CONTENTS

List of Figures and Tables ix

Preface to the Third Edition x

Preface to the Second Edition xiii

Acknowledgements xiv

1 Introduction to the First Edition 1

Philosophy and the Social Sciences 1

A Philosophical Toolkit 3

Politics and Political Philosophy 7

The Book and Its Arguments 8

How to Read the Book 10

2 Empiricism and Positivism in Science 13

Introduction 13

Empiricism and the Theory of Knowledge 13

Positivism and Sociology 21

Further Reading 26

3 Some Problems of Empiricism and Positivism 27

Introduction: Two Ways to Criticize Positivism 27

Some Problems of Empiricism 28

Further Problems of Positivism 43

Further Reading 47

4 Science, Nature and Society: Some Alternatives to Empiricism 49

Marxism and Science 49

Weber, Merton and the Sociology of Science 52

Historical Epistemology and Structural Marxism 54

Revolutions and Relativism: From Kuhn to the ‘Strong Programme' 57

Gender and Science: The Feminist Vision 61

The Reflexive Turn: ‘Constructing' Nature and Society 65

Conclusion 71

Further Reading 71

Postscript 72

5 Interpretive Approaches 1: Instrumental Rationality 75

Weber's Discussion of the Objects of the Social Sciences 76

Weber's Methodology: Understanding and Ideal Types 78

Weber on Objectivity and Value Freedom 80

Phenomenology: A Philosophical Foundation for Instrumental

Rationality 81

Instrumental Variations I: Rational Choice Theory 84

Instrumental Variations II: Pragmatism and Symbolic Interactionism 85

Reasons and Causes 87

Individualism, Holism and Functional Explanation 88

Conclusion 89

Further Reading 90

Postscript 90

6 Interpretive Approaches 2: Rationality as Rule-Following: Cultures,

Traditions and Hermeneutics 93

Introduction 93

Peter Winch: Philosophy and Social Science 94

Language, Games and Rules 95

Understanding Other Societies 97

What Can We Do with Winch? 99

Alasdair MacIntyre: Narratives and Communities 101

Hermeneutics: Hans-Georg Gadamer 102

Conclusion 105

Further Reading 105

Postscript 105

7 Interpretive Approaches 3: Critical Rationality 107

Introduction: Hegel, Marx and the Dialectic 107

The Dialectic of the Enlightenment 109

Ideology 110

Habermas: The Possibility of an Emancipatory Science 112

Critical Theory and the Linguistic Turn 114

Conclusion 116

Further Reading 117

Postscript 117

8 Critical Realism and the Social Sciences 119

Introduction 119

Realism and Natural Science 121

Experiments, Laws and Mechanisms 123

Reality as Stratified 124

Stratification, Emergence and Reduction 125

Reality as Differentiated: Closed and Open Systems 127

Realism and Social Science 129

Critical Realism and Human Emancipation 134

Further Reading 137

Postscript 138

9 Feminism, Knowledge and Society 141

Introduction: Objectivity and Cultural Diversity 141

Feminist Politics and Social Knowledge 144

Feminism and Epistemology 146

Debating the Feminist Standpoint 152

Post-modern Feminism 158

Further Reading 159

Postscript 159

10 Post-structuralism and Post-modernism 163

Introduction 163

Post-structuralism: The Move to the Signifier 166

Foucault: The Construction of the Subject 167

Derrida and Deconstruction 169

Post-modernism: Losing Philosophy 170

The Politics of Post-structuralism and Post-modernism 172

What Do We Do with the Posts? 173

Further Reading 174

Postscript 175

11 Conclusion to the First Edition: In Defence of Philosophy

(1st Edition, 2001) 177

12 Commentary on Some Recent Developments (2nd Edition, 2011 and

3rd Edition, 2023, Ted Benton) 183

Peter Winch and Hermeneutics 184

Meaning, Action and Explanation 184

Understanding Other Cultures and Criticizing One's Own 189

‘Limiting notions', Human Nature and Social Science Naturalism 192

Post-Marxism and Post-Structuralism 194

Critical Realism and Social Science 201

Archer's Morphogenesis and Human Flourishing 215

Critical Realism and the Philosophy of Social Science: Some Recent Interventions 219

13 Critical Social Science, Nature and Human Nature (3rd Edition,

2023, Ted Benton) 225

Introduction 225

Andrew Sayer's Philosophical Anthropology 228

Humans as Social or Natural Beings? 233

Human Beings as Both Ecologically and Socially Embedded 237

A Dangerously Disrupted Metabolism with Nature 241

14 Nature, Economy and Society: Can the Contradictions Be Reconciled?

(3rd Edition, 2023, Ted Benton) 243

Sustainable Development 243

‘Mainstream’ Environmental Economics to the Rescue? 245

Is There an Alternative? 253

Classical Political Economy 254

Marx and Engels: Prometheans or Pioneering Ecologists? 255

Ecological Marx and the Metabolic Rift 261

O’Connor and the ‘Second Contradiction’ 262

Appendix I: Personal Conclusions (1st Edition, 2001) 265

Appendix II: Obituary for Professor Ian Craib (1945-2002) 275

Glossary 278

Bibliography 285

Index 303

FIGURES AND TABLES

Figures

3.1 The duck-rabbit 31

3.2 The Hypothetico-Deductive account of scientific theories: the kinetic

theory of gases as an example 37

Table

2.1 Suicides in different countries per million persons of each confession 23