Sociology%20690%20Quantitative%20Methods

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Sociology 690 Quantitative Methods

• Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science

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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?

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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

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A Priori Knowledge Perspective

• Descartes Rationalism (1600s) Reason and
  deduction as source of knowledge
• Russell and Ontology (1910s) Knowledge as
  logic
• Vienna Circles Logical Positivism (1920s)
  Knowledge as Verifiability

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A Posteriori Knowledge Perspective

• Berkeleys Idealism - 1710s (objects and
  knowledge are sensory based)
• Humes Empiricism 1740s (copy principal and
  causality)
• Comtes Positivism 1850s (Theological to
  Metaphysical to Positive)

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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.

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Who is labeled a Rationalist?

1. Berkeley
2. Descarte
3. Hume
4. Comte

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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

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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.

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Dedution is to Rationalism as Induction is to
Empiricism?

1. True
2. False

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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The Scientific Method is most likely associated
with which perspective?

1. Rationalism
2. Logical Positivism
3. Empiricism
4. Positivism