77992 - Philosophy of Social Sciences (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing a deep knowledge of the major issues tackled in the contemporary epistemological debate on the social sciences. Core methodological and conceptual aspects of history, archaeology, anthropology, economics, psychology and - partly - medicine are addressed. Students will get familiar with relevant debates in contemporary philosophy of the social sciences, and shall be able to analyse and discuss key topics on the construction of scientific knowledge in such disciplines.

Course contents

The course focuses on some questions and debates that are central to the contemporary philosophy of social sciences. After a short introduction to the discipline, in which a comparison between the social sciences and the natural sciences will be made, the following topics will be covered: 1) the naturalism/anti-naturalism debate within the philosophy of social sciences; 2) the role of idealized models in social sciences; 3) the nature of explanation in the social sciences; 4) the value-free/laden character of social studies; 5) the objectivity question within the social sciences; 6) the possibility of having social laws. During the course these topics will be explored at length, using case-studies from different social science fields and tracing connections with those debates that address similar topics within the general philosophy of science.

Readings/Bibliography

Required readings (mandatory):

• Cartwright, N. and Montuschi, E. (Eds.) (2014). Philosophy of Social Science: A New Introduction. Oxford University Press. [Introduction and chapters 2 ('Climate Change'), 5 ('Social Ontology'), 7 ('Scientific Objectivity') and 9 ('Values in Social Science')]

• Douglas, H. (2004). The Irreducible Complexity of Objectivity. Synthese, 138(3), 453–473.

• Douglas, H. (2011). Facts, Values, and Objectivity. In I. Jarvie and J. Zamora-Bonilla (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of the Philosophy of Social Sciences (pp. 513-529). SAGE Publications Ltd.

• Douglas, H. (2016). Values in Science. In P. Humphreys (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Science (pp. 609-630). Oxford University Press

• Guala, F. (2016). Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Naturalism and Anti-Naturalism in the Philosophy of Social Science. In P. Humphreys (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Science (pp. 43-64). Oxford University Press.

• Kincaid, H. (2012). Introduction: doing philosophy of social science. In H. Kinkaid (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science (pp. 3-17). Oxford University Press. [section 1.1 'Developments in Philosophy of Science']

• Kincaid, H. (2014). Social sciences. In M. Curd and S. Psillos (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science (pp. 672-682). Routledge.

• Knuuttila, J. and Kuorikoski, J. (2011). Idealised Representations, Inferential Devices and Cross-Disciplinary Tools: Theoretical Models in Social Sciences. In I. Jarvie and J. Zamora-Bonilla (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of the Philosophy of Social Sciences (pp. 530-550). SAGE Publications Ltd.

• Reiss, J. (2016). Are There Social Scientific Laws?. In L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science (pp. 295-309). Routledge.

• Risjord, M. (2014). Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge [Chapter 9 'Causality and Law in the Social World', pp. 208-236]

• Van Bouwel, J. and Weber, E. (2011). Explanation in the Social Sciences. In I. Jarvie and J. Zamora-Bonilla (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of the Philosophy of Social Sciences (pp. 632-646). SAGE Publications Ltd.

 

Suggested readings (not mandatory):

• Brown, M. J. (2013). Values in Science beyond Underdetermination and Inductive Risk. Philosophy of Science, 80(5), 829–839.

• Doppelt, G. (2013). Values in science. In M. Curd and S. Psillos (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science (pp. 346-357). Routledge.

• Kincaid, H. (1990). Defending Laws in the Social Sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 20(1), 56–83.

• Wray, K. B. (2013). Social epistemology. In M. Curd and S. Psillos (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science (pp. 112-119). Routledge.

Non-attending students should also read (at least) two texts among the suggested readings.

Articles and texts excerpts indicated in the bibliography, as well as readings suggested during the course, will be made available on-line.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lectures and group discussions. Individual or group presentations on a topic related to the course will also be possible (the topic must be agreed in advance with the teacher).

Assessment methods

The final examination will take place in the form of an oral interview, during which the achievement of the following educational goals will be assessed:

• Knowledge of the topics presented in the course

• Ability to critically engage with the contemporary debates related to the topics covered in the course

• Accurate knowledge of the reference texts

• Correctness, clarity, synthesis and presentation skills

• Use of appropriate terminology

 

The assessment of these knowledge and skills will be formalized in an evaluation expressed in thirtieths, according to the following judging criteria:

30 cum laude: excellent

30: excellent

27-29: good

24-26: fair

21-23: more than sufficient

18-20: barely sufficient

<18: insufficient

Teaching tools

Lecture slides, handouts and further readings will be used during classes and will be made available to students through the virtuale.unibo.it portal.

Office hours

See the website of Daniele Molinini