Individualism and Holism, Reduction and Pluralism
A Comment on Keith Sawyer and Julie Zahle
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14567858 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeroen Van Bouwel (0000-0002-7335-0816, Ghent University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 527-535 |
| Publication date | 2004-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy of the Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0048-3931 • E-ISSN: 1552-7441 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0048393104269198 |
| OpenAlex | W2160961759 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 9 |
Commenting on recent articles by Keith Sawyer and Julie Zahle, the author questions the way in which the debate between methodological individualists and holists has been presented and contends that too much weight has been given to metaphysical and ontological debates at the expense of giving attention to methodological debates and analysis of good explanatory practice. Giving more attention to successful explanatory practice in the social sciences and the different underlying epistemic interests and motivations for providing explanations or reducing theories (which ask for different kinds of explanatory information to be found on the social or on the individual level) might lead to real progress in the debate on methodological individualism, and away from the unending battles of (metaphysical) intuitions
Epistemology · Holism · Individualism · Metaphysics · Methodological individualism · Pluralism (philosophy) · Political science · Sociology · Critical Realism in Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Social and Cultural Dynamics
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2021 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |