Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 00:13:34 -0500
From: Ruth Groff <rgroff-AT-yorku.ca>
Subject: Re: BHA: re: cr and social science


Hi Mervyn, all,

I didn't say anything about 4 planar being!  (And I don't intend to break my silence!)  I just said that in PON Bhaskar maintains that social science and psychology do not have the same objects of inquiry.  Nor did I say that he claims that social science and psychology are unrelated.  That would be silly. 

On the question of whether in RTS and PON scientific experiments are taken to necessarily involve artificial closures, we will simply have to disagree.  On the question of whether in PON Bhaskar claims that (genuine) experimentation (except he doesn't even bother to say "genuine," because he takes it for granted that experiments that don't involve closures are not what is meant by scientific experiment) in the social sciences is not possible, we will, I guess, also have to disagree.   

I think you are right to point to the shift in argument from experimentation to "human activity as such," as you put it.  I was thinking about it myself this afternoon  -- that you can see that that move, if persuasive, would solve the problem of how to generalize the conclusions regarding causality (and, ultimately, natural kinds) that flow from the analysis of experimentation over a domain in which [the only kind of] experimentation [that can be used in a transcendental deduction to establish causal realism] is not possible.  I don't know for sure whether or not I *do* think that the move is persuasive.  I need to reflect on it more.     

In any case, it's great to have such a lively discussion, with so many participants!   And to Andrew - was it? - who recommended the Benton article: thank you, thank you.  It was extremely helpful.  (Mervyn, you might find it interesting, if you haven't read it.  I would expect that you would disagree with it, since he, Benton, takes it as a given that Bhaskar distinguishes sharply in PON between psychology and social science and that he rules out experimentation in social science, but still, it is a thoughtful, carefully argued piece.)

Gotta git,
r.

r.



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