Philosophy of social science examines how social science integrates with other related scientific disciplines, asking to what extent disciplines such as sociology, economics and psychology should adopt the methods of the natural sciences and to what extent human social life calls for its own distinct methods of inquiry. Auguste Comte, regarded by the field as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense, argued for a positivist social science modeled on the natural sciences, and the field's central disputes since have included whether social structures determine an individual's behaviour or whether human agency does, together with challenges from philosophers of science such as Thomas Kuhn to earlier deductivist accounts of scientific method. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Central QuestionSourced to the subject's own accountTo what extent should the social sciences adopt the methods used in the natural sciences, and to what extent does the study of human social life require its own distinct methods? 1 Key DebateSourced to the subject's own accountWhether social phenomena can and should be studied by the same methods used in the natural sciences, the position the founding positivists took, or whether human action instead requires an interpretive verstehen approach that opponents of naturalism have argued is radically different from natural science. 1 Key DebateSourced to the subject's own accountWhether social structures determine an individual's behaviour or whether human agency does, described as being at the core of social ontology. 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Philosophy of Social Science (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Philosophy of Social Science (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Philosophy of social science examines how social science integrates with other related scientific disciplines, which implies a rigorous, systematic endeavor to build and organize knowledge relevant to the interaction between individual people and their wider social involvement.
Social ontology discussion
Do social structures determine an individual's behaviour or does human agency?
Epistemology section, naturalism and verstehen discussion
Opponents of naturalism, including advocates of the verstehen method, contended that there is a need for an interpretive approach to the study of human action, a technique radically different from natural science.
Associated With: Philosophy of Science, History of positivism section
Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.
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