Dlittle30
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.
MY BLOGS
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Understanding Society
http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/
Innovative thinking about social agency and structure in a global world
LATEST ARTICLES ( 866 )
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"How Does It Work" Questions
Source: Karl Ove Moene in Alternatives to Capitalism, p. 85One of the strengths of the causal-mechanisms approach to social explanation is how it responds to a... Read more
Posted on 13 February 2014 SOCIETY -
Skocpol on the 1979 Revolution in Iran
An earlier post reviewed Theda Skocpol's effort in States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China to provide a comparative,... Read more
Posted on 12 February 2014 SOCIETY -
Skocpol on the Chinese Revolution
(Sources: States and Social Revolutions, pp. 155, 282)In States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China (1979) Theda Skocpol... Read more
Posted on 08 February 2014 SOCIETY -
Understanding the Chinese Revolution
source: Lucien Bianco, Origins of the Chinese Revolution, frontispieceThe Chinese Revolution is one of the world-historical events that has set the stage for th... Read more
Posted on 04 February 2014 CULTURE, HISTORY, SOCIETY -
The Historian and the Archives
Generally speaking everyone understands that one important kind of research conducted by historians takes place in archives -- repositories of records and... Read more
Posted on 26 January 2014 SOCIETY -
Mechanisms and Methodology
In its origin the causal mechanisms approach (link) is chiefly an answer to the question, “what is a good social explanation?”. Read more
Posted on 23 January 2014 SOCIETY -
SSHA 2014 Call for Papers
SSHA CALL FOR PAPERSMacrohistorical Dynamics Network39th Annual Meeting of the Social Science History AssociationToronto, Ontario 6-9 November 2014Submission... Read more
Posted on 19 January 2014 SOCIETY -
Mechanisms and Intellectual Movements
I am particularly interested in the idea that we can explain social outcomes by identifying the social mechanisms that (often, typically, occasionally) bring... Read more
Posted on 19 January 2014 SOCIETY -
Guest Post by Ruth Groff on Causal Powers
Ruth Groff is Assistant Professor of Political Science at St. Louis University. She specializes in the philosophical underpinnings of Western social and... Read more
Posted on 14 January 2014 SOCIETY -
ANT and the Philosophy of Social Science
What does Actor-Network Theory have to add to the kinds of issues in the foundations of the social sciences that are of interest here? Read more
Posted on 10 January 2014 SOCIETY -
How Do the Poles of Current PSS Interact?
An earlier post offered a diagram of current topics in the philosophy of social science. The three poles of this diagram were analytical sociology, critical... Read more
Posted on 09 January 2014 SOCIETY -
New Philosophy of Social Science
The philosophy of social science is a living field with several distinct areas of growth and dozens of talented young contributors bringing fresh ideas and... Read more
Posted on 03 January 2014 SOCIETY -
International Relations and Complexity Theory
Hilton Root has published some very interesting ideas about systems thinking in international relations theory in Dynamics among Nations: The Evolution of... Read more
Posted on 02 January 2014 SOCIETY -
What Kind of Realist?
I've always felt that scientific realism is almost self-evidently true. Scientific theories and hypotheses put forward ideas that go beyond the evidence of... Read more
Posted on 28 December 2013 SOCIETY -
Response by Mervyn Hartwig to Little on Critical Realism
Mervyn Hartwig is an important exponent of the classic version of Roy Bhaskar's theory of critical realism. He has contributed a great deal to the interpretatio... Read more
Posted on 19 December 2013 SOCIETY -
Invited Response by Tuukka Kaidesoja on Naturalized Critical Realism
[Tuukka Kaidesoja accepted my invitation to write a response to my discussion (link) of his book, Naturalizing Critical Realist Social Ontology. Read more
Posted on 19 December 2013 SOCIETY -
Discussion with Mervyn Hartwig and Dan Little on Historical Ontology
Mervyn Hartwig is an important exponent of the classic version of Roy Bhaskar's theory of critical realism. He has contributed a great deal to the interpretatio... Read more
Posted on 18 December 2013 SOCIETY -
Kaidesoja's Naturalistic Social Ontology
Tuukka Kaidesoja provides an important analysis and critique of Roy Bhaskar's philosophical method in his theory of critical realism in Naturalizing Critical... Read more
Posted on 15 December 2013 SOCIETY -
Reply to Elder-Vass, Hartwig, and Groff on Critical Realism
Critical realism is a hot topic now in sociological theory and philosophy of social science. It turns out that there are some pretty strong disagreements about... Read more
Posted on 12 December 2013 SOCIETY -
Replies by Elder-Vass and Hartwig to Cruickshank/Little
Two leading exponents of critical realism, Dave Elder-Vass (The Causal Power of Social Structures: Emergence, Structure and Agency) and Mervyn Hartwig... Read more
Posted on 12 December 2013 SOCIETY