Arguments for the cognitive social sciences

Bibliographic Data

ID8975742
AuthorsTuukka Kaidesoja (0000-0002-9633-2944, Practical Philosophy University of Helsinki Finland, corresponding author), Matti Sarkia (0000-0001-6523-9993, Practical Philosophy University of Helsinki Finland), Mikko Hyyryläinen (0000-0003-2403-6502, Sociology University of Helsinki Finland)
Year2019
Volume49
Issue4
Pages480-498
Publication date2019-11-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jtsb.12226
OpenAlexW2990211105
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited49

This article analyses the arguments for the integration between the cognitive and social sciences. We understand interdisciplinary integration as an umbrella term that includes different ways of bringing scientific disciplines together. Our focus is on four arguments based on different ideas about how the cognitive sciences should be integrated with the social sciences: explanatory grounding, theoretical unification, constraint and complementarity. These arguments not only provide different reasons why the cognitive social sciences—i.e. disciplines and research programs that aim to integrate the social sciences with the cognitive sciences—are needed but also subscribe to different visions as to how these sciences might look like. We discuss each argument in three stages: First, we provide a concrete example of the argument. Second, we reconstruct the argument by specifying its premises, inferential structure and conclusion. Third, we evaluate the argument by analyzing its presuppositions, the plausibility of its premises, the soundness of its inferences and potential conceptual ambiguities. In the final discussion, we compare these arguments and identify the most compelling reasons why the cognitive social sciences are needed

Argument (complex analysis · Cognition · Cognitive science · Complementarity (molecular biology · Epistemology · Philosophy of science · Presupposition · Sociology · Soundness · Unification · Computer Science · Critical Realism in Sociology · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics