New philosophy of social science Book

Under the influence of postempiricism, the philosophy of science haschanged enormously in recent years. New Philosophy of Social Science provides aclear and useful overview of the new synthesis that has taken place. Bohman arguesfor a theoretical and methodological pluralism grounded in an account of the natureof the objects of social theory, which are necessarily indeterminate and open ended: the new, postempiricist philosophy of social science "must find rigor withinindeterminacy. "Bohman's position, that you can start from actual practices in thesocial sciences, accept the fact that they will always contain indeterminacy andambiguity, and yet be able to construct viable norms, is buttressed by a number ofcase studies. These include examples drawn from rational choice theory, ethnomethodology, and the theory of communicative action. In the process, Bohmandescribes the status of such issues as causality, rules, interpretation, holism, andsocial criticism. The argument is not tied to a specific theoretical point of view, although it takes the program of the Frankfurt School as an indication of the pathtoward a proper philosophy of the social sciences.James Bohman is AssociateProfessor in the Department of Philosophy at St. Louis University.