Introduction to Political Research Session 2-The Purpose of Social - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education

2014/2015 – 2016/2017

POLI 343 Introduction to Political Research

Session 2-The Purpose of Social Science Research

Lecturer: Prof. A. Essuman-Johnson, Dept. of Political Science Contact Information: aessuman-johnson@ug.edu.gh

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Overview

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This session introduces you to the philosophy of science for the acquisition of study of knowledge. Students will specifically be introduced to rationalism and empiricism as core principles in the research process. Course participants will understand the relevance of rationalism and empiricism for the acquisition of knowledge. In the previous section we have learned about why we carry out research and the scientific method used for social science

• investigation. We will now go on to learn about the

thinking behind the science of knowledge which we pursue at the University.

Nature and History of Scientific Knowledge

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Knowledge is an integrated process which occurs in related sections and stages. The reason for this is that the world has many parts with each part demanding special attention. This is why we have areas of knowledge such as Philosophy, the sciences, literature, medicine, engineering etc. The various aspects of the universe are subject to change and as the changes occur over time our knowledge changes and accumulate.

The Nature and History of Scientific Knowledge ;CoŶt’d฀: People specialize in different aspects or branches of knowledge which tend to make it difficult for many people to appreciate the unity of the different branches of knowledge. The research student has to learn to identify the connection between different subjects which involves some academic re-orientation which many students find frustrating. This re-

• rientation also requires more rigorous and disciplined

thinking. Thinking however is a very difficult exercise in life. Many people have indeed given up on thinking and many people who still do cannot do it coherently.

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The Nature and History of Scientific Knowledge ;CoŶt’d฀: Thinking coherently involves the following: Think in terms of specific questions and problems. By so doing a person is able to achieve greater coherence than when the person is rambling over many problems at the same time. Do not be content with the first answers that come to mind. It may be hasty and not the answer to the problem. Explore alternative answers especially those that contradict the first answers. Learn to manipulate your mind to follow any line of thinking to its possible logical end.

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The Nature and History of Scientific Knowledge ;CoŶt’d฀: One way out is to write down the ideas that come to a peƌsoŶ’s ŵiŶd. This helps to deteĐt ǁheŶ the thought process is being distorted by many answers. All this helps to put oƌdeƌ iŶ a peƌsoŶ’s thiŶkiŶg. It helps to unravel the less obvious aspects of the

• problem. It is theƌefoƌe appƌopƌiate iŶ situatioŶs

ǁheƌe a peƌsoŶ’s thought is not being directed on a concrete or tangible object but on an abstract phenomenon which makes sense to a second or third person by its internal logical coherence.

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Philosophy and Other Disciplines

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It is to be noted that an understanding of scientific knowledge is underlined by the similar understanding that sĐieŶĐe is oŶly a ďƌaŶĐh of ŵaŶ’s aĐĐuŵulated

• knowledge. When the first body of knowledge was

articulated by the early thinkers, it was not called science but philosophy. The word philosophy is derived from the Greek word ͞philosophia͟ ǁhiĐh liteƌally tƌaŶslates to "loǀe of ǁisdoŵ͟. It suggests aŶ atteŵpt to aĐƋuiƌe kŶoǁledge through the pursuit of mental excellence.

Philosophy aŶd Other DiscipliŶes ;CoŶt’d฀:

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Also, iŶ Gƌeek usage philosophy iŶǀolǀed ŵaŶ’s atteŵpt to know the world around him in order to act rationally and consistently, to take wise decisions based on certain scales of values as they affect matters

• f truth and falsity, beauty and ugliness and of right

and wrong. As a field of inquiry philosophy deals with the systematic body of principles and assumptions underlying any particular field of experience. Philosophy is therefore an attempt to understand the world, its meaning, its laws and its values.

Philosophy aŶd Other DiscipliŶes ;CoŶt’d฀: There is therefore the philosophy of science, which focuses on the character of scientific knowledge. We also talk of the philosophy of education, art, music, history, law and religion. While it is possible to demarcate the specific boundaries of each of these branches of knowledge (academic disciplines), they are unified in the broad philosophical exercise of tying to understand the world, its laws and all aspects of human endeavour. These areas have become so specialized that it is difficult to see them as descendants of and branches of philosophy.

