Historical Understanding and Ethics in Social Science

Leonidas Tsilipakos is Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) at the University of Bristol, UK. He has edited and translated Winch’s The Idea of a Social Science and Its Relation to Philosophy into Greek. He is the author of Clarity and Confusion in Social Theory: Taking Concepts Seriously, also published in this series, and of Η Δυνατότητα Επιστημονικής Κατανόησης της Κοινωνίας.

• IntroductionPART I: HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING1. Descriptive accuracy in history: The case of narrative explanations2. Pareto decomposition and the holism of internal relations3. Historicism and formal theory in cultural sociology: Two ways with the King’s second bodyPART II: ETHICS4. The idea of an ethically committed social science5. Social criticism, moral reasoning and the literary form6. Normative sociology and phronetic social science in the light of practical reasonConclusion

"Leonidas Tsilipakos has provided a much needed historically and technically sophisticated overview of the key philosophical problems of sociology and historical interpretation as they now exist, and especially the challenge posed by the normative idea of an emancipatory social science."Stephen Turner, Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida, USA"In this wide-ranging and highly instructive critique, Tsilipakos challenges key assumptions underpinning much social and historical research today."Martyn Hammersley, The Open University, UK"Inspired by the work of philosopher Peter Winch, Tsilipakos offers an incisive and erudite critique of prevalent conceptions of history and the social sciences, among them the idea that the social sciences may lay claim to normative authority on social issues."Lars Hertzberg, Åbo Akademi University, Finland