Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 866 )

• Supervenience, Isomers, and Social Isomers

  

  A prior post focused on the question of whether chemistry supervenes upon physics, and I relied heavily on R. F. Hendry's treatment of the way that quantum... Read more

  Posted on 28 July 2015 SOCIETY

• Is Chemistry Supervenient Upon Physics?

  

  Many philosophers of science and physicists take it for granted that "physics" determines "chemistry". Or in terms of the theory of supervenience, it is commonl... Read more

  Posted on 26 July 2015 SOCIETY

• Microfoundations for Rules and Ascriptions

  

  One of the more convincing arguments for the existence of social facts that lie above the level of individual actors is the social reality of rules and... Read more

  Posted on 23 July 2015 SOCIETY

• Supervenience and the Social: Epstein's Critique

  

  Does the social world supervene upon facts about individuals and the physical environment of action? Brian Epstein argues not in several places, most notably... Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2015 SOCIETY

• Goffman on Close Encounters

  image: GIF from D. Witt (link)George Herbert Mead's approach to social psychology is an important contribution to the new pragmatism in sociology (link). Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2015 SOCIETY

• Deliberative Democracy and the Age of Social Media

  

  Several earlier posts have focused on the theory of deliberative democracy (link, link, link). The notion is that political decision-making can be improved by... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2015 SOCIETY

• Quantum Mental Processes?

  One of the pleasant aspects of a long career in philosophy is the occasional experience of a genuinely novel approach to familiar problems. Sometimes one's... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2015 SOCIETY

• Rationality Over the Long Term

  

  image: Dietrich Bonhoeffer with his studentsMillions of words have been written on the topic of rationality in action. Life involves choices. How should we... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2015 SOCIETY

• Science and Decision

  Science is uncertain; and yet we have no better basis for making important decisions about the future than the best scientific knowledge currently available. Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2015 SOCIETY

• Ian Hacking on Natural Kinds

  

  Ian Hacking has written quite a bit on the topic of "kinds" (link), beginning with "A Tradition of Natural Kinds" in Philosophical Studies in 1991 (link) and... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2015 SOCIETY

• The Cultural Revolution Through Photography

  

  image: Li Zhensheng, self portraitSeveral earlier posts have highlighted how challenging it is to come to firm conclusions about some of the most basic facts... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2015 SOCIETY

• Large Causes and Component Causal Mechanisms

  

  Image: Yellow River, Qing DynastyImage: Free and Slave States, United States 1850One approach to causal explanation involves seeking out the mechanisms and... Read more

  Posted on 02 June 2015 SOCIETY

• The Similarity Space of Actor-centered Research Frameworks

  

  There are a number of approaches to the study of the social world that give special priority to individuals in social settings. Read more

  Posted on 25 May 2015 SOCIETY

• An Evolutionary View of Research Frameworks

  

  It was noted in prior posts that there is a great diversity of research frameworks in the social sciences, and that there is much to be gained by attempting to... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2015 SOCIETY

• The French Left Since 1945

  

  Bertolt BrechtFerdinand LasalleJohn MacleanJean JauresRene Marx DormoySalvador AllendeIn an earlier post I suggested rethinking some of Lucien Goldmann's... Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2015 SOCIETY

• Lucien Goldmann on Dialectics and History

  

  Lucien Goldmann made important contributions to French Marxist theory and philosophy in the 1960s. Unlike other luminaries like Althusser and Poulantzas,... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2015 SOCIETY

• Positive Organizational Behavior

  

  source: Rob Cross, Wayne Baker, Andrew Parker, "What creates energy in organizations?" (link)Organizations need study for several important reasons. Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2015 SOCIETY

• Youth Service and America's Progress

  

  Several hundred leaders from around the country convened this week in Washington, D.C. to participate in the 2015 City Year National Leadership Summit. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2015 SOCIETY

• Gorski on Critical Realism

  

  Earlier posts have considered the reception of critical realism by two major historical sociologists, Peggy Somers and George Steinmetz (link, link). Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2015 SOCIETY

• Gross on the History of Analytic Philosophy in America

  

  Neil Gross has a remarkably good ear for philosophy. And this extends especially to his occasional treatments of the influences that helped shape the... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2015 SOCIETY