This essay provides a basis for examining the basic ontological, explanatory, and theoretical characteristics of social scientific knowledge, with special application to sociology.
The philosophy of the social sciences is the field within philosophy that thinks critically about the nature and scope of social scientific knowledge and explanation. The essay considers some of the ways that philosophers and social scientists have conceptualized the nature of social phenomena, and argues for an ontology based on socially situated individuals in interaction.
The essay examines several features of social explanation, focusing on the idea of a causal mechanism. It argues that social explanations come down to a claim about social causation, and social causation in turn should be understood in terms of a hypothesized causal mechanism connecting one set of social facts with another. The essay turns finally to several issues of epistemology. How are social science hypotheses and theories to be tested empirically? And what are some of the limitations of positivism and naturalism as theories of social science knowledge? The essay closes by returning to ontology in a consideration of methodological individualism and holism.1.
Source:
Allhoff F.. Philosophies of the Sciences: A Guide. N.-Y.: Wiley-Blackwell,2010. — 386 p.. 2010
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