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Sociology 690 Quantitative Methods

Sociology 690 Quantitative Methods. Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science. Epistemology. From the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and log os (the study or theory of). Hence the “study and theory of knowledge”, its nature, origin and scope. In short, “How do we know that we know?”.

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Sociology 690 Quantitative Methods

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  1. Sociology 690 Quantitative Methods Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science

  2. Epistemology • From the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (the study or theory of). Hence the “study and theory of knowledge”, its nature, origin and scope. In short, “How do we know that we know?”

  3. Epistemology • Philosophies and Historical Perspectives divide into two major camps: • 1. That which is known through anticipation, intuition and logic, a.k.a. “a priori” or “before the fact” knowledge. • 2. That which is known through evidence and experience, a.k.a. “a posteriori” or “after the fact” knowledge

  4. A Priori Knowledge Perspective • Descarte’s Rationalism (1600’s) Reason and deduction as source of knowledge • Russell and Ontology (1910’s) – Knowledge as logic • Vienna Circle’s Logical Positivism (1920’s) Knowledge as Verifiability

  5. A Posteriori Knowledge Perspective • Berkeley’s Idealism - 1710’s (objects and knowledge are sensory based) • Hume’s Empiricism 1740’s (copy principal and causality) • Comte’s Positivism 1850’s (Theological to Metaphysical to Positive)

  6. Common Ground • Both differentiate belief from knowledge, the latter being demonstrable (either logic or fact). • Both deal with the accumulation and refinement of knowledge. • Both allude to an ultimate form of reality as procedure rather than content.

  7. Who is labeled a Rationalist? • Berkeley • Descarte • Hume • Comte

  8. Side Bar – Poper on Science • Poper disputes Positivists reliance on induction as the vehicle for justification, yet argues the abstract reasoning of Logical Positivism as tautological. • Instead, he emphasizes the importance of falsifibility over verifiability. e.g. Einstein as Science and Freud as Pseudo Science

  9. Related Issues • Induction (Specific to General) versus Deduction (General to Specific) • Deterministic (closed) versus Probabilistic (open) Systems • Verification (incidence in which theory is correct) versus Falsification (incidence in which theory is incorrect.

  10. Dedution is to Rationalism as Induction is to Empiricism? • True • False

  11. Epistemology and Procedure • When the study of knowledge is relegated to procedure by which it is acquired, we speak of the philosophy of science. • Science, then, is ultimately is bound by a conceptual ontology and the common definitions within that ontology implies operationalization.

  12. Side Bar - Kuhn • Knowledge is largely contextual and consensual. Knowledge perspectives are accepted within specific geopolitical and cultural time frame. • As contexts expand, existing perspectives no longer provide adequate explanation  redefinition of context  paradigm shift

  13. Resolution • Science as a procedure facilitates both induction and deduction, verification and falsification, in open and closed systems. • Science is a normative pursuit, subject to redefinition of content, but resting on the procedure of operationism and replication and therefore, implying reliability, validity, cause & effect and the importance of pursuing same.

  14. Key Concepts • Epistemology - The study of knowledge • Ontology – The study of conceptual schemata • Rationalism – Knowledge as reason and logic • Empiricism - Knowledge as sensory experience • Positivism – Knowledge as Scientific Method

  15. The Scientific Method is most likely associated with which perspective? • Rationalism • Logical Positivism • Empiricism • Positivism

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