivate and illustrate the philosophical discussion. Topics include the relationship of social policy to social science, interpretive research, action explanation, game theory, social scientific accounts of norms, joint intentionality, reductionism, causal modeling, case study research, and experimentation.

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