Do Political Scientists Adhere to Value-Freedom? Can They?: Tracing the Entwinement of Fact and Value in Realist Theory.

The ideal of value-free science retains a strong grip on the self-conception of political scientists, despite the fact that many contemporary philosophers of science regard it as a naive idea. We look at the practice of political science, specifically neorealist theory, to determine whether critiques of value-freedom do in fact locate problems in political science inquiry. We find that the structure of neorealist theory is not modeled on Weber's vision of value-freedom, but rather resembles the entwinement of fact and value in Hobbes's thought. We conclude by calling for a re-examination and reconceptualization of our notions of scientific objectivity, which we claim must be revised in view of the inescapable entwinement of facts and values. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]