A realist philosophy of social science : explanation and understanding / Peter T. Manicas.

Call Number	300.1
Author	Manicas, Peter T., author.
Title	A realist philosophy of social science : explanation and understanding / Peter T. Manicas.
Physical Description	1 online resource (ix, 225 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Notes	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
Contents	Explanation and understanding -- Theory, experiment and the metaphysics of Laplace -- Explanation and understanding in the social sciences -- Agents and generative social mechanisms -- Social science and history -- Markets as social mechanisms -- Appendix A: The limits of multiple regression -- Appendix B: Comparison, Mill's methods and narrative -- Appendix C: Rational choice theory and historical sociology -- Appendix D: The neo-classical model.
Summary	This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.
Subject	Social sciences Philosophy.
Multimedia	https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511607035

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$a This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.

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Summary	This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.
Notes	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
Contents	Explanation and understanding -- Theory, experiment and the metaphysics of Laplace -- Explanation and understanding in the social sciences -- Agents and generative social mechanisms -- Social science and history -- Markets as social mechanisms -- Appendix A: The limits of multiple regression -- Appendix B: Comparison, Mill's methods and narrative -- Appendix C: Rational choice theory and historical sociology -- Appendix D: The neo-classical model.
Subject	Social sciences Philosophy.
Multimedia	https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511607035