The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of the Social Sciences collects newly commissioned essays that examine fundamental issues in the social sciences.
The philosophy of the social sciences is concerned with a wide range of problems that pertain to explanations of human action and thought. This volume is the first of its kind to survey the full range of issues that philosophy of social science now encompasses. These include postmodernism, science studies, feminist philosophy, evolutionary accounts of social life, rational choice theory, practice theory, and causal modeling. The book also provides a retrospective look at the origins of the problem of the scientific character of social science and the changes that the field has undergone. Written by an international cast of leading philosophers, each essay offers an examination of the hottest issues in this field. It is a must-read for philosophers of social science and philosophically inclined social scientists.