Philosophy of Social Science provides a tightly argued yet accessible introduction to the philosophical foundations of the human sciences, including economics, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, history, and the disciplines emerging at the intersections of these subjects with biology. Philosophy is unavoidable for social scientists because the choices they make in answering questions in their disciplines force them to take sides on philosophical matters. Conversely, the social and behavior sciences must inform philosophers’ understanding of human action, norms, and social institutions.


The fourth edition retains an illuminating interpretation of the enduring relations between the social sciences and philosophy, and it has now been thoroughly revised to better fit courses, including fifteen chapters, with more effective transitions and helpful summaries. This edition also includes three new chapters on philosophical anthropology, functionalism as a research program, and theories of cultural evolution, as well as enhanced discussions of the role of norms and speech acts in social construction in interpretive social science and a chapter on continental philosophers of social science.

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