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 addresses some issues and debates that are central to contemporary philosophy of social science. After a brief introduction to the discipline, in which a comparison will be made between the social sciences and the natural sciences, the following topics will be covered: 1) the value-free/laden character of the social sciences in relation to the question of their objectivity; 2) the necessity and possibility of interpreting social phenomena; 3) the nature of social concepts and genres; 4) the potential of individualism and functionalism as models of explanation of social phenomena; 5) the nature of social norms and institutions; 6) the existence of laws in the social domain; 7) the role of causes and mechanisms in the social sciences. During the course these topics will be explored in depth, using case studies from different fields of social sciences and drawing connections with debates that address similar themes within the general philosophy of science.

Readings/Bibliography

Reference textbook:

• Risjord, M. (2014) Philosophy of Social Science: A Contemporary Introduction. New York: Routledge.

Other resources:

• Kaldis, B. (2013). Encyclopaedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
• Zalta, E. N. and Nodelman, U. (2024). The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Accessible at <https://plato.stanford.edu/>

Mandatory readings

Lecture: Values and Objectivity

• Weber, M. (1949 [1904]). Objectivity in “social science”. In The Methodology of the Social Sciences (English trans.), Glencoe, IL: Free Press, pp. 49–90 (excerpt: 72–82)
• Nagel, E. (1994 [1961]). The value-oriented bias of social enquiry. Reprinted in Martin, M & McIntyre, L., Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 371–84.

Seminar: Feminism in Social Science

• Haack, S. (1998 [1993]). Knowledge and propaganda: Reflections of an old feminist. Reprinted in Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate: Unfashionable Essays, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 123–36.
• Wylie, A. (2007). The feminist question in science: What does it mean to ‘do social science as a feminist"? In Hesse-Biber, S. (ed.), Handbook of Feminist Research. Sage Publications. pp. 567-78.

Lecture: Interpretation

• Taylor, C. (1971). Interpretation and the sciences of man. Review of Metaphysics 25: 1–51.

Lecture: Social Kinds

• Hacking, I (1995). The looping effect of human kinds. In Sperber, D., Premack, D., & Premack A. J. (eds.), Causal Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Debate, Clarendon Press, pp. 351-83.

Seminar: Do We Need "Race"?

• Taylor, P.C. (2004). What races are: the metaphysics of critical race theory. In Race: A Philosophical Introduction, Malden, MA: Polity Press, pp. 70–118 (excerpt: 85-ff.)
• Hochman, A. (2017). Replacing race: Interactive constructionism about racialized groups. Ergo, 4: 61–92.

Lecture: Rational Choice

• Paternotte, C. (2011). Rational choice theory. In I. Jarvie & Zamorra-Bonilla, J. (eds.), The Sage Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science. Sage Publications. pp. 307–21.
• Steele, K. (2014). Choice models. In Cartwright, N. & Montuschi, E. (eds.), Philosophy of Social Science: A New Introduction. Oxford University Press, pp. 185–207.

Seminar: Methodological Individualism

• van Hees, M. (1997). Explaining institutions: A defence of reductionism. European Journal of Political Research 32: 51–69.
• Zahle, J. & Kincaid, H. (2019). Why be a methodological individualist? Synthese 196 (2): 655–75.

Lecture: Functionalism

• Kincaid, H. (1990). Assessing functional explanations in the social sciences. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990: 341–54.
• Rosenberg, A. (2017). Functionalism. In McIntyre, L. & Rosenberg, A. (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science, pp. 147–58.

Seminar: Cultural Evolution

• Sober (1992). Models of cultural evolution. In Paul Griffiths (eds.), Trees of Life: Essays in Philosophy of Biology, Springer Netherlands, pp. 477–92.
• Boyd, R., & Richerson, P.J. (2000). Memes: Universal acid or a better mousetrap? In Aunger, R. (ed.), Darwinizing Culture: The Status of Memetics as a Science, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 143–62.

Seminar: Norms

• Bicchieri, C. (2006). The rules we live by. In The Grammar of Society: The Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–54 (excerpt: 1–34).
• Brennan, G., Eriksson, L., Goodin, R.E., & Southwood, N. (2013). Norms. In Explaining Norms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 15–39.

