IAS Seminar: Rethinking Social Science: Methods, Genres, Ethics, and Myths

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Mark Bevir delivers a seminar on their research:

At the heart of an interpretive social science is opposition to social-scientific naturalism. Yet, there is much confusion about what this entails, with many scholars treating the opposition as one over methods. This seminar will begin by focusing on the philosophical or theoretical content of interpretive social science. It situates interpretivism in the context of the rise of ideas and theories such as meaning holism, and it shows how these theories might lead interpretivists to focus on meanings and beliefs conceived as interconnected webs that inform actions and practices. This general emphasis on people’s reasons for action is, however, surely a commonplace that we all commit ourselves to in our daily lives. Naturalists do not necessarily reject it. Rather, they typically emphasize that different assumptions are needed if we are to generate rigorous and useful knowledge.

The key questions about the role of an interpretive social science seem, therefore, to owe as much to methods and ethics as to philosophy. The seminar will consider these questions. It will suggest, first, that interpretivism does not require us to reject generally accepted research methods, but it does dramatically change the way we think about methods, by, for example, encouraging us to learn from the humanities and blur genres. It will suggest, second, that interpretivism prompts us to remember the ethical implications of the fact that we are studying human agents, not passive objects, and to consider the costs of assigning a dubious certitude to social scientific claims.

Arrivals from 11.45am for a 12pm start. For those joining in-person, lunch will be served after the seminar from 1pm.