Sociology under Imperialism; the Scientific Imperialism of Nominalism in Sociology in the Form of Psychology and Economics

Author

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Science and Technology, Institute for Social and Cultural Studies

10.22061/orj.2023.1859

Abstract

Interaction between knowledge branches can have good achievements for human society. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches also have the potential to bring us, albeit by a few steps, closer to what the real world is. However, this is not always the case! Sometimes the guild of epistemology longs to go beyond its own territory and dominate other guilds of knowledge, and this is the scientific imperialism of one branch of knowledge over the other. In this article, I try to show such a colonial interaction regarding the dominance of the school of nominalism over sociology in the form of the domination of psychology and economics. The research methods used in this article are of two types: library and basics analysis. The finding shows that nominalist social ontology can lead to the isolation and diminution of the social and the fattening of individual-centered discourse. In particular, the fact that both psychology and economics have pioneered this. In such a way that the imperialist epistemology of these two types of knowledge is increasingly dominating sociological thinking. In a way, their individual-centered ontologies have dominated the collective ontologies of sociology, and this type of ontology has also increasingly dominated the analysis of social issues. These conditions have led to a kind of reductionism in the analysis of social events. In addition, sciences such as economics and psychology, based on individualistic ontologies, try to explain phenomena that are clearly social in nature, and this is nothing but an imperialist invasion of the field of knowledge that can lead to fallacies. This imperialism causes it to create double darkness instead of shedding light on the path of knowledge.

Keywords

References

Amadae, SM. "Economics imperialism reconsidered." Pp. 140-60 in Scientific Imperialism, edited by Uskali Mäki, Adrian Walsh, and Manuela  Fernández Pinto: Routledg; 2017.
Amzadt, J., F. Omololu and A. Abdullahi. "Realist and Nominalist Traditions in Sociological Theorizing." Pp. 137-47 in Foundations of the Social Sciences, edited by Ilufoye Ogundiya and Jimoh Amzadt. Lagos: Malthouse; 2015.
Becker, G., S. The economic approach to human behavior: University of Chicago press; 1978.
Bhaskar, R. The possibility of naturalism: A philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences: Routledge; 2005.
Buchanan, J., M, and G. Tullock. "The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy." Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press; 1962.
Clarke, Steve, and A. Walsh.. "Scientific imperialism and the proper relations between the sciences." International Studies in the Philosophy of Science. 2009; 23(2):195-207.
Darzi, GH. ‘Scientific Imperialism and its Relationship with Interdisciplinary. Mehr Agency Press; May 26, 2020. [Available in mehrnews.com/xRX38]. Persian.
Dawkins, R. Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1979.
—. The God delusion. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin; 2006.
Dennett, D. "Darwin's Dangerous Idea. New York." Touchstone, Simon and Schuster; 1995.
Downs, A. An economic theory of democracy; 1957.
Dupré, J.. "Against scientific imperialism." Pp. 374-81 in PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association: Philosophy of Science Association; 1994.
—. Human nature and the limits of science: Clarendon Press; 2001.
Ernest, P. "Nominalism and conventionalism in social constructivism."  PHILOSOPHICA-GENT. 2004; 74:7.
Harding, S. “The Science Question” in Feminism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press; 1986.
Hargreaves-Heap, Sh., and Y. Varoufakis. 2004. Game theory: a critical introduction: Routledge.
Heath, J. Following the rules: Practical reasoning and deontic constraint: OUP USA; 2008.
Kornblith, H. Naturalizing Epistemology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press’ ;1994.
Lewis, G. "“It's academic”: Imperialism and the australian tertiary book industry." Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. 1969; 4(1):92-108.
Mäki, U. "Explanatory ecumenism and economics imperialism." Economics and Philosophy. 2002; 18(2):237-59.
—. "Economics imperialism: Concept and constraints." Philosophy of the social sciences. 2009;  39(3):351-80.
—. "Scientific imperialism: Difficulties in definition, identification, and assessment." International Studies in the Philosophy of Science. 2013; 27(3):325-39.
Marino, P. "Ethical implications of scientific imperialism: Two examples from economics." Pp. 69-85 in Scientific Imperialism, edited by Uskali Mäki, Adrian Walsh, and Manuela  Fernández Pinto: Routledge; 2017.
Mueller, D., C. Public Choice III: Cambridge University Press; 2003.
Pettit, Ph. "Virtus Normativa: Rational Choice Perspectives." in Rules, reasons, and norms, edited by Philip Pettit. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 2002.
Pinto, M., F. "Imperializing epistemology: Shortcomings of the naturalistic turn." Pp. 274-90 in Scientific Imperialism, edited by Uskali Mäki, Adrian Walsh, and Manuela  Fernández Pinto: Routledge; 2017.
Popov, Y., V, Natalia, G., P., and D., M. Kochetkov. "On “Scientific Imperialism”." Russian Social Science Review. 2019; 62(1-3):264-82.
Popper, K. The Open Society and its Enemies: Sherkat-e Sahamiy-e Enteshar Press; 2018. Persian
Quine, W., V. "Epistemology Naturalized." in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays. New York: Columbia University Press; 1969.
—. "Epistemology Naturalized." Pp. 292–300 in Contemporary Epistemology: An Anthology, edited by Ernest Sosa, Jeremy Fantl, and Matthew McGrath: John Wiley & Sons; 2004.
Ritzer, G. 2011. "Sociological theory, eight edition." New York, America: The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Schelling, Th., C. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; 1960.
Sen, A., K. "Rational fools: A critique of the behavioral foundations of economic theory." Philosophy & Public Affairs. 1990;317-44.
Smith, J., M. Evolution and the Theory of Games: Cambridge university press; 1982.
Stigler, G., J. "Economics: The imperial science?" the scandinavian Journal of economics. 1984; 86(3):301-13.
Taylor, M., A. Cooperation: New York: John Wiley & Sons; 1976.
Trivers, R., L. "The evolution of reciprocal altruism." The Quarterly review of biology. 1971; 46(1):35-57.
Von Neumann, J., and O. Morgenstern. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton university press; 1953.
Journal of Ontological Researches
Volume 11, Issue 22
February 2023
Pages 696-671

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics