POL208Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: The Plain Truth, Postpositivism, Behavioralism
Document Summary
Global scale could also be considered the human race as a whole. Its scale brings up the question of erasing" boundaries. One should note that there are desired, good questions" in ir; most importantly knowing the why and the how over all else. For ir, science" means an approach that is prioritizable, generalizable and falsi able. Should ir be based on generalization or universalism: social sciences are different from physical sciences because human beings are the subject(s) in question. Ir should strive to be as free from conditionality as possible. Therefore, ir should seek relative correctness with regards to predictions; parsimonious methods are to be used. Ultimately, the question of the relevance of people will arise: the plain truth is that human lives will always matter. In the social sciences, there is no situation where one can isolate research. Note that science seeks universal laws, while social science seeks to achieve generalizable theory.
