Foundations of Social Sciences and Public
Administration
LECTURE 1: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND THE
SEPARATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND NON-SCIENCE
Chapter 2 & 3 Exploring Humans
1.1. Philosophy of science: what is it?
Three main disciplines:
A. Ontology (ontos – being):
What is the (social) world made of?
B. Epistemology (episteme = true / scientific knowledge): what constitutes true / scientific /
sound knowledge?
C. Methodology (methodos = road, path, track): what are the (adequate) ways to acquire true
knowledge about the social world?
3. Theme & topics of the course
• The epistemology of the social sciences (with a focus on PA):
what counts as scientific knowledge (about the social world)?
• The problem of the separation between science and non-science ->
epistemology = the search for a solution to the problem of separation
Other terms used for separation:
delimitation (Dilthey) or demarcation (Popper) -> the meaning of these terms is roughly the same,
namely: there is a significant difference between scientific knowledge and other forms of knowledge
or so-called knowledge.
Topics of the course
Exploration of different solutions to/critiques of the problem of separation:
• Different solutions to the problem/question of separation:
positivism, interpretivism, critical rationalism, conventionalism -> attempts to find an
appropriate solution to the separation of science from non-science;
• Critiques of the problem/question of separation:
Pragmatism, postmodernism, epistemological, anarchism -> the problem needs to be
reformulated (pragmatism) or is not a problem at all (postmodernism, in particular
epistemological anarchism)
,The origins of the separation problem
1. The scientific revolution (16th – 17th century);
2. The enlightenment (18th century)
The Scientific Revolution
17th century -> new foundations for science
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
- book: Novim Organum Scientiarum (1620), part of Instauratio Magna: “XXXI. “It is in vain to expect
any great progress in the sciences by the superinducing or ingrafting new matters upon old. An
instauration must be found from the very foundations, if we do not wish to revolve forever in a
circle, making only some slight and contemptible progress.”
In the Novum Organum, Bacon intended to provide a new compass that would guide the ship of
science to new and unsuspected discoveries. A total reconstruction of sciences, arts, and all human
knowledge, raised upon proper foundations. Science would no longer rely on faith, tradition, the
theological canon, and church authority, but would instead be guided by observation and
experiment.
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (empirisme) was de verkondiger van de wetenschappelijke revolutie. Hij legde niet de
nadruk op argumentatie (redenering) en autoriteit, maar op empirie: kennis door de zintuigen.
Bacon was geen naïeve empirist, maar hij was zich bewust van de verschillen in waarneming en
opinie. Bacon waarschuwde heel erg voor de idolen (afwijkingen) die de waarneming van de
zintuigen zullen verdraaien.
Idols of the tribe houdt in dat je wordt geboren met een bepaalde genetische gesteldheid. De tribe
waarin je je bevindt zorgt voor een bepaalde vertekening.
Idols of de cave verwijst naar Plato en zijn grotallegorie. Bacon zei dat de opvoeding en de omgeving
waarin je opgroeit een vertekening geeft op je waarneming. Je gaat op een bepaalde manier naar de
werkelijkheid kijken.
Idols of the marketplace gaat over dat iets wat in je taal uitdrukt niet perse werkelijkheid hoeft te
zijn, bijvoorbeeld reclame.
Idols of the theatre houdt in dat de wereld in de middeleeuwen als theater werd gezien. Mensen
dachten toen dat de wereld een podium was waarop wij stonden en waar god een show gaf.
Bacon was tegen dogmatisch denken. Een dogma is iets wat als onbetwist wordt beschouwd. Hij
vond dat we vanuit observaties theorie moeten genereren en niet vanuit vooropgestelde
denkbeelden. Idols moeten dus vermeden worden. Hij wilde vooruitgang door middel van inductie,
door vanuit observaties een theorie te genereren.
