Annotation A clear, critical inquiry into the norms, processes and purposes of social science work. Diesing (political science, SUNY, Buffalo) begins with a wonderfully lucid survey of philosophical approaches to social science to examine the question of how social science ought to work. He then surveys sociological, political, and psychological studies of social science to find out what actually occurs in practice. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Recent developments in social science methods have made most of the objectivism-subjectivism arguments in the philosophy of social science obsolete. Developments in experimental methods have made possible a behavioristic treatment of everything cherished as important in human action by the subjectivists; developments in computer and mathematical models have made possible a type of theory which carries out the program of the subjectivists but is not vulnerable to the arguments of the objectivists. What remains of the philosophical argument are two types (...) of theory (for example, game theory and learning theory) which are both useful, both scientific, and frequently equivalent. Choice between them by scientists can be made on empirical grounds rather than on the grounds developed in the philosophical controversy. (shrink)

This book demonstrates how Hegel's dialectic can be used in empirical research, and shows how one can do dialectical research in economics. It also shows how one can use dialectical thinking to interpret some personal or social or political problem and devise a possible solution.

It is claimed that Arnold S. Kaufman's article ?On Alienation? (Inquiry, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1965, pp. 141?65) shows no understanding of the concept of alienation, and the authors undertake to contrast the concept as Hegel and Marx develop it and Fromm and Mills re?state it, with Kaufman's interpretations of Marx, Fromm and Mills. They contrast the Marxist self?realization framework with Kaufman's want?satisfaction framework, and argue that in Marx alienation is necessarily concerned solely with labor, is unavoidable because a necessary (...) stage of self?development, and has inseparable sociological and moral aspects. They claim that Kaufman's article shows no understanding of any of these points. (shrink)