Assignment #6
Topic: What sort of knowledge does social science
offer us? Is objective knowledge of
human behavior and human institutions possible? How?
Readings:
Fay, Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science, Chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 11 (especially pp. 235-245) You may also find it helpful to read chapter 4 again.
Writing Assignment:
1. Based on your reading of Chapter 1, explain why (according to Fay) you don’t have to be one to know one.
2. Based on your reading of Chapter 3, explain the extent to which Fay thinks that it is true that culture and society makes us who we are and also the ways in which he thinks it is not true.
3. Based on your reading of Chapter 5, explain why Fay thinks both (a) that we must assume that others are rational and also (b) that there are limitations to this assumption.
4. Based on your reading of Chapter 6, explain:
a. What is interpretivism?
b. How is it one-sided (according to Fay)? That is, in what ways does social science need to go beyond people’s own ways of understanding what they do and why they do it?
5. Chapter 8: What are nomologicalism and historicism? Why is each one-sided? Why are “both … required to do justice to the richness of social inquiry?” (p. 174)
6. Chapter 10: How are objectivism and relativism two sides of the same coin? What is fallibilism and how does it help us get beyond relativism and objectivism? What does it mean to understand objectivity as ‘critical intersubjectivity’?
7. Do you think Fay has succeeded in showing us how to face up to the importance of cultural differences without falling into relativism? Do you agree with him that relativism is a bad thing? How might a relativist respond to his views? What’s your own assessment of the possibility of objective knowledge of human beings and human cultures?