Seminar: Institutions

• Searle, J. R. (2005), What is an institution?, Journal of Institutional Economics, 1: 1–22.
• Guala, F. (2016). “Constitution” and “Normativity”. In Understanding Institutions: The Philosophy and Science of Living Together. Princeton University Press, pp. 57–85.

Lecture: Causality

• Woodward, J. (2021). Theories of causation. In Causation with a Human Face: Normative Theory and Descriptive Psychology, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 61–114.

Seminar: Are There Social Laws?

• Roberts, J. T. (2004). There are no laws of the social sciences, in Hitchcock, C. (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 151–67.
• Reiss, J. (2017). Are there social scientific laws?, In McIntyre, L. & Rosenberg, A. (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science, New York: Routledge, pp. 295-309.

Seminar: Do We Need Mechanisms?

• Steel, D. (2007). Social mechanisms and process tracing. In Across the Boundaries: Extrapolation in Biology and Social Science, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 174–97.
• Kincaid, H. (2021). Making progress on causal inference in economics. In Kincaid, H. & Ross, D. (eds.), A Modern Guide to Philosophy of Economics, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 28–65.

Suggested readings (mandatory for non-attending students)

• Cartwright, N. (1999). Nomological machines and the laws they produce. In The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 49–74.
• Cronbach, L J. & Meehl, P E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin 52 (4): 281–302 (excerpts: 281–83, 290–94).
• Dawkins, R. (1976). Memes: the new replicators. In The Selfish Gene, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 189–201.
• Douglas, H. E. (2000). Inductive risk and values in science, Philosophy of Science, 67(4): 559–79.
• Elster, J. (1998). A plea for mechanisms. In Hedström, P. & Swedberg, R. (eds.), Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University, pp. 45–73.
• Guala, F. (2016). “Reflexivity” and “Interaction”. In Understanding Institutions: The Philosophy and Science of Living Together. Princeton University Press, pp. 119–145.
• Guala, F. (2006). Has Game Theory Been Refuted? The Journal of Philosophy 103(5): 239–63.
• Kincaid, H. (2007). Functional explanation and evolutionary social science. In Turner, S. & Risjord, M. (Eds.), Philosophy of Sociology and Anthropology, Dordrecht: Elsevier, pp. 213–47.
• Kincaid, H. (1996). A science of interpretation? In Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences: Analyzing Controversies in Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 191–221.
• Ney, A. & Hazlett, A. (2014). The metaphysics of race. In Ney, A. (au.), Metaphysics: An Introduction, Routledge, pp. 249–79.
• Salmon, M.H. (1989). Explanation in the social sciences. In Ditcher, P. & Salmon, W.C. (eds.), Scientific explanation. Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science, Vol. 13, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 384-409.
• Vanberg, V. (2012). Rational choice, preferences over actions and rule-following behaviour, in Maki, U. (ed.), Philosophy of Economics, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 505–30.

All of the texts listed in the bibliography, with the exception of the reference textbook, as well as readings recommended during the course, will be made available online.

N.B. You'll be alerted about changes in the reading list (if any) both in class and in the online annoucement section. (The above list will be concurrently updated.)

Teaching methods

Alternate face-to-face lectures and group discussions of readings selected by the instructor.

Assessment methods

Learning assessment will be carried out by verifying the achievement of the following objectives: assimilation of the notions introduced in the course; familiarity with the course bibliography; ability to orient oneself critically in contemporary debates on the issues addressed in the course; correctness, clarity, synthesis, and fluidity of presentation; use of appropriate terminology.

The assessment will be carried out through an oral exam, which will follow the submission of an essay in English (min. 2500 words, max. 3000 words) on one of the topics covered in the course, with a bibliography agreed with the instructor. A first draft of the essay must be submitted no later than *three* weeks before the exam session to which the student intends to sign up. The submission will be followed by feedback from the instructor. The final version will be submitted within *one* week before the exam session. The overall evaluation will take into account the discussion of the essay during the exam, as well as -- for attending students -- the participation in the class discussion. The assessment of knowledge and skills will be formalized in an evaluation according to the following 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 platform.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenzo Casini