Phronetic social science

Phronetic social science

Phronetic social science is an approach to the study of social – including political and economic – phenomena based on a contemporary interpretation of the classical Greek concept phronesis, variously translated as practical judgment, common sense, or prudence. Phronesis is the intellectual virtue used to deliberate about which social actions are good or bad for humans. Phronetic social scientists study social phenomena with a focus on values and power. Researchers ask and answer the following four value-rational questions for specific instances of social action:

#Where are we going?
#Is this development desirable?
#Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power?
#What, if anything, should we do about it?

Phronetic social science was first described by Bent Flyvbjerg in his book Making Social Science Matter. Here he presented phronetic social science as an alternative to epistemic social science, that is, social science modeled after the natural sciences. Flyvbjerg observed that despite centuries of trying the natural science model still does not work in social science: No predictive social theories have been arrived at as yet, if prediction is understood in the natural science sense. Flyvbjerg held that as long as social science would try to emulate natural science, social science would stand as loser in the Science Wars. If, however, the social sciences modeled themselves after phronesis they would be strong where the natural sciences are weak, namely in the deliberation about values and power that is essential to social and economic development in modern society. Flyvbjerg's position was further developed in the so-called Flyvbjerg Debate.

ubfields

*Phronetic organization research is phronetic social science employed in the specific study of organizations and management.
*Phronetic planning research is phronetic social science employed in the specific study of urban planning

Sources and further reading

*Bent Flyvbjerg, (Cambridge University Press, 2001) ISBN 052177568X
* [http://www.iwp.uni-linz.ac.at/lxe/sektktf/gg/GeertzTexts/Empowering_Aristotle.htm Clifford Geertz, "Empowering Aristotle." Science, vol. 293, July 6, 2001, p. 53.]
*Ted Schatzki, "Social Science in Society." Inquiry, vol. 45, no. 1, 2002, pp. 119-138.
*Francis Schrag, "What Future for Social Science?" Educational Theory, vol. 54, no. 1, 2004, pp. 89-101.
* [http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/GSSW/schram/beyondparadigm.pdf Sanford F. Schram, "Beyond Paradigm: Resisting the Assimilation of Phronetic Social Science." Politics and Society, vol. 32, no. 3, September 2004, pp. 417-433.]
*Schram, Sanford F. and Brian Caterino, 2006 eds. Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research, and Method. New York: New York University Press.]
*Russell K. Schutt, "Review Essay on Making Social Science Matter." Field Methods, vol. 14, no. 2, May 2002, pp. 228-240.

See also

*The Flyvbjerg Debate
*Phronesis
*Praxis intervention

External links

* [http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/phronetic.php What is phronetic social science?]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Making Social Science Matter — Making Social Science Matter: Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again ISBN 052177568X is a book written in 2001 (Cambridge University Press) by a Danish planning and development researcher Bent Flyvbjerg. The book describes… …   Wikipedia

  • Social theory — Social analysis redirects here. For the journal, see Social Analysis (journal). Sociology …   Wikipedia

  • Social sciences — The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including anthropology, communication studies, criminology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology …   Wikipedia

  • List of social sciences — The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity,… …   Wikipedia

  • Bent Flyvbjerg — is the first Chair and BT Professor of Major Programme Management at Oxford University s Saïd Business School and is Founding Director of the University s BT Centre for Major Programme Management. He was previously Professor of Planning at… …   Wikipedia

  • Rationality and power —   Author(s) Bent Flyvbjerg Pub …   Wikipedia

  • Phronesis — (Greek: φρόνησις) in Aristotle s Nicomachean Ethics is the virtue of moral thought, usually translated practical wisdom , sometimes as prudence .Aristotle distinguishes between two intellectual virtues: sophia and phronesis . Sophia (usually… …   Wikipedia

  • Flyvbjerg Debate — The Flyvbjerg Debate refers to the debate in social science over professor Bent Flyvbjerg s double call for, first, social sciences that reject the natural science model as an ideal that may be achieved in social science and, second, social… …   Wikipedia

  • Debate Flyvbjerg — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El debate Flyvbjerg se refiere al debate en las ciencias sociales respecto al doble llamado del profesor Bent Flyvbjerg para que, en primer lugar, las ciencias sociales rechacen el modelo de las ciencias naturales… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Anthropology — This article is about the social science. For other uses, see Anthropology (disambiguation). Anthropology Fields Archaeology Biological an …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”