SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVITY

Eleonora Montuschi
Philosophy of Social Science
- A New Introduction
An overview
By Govinda Ghimire
PhD Candidate IRD- TU
 Area of Presentation
• Background
• Introduction
• Ontological Demand
• Epistemological Demand
• Methodological Demand
• Conclusion
• Recall key concepts
 Background
Based on –Introduction and Context

• When it comes to studying science , the

philosophy of the social sciences has long been a
poor sister to philosophy of the natural science.
• It is easier to study and critique the well
articulated , widely accepted theories , concepts
and methodologies than to study fields where
concepts appear vague , methods are in dispute,
and there is no either theory or offer.
• Later work on the philosophy of economics, its
philosophical inquiry considered to be closer
to the natural than to the social science
• The philosophy of the social sciences has
become a vibrant field with exciting research
not only in the area like economics, social
statistics , and the experimental psychology
but also in many social science disciplines
• Game of theory and theory of rational choice in
social science seem to be vibrant because Prisoners
dilemma, intervention theories of casualty , we –
intentions ( collective intention) , and qualitative vs
quantitative methods ,social well being, climate
change are giving practical solutions
• Role of science becomes visible when positivism
preaches that the only source of knowledge is
empirical facts, which can be logically or
mathematically treated and measured
• Max -Weber argued Social Science can retain
the objectivities of the Science
• During 1970s Feminists and Disadvantaged
minorities advocated science never has been
value free
• The effort is to find the coordination between
Social Science and Natural Science
• What it is objectivity , how much of it we want and
how we can get in social science
• There are critical debates going about the scientific
method , its trustness and scientific objectivity. But it
will be understood in the course of time that method
come and go , getting refined and developed and
replaced as we learn new facts , acquire new
technologies , get new ideas and adopt new theories
 Introduction
• Chapter 7 of Philosophy of Social Science – A new
introduction is written by Eleonora Montuschi is
dedicated to objectivity
• Scientific objectivity is a characteristics of scientific
claims , methods and results
• It expresses the idea that the claims’ methods, and
results of science are not or should not be
influenced by particular perspectives , value
commitments , community bias or personal interests
to name a few
• Objectivity is often considered as an ideal for scientific
inquiry , as a good reason for valuing scientific knowledge
and as the basis of the authority of science in society
• Many central debates in the philosophy of science have , in
one way or another, to do with objectivity. Confirmation and
the problem of induction , theory of choice and scientific
change , realism ; scientific explanation ;experimentation
;measurement and quantification ; evidence and the
foundation of statistics ; evidence – based science ,
feminism and values in Science
• Can the social sciences be as objective as the natural
sciences ? It is believed that natural sciences are better
sciences
• Historically , modern science emerges in the seventeenth
century as natural science , with the figures like Francis
Bacon, Galileo & Descartes ( focus -Physics and
Astronomy )
• The social science followed much later in the 19 th century
when the natural science had already established their
reputation and secured publicly acknowledged results
• The modern image of science associates
science with methods – a set of rules of
reasoning completely separate from either
individual judgment or social context. This is
objective knowledge
• In 19th century the behavior of society and of
individuals started being looked at as objects
of scientific inquiry
• John Stuart Mill made clear that scientific
knowledge of any social phenomena –could only
be pursued by adopting the method and logic of
natural science .This has affected the way social
science has disposed its own theoretical and
practical resources in achieving objective results
• The call for objectivity in social science focuses
on three main demands, articulated in
comparative form
1- Grabbing only onto real objects and real facts- Ontological
Example - Marriage , Money Crime , Political refuges etc.
man made activities and categorization
2- Driving out values from description and explanations-
Epistemological
Example : the debate on race and intelligence starting in the
early 20th century is very instructive case of how
questionable value judgments might affect the course of
social scientific inquiry ( Jacob and Glauberman 1995 ).
Value freedom faces a special challenge in the social
domain
3- Using only methods likely to secure true outcomes –
Methodological
Example :Natural science generally uses quantitative
methods-objective in nature ; where social science
( case studies, phenomenology , Grounded theory etc.)
uses qualitative methods and it is subjective in nature.
However economics , education , crime , child welfare
etc. go for quantitative methodological orientation
with the belief in the objectivity of numbers
 Analysis of Three Demands
• The Ontological demand
• The Epistemological demand
• The Methodological demand

