{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/9932"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/9932","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A critical examination of Habermas' and Marcuse's attacks on positivism, with special reference to the implications of the attacks for sociology","abstract":"The debate between positivists on the one hand, and anti-positivists such as Habermas and Marcuse on the other, about the possibility of an objective value-free social science seems to have reached an impasse: Positivists continue to assert that the facts and laws of social life are objective givens which can be apprehended by a social science modelling itself on the natural science methodology. (There is disagreement among positivists about whether the natural science methodology is based on inductive or deductive logic, and thus about exactly what would be implied by a transference of this methodology to social science). Positivists justify their quest for objective knowledge of the laws and facts of social life, by claiming that such knowledge is empirically grounded and ipso facto capable of validation.","abstract_html":"The debate between positivists on the one hand, and anti-positivists such as Habermas and Marcuse on the other, about the possibility of an objective value-free social science seems to have reached an impasse: Positivists continue to assert that the facts and laws of social life are objective givens which can be apprehended by a social science modelling itself on the natural science methodology. (There is disagreement among positivists about whether the natural science methodology is based on inductive or deductive logic, and thus about exactly what would be implied by a transference of this methodology to social science). Positivists justify their quest for objective knowledge of the laws and facts of social life, by claiming that such knowledge is empirically grounded and ipso facto capable of validation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Romm, Norma R A"],"institution":"Department of Sociology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Von Broembsen, Marlese","Glass, H G L"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1982,"date_issued":"1982","date_published":"1982","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:23Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9932","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Von Broembsen, Marlese","Glass, H G L"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Romm, Norma R A"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-12-10T08:08:53Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-12-10T08:08:53Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1982"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Sociology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MA"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9932"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Bibliography: leaves 232-239."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The debate between positivists on the one hand, and anti-positivists such as Habermas and Marcuse on the other, about the possibility of an objective value-free social science seems to have reached an impasse: Positivists continue to assert that the facts and laws of social life are objective givens which can be apprehended by a social science modelling itself on the natural science methodology. (There is disagreement among positivists about whether the natural science methodology is based on inductive or deductive logic, and thus about exactly what would be implied by a transference of this methodology to social science). Positivists justify their quest for objective knowledge of the laws and facts of social life, by claiming that such knowledge is empirically grounded and ipso facto capable of validation."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A critical examination of Habermas' and Marcuse's attacks on positivism, with special reference to the implications of the attacks for sociology"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Von Broembsen, Marlese","Glass, H G L"],"dc:creator":["Romm, Norma R A"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-12-10T08:08:53Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-12-10T08:08:53Z"],"dc:date.issued":["1982"],"dc:description":["Bibliography: leaves 232-239."],"dc:description.abstract":["The debate between positivists on the one hand, and anti-positivists such as Habermas and Marcuse on the other, about the possibility of an objective value-free social science seems to have reached an impasse: Positivists continue to assert that the facts and laws of social life are objective givens which can be apprehended by a social science modelling itself on the natural science methodology. (There is disagreement among positivists about whether the natural science methodology is based on inductive or deductive logic, and thus about exactly what would be implied by a transference of this methodology to social science). Positivists justify their quest for objective knowledge of the laws and facts of social life, by claiming that such knowledge is empirically grounded and ipso facto capable of validation."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9932"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Sociology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["A critical examination of Habermas' and Marcuse's attacks on positivism, with special reference to the implications of the attacks for sociology"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MA"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:23Z"}