Productive Knowledge and the Social Sciences — Some Pragmatic Ruminations
The most that ‘scientific consensus’ can realistically expect is some kind of ‘abductive’ generalization: the “best” explanation for the widest possible phenomena. And I’m skeptical that without intellectual bullying such a consensus is possible…. The alternative ‘pragmatic’ enterprise (in the William James sense) looks for whats useful rather than what’s universally true. …social scientists have something to bring to the pragmatist’s table: more suggestive tools and heuristics for their selection and use. It would be a pity if this were lost in a dogmatic striving for the “best” model and approach
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