Note : Ontology dictates Epistemology -

Epistemology dictates Methodology-
Methodology dictates Methods
 The Ontological Demand
only real facts

• Beliefs about Reality ( Truth )

• What is true ?
• Does True Exist ?
• Our perception of truth ‘ influences what we
think – we can know
Crux of the debate : REAL FACTS –objectivism
& CONSTRUCTED FACTS -subjectivism
 Explanations & Examples
• Scientific status of Psychoanalysis –there is a
correlation between types of childhood experience
and types of adult behavior that remembering the
childhood situations might alter adult behavior
• Adolf Grunbaum wrote a book –’Foundations of
Psychoanalysis ‘which stirred up the debate that
the causal inferences drawn by psychoanalytic
theory on the basis of clinical evidence are not
cogently tested
• In the absence of real data that allow rigorous testing ,
Psychoanalysis cannot be considered a science
• Take Society for further explanation. From when
Society came into being as the object of a Science
( Sociology , Social Science , Science of Society ) its
existence questionable ( argument )
• Prof. of Political Science Robert Von Mohl ( 1824-45)
at Tubingen & Heidelberg claimed that existence of
the ‘particular being’ ie ‘a society ‘ came into being
during his period
• Whereas his opponent ; the Historian & Political
writer Heinrich Von Treitschke , rejected the idea that
society existed as an independent entity’. Society as a
new object should have essential reducible links to
the sate making the case for the existence of society
as a separate entity redundant( unnecessary)
• Debate Develops : does society exist as separate from
the state ? Does it exist as separate from individuals ?
Does society have causal effects ? Does it exist as an
organism ? And so on.
• During Plato and Aristotle time also when
sociology did not exist –society lacked the status
of an independent reality ‘
• Further –the existence of Alcoholism before it
becomes the part of sociological studies –
existence of suicide before 19th century
• Do cultural representations exist before cognitive
science accounts for their hypothetical existence
in the context of Anthropological research ?
• In Natural Science it seems intuitive that gases ,
molecules and heat exist before Sciences sets out to
investigate them .This does not mean that scientific
objects are created by the Scientists but in practices
they are used as working objects for the scientific
investigations
• For Social Science it appears less intuitive for the
investigation of the objects and their solid material
existence
• Although there an intuitive distinction between ‘ brute
facts’ ( those exist even if human do not exist ) and
‘constructed facts’ ( existence due to human activities
belief)- the facts that science –any science deals with are
rarely brute
• Writer illustrates more example like –the Preter –Natural
Science and Natural Philosophy that images found in
agates or marbles , comets presaging the death of kings ,
the power of flax seeds to inspire the prophetic dreams as
claimed by Preter – Natural Philosophy ceased to be
scientific objects after the advent of Natural Philosophy
• Above illustrations and examples accept that both natural
and social facts are partly real and partly constructed
makes it mandatory to ascertain what interplay occurs
between two categories ( real and constructed ) when
applied to each type of fact
• Searle reflects on the divide between natural ‘ brute facts’
and ‘social institutional facts ‘ at the Ontological Level .
The latter , unlike the former , can only exist if they are ‘
represented as being those facts by the agreement of a
community of speakers
• Social facts appear to be partly real and partly constructed ,
though it is the constructed part that makes them exist at all
social facts
• Hacking ( 1999) asks for social facts with a type of
representations and consequences. Hacking claims a
remarkable difference between atoms , molecules and quarks
in one side and criminal , ; Political , refugees , children TV
viewers on the other in terms of interactions. Quark is
indifferent about the interaction but the consequence
individual interactions leads to behavioral changes . The
situation changes when we shift from natural kind to social kind
• It makes us realize that forcing comparison
between natural and social sciences and
expecting some substantial similarity in return is
a faulty move
• Hacking does not recommend a strict divide
between natural and social sciences
• The objects of knowledge that social science
deals with might well be classified at the same
time as indifferent and as interactive kinds
• Example :An autistic child can be both the bearer of a
specific Pathology and the recipient of a socially
constructed disease ie one classification does not
exclude the other
• An Epistemology built only on indifferent types is
inadequate for social science
• A mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods of
analysis might well prove appropriate in the social
domain ( Mixed method )- Highlights –Real Facts
( Quantitative ) and Constructed facts ( Qualitative )
 The Epistemological Demand
no values
• How knowledge can be obtained? Or what is
knowledge ?- Sources of knowledge
• Do we get knowledge ? How ?
• How do we discover new things
• Knowledge is discovered through objective
measure
• Truth can be found and measure