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Philosophy and Other Disciplines

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This is more so now because philosophy today has narrowed down to four areas known as (a) Metaphysics (b) Epistemology (c) Ethics and (d) Logic. The subject matter of these four areas of modern philosophy draw a line between philosophy proper and all other bodies

• f knowledge that descended from ancient philosophy.

According to A.J. Ayer: ͞Metaphysics investigates the structure of reality; epistemology discovers what is in our power to know, ethics investigates the rules of human conduct and logic, the canons of valid reasoning͟

The Emergence of Science

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The crucial factor that distinguishes modern philosophy from its offshoots such as science, history

• etc. is how the particular knowledge is acquired i.e.

the methods for specifying what is valid knowledge. The emergence of any distinct body of knowledge is usually attended by a methodological revolution in which the new method and its and its theoretical concerns are seen to provide more effective solutions to the problem of man and his environment. We can therefore consider philosophy as the ͞ŵotheƌ of all disĐipliŶes͟.

The EŵergeŶce of ScieŶce ;CoŶt’d฀:

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Organized philosophical thinking is often traced to ancient Greek philosophers with Socrates the foremost founding father. From these ancients Greeks to the early Middle Ages, the basic criteria for the specification of valid knowledge were circumscribed around dogmatic beliefs based on human reason and faith i.e. based on speculation and rationalization. By the end of the 14th century doubts arose about the reliability of only faith and human reason in the acquisition of valid knowledge.

The EŵergeŶce of ScieŶce ;CoŶt’d฀:

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For example, since reasoning was something personal, its use in such an endeavour was thus essentially subjective thus assuming two or more individuals are trying to reason out the distance between two locations without the use of practical measuring

• instruments. Obviously their answers will vary

according to the separate perceptions and beliefs of the respective individuals. There will be no standard

• f comparison unless the view of one individual is

accepted as the correct information.

Empiricism

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When we want to show that something exists we do not have to ask people to imagine that it exists. We have to show concrete proof of the existence of what we have in mind in a very practical way. The effort to demonstrate the existence of anything introduces us to the concept of empiricism. The story is told about a group of ancient monks in a monastery who were trying to speculate about how many teeth a horse has. They were deep thought and meditation trying to figure out in their mind how many teeth are there iŶ a hoƌse’s ŵouth, ǁheŶ a youŶg ŵoŶk iŶteƌƌupted the silence.

Eŵpiricisŵ ;CoŶt’d฀:

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He asked ͞ǁould it Ŷot ďe ďetueƌ if ǁe ǁeŶt to a hoƌse stable, got hold of a horse, open the mouth and count the number of teeth it has? The other monks were angry with him for being too lazy to think and they excommunicated him. The young monk was probably one of the earliest forerunners of scientific knowledge. He advocated an approach to knowledge acquisition which has now become a distinct body of knowledge. This approach to acquisition of knowledge is called empiricism.

Eŵpiricisŵ ;CoŶt’d฀:

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It is contrasted with rationalism. The distinguishing feature of the empirical approach is its contention that valid knowledge can only be obtained through the objective recording of practical and observable

• experience. The basics of empiricism were set out in

the 17th century by John Locke, but the challenge empiricism which led to the breakdown of medieval philosophy was a 14th century development.

Eŵpiricisŵ ;CoŶt’d฀:

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The challenge had led to the loss of confidence in the power

• f the human mind (pure reason) as an objective means of

acquiring valid knowledgeable. This challenge of empiricism heralded the emergence of scientific knowledge. Empiricism is either of two closely related philosophical doctrines, one pertaining to concepts and the other to

• knowledge. The first doctrine is that most, if not all,

concepts are ultimately derived from experience; the second is that most, if not all, knowledge derives from experience, in the sense that appeals to experience are necessarily involved in its justification. Neither doctrine implies the

• ther.

Eŵpiricisŵ ;CoŶt’d฀:

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Several empiricists have allowed that some knowledge is a priori, i.e. not based on experience or independent of experience, but have denied that any concepts are. On the other hand, few if any empiricists have denied the existence of a priori knowledge while maintaining the existence of a priori concepts. John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume are classical representatives of empiricism.