POLSCI 2NN3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Nomothetic
23 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
We have been studying the science of politics and how to science politics. There has been a positivism, which suggests that the social world can be studied in the same lens, using the same techniques as the natural world. Unlike physical objects, rocks and trees, social objects such as democracies and capitalism are influenced and directed by people. Human beings have agency and can act differently given the same circumstances. There is a quantitative difference between human beings, social objects and the natural world. Apples did not change their actions when dropped after isaac newton discovered the law of gravity. They do not have self-direction to act in a way which defies the law. Humans however do have that capacity to go against what they have been told/defined to do. If the conversation is more directed towards bunnies, than that is what you are most likely to see. Recognizes the difference between natural and social objects.
