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221Functionalism and the meaning of social factsPhilosophy of Science 66 (3): 323. 1999.This paper defends a social functionalist interpretation, modeled on psychological functionalism, of the meanings of social facts. Social functionalism provides a better explanation of the possibility of interpreting other cultures than approaches that identify the meanings of social facts with either mental states or behavior. I support this claim through a functionalist reinterpretation of sociological accounts of the categories that identify them with their collective representations. Taking …Read more
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23Although standpoint theorists tend to characterize a scientist’s social situation in terms of her position in a hierarchy of power within the larger society, her social situation could also be characterized in terms of the degree to which she is integrated into the scientific community. The latter concept of social location may prove helpful in explaining a scientist’s potential for contributing to the growth of knowledge. It may also provide an independent measure of marginalization that makes …Read more
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3Review (review)Economics and Philosophy 11 (1): 203-208. 1995.The Critical Mass in Collective Action: A Micro-Social Theory, Marwell Gerald and Oliver PamelaOn Social Facts, Gilbert Margaret.
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75Kant's reception in France: Theories of the categories in academic philosophy, psychology, and social sciencePerspectives on Science 11 (1): 3-34. 2003.: It has been said that Kant's critical philosophy made it impossible to pursue either the Cartesian rationalist or the Lockean empiricist program of providing a foundation for the sciences (e.g., Guyer 1992). This claim does not hold true for much of nineteenth century French philosophy, especially the eclectic spiritualist tradition that begins with Victor Cousin (1792-1867) and Pierre Maine de Biran (1766-1824) and continues through Paul Janet (1823-99). This tradition assimilated Kant's tran…Read more
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61The empirical character of methodological rulesPhilosophy of Science 63 (3): 106. 1996.Critics of Laudan's normative naturalism have questioned whether methodological rules can be regarded as empirical hypotheses about relations between means and ends. Drawing on Laudan's defense that rules of method are contingent on assumptions about the world, I argue that even if such rules can be shown to be analytic in principle (Kaiser 1991), in practice the warrant for such rules will be empirical. Laudan's naturalism, however, acquires normative force only by construing both methods and e…Read more
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36A Reappraisal Of Comte's Three-state LawHistory and Theory 21 (2): 248-266. 1982.Comte's three-state law concerns the historical development of our methods of cognitive inquiry. Comte believes he can defend his three-state law either by :,rational proofs" based upon our knowledge of the human mind or upon 'historical verifications." Comte then uses the three-state law of scientific progress to argue for the existence of industrial and multistate political laws of progress. Here Comte strays from his positivism. He attributes a kind of causal efficacy to scientific progress w…Read more
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77Science and the Social Contract in RenouvierHopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 1 (1): 73-100. 2011.Renouvier criticized Comte’s positivist philosophy of science and proposed a social contract approach for dealing with normative questions in philosophy of science as well as moral philosophy. Renouvier then questioned Kant’s distinction between practical and theoretical reason and argued that judgments concerning epistemic warrant must be freely made in the same way that moral judgments are made. What counts as scientific knowledge depends on a consensus within the scientific community that dev…Read more
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6Rethinking Durkheim and His TraditionCambridge University Press. 2004.This book offers a reassessment of the work of Emile Durkheim in the context of a French philosophical tradition that had seriously misinterpreted Kant by interpreting his theory of the categories as psychological faculties. Durkheim's sociological theory of the categories, as revealed by Warren Schmaus, is an attempt to provide an alternative way of understanding Kant. For Durkheim the categories are necessary conditions for human society. The concepts of causality, space and time underpin the …Read more
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15Book Review: What’s So Social about Social Knowledge? (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 35 (1): 98-125. 2005.Although Longino and Solomon are interested in what social conditions will produce better science, neither philosopher has provided a sufficient analysis of the social character of science. For instance, neither considers the social character of discovery as well as that of justification, or that an individual scientist’s social status and social relations may be important for understanding her role in both processes. The contributors to Schmitt’s volume are interested in whether the terms that …Read more
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12No Title available: ReviewsEconomics and Philosophy 11 (1): 203-208. 1995.The Critical Mass in Collective Action: A Micro-Social Theory, Marwell Gerald and Oliver PamelaOn Social Facts, Gilbert Margaret
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24Hypotheses and Historical Analysis in Durkheim's Sociological Methodology: A Comtean TraditionStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 16 (1): 1. 1985.
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32Durkheim, Jamesian pragmatism and the normativity of truthHistory of the Human Sciences 23 (5): 1-16. 2010.In his lectures on pragmatism presented in the academic year 1913—14 at the Sorbonne, Durkheim argued that James’s pragmatist theory of truth, due to its emphasis on individual satisfaction, was unable to account for the obligatory, necessary and impersonal character of truth. But for Durkheim to make this charge is only to raise the question whether he himself could account for the morally obligatory or normative character of truth. Although rejecting individualism may be necessary for explaini…Read more
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11The Concept of Analysis in Comte’s Philosophy of MathematicsPhilosophy Research Archives 8 205-222. 1982.This paper traces August Comte’s attempts to get clear about the concept of mathematical analysis at various stages in his intellectual development. Comte was especially concerned with distinguishing a method of analysis for the resolution of complex prolems from analysis in the sense of a method of drawing inferences. Geometrical analysis serves as his model for the former. In his attempt to get clear about this notion, he discovers an historical succession of different methods all of which may…Read more
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26Review: Rescuing Auguste comte from the philosophy of history (review)History and Theory 47 (2): 291-301. 2008.
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8La nature de la société: Organicisme et sciences sociales au XIXe siècle (review)Isis 97 563-564. 2006.
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Book Review (review)Economics and Philosophy 10 (2): 203-208. 1994.The Critical Mass in Collective Action: A Micro-Social Theory, Marwell Gerald and Oliver PamelaOn Social Facts, Gilbert Margaret.
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4Book Reviews : Steve Fuller, Social Epistemology. Indiana University Press, Bloomington/ Indianapolis, 1988. Pp. xv, 316, US$22.00 (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 21 (1): 121-125. 1991.
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24Review of C. Mantzavinos, Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Philosophical Theory and Scientific Practice (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2010 (6). 2010.
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14Renouvier had argued that Comte's philosophy of science yielded very conservative normative advice regarding the sciences. Fedi, Becquemont, Logue, and Mouy have suggested the same charge could be leveled at Renouvier regarding evolutionary theory, non-Euclidean geometry, and set theory. This paper shows Renouvier's views were not unreasonable given what was known at the time. Further, Renouvier had a deeper appreciation than Comte of human fallibility and did not proscribe any area of research,…Read more
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Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Areas of Interest
History of Western Philosophy |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |