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A realist philosophy of social science : = explanation and understanding /

Record Type:	Language materials, printed : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	A realist philosophy of social science :/ Peter T. Manicas.
Reminder of title:	explanation and understanding /
Author:	Manicas, Peter T.,
Description:	1 online resource (ix, 225 pages) :digital, PDF file(s). :
Notes:	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
Subject:	Social sciences - Philosophy. -
Online resource:	https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511607035
ISBN:	9780511607035 (ebook)

A realist philosophy of social science : = explanation and understanding /
Manicas, Peter T.,

A realist philosophy of social science :explanation and understanding /Peter T. Manicas. - 1 online resource (ix, 225 pages) :digital, PDF file(s).

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Explanation and understanding -- Theory, experiment and the metaphysics of Laplace -- Explanation and understanding in the social sciences -- Agents and generative social mechanisms -- Social science and history -- Markets as social mechanisms -- Appendix A: The limits of multiple regression -- Appendix B: Comparison, Mill's methods and narrative -- Appendix C: Rational choice theory and historical sociology -- Appendix D: The neo-classical model.

This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.

ISBN: 9780511607035 (ebook)Subjects--Topical Terms:

563222
Social sciences
--Philosophy.

LC Class. No.: H61 / .M285 2006

Dewey Class. No.: 300.1

A realist philosophy of social science : = explanation and understanding /
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520 $a This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.
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