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Rethinking Explanation. Series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Vol. 252. (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2007.
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28Understanding causation in social-ecological systems (SES) is indispensable for promoting sustainable outcomes. However, the study of such causal relations is challenging because they are often complex and intertwined, and their analysis involves diverse disciplines. Although there is agreement that no single research approach (RA) can comprehensively explain SES phenomena, there is a lack of ability to deal with this diversity. Underlying this diversity and the challenge of dealing with it are …Read more
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Explaining institutional changeIn Harold Kincaid & Jeroen van Bouwel (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Political Science, Oxford University Press. 2023.
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370Explaining Institutional ChangeIn Harold Kincaid & Jeroen van Bouwel (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Political Science, Oxford University Press. pp. 120-138. 2023.In this Chapter, we address the challenge of explaining institutional change, asking whether the much-criticized rational choice perspective can contribute to the understanding of institutional change in political science. We discuss the methodological reasons why rational choice institutionalism (RCI) often assumes that institutional change is exogenous and discontinuous. We then identify and explore the possible pathways along which RCI can be extended to be more useful in understanding instit…Read more
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4Book Reviews : Scientific Knowledge: A Sociological Analysis, by Barry Barnes, David Bloor, and John Henry. Chicago: Chicago University Press; London: Athlone Press, 1996, xii + 230 pp. $38.00/£42.00 (cloth), $15.95/£15.95 (paper (review)Science, Technology and Human Values 23 (3): 349-351. 1998.
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80Humanistic interpretation and machine learningSynthese 199. 2021.This paper investigates how unsupervised machine learning methods might make hermeneutic interpretive text analysis more objective in the social sciences. Through a close examination of the uses of topic modeling—a popular unsupervised approach in the social sciences—it argues that the primary way in which unsupervised learning supports interpretation is by allowing interpreters to discover unanticipated information in larger and more diverse corpora and by improving the transparency of the inte…Read more
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98Argumentative landscapes: the function of models in social epistemologySynthese 199 (1-2): 369-395. 2021.We argue that the appraisal of models in social epistemology requires conceiving of them as argumentative devices, taking into account the argumentative context and adopting a family-of-models perspective. We draw up such an account and show how it makes it easier to see the value and limits of the use of models in social epistemology. To illustrate our points, we document and explicate the argumentative role of epistemic landscape models in social epistemology and highlight their limitations. W…Read more
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7Preface. Rethinking ExplanationIn Johannes Persson & Petri Ylikoski (eds.), Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Springer. 2007.
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39Case study research in the social sciencesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 78 (C): 1-4. 2019.In this paper, we offer an introduction to case study research in the social sciences. We begin with a discussion of the definition of case study research. Next, we point to various purposes that case study research may serve in the social sciences and then turn to outline the main philosophical issues raised by case study research. Finally, we briefly present the papers in this special issue.
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34Individuals and Identity in Economics, John B. Davis. Cambridge University Press, 2011, x + 260 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 29 (1): 142-147. 2013.
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Syistä selityksiin. Kausaalisuus ja selittäminen yhteiskuntatieteissä (edited book)Gaudeamus. 2018.Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tutkimus on pohjimmiltaan kysymyksiin vastaamista. Kysymysten avulla hahmotellaan yhteiskunnallisille ilmiöille syitä ja seurauksia. Mikä rooli syy-seuraussuhteiden ymmärtämisellä sitten on arvioitaessa ja täsmennettäessä yhteiskuntatieteellisiä selitysmalleja? Kausaalinen järkeily ja selittäminen läpäisee kaikkea yhteiskuntatieteellistä tutkimusta tutkimusmenetelmistä ja -asetelmista riippumatta. Kausaalisuuden käsitettä, kausaalisuhteita ja kausaalisia päätelmiä koskevi…Read more
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52Mechanism-based theorizing and generalization from case studiesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 78 (C): 14-22. 2019.Generalization from a case study is a perennial issue in the methodology of the social sciences. The case study is one of the most important research designs in many social scientific fields, but no shared understanding exists of the epistemic import of case studies. This article suggests that the idea of mechanism-based theorizing provides a fruitful basis for understanding how case studies contribute to a general understanding of social phenomena. This approach is illustrated with a re- constr…Read more
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66Three Conceptions of a Theory of InstitutionsPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 48 (6): 550-568. 2018.We compare Guala’s unified theory of institutions with that of Searle and Greif. We show that unification can be many things and it may be associated with diverse explanatory goals. We also highlight some of the important shortcomings of Guala’s account: it does not capture all social institutions, its ability to bridge social ontology and game theory is based on a problematic interpretation of the type-token distinction, and its ability to make social ontology useful for social sciences is hind…Read more
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58Comment on Naturalizing Critical Realist Social OntologyJournal of Social Ontology 1 (2): 333-340. 2015.This comment discusses Kaidesoja and raises the issue whether his analysis justifies stronger conclusions than he presents in the book. My comments focus on four issues. First, I argue that his naturalistic reconstruction of critical realist transcendental arguments shows that transcendental arguments should be treated as a rare curiosity rather than a general argumentative strategy. Second, I suggest that Kaidesoja’s analysis does not really justify his optimism about the usefulness of causal p…Read more
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64Social mechanisms and explanatory relevanceIn Pierre Demeulenaere (ed.), Analytical Sociology and Social Mechanisms, Cambridge University Press. pp. 154. 2011.
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198The third dogma revisitedFoundations of Science 10 (4). 2005.This paper is an attempt to further our understanding of mechanisms conceived of as ontologically separable from laws. What opportunities are there for a mechanistic perspective to be independent of, or even more fundamental than, a law perspective? Advocates of the mechanistic view often play with the possibility of internal and external reliability, or with the paralleling possibilities of enforcing, counteracting, redirecting, etc., the mechanisms’ power to produce To further this discussion …Read more
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77Realism in Action: Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (edited book)Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2003.Realism in Action is a selection of essays written by leading representatives in the fields of action theory and philosophy of mind, philosophy of the social sciences and especially the nature of social action, and of epistemology and philosophy of science. Practical reason, reasons and causes in action theory, intending and trying, and folk-psychological explanation are some of the topics discussed by these leading participants. A particular emphasis is laid on trust, commitments and social ins…Read more
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421We-attitudes and Social InstitutionsIn Georg Meggle (ed.), Social Facts and Collective Intentionality. Philosophische Forschung / Philosophical research, Dr. Haensel-hohenhausen. 2002.
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Analytical SociologyIn Ian C. Jarvie & Jesus Zamoro Bonilla (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of the Philosophy of Social Sciences, Sage. 2011.
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491Kymmenen haastetta kausaalisen selittämisen teorialleAjatus 59 155-177. 2002.Väitöskirjassani Understanding Interests and Causal Explanation (2001) hahmottelin teoriaa yksittäisten tapahtumien kausaalisesta selittämisestä. Tässä kirjoituksessa tarkastelen niitä haasteita tai vaatimuksia, joihin teoriani yritti vastata. Alustavien huomioiden jälkeen esittelen ensiksi erityisesti selittämisen teoriaan liittyviä haasteita ja sen jälkeen yleisempiä filosofisia vaatimuksia hyväksyttävälle selittämisen teorialle.
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60Book Review: Sawyer, R. Keith. (2005). Social Emergence: Societies as Complex Systems. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 39 (3): 527-530. 2009.
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43Economics for real: Uskali Mäki and the place of truth in economics (edited book)Routledge. 2012.This book provides the first comprehensive and critical examination of Mäki's realist philosophy of economics.
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39Thought Experiments in Science StudiesPhilosophica 72 (2): 1-25. 2003.In this paper I examine the role of thought experiments in the social studies of science. More specifically, I will focus on two strands of social studies of science: the so-called sociology of scientific knowledge and the naturalistically oriented philosophy of science with interest in social dimensions of science. I begin by discussing David Hull's views on thought experiments in the study of science. His account serves as a foil that helps me to make some points about thought experiments. As …Read more
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190Understanding with theoretical modelsJournal of Economic Methodology 21 (1): 19-36. 2014.This paper discusses the epistemic import of highly abstract and simplified theoretical models using Thomas Schelling’s checkerboard model as an example. We argue that the epistemic contribution of theoretical models can be better understood in the context of a cluster of models relevant to the explanatory task at hand. The central claim of the paper is that theoretical models make better sense in the context of a menu of possible explanations. In order to justify this claim, we introduce a dist…Read more
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465Dissecting explanatory powerPhilosophical Studies 148 (2). 2010.Comparisons of rival explanations or theories often involve vague appeals to explanatory power. In this paper, we dissect this metaphor by distinguishing between different dimensions of the goodness of an explanation: non-sensitivity, cognitive salience, precision, factual accuracy and degree of integration. These dimensions are partially independent and often come into conflict. Our main contribution is to go beyond simple stipulation or description by explicating why these factors are taken to…Read more
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Social Science |
Sociology of Science |
Explanation |
Interlevel Relations in Science |
Theories and Models |
Areas of Interest
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