 Explanations and Examples
• Empiricist Philosopher David Dume in 18th
century could find a philosophical distinction
between the factual things ( the way things
are ) and normative things (how we would like
them to be or how we think they ought’ to be)
• To be objective – stick to facts and to pursue
ways to prevent values interfering with the
facts
• It is commonly argued that science in order to be
objective should only describe facts. This doesn’t
mean that scientists make no value judgments
• The objectivity of the results achieved in science
is independent of those judgments
• Social science faces a challenge :Social science is
value laden : values appear both at the level of
the results of social inquiry and at the level of
the means and resources of this inquiry
• When we enter the domain of social inquiry the
distinction between what is factual ( or descriptive
of facts ) and what is evaluational ( or perspectives
of facts )is difficult to draw
• Few Max Weber(1949) says – (Father of Sociology
and strong supporter of objectivity in social science)
- Max Weber engineered a strategy for relating factual
research to value – laden practice while
propounding ‘value free social science'
- The strategy entails a distinction between ‘ value
judgments ‘ and ‘ value relevance ‘
- Value judgments are practical subjective evaluations based
on ethical ideas , worldviews , opinions or standpoints
- Value relevance refers to the domain of cultural and social
values
- Once values have helped in the selection of an object for
study , values have completed their job. The investigation
can be proceed in a scientific manner – ie by looking
empirical causes, evidence, laws etc.
- Weber claims not all values are alike . Presence
of values in scientific research does not
necessarily make research unscientific
- Values should be as far as possible
acknowledged in social researches given a
strategically relevant position in the conduct
of an investigation
 Contemporary Example
• Eleonora Monttuschi recalls Discount Rate in
Economic Analysis of Climate mitigation –
Discount Rate as per Weber perspective and cue
• This is an instructive case of how values enter
the domain of scientific analysis and drive them
in specific directions about the objectivity of the
outcomes
• How much should we invest today in reducing
carbon emissions to save future generations
• On the basis of cost –benefit analysis (2006 –A British
Nicholas Stern Review )shows that the long term benefits
of reducing carbon emission immediately would be far
greater than the cost of reducing them
• There was a great debate among many Economists over it
and this example is so comprehensively illustrated by
Eleonora***We do not go to the comprehensive analysis
of the Review ‘ rather we try to find out the best research
method to be applied to deal such a case and the debates
over the Source of Knowledge ( Epistemology )
• Those who agreed with Stern were for immediate
and substantial action and some argued against it
• American Economists argued that economic
conclusions should proceed from only factual
considerations . Stern was accused for imported
value judgments into his analysis
• Other argued -Biased and under Ethical premises
Stern calculated high costs of reducing emission
to reach his conclusion
• One of the central issues of dispute revolves around the
values used in the Review ‘for the discount rate .The
value attributed to the utility of the future goods
generally becomes less than the value attributed to
present utility
• Stern review is criticized for using value-based rate
rather than the objective observable market savings rate
• Sterns and others argue – with a mix of ethical ,logical
and factual distinctions and claims it would be
conceptual mistakes to use the observed saving rates
• Broome 2008 put forward –second different scenario
for discounting future generation that assuming a
tendency for global economy to grow –future
generation will possess more goods than the present
one –the more the goods less the value of their utility
and quicker the growth higher the discount
• In the service of objectivity –value judgments like all
other steps in the modeling process ,can be subjected
to open critical debate and probing investigation
- Prioritarianism –the benefit that goes to rich person
has less value than to go to poor and Utilitarianism –
the value of benefit is indifferent show that it is not
only economic and social facts , theories and
practices that mould models of the economies of
climate change
-Here -the results of the application of any scientific
tool ( in the case –cost benefit modeling ) are indeed
informed by value –laden choice .Moral Philosophy is
equipped to address them by analytic argument
• It is suggested that a critical scrutiny ‘a combination of
ethical consideration and the good science ( natural or
social ) may solve this contentious issues
• According to Longino – Critical Scrutiny is regulated by
publicly acknowledged criteria , as for example recognized
avenues for the criticism of evidence , methods ,
assumptions and reasoning
• Whether it is a question of values introduced into the
modeling or a more purely scientific issue seems to require
that economists be prepared to engage in an open- informed
debate to impact better in society and public welfare
 The Methodological Demand
follow the best method

• How knowledge is discovered and analyzed

• Methodology is a systematic way to define
knowledge
• Methodology refers to philosophies – that
guides data gathering
• Methods are data gathering techniques
• Quantitative –Qualitative and Mixed Methods
 Explanations and Examples
• Can methods be objective in Principle ie can
they secure objective results ?
• Validity is the first thing we need to observe to
consider an objectivity of methods
• Internal validity is best identified by a number
of formal requirements ,which are taken to
secure the consistency of results.
Number as the route to objectivity
• Rigorous formal methods ( Quantitative
Approach ) are opposed to qualitative methods
such as interviewing , focus groups ,
ethnographic observation and content analysis .
That are considered vague subjective ,opinion
laden etc. contrast to quantitative methods
• Qualitative methods into quantitative formats :
In case study analysis ,cases and stories are
divided into sub units of analysis
• Example -Ethnographies , political speeches , TV ads
are turned into a matrix – the rows being the unit of
analysis and the column the variables and for such
cases quantitative testing is possible. It is due to bias
and judgment( trust in the objectivity of numbers is
deeply rooted in our society) the demand of
quantitative methods over qualitative is visible
• Quantification is a safe process to clear bias and
judgment to make the public decisions in our society
• Debate over Suicide : A Case Study .suicide is a
Psychological or Social case
• Psychological features change from one person to
another , they fluctuate depending on the very
specific circumstances of each suicide ( Emile
Durkheim – study )and they can not be generalized
from suicide in certain geographical area
• i.e suicide is a collective social phenomenon – psychology
plus society with unequal distributions , races , religion ,
professional groups trigger to increase in suicide cases .
• Why is suicide more frequent among certain groups
( Ethnographic) than others ( Protestants vs Catholics )?
Why does frequency vary with age , or levels of occupation
or of sociological integration . Are rates answer the
questions ? Rates are often collated with the official
statistics .Are the statistical data well assembled ?Therefore
social category is taken into consideration to carry out the
research as Suicide is not simply a case of death
• However The case of suicide can be answered
or explained by objective Sociological
Explanations ( Qualitative Approach )
• Statisticians rely- on a number of sources of
evidence : corners reports , death certificates ,
interviews. These sources are not neutral
providers of evidence
• Randomization assigns participants to the
comparative groups of an experimental research on
some treatment or intervention ‘by chance rather
than choice ‘
• Numbers are not objective by their nature but are
made so by practice, context , and use. What makes
numbers speak in favor or against a certain
hypothesis , correlation or random selection goes
well beyond the number themselves
 Best Methods in Principle
• Methodological individualism ‘- the view that social
behavior is entirely the effect of the behaviors of
individuals which in turn are entirely the effect of
biological and psychological factors within them with
a multi- scale approach that also looks for the
determinants of individual and social behavior within
the social environment as well
• Methodology is the study of methods – what makes
for a good measurement of a social concept – the
use of case studies and methods for causal inference
 Explanations and Examples
• Eleonora Montuschi has forwarded two beautiful
examples RCT ( Randomized Clinical Trial ) for
heroin users of Netherlands and Medicalization of
the HIV/AIDS problem in Africa
• Take HIV/AIDS case
• Medicalization is an overarching process which
goes as far as defining and treating non-medical
problems as if they were medical problems
• Sufferers are not only patients , but also mothers, sons
, husbands , members of social communities guided by
rules and mechanisms that might interfere ‘with the
way in which these –patients behave once they are
made acquainted with their health conditions
• Dealing with the disease is real problem in Africa.
Most of the models of behavior assumed by policy in
developing countries are based on behavioral
expectations which have little, sometimes nothing - to
do with real behavior
• Anecdotal evidence’ made up of Individual stories
and biographies of affected people can be potentially
useful knowledge - Phenomenology –Lived
Experience
• This type of local knowledge is often difficult to
appraise ‘ or systematize
• In such cases Mixed Methodologies ‘should be
devised to give outcomes of a wider objective.
Striving for objective knowledge in social science is
not an exclusively epistemological pursuit
 CONCLUSION
• If our knowledge of social issