Laws And Explanation In The Social Sciences

by Lee C Mcintyre

Overview

The first full-length defense of social scientific laws to appear in the last twenty years, this book upholds the prospect of the nomological explanation of human behavior against those who maintain that this approach is impossible, impractical, or irrelevant. By pursuing an analogy with the natural sciences, McIntyre shows that the barriers to nom

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367316624
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/27/2019
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mcintyre, Lee C

Table of Contents

1 The Nomological Ideal — 2 Fundamental Objections to Social Scientific Laws — 3 Practical Objections to Social Scientific Laws — 4 The Role of Laws in Scientific Understanding: The Case of Evolutionary Biology — 5 A Question of Relevance — 6 Metaphysical Interlude — 7 Prospects and Limitations of a Nomological Social Science

Editorial Reviews

McIntyre (philosophy, Colgate U.) contends that laws are possible in the social sciences, and that those who say they are not possible, practical, or relevant are arguing from the basis of a flawed analogy with the natural sciences. He examines the epistemological similarities and differences between natural and social sciences in light of recent thinking in the philosophy of science that standards can shift without jeopardizing the centrality of scientific laws. Overall he is optimistic about the prospects for nomological explanation in the social sciences. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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