Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 899 )

• 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

• History of Sociology

  

  Sociology is a discipline with a short history and a very dense and complex tree of topics and methods. So writing its history — even limited to the past centur... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2015 SOCIETY

• A Short Course in Critical Causality

  For anyone interested in getting a deep exposure to current thinking about causation within the critical realist tradition, Ruth Groff's 2008 collection... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2015 SOCIETY

• Frédéric Vandenberghe's Social Theory

  

  Frédéric Vandenberghe is an important contributor to the philosophy of critical realism. His interesting book A Philosophical History of German Sociology... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2015 SOCIETY

• Debates About Field Experiments in the Social Sciences

  

  Questions about the empirical validation of hypotheses about social causation have been of interest in the past several weeks here. Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2015 SOCIETY

• Realism and Empirical Reasoning

  

  How should a realist think about confirmation of hypotheses and theories about real social structures and properties?Here is what the Ur-realist Roy Bhaskar... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2015 SOCIETY

• Mechanisms, Experiments, and Policies

  

  The social mechanisms approach to the social sciences aligns well with two key intellectual practices, experiments and policies. Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2015 SOCIETY

• Ethics as Culture

  

  Gabriel Abend has recently published The Moral Background: An Inquiry into the History of Business Ethics, a remarkable book on what seems initially to be a... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2015 SOCIETY