{"product_id":"philosophical-foundations-of-the-three-sociologies-rle-social-theory-hardback","title":"Philosophical Foundations of the Three Sociologies (RLE Social Theory) - Hardback","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn extended historical and philosophical argument, this book will be a valuable text for all students of the philosophy of the social sciences. It discusses the serious alternatives to positivist and empiricist accounts of the \u003ci\u003ephysical\u003c\/i\u003e sciences, and poses the debate between naturalism and anti-naturalism in the \u003ci\u003esocial\u003c\/i\u003e sciences in new terms. Recent materialist and realist philosophies of science make possible a defence of naturalism which does not make concessions to positivism and which recognizes the force of several of the anti-positivist arguments from the main anti-naturalist (neo-Kantian) tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe author presents a critical evaluation of empiricist and positivist theories of knowledge, and investigates some classic attempts at using them to provide the philosophical foundation for a scientific sociology. He takes the Kantian critique of empiricism as the starting point for the main anti-positivist and anti-naturalist philosophical approaches to the social studies. He goes on to investigate the inadequacy of post-Kantian arguments from Rickert, Weber, Winch and others, both against \u003ci\u003enon\u003c\/i\u003e-positivist forms of naturalism and as the possible source of a distinctive philosophical foundation for the social studies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book concludes with a critical investigation of the Marxian tradition and an attempt to establish the possibility of a materialist and realist defence of the project of a natural science of history, which escapes the fundamental flaws of both positivist and neo-Kantian attempts at philosophical foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45575313817838,"sku":"9781138788077","price":227.2,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/9612\/7726\/files\/9781138788077.jpg?v=1720948272","url":"https:\/\/bookland.com.au\/products\/philosophical-foundations-of-the-three-sociologies-rle-social-theory-hardback","provider":"Book Land AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}