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Philosophy of Social Science: Figures
important people in philosophy
24
Philosophy
Undergraduate 1
04/21/2013

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Term
Harriet Martineau
Definition
Author of How to Observe Morals & Manners, the first systematic work on empirical observation of human behavior in natural settings.
Term
Sun Tzu
Definition
the author of an ancient Chinese work that is generally translated into English as The Art of War. Chinese scholars have shown that it reflects many of the ideals of ancient Taoist thought in its emphasis on harmony. In modern times, it presents a consistent proto-social scientific approach.
Term
Ibn Khaldun
Definition
In his attempt to study history as a science, he developed ideas that we would recognize as elements of sociology and economics. No social factor has one causal factor.
Term
G. F. W. Hegel
Definition
Created a focus on process and change as opposed to a concerned with fixed categories of reality - the only thing we can really be sure of is that things will change. This overall process of change is the Hegelian dialectic. The dialectic is often discussed in terms of the Hegelian thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Something can be both "A" and "not A".
Term
Karl Marx
Definition

As a left Hegelian, Marx’s view of history involved an evolutionary series of stages, reflecting Hegel’s dialectic process of change and extended materialism. The change is internal, economically generated, on-going, class divided, and inevitable from the very nature of social life itself.

 

The key to understanding Marx’s critical approach is to understand his early work in alienation – the division of humanity into competing entities. Labor - Self - Others - Humanity.

Term
G.H. Mead
Definition
Mead views the Hegelian dialectic as a powerful way of understanding society, the implications of which even Hegel failed to understand. Mead posits that each of us is constituted by a number of dialectic processes that involve a process called the “self.” The self contains the aspects (not parts) of I and me.
Term
Auguste Comte
Definition
A key figure for the development of realism & modern sociology. The family is the basic unit of society.
Term
Emile Durkheim
Definition
The most important figure in the institutionalization of sociology as an academic figure. Argues that society is a sui generis phenomenon – unique in its characteristics. To him, social is an irreducible reality constituted by representations collective – an integrated whole
Term
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
Definition
Functionalism - looks at society as a real organic entity composed of parts in a mutually supporting relationship. All societies can have social structure.
Term
Robert Merton
Definition
He created a “methodological functionalism” in which the functions of a part were not to be assumed but empirically determined. Talked about dysfunctions, latent functions, & manifest functions.
Term
Talcott Parsons
Definition
Girlfriend GAIL” – the four functional requisites of any social system (goal attainment, adaptation, integration, latency). Social change as a process of differentiation and reintegration.
Term
Sigmund Freud
Definition
presents and influential view of an internal (or mind-centered) psychological reductionism. Divides the mind into id, ego, & superego.
Term
B.F. Skinner
Definition
Behaviorism does not begin with any internal model. Instead it focuses on external, environmental forces. Assumes a great malleability of human behavior. Pay no mind to mind!
Term
George Homans
Definition
Exchange Propositions - The greater the reward, the more likely the behavior. The costlier the reward, the less likely the behavior. The more one has received of a particular reward, the less valuable each unit of it becomes and the less likely one is to engage in the behavior to get it.
Term
Machiavelli
Definition
His theory sees power as a central feature on which all order depends. Secular state power is seen as a force in and of itself and not subordinate to moral rules
Term
Pareto
Definition
The elite is driven by a desire for power, while the mass is driven by non-rational emotions manipulated by the elite to stay in power. The greatest danger for the elite is to become too in-grown and cut off power from below.
Term
Michels
Definition
He argues that there is no true democracy nor is there true dictatorship. This is the law of oligarchy. According to this law, the majority can never really rule because actual government will be in a small group who acts on their own interest
Term
Darendorf
Definition
Division over authority (legitimate power) as permeating all of social life. Potential for conflict, arising in interest to get or obtain power, makes conflict always a potential
Term
Franz Boas
Definition
Culture as a concept. For Boas, all societies had culture. Culture varies from one society to another. Culture is learned, shared, and forms the basis of common sense. It breaks up the world into the things we need to know to survive.
Term
Jane Addams
Definition
Sociologist and founder of professional social work. Founded the Hull House in Chicago, a settlement house and a social research center. Celebrated cultural differences and participated politically.
Term
Michel Foucault
Definition
Noted historical focus and concern with social definitions of “normal” and “deviant.” The end of the social category and legal discourse on “witchcraft". The Emergence of the Normative Modern Family.
Term
Ruth Benedict
Definition
Argued that since all moral judgments are derived from some specific culture, there is no neutral way of judging right and wrong when cultures differ – this is known as cultural relativity.
Term
Ivan Pavlov
Definition
a Russian physiologist who developed his ideas while studying the digestive tracts of dogs. He discovered the conditioned response – that a stimulus (like a bell) could take on the power of another stimulus (like a piece of meat) when they were paired together.
Term
William Ogburn
Definition
sought to show that all invention is a product of culture and not of an individual genius
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