The Future of the Social Sciences

Between Empiricism and Normativity

Bibliographic Data

ID23200520
AuthorsAndrew Abbott (0000-0001-9320-1685, University of Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume71
Issue03
Pages343-360
Publication date2016-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnales Histoire Sciences Sociales (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0395-2649 • E-ISSN: 1953-8146
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s2398568218000018
OpenAlexW2864063225
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This article takes a processualist position to identify the current forces conducive to rapid change in the social sciences, of which the most important is the divergence between their empirical and normative dimensions. It argues that this gap between the many and various empirical ontologies we typically use and the much more restricted normative ontology on which we base our moral judgments is problematic. In fact, the majority of social science depends on a “normative contractarianism.” While this ontology is the most widely used basis for normative judgments in the social sciences, it is not really effective when it comes to capturing the normative problems raised by the particularity and historicity of the social process, nor the astonishing diversity of values in the world. The article closes with a call to establish a truly processual foundation for our analysis of the social world, which must move away from contractualism and imagine new ways of founding the human normative project.

Contractualism · Empiricism · Epistemology · Foundation (evidence) · Normative · Normative social influence · Ontology · Political science · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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