Varieties of Social Explanation: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Science

Rating:
Summary: A well organized survey
Review: The great advantage of Varieties over many other introductions to the philosophy of the social sciences is that it is organized like a traditional textbook. It is not written for speed reading, but it assumes no prior technical knowledge on the part of the reader. New concepts are properly introduced as needed. Lecturers will be pleased to borrow from its many detailed examples of the various forms of social scientific explanation. Fashion-conscious readers should beware; Little is concerned with more traditional social scientific approaches. He might be classified as an "analytical" philosopher, and he doesn't devote much space to anything smacking of postmodernism & co.

Rating:
Summary: A well organized survey
Review: The great advantage of Varieties over many other introductions to the philosophy of the social sciences is that it is organized like a traditional textbook. It is not written for speed reading, but it assumes no prior technical knowledge on the part of the reader. New concepts are properly introduced as needed. Lecturers will be pleased to borrow from its many detailed examples of the various forms of social scientific explanation. Fashion-conscious readers should beware; Little is concerned with more traditional social scientific approaches. He might be classified as an "analytical" philosopher, and he doesn't devote much space to anything smacking of postmodernism & co.

Rating:
Summary: Varieties of Social Explanation: An introduction to the Phil
Review: This is good introduction to the scientific nature of social sciences. It is not light reading and may require some time to study and understand the examples, but it gives a good foundation to understanding the logical basis for the "soft sciences". This book is full of examples for understanding the thought process necessary for thorough comprehension of social sciences. I would recommend this book to anyone intrested in better understanding the logical foundation of any type of social ananlysis. This is not a light reading book. It takes effort to understand the examples and theories presented.