Scientific Realism as a Meta-Theory of International Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6274667 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Fred Chernoff (0000-0001-9450-4821, Colgate University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 189-207 |
| Publication date | 2002-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-8833 • E-ISSN: 1468-2478 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-2478.00229 |
| OpenAlex | W2068699347 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 32 |
The recent increase in interest in scientific realist foundations for international relations theory, spearheaded by Wendt in various works, most fully articulated in his Social Theory of International Politics, and supported by a number of other authors, has brought to the fore a set of related issues in the philosophy of the social sciences. The advocacy of scientific realism in the international relations literature has largely taken the form of attacks on various nonscientific realist foundational theories. Consequently, the success of the arguments for scientific realism depends in large measure on the accuracy of the characterizations of the competing views. This paper argues that Wendt and others have misrepresented the challengers and have thus overstated the superiority of scientific realism. The paper further considers the aims and purposes of providing meta-theoretical foundations for IR theories, and argues that when the alternative accounts are properly described, the purposes are better satisfied by the latter and, in particular, by a version of Duhemian conventionalism
Conventionalism · Critical realism (philosophy of perception · Economics · Epistemology · International relations · International relations theory · Metatheory · Philosophy of science · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Post-realism · Realism · Scientific realism · Scientific theory · Set (abstract data type · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance · Political Science Research and Education
Causal Inquiry in International Relations
Sufi̇zmi̇n Uluslararasi İli̇şki̇ler Teori̇si̇ne Katkisi
Evaluating and understanding the outcomes of the South African National Drug Master Plan 2013–2017
Qualitative Methods in International Relations
IR and the false promise of philosophical foundations
Defending foundations for International Relations theory
The Study of Democratic Peace and Progress in International Relations
Problematizing Global Challenges
Introduction
That dog won’t hunt’
Getting things right?’
Of communities, gangs, historicity and the problem of Santa Claus
The Kuhning of reason
Building Communities, Bridging Gaps
Paradigmatic Faults in International-Relations Theory
Introducing Sufism to International Relations Theory
The mother of all isms
From Agents to Outcomes
Realism, empiricism and causal inquiry in International Relations
Beyond positivism and relativism
How the Laws of Physics Lie
Conjectures and Refutations
A Novel Defense of Scientific Realism
The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Social Theory of International Politics
Representing and Intervening
Knowledge and Power
Positivism and beyond
Incommensurability and Cross-Paradigm Communication in International Relations Theory
On the Via Media
Ideas part-way down
Wendt's world
Wars, hotel fires, and plane crashes
On learning from Wendt
Explaining Large-Scale Historical Change
Einstein and Duhem
A Confutation of Convergent Realism
Realism and Truth
Geometry and Chronometry in Philosophical Perspective
The Semantic Conception of Truth
Representing and intervening
The scientific image
Meaning and the Moral Sciences (Routledge Revivals)
After Postpositivism? The Promises of Critical Realism
What's at stake in the agent-structure debate
The agent-structure problem in international relations theory
Three Kinds of Scientific Realism
Generalizations in the Social Sciences
| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,86 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2024 (21) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |