The Scientificity of the Social Sciences: A Reflection on the Deductive Nomological Model of Explanation

Emmanuel Asia, Joseph Ndidi Odigie

Abstract


The possibility of having a science of human life brings into question whether the methods use in the sciences can be successfully applied in the prediction of human behaviour. This further questions the demarcation between science and the social sciences. This paper, however, argues that the use of DN model of explanation both in the social and natural sciences portends a boundary deconstruction of the two fields of enquiry. While engaging critical analysis method of enquiry, this paper dissects the DN model of explanation and argues that the social sciences are sciences and as such we can have scientific laws to predict, explain and control human behaviour.


Keywords


Natural sciences; Social sciences; Deductive nomologica model; Explanation; Prediction and control Asia, E., & Odigie, J. N

Full Text:

PDF

References


Achinstein, P., Feigl, H., & Maxwell, G. (1964). Scientific explanation, space, and time (1st ed., Vol.3). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Bruder, R. S. (1966). Philosophy of social science. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc..

Coffa, A. (1974). Hempel’s ambiguity, New York: Prentice Hall, Inc..

Ehiakhamen, J. O. (2005). Introductory readings in philosophy of the social sciences: A monograph series. Ekpoma: De Winner Printer.

Hempel, C. G. (1965). Aspects of scientific explanation and other essays in the philosophy of science. New York: Free Press.

Hempel, C. G., & Oppenheim, p.(1965). “Studies in the logic of explanation” in Philosophy of Science 1948 reproduced in Hempel, Carl G. Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: Free Press.

Okasha, S. (2002). Explanation in science. Philosophy of Science: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ryan, A. (1970). The philosophy of the social sciences, London: The Macmillan Press.

Salmon, W. C. (1984). Scientific explanation and the causal structure of the world. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Salmon, W. C. (1989). Four decades of scientific explanation. University of Minnesota.

Scriven, M. (1962). Explanations, Predictions, and Laws. Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 3, 170-230.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12247

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Canadian Social Science

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

Submission Guidelines for Canadian Social Science

We are currently accepting submissions via email only. The registration and online submission functions have been disabled.

Please send your manuscripts to css@cscanada.net，or css@cscanada.org for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture