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Objectivity in the Social Sciences (Harold Kincaid)

Philosophy of Science India
227 subscribers
1.3K views 4 years ago
Lectures Series in Evidence, Models and Explanations Objectivity in the Social Sciences by Harold Kincaid (University of Cape Town) Questions of objectivity involve many general philosophy of science issues; when directed toward the social sciences, even more complex issues surface about the status of the social sciences, e.g. can they be sciences as are the natural sciences? This paper does not take on this mass of issues directly, but instead argues for more restricted theses, in particular that questions about objectivity in the social sciences are often usefully seen as local empirical issues. I look at arguments around underdetermination, value ladenness, the indeterminacy or nonquantitative nature of social science categories or attributes, and traditional ontological debates over materialism and idealism. I show that in all these cases some of the key issues about objectivity are specific empirical issues in the social sciences. For more details about Kincaid's work, please check https://www.nrf.ac.za/content/profess.... Check PhilSci India website at: https://philsciindia.wixsite.com/lect... Sign up for our mailing list at: https://forms.gle/q4ucLk5kyxvUBBi38 ...more
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Empirical Issues in Debates about Objectivity in the Social Sciences

3:12

My Basic Approach: Contextualism

7:46

How to Think about Epistemic Objectivity?

10:00

A Basic Start Is With Consequentialist vs. Deontological Approaches

12:48

Answer 2 to Underdetermination: Parts of Theories May Be Shared

24:13

The Moral of Underdetermination Worries

27:06

Value-Laden Thesis: What Is Involved?

29:21

Underdetermination Arguments for Value Ladenness (Longino and many others after)

31:29

Addiction Research Example

40:47

One Argument: Social Phenomena Are Inherently Indeterminate

43:57

Contextualist Approach

47:24

Materialism vs. Idealism: Empirical Questions

50:25

Underdetermined Models with Common Structure

55:24
Objectivity in the Social Sciences (Harold Kincaid)
22Likes
1,362Views
2020Aug 26
Lectures Series in Evidence, Models and Explanations Objectivity in the Social Sciences by Harold Kincaid (University of Cape Town) Questions of objectivity involve many general philosophy of science issues; when directed toward the social sciences, even more complex issues surface about the status of the social sciences, e.g. can they be sciences as are the natural sciences? This paper does not take on this mass of issues directly, but instead argues for more restricted theses, in particular that questions about objectivity in the social sciences are often usefully seen as local empirical issues. I look at arguments around underdetermination, value ladenness, the indeterminacy or nonquantitative nature of social science categories or attributes, and traditional ontological debates over materialism and idealism. I show that in all these cases some of the key issues about objectivity are specific empirical issues in the social sciences. For more details about Kincaid's work, please check https://www.nrf.ac.za/content/profess.... Check PhilSci India website at: https://philsciindia.wixsite.com/lect... Sign up for our mailing list at: https://forms.gle/q4ucLk5kyxvUBBi38

Follow along using the transcript.

Philosophy of Science India

227 subscribers