1. Aristotelian or Galileian? On a Puzzle about the Philosophical Sources of Analytic Induction.
- Author
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HAMMERSLEY, MARTYN
- Subjects
- *
SOCIAL sciences , *PHILOSOPHY , *ARISTOTELIANISM (Philosophy) , *SOCIOLOGISTS - Abstract
Since its emergence in the first half of the twentieth century, there has been considerable discussion of the viability and value of analytic induction (AI) as a conceptualisation of social scientific method; one which challenges the correlational approach to causal analysis characteristic of much quantitative work. However, less attention has been given to the philosophical sources on which Znaniecki, Lindesmith, and other exponents of AI relied. This paper explores some of these, and focuses in particular upon the use made of Lewin's distinction between Aristotelian and Galileian forms of science. The status of AI is ambiguous in relation to this; and it is a distinction that raises some fundamental issues more generally about the methodology of social science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
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