Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences: Analyzing Controversies in Social Research

302 Pages·1995·18.13 MB·English

by  Harold Kincaid

This book defends the prospects for a science of society. It argues that
behind the diverse methods of the natural sciences lies a common core of
scientific rationality that the social sciences can and sometimes do achieve.
It also argues that good social science must be in part about large-scale
social structures and processes and thus that methodological individual-
ism is misguided. These theses are supported by a detailed discussion of
actual social research, including theories of agrarian revolution, organiza-
tional ecology, social theories of depression, and supply-and-demand ex-
planations in economics.
Professor Kincaid provides a general picture of explanation and con-
firmation in the social sciences and discusses the nature of scientific ratio-
nality, functional explanation, optimality arguments, meaning, and inter-
pretation; the place of microfoundations in social explanation; the status
of neo-classical economics; the role of idealizations and non-experimental
evidence; and other controversies in social research.

PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Philosophical foundations of the
social sciences
ANALYZING CONTROVERSIES IN SOCIAL
RESEARCH
HAROLD KINCAID
University of Alabama at Birmingham
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE university press
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Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521558914
© Cambridge University Press 1996
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1996
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Kincaid, Harold, 1952—
Philosophical foundations of the social sciences : analyzing
controversies in social research / Harold Kincaid.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-521-48268-2. — ISBN 0-521-55891-3 (pbk.)
1. Social sciences—Research. 2. Social sciences—Philosophy.
I. Title.
H62.K515 1996
300'—dc20 95-13774
CIF
ISBN 978-0-521-48268-4 Hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-55891-4 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel
timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at
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the accuracy of such information thereafter.
In memory of the generation that went before
Harold Wilson Kincaid
1920-1943
Earl Alexander Kincaid, Jr.
1926-1970
Katherine Kincaid Brooks
1919-1987

CONTENTS
List of figures page xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Preface xv
Chapter 1: Issues and arguments 1
1.1 The naturalist and holist traditions and
their detractors 2
1.2 An outline of the argument 9
Chapter 2: Challenges to scientific rationality 16
2.1 Quine and the demise of positivism 17
2.2 Varieties of rationality 27
2.3 Kuhn and shifting standards 30
2.3.1 Incommensurability 30
2.3.2 Theory-laden data 33
2.3.3 Ambiguous criteria 35
2.4 Social constructivism and post-modernist rhetoric 37
2.5 The subtle invasion of values 43
2.6 The symptoms of good science 47
Chapter 3: Causes, confirmation, and explanation 58
3.1 Some a priori objections 59
vii