Rules, Magic and Instrumental Reason: A Critical Interpretation of Peter Winch's Philosophy of the Social Sciences

ISBN-13: 9780415253024 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 192 str.

Berel Dov Lerner; Dov

Opis

This book offers a systematic and critical discussion of Peter Winch's writings on the philosophy of the social sciences. The author points to Winch's tendency to over-emphasize the importance of language and communication, and his insufficient attention to the role of practical, technological activites in human life and society.
It also offers an appendix devoted to the controversy between the anthropologists Marshall Sahlins and Gananath Obeyesekere regarding Captain James Cook's Hawaiian adventures.
Essential reading for those studying the development of philosophy in the twentieth century, this book will also be of great interest to anthropologists, sociologists, scholars of religion, and all those with an interest in the relationship between philosophy and the social sciences.

Spis treści

Introduction1. Social Science and Winch's Idea of Philosophy2. Winch on Rule-Following3. Rules and Meaningful Behaviour4. Explanation and Interpretation5. Winch on the Use of Technical Concepts in the Social Sciences: The Interpretive Autonomy of Meaningful Behaviour6. Winch and Interpretive Charity7. Evans-Pritchard's Study of Zande Mysticism8. Winch's Interpretation of Magic and Religion9. Winch and Instrumental Pluralism10. Winch and the Ethnographic Record11. Evidence and Interpretation12. Instrumental Action in Winch's Philosophy of the Social Sciences

O autorze

Berel Dov Lerner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Western Galilee College, Israel.