New Philosophy of Social Science

* The author emphasises new post--empirical approaches to the philosophy of science and their application to the social sciences* Rich in examples and makes extensive use of case studies* The book offers an original introduction to the philosophy of social science; it should be widely adopted on undergraduate courses. . Recent philosophy of science has concentrated on the practices and histories of scientific disciplines rather than focusing on confirming the validity of scientific knowledge. New Philosophy of Social Science examines how such an approach might be applied to the social sciences. Its starting point is three recent social science research programmes: rational choice theory, ethnomethodology, and the theory of communicative action. The book considers many basic problems of the social sciences including the nature of causality, rules, interpretation, and social criticism and provides extensive discussion of current debates. Each problem is solved by reconstructing successful explanations within the research programs, and each reconstruction is presented as a 'pattern' of explanation. Now available in paperback, this book offers an original introduction to the philosophy of social science, emphasising new post-empiricist approaches.