Dlittle30

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I am a philosopher of social science with a strong interest in China and Southeast Asia. Paying attention to the logical and conceptual issues raised by the social sciences is key to better understanding the modern world. I think philosophers need to interact seriously and extensively with working social scientists and historians if they are going to be able to make a useful contribution.


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LATEST ARTICLES ( 893 )

  • Basic Social Institutions and Democratic Equality

    Basic Social Institutions Democratic Equality

    We would like to think that it is possible for a society to embody basic institutions that work to preserve and enhance the wellbeing of all members of society... Read more

    Posted on 03 June 2014 SOCIETY

  • Heterogeneity According to Cartwright

    Heterogeneity According Cartwright

    Nancy Cartwright is one of the best philosophers of science around, in many people's opinion. I find her work particularly interesting for the new ways she... Read more

    Posted on 31 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • Positive Social Change

    Positive Social Change

    The City Year national leadership conference is taking place in Boston this week, celebrating the 25th anniversary of City Year. Read more

    Posted on 22 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • Domain of the Social Sciences

    Domain Social Sciences

    Is the domain of "all social phenomena" a valid subject for scientific study? Is there a place for a purely general sociology, designed to be a theory of the... Read more

    Posted on 17 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • Are There Meso-level Social Mechanisms?

    There Meso-level Social Mechanisms?

    It is fairly well accepted that there are social mechanisms underlying various patterns of the social world — free-rider problems, communications networks, etc. Read more

    Posted on 11 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • Peggy Somers' Contribution to Realism

    Peggy Somers' Contribution Realism

    Peggy Somers is an important contributor to the active field of sociological theory. And she identifies as a critical realist when it comes to understanding... Read more

    Posted on 10 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • Liquid Modernity?

    Liquid Modernity?

    image: Len Stomski, River Flow Zygmunt Bauman advocates for the idea of "liquid modernity" (Liquid Modernity). This view emphasizes the fact of change within... Read more

    Posted on 03 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • Morphogenesis and Realist Meta-theory

    Morphogenesis Realist Meta-theory

    Margaret Archer's contribution to critical realism has been an important part of the recent progress of the field, and her theory of morphogenesis is key to thi... Read more

    Posted on 02 May 2014 SOCIETY

  • The Big Ideas

    Ideas

    image: Luten Baher, MusicianThe deluge of changes that shook Europe around 1800 -- the making of the modern world -- brought with them an explosion of big new... Read more

    Posted on 29 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • The Social World

    Social World

    image: Tuileries, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Toledo Museum of Art exibitionIt seems self evident, barely worth remarking, that social outcomes are the result of... Read more

    Posted on 26 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • Social Upheaval

    Social Upheaval

    image: Monte Carlo simulation of portfolio valueWe sometimes think that there is fundamental stability in the social world, or at least an orderly pattern of... Read more

    Posted on 24 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • The Near Future

    Near Future

    There is a lot going on in America and the world today: climate change, increasing separation between the rich and the non-rich, entrenched poverty in cities,... Read more

    Posted on 19 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • Historical Sociologists on Critical Realism

    Historical Sociologists Critical Realism

    Critical realism took its origin within the philosophy discipline, arising at the time that there was profound debate over the adequacy of logical positivism... Read more

    Posted on 15 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • Naturalizing Causal Powers

    Naturalizing Causal Powers

    Several earlier posts have considered Tuukka Kaidesoja's very interesting recent book, Naturalizing Critical Realist Social Ontology (NCR). Read more

    Posted on 10 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • Entrenched Poverty

    Entrenched Poverty

    A quick review of Peter Edelman's So Rich, So Poor: Why it’s So Hard to End Poverty in America posted on svbtle.com ...http://dlittle30.svbtle. Read more

    Posted on 05 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • Quantitative and Qualitative Social Science

    Quantitative Qualitative Social Science

    The social world is one reality, but the methodologies associated with quantitative and qualitative research are quite different. Read more

    Posted on 02 April 2014 SOCIETY

  • War and Calculation

    Calculation

    The Crimea is now securely within the grasp of Russia. This shift occurred as the result of the use of military force seemingly unconcerned about international... Read more

    Posted on 29 March 2014 SOCIETY

  • Causal Necessity?

    Causal Necessity?

    Do causes make their effects “necessary” in any useful sense? This is the claim that Hume rejected — the notion that there is any “necessary” connection... Read more

    Posted on 23 March 2014 SOCIETY

  • Social Contingency?

    Social Contingency?

    Image: Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (link)Image: organization chart of General MotorsWhat does it mean to say that the social world is contingent? Several things. Read more

    Posted on 17 March 2014 SOCIETY

  • Why Emergence?

    Emergence?

    It is a fair question to ask, whether the concept of emergence is perhaps less important than it initially appears to be. Part of the interest in emergence seem... Read more

    Posted on 09 March 2014 SOCIETY