The History and Philosophy of Social Science

The history and philosophy of social science A landmark in its field, this book attains the most exacting scholarly standards whilst making the history of the social sciences enjoyable to read. Scott Gordon provides a magisterial review of the historical development of the social sciences. He examines the problems which confronted the great thinkers in their attempts to construct systematic theories of social phenomena. At the same time, he presents an authoritative survey of the major writers in the fields of economics, sociology and political science. Separate chapters are devoted to particular topics of special significance such as the nature of sociality, the idea of harmonious order, the conflict between progress and perfection, the methodology of history and the relation between biology and the social sciences. In the concluding chapter, the author examines the main lines of thought that have developed in the philosophy of science since the breakdown of logical empiricism, and he shows how the scientific investigation of social phenomena differs from the methodologies of the physical and biological sciences. This bold new synthesis of the different traditions in the social sciences is at once a major contribution and a superb overview. Scott Gordon is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Economics and a Professor at the History and Philosophy of Science Department, Indiana University. He is also Professor of Economics at Queens University, Canada. He is the author of Welfare, Justice and Freedom (1980) and of numerous journal articles and has spent a lifetime researching questions in the history and methodology of the social sciences. The history and philosophy of social science Scott Gordon London and New York First published 1991 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 New in paperback 1993 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 1991 H.S.Gordon All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-203-42322-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-73146-8 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-05682-9 (hardback) ISBN 0-415-09670-7 (paperback) Contents Preface viii 1 Sociality and social science 1 A. The concept of ‘society’ B. Types of sociality C. Altriciality and enculturation 2 The rise of the Age of Science 16 A. Leonardo, Vesalius, and Galileo B. The scientific attitude Appendix: The sociology of science 3 Social laws 33 A. Nomological propositions B. Nomological levels C. Social and natural science: some preliminary remarks D. Positive and normative propositions 4 Political theory and political philosophy 57 A. Plato, Aristotle, and Polybius B. The Venetian constitution C. Seventeenth-century England D. Montesquieu’s interpretation of the English constitution 5 Physiocracy: the first economic model 88 A. Eighteenth-century France and the Physiocratic school B. The Physiocratic model C. The significance of Physiocracy in the history of social science 6 The methodology of modelling 100 A. Examples of models B. Some features of models 7 The Scottish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century 111 A. Scottish moral philosophy v vi Contents B. David Hume C. Adam Smith 8 Progress and perfection 148 A. The idea of progress B. The idea of a perfect social order 9 Classical political economy 168 A. Value B. Rent C. Population D. The model of economic development E. International trade F. Methodology 10 The idea of harmonious order 211 A. The metaphysics of harmony B. The ideology of laissez-faire 11 Utilitarianism 248 A. Bentham and the Mills B. Henry Sidgwick C. Utilitarianism and economics Appendix: Romanticism 12 French positivism and the beginnings of sociology 271 A. Henri Saint-Simon B. Auguste Comte C. The influence of positivism D. French positivism and the philosophy of science 13 The Marxian theory of society 305 A. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels B. History C. Sociology and social psychology D. Economics E. Philosophy 14 The methodology of history 390 A. Historical explanation and the natural science model B. Metaphysical history C. Historical explanation as art D. Historical events and social laws 15 The development of sociological theory 411 A. Herbert Spencer B. Emile Durkheim C. Max Weber Contents vii 16 Biology, social science, and social policy 494 A. Evolution B. The reduction of sociology to biology C. Biology and the social sciences 17 The development of economic theory 546 A. The neoclassical theory of economic organization B. Neoclassical economics and the role of the state C. The distribution of income D. Keynesian macroeconomics 18 The foundations of science 589 A. The philosophy of science B. The study of social phenomena Name index 669 Subject index 680 Preface Alfred North Whitehead once remarked that ‘A science which hesitates to forget its founders is lost.’ Daniel J.Boorstin tells us that ‘An ample account of the rise of the social sciences would be nothing less than a survey of modern European history.’ If I shared these views without reserve, this book would not have been written, for, according to Boorstin, it would be well beyond my capacities and, according to Whitehead, it would constitute academic malpractice. But perhaps Whitehead may be interpreted as meaning to say that ‘a science which worships its founders is lost’. With this I can wholly agree. A large part of the history of social science (and, for that matter, natural science as well) is a record of theories and inferences that we now believe to be wrong. To admire John Locke and Adam Smith, or Aristotle and Newton, for what they succeeded in doing in their time is warranted; to worship them uncritically as promulgators of eternal truths is not. This book has been written with the conviction that something of contemporary value can be gained from a study of the efforts of our forefathers to understand the nature of social life, even when they failed; and, indeed, we can learn more from their successes if we are aware of the weaknesses and limitations of theories that we regard, for the nonce, as true. Daniel Boorstin’s remark is more difficult for me to cope with, for this book does not even approach being ‘a survey of modern European history’. Though I emphasize the strong orientation of social scientists to the economic, social, and political problems of their own times and places, I do not devote more space than is minimally necessary to considering the historical context of their work. Nor do I discuss the empirical work of social scientists, despite its prominence in the modern practice of these disciplines. My principal objective has been to maintain a strong focus on the flow of theoretical ideas in the history of social science, and to connect that history with issues in the philosophy of science. This book, long as it is, is only meant to be an introduction to a very large subject on which there are already many books and articles, and room for more. Some readers who accept the pragmatic necessity of concentrating on theoretical ideas may nevertheless be surprised to find some things missing viii Preface ix that they would consider important. For example, there is no extended discussion here of the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, or Vilfredo Pareto, or Thorstein Veblen, all of whom deserve study by the serious student. John Stuart Mill, unquestionably one of the most important social scientists and philosophers of the modern era, comes into the discussion here and there but is not given a chapter or section of his own. Some important topics are neglected as well, most conspicuously perhaps the history of socialism. In outlining this book I had originally planned to devote a chapter to a survey of the political, sociological, and economic theories of socialism, and the critiques of them, but have had to abandon this upon realization that it would necessarily constitute a sizeable book in itself. The constraints of space, and time, have forced me to be severely selective, since I believe it is more useful, as an introduction to the history and philosophy of social science, to discuss a limited number of thinkers and topics at some length than to devote a few pages each to a more comprehensive list. The selection has been guided by the aim of presenting the history and philosophy of social science as distinct, but none the less conjunctive, subjects which illuminate each other. As Immanuel Kant put it, according to Imre Lakatos’s felicitous paraphrase: ‘philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind’. What is the point of doing this? Does it have any ‘practical’ value? Some philosophers of science take the stance that the object of their discipline is to delineate a methodology of investigation that guarantees the discovery of truth, and to prescribe that methodology as canonical imperatives which practising scientists are obligated to follow. If this were possible, our subject would indeed have great practical import; studying the philosophy of social science would be an important part of the training of a modern social scientist. But in fact courses in philosophy (or history) are not typically, or even frequently, part of the prescribed curriculum for graduate study in the social science disciplines.

Load more