Most social scientists and philosophers claim that sociology and
philosophy are disjoint fields of inquiry. Some have wondered how
to trace the precise boundary between them. Mario Bunge argues that
the two fields are so entangled with one another that no
demarcation is possible or, indeed, desirable. In fact,
sociological research has demonstrably philosophical
pre-suppositions. In turn, some findings of sociology are bound to
correct or enrich the philosophical theories that deal with the
world, our knowledge of it, or the ways of acting upon it. While
Bunge's thesis would hardly have shocked Mill, Marx, Durkheim, or
Weber, it is alien to the current sociological mainstream and
dominant philosophical schools. Bunge demonstrates that
philosophical problematics arise in social science research. A
fertile philosophy of social science unearths critical
presuppositions, analyzes key concepts, refines effective research
strategies, crafts coherent and realistic syntheses, and identifies
important new problems.
Bunge examines Marx's and Durkheim's thesis that social facts
are as objective as physical facts; the so-called Thomas theorem
that refutes the behaviorist thesis that social agents react to
social stimuli rather than to the way we perceive them; and
Merton's thesis on the ethos of basic science which shows that
science and morality are intertwined. He considers selected
philosophical problems raised by contemporary social studies and
argues forcefully against tolerance of shabby work in academic
social science and philosophy alike.
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