Mechanistic explanation in social contexts: Elster and the problem of local scientific growth
Persson, Johannes LU
(2012)
In Social Epistemology
26(1).
p.105-114
- Abstract
- Jon Elster worries about the explanatory power of the social sciences. His main concern is
that they have so few well-established laws. Elster (2007) develops an interesting substitute: a
special kind of mechanism designed to fill the explanatory gap between laws and mere
description. However, his mechanisms suffer from a characteristic problem which I will
explore in this article. As our causal knowledge of a specific problem grows we might come
to know too much to make use of an Elsterian mechanism but still lack a law. We might then
find ourselves in the paradoxical position of knowing more relevant causal truths about the
phenomenon we are interested in than we did before... (More) - Jon Elster worries about the explanatory power of the social sciences. His main concern is
that they have so few well-established laws. Elster (2007) develops an interesting substitute: a
special kind of mechanism designed to fill the explanatory gap between laws and mere
description. However, his mechanisms suffer from a characteristic problem which I will
explore in this article. As our causal knowledge of a specific problem grows we might come
to know too much to make use of an Elsterian mechanism but still lack a law. We might then
find ourselves in the paradoxical position of knowing more relevant causal truths about the
phenomenon we are interested in than we did before but being able to explain less. If this
possibility is realized in social science settings, as I argue it might well be, Elster’s
mechanistic account is threatened. Moreover, even if the possibility is rarely realized in that
way, it raises, simply as a possibility, a conceptual problem with Elster’s mechanistic
framework. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1768887
- author
- Persson, Johannes
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- scientific growth, mechanism, explanation, Elster
- in
- Social Epistemology
- volume
- 26
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 105 - 114
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84856844982
- ISSN
- 0269-1728
- DOI
- 10.1080/02691728.2011.604445
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: The Vårdal Institute (016540000), Theoretical Philosophy (015001002), Educational Sciences (000026010)
- id
- 03a39030-13cf-4a93-849e-dda09b6dad0b (old id 1768887)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 08:17:16
- date last changed
- 2022-05-16 21:13:30
@article{03a39030-13cf-4a93-849e-dda09b6dad0b,
abstract = {{Jon Elster worries about the explanatory power of the social sciences. His main concern is<br/><br>
that they have so few well-established laws. Elster (2007) develops an interesting substitute: a<br/><br>
special kind of mechanism designed to fill the explanatory gap between laws and mere<br/><br>
description. However, his mechanisms suffer from a characteristic problem which I will<br/><br>
explore in this article. As our causal knowledge of a specific problem grows we might come<br/><br>
to know too much to make use of an Elsterian mechanism but still lack a law. We might then<br/><br>
find ourselves in the paradoxical position of knowing more relevant causal truths about the<br/><br>
phenomenon we are interested in than we did before but being able to explain less. If this<br/><br>
possibility is realized in social science settings, as I argue it might well be, Elster’s<br/><br>
mechanistic account is threatened. Moreover, even if the possibility is rarely realized in that<br/><br>
way, it raises, simply as a possibility, a conceptual problem with Elster’s mechanistic<br/><br>
framework.}},
author = {{Persson, Johannes}},
issn = {{0269-1728}},
keywords = {{scientific growth; mechanism; explanation; Elster}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{105--114}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Social Epistemology}},
title = {{Mechanistic explanation in social contexts: Elster and the problem of local scientific growth}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5174624/8229322.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1080/02691728.2011.604445}},
volume = {{26}},
year = {{2012}},
}