UCL - Epistemology of Social Sciences

[SOC2100]

[30h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 2d semester.

Teacher(s): Jean De Munck

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

3 objectives :
- Development of the knowledge of the contemporary epistemological situation ;
- Development of the knowledge of the tradition of epistemology of social sciences ;
- Development of the capacity to discuss a specific epistemological issue in social sciences on the basis of relevant litterature.

Main themes

The course will be focused on current issues in epistemology of social sciences (sociology and anthropology).
1 post-parsonian sociological theory. Landmarks of contemporary debates in epistemology, in the French-speaking world as well as German and Anglo-Saxon contexts. Mapping of the discussions ; comments on contradictions, differences etc.
2. Main epistemological issues, in a traditional and a contemporary light. A dialogue is established between classical writings and contemporary texts. One of the aims is to show the continuities/discontinuities between historical and current frames of epistemological issues.

3. Reading of relevant litterature.

Content and teaching methods

First part : Maping the Debate. The crisis of the " general theory " in sociology will be explained and evalu-ated. The course will map the debate, taking into account different approaches : ethnomethodology as a critique of classical sociology (Garfinkel, Sacks) ; different families of constructivism (Berger & Luckmann, Hacking) and postmodernism (Law, Latour, Baumann) ; epistemological grounding of rational choice theory and its discussion; recent trends in critical social theory (Habermas, Honneth, gender et race studies) ; neo-institutionalism (DiMaggio, North) ; interpretive turn (Geertz).
Second part : epistemological debates. Main issues of epistemological discussions in social sciences are re-viewed. A connection between classical and contemporary texts is established in a historical and comparative way. Among other issues : epistemological obstacle and epistemological break (Bachelard , Cicourel), the-ory/observation (Hempel, Passeron), theory/practice (Marx, Bourdieu), explanation/understanding (Weber, Apel), interpretation (Weber, Geertz), ethnocentrism (Winch, Taylor, McIntyre), holism/individualism(Popper and Descombes), neutrality/critique (Weber, Horkheimer, Thévenot).
Teaching practice. The first part is a course ; the second part, a seminar. The seminar sessions are prepared by the students. They will be devoted to explanations, comments and discussions of texts. A short individual work is required.
Readings :
- A reader (10 texts) is the common basis of discussions
- Every student is invited to set up his (her) own bibliography according to the topic (s)he wants to focus on.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Under-graduate level knowledge of epistemological notions (induction, deduction, explanation and understanding, Popperian criterion )

Oral examination on the whole course
Short written report of a personal investigation on an epistemological topic in social sciences

Reader.