,Bacon’s negative approach to the production of knowledge: In order to establish a science based on
accurate knowledge of reality, one must first purge the mind of its ‘idols’ – characteristic errors,
deceptions, or sources of misunderstanding – that stand in the way of respectable science. These
distortions come in four main categories:
1. Idols of the Tribe:
They are innate (aangeboren) and therefore shared by all human beings. Our senses are
prone to make mistakes. Also being human, we tend to postulate (beweren zonder bewijs)
more regularity in nature than there actually is, which often causes us to jump to premature
conclusions. Once such conclusions have been adopted, we stick to them. Human nature is
such that we tend to focus exclusively on the evidence that supports our cherished
convictions, and disregard its failures.
2. Idols of the Cave:
They refer to the peculiarities (eigenaardigheid) of individuals which are due to their
upbringing and training (‘education, habit and accident’). Bacon here thinks of an individual’s
‘extreme admiration of antiquity (traditions, historical or personal events (racism for
example))’ or an ‘extreme love and appetite for novelty (nieuwigheid)’. Both extremes are to
be avoided
3. Idols of the Marketplace:
Distorted beliefs that stem from common language. People are often inclined to think that
words used in language refer to things that really exist, where this need not necessarily be
the case. Words like ‘fortune’ and ‘element of fire’ are often used, argued Bacon, and yet
they are entirely disconnected from reality. Other examples are words which are confused
and ill-defined. Failures like these lead to empty disputes and wordplay.
4. Idols of the Theatre:
those which are due to sophistry and false learning. These idols are built up in the field of
theology, philosophy, and science, and because they are defended by learned groups are
accepted without question by the masses. When false philosophies have been cultivated and
have attained a wide sphere of dominion in the world of the intellect they are no longer
questioned. False superstructures are raised on false foundations, and in the end systems
barren of merit parade their grandeur on the stage of the world.
On the positive side, Bacon argued that only a new method can offer ‘the proper remedy to be
applied for the keeping off and clearing away of idols’.
Progress in our understanding of reality can only be achieved by disciplined, methodical recourse
to sensory experience. According to Bacon’s inductive scientific method, scientist must gather as
much empirical data as possible as the basis for proceeding to formulate of theories.
The foundation of a (philosophical) method for the growth of scientific knowledge > knowledge
based on experience and induction
The Enlightenment
• L’Encyclopédie ou dictionannaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (1751-1772),
edited by Diderot and D’Alembert.
- Should relay on observations etc.
, 4. A story of debates about truth
• Disagreements between different epistemological theories of science can be understood
according to their underlying theory of truth;
• Four main theories of truth:
- The Correspondence theory of truth
- The Coherence theory of truth
- The Pragmatist theory of truth
- The No-truth theory of truth
Truth as Correspondence
The basic idea of the correspondence theory is that what we believe or say is true if it corresponds to
the way things actually are – to the facts
• Criterion of truth: a belief is true if it corresponds to the fact, i.e. it mirrors (social) reality
“out there”
• The picture theory of truth: True beliefs offer a picture (that is, a representation of reality)
• Examples:
- Everyday popular conceptions;
- Positivism (true statements are based on observations)
Truth as Coherence
• Criterion of truth: a belief is true if its fits into a system of beliefs in a non-contradictory way,
i.e. if accepting the belief does not make the system of beliefs internally contradictory
(voorbeeld in HC)
• The web theory of truth: true beliefs fit into a self-sustaining web
• Examples:
- Interpretivism
- Conventionalism
Pragmatist Truth
• Criterion of truth: a belief is true insofar as it makes a positive practical difference in our lives
(personally and socially)
• Metaphor: The tool-box theory of truth: ‘it’s true because it works’
• Examples:
- Scientific practice
- Pragmatist epistemology
No-truth theory of truth
• Criterion of truth: none!
• “truth” is what one calls “true”, i.e. what one might happen to believe as true in a particular
context or choose to subjectively believe as true on an individual level
• Examples:
- Postmodernism: Epistemological relativism, in particular: epistemological anarchism (Paul
Feyerabend): “anything goes!)
