Philosophy of Social Science

Rosenberg (philosophy, Duke U.) introduces students to the philosophical foundations of the human sciences, including economics, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, history, and fields at the intersections of these subjects with biology. He discusses the relevance of philosophy, then the problems raised by alternative explanatory strategies, including behaviorism, structuralism, and interpretational theories like critical theory, as well as the relationship between social sciences and moral philosophy. Reorganized into 15 chapters, this edition has new chapters on philosophical anthropology, functionalism as a research program, and theories of cultural evolution; more on the role of norms and speech acts in social construction, including the work of John Searle; more on interpretive social science and continental philosophers with an expanded discussion of the critical theories of those such as Habermas, Foucault, and Bourdieu; new discussion of the role of models and equilibrium explanations in economics and the problem of spontaneous order in the creation of institutions; more on invisible hand explanations and rational choice theory in economics and political science; and an overview of Sen's capacities alternative to utilitarianism and Rawls' and other theories of development. Annotation Ac2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)