The Golden Mean and the Golden Hammer
Phronesis and Method in Contemporary Political Science
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6356686 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edward W Gimbel (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 274-295 |
| Publication date | 2014-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-3497 • E-ISSN: 1744-1684 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1057/pol.2014.6 |
| OpenAlex | W1977456544 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 6 |
The Aristotelian concept of phronesis or practical wisdom has played a prominent role in the long and deep wake of the Perestroika controversy in political science, where a diverse group of practitioners rallied in opposition to the perceived hegemony of quantitative methods in the discipline. As scholars like Bent Flyvbjerg have proposed the contours of a post-Perestroikan social science, political scientists and theorists have taken his use of the idea of practical wisdom to herald the dawning of a new social science, less beholden to notions of method. This paper examines the post-Perestroikan appropriation of Aristotle using Hans-Georg Gadamer’s interpretation of phronesis as a starting point. Viewed from this vantage, contemporary uses of phronesis seem less like the foundations for a new social science, and more like a new spin on the old arguments about method that have characterized social science since the mid-1800s
Appropriation · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Opposition (politics · Phronesis · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Critical Realism in Sociology · Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity · Law · Philosophy · Social Science and Policy Research
| Citations per year | 0.36 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2023 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |