The question of method in social science

The question of method is one of the central issues in the philosophy of the social sciences. A dominant view--positivism--argues that human behavior can be best explained by employing the methods of the natural sciences. Developed initially by the philosophers of the Enlightenment, positivism was popularized through the writings of Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill and found its final expression in the doctrines of logical positivism. The positivist ideal of a social scientific method based on observation, experimentation and verification gained dominance through the behaviorist revolution in psychology initiated by John Watson and B. F. Skinner. Behaviorism denied the existence of the mind and argued that all human behavior could be reduced to connections between physical movements. Although the obvious inadequacies of such a behaviorism led to its abandonment, the subsequent paradigm in the social sciences--cognitivism--has continued to pursue the positivist project. Cognitivism holds that a science of man can be constructed by thinking of the mind as an informational device which generates meanings by computing over inner representations.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Sen, Biswarup

Contributors dc:contributor

• Carey, James W.

• Philosophy
• Mass Communications

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1990 Sen, Biswarup

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9026316
(UMI)AAI9026316

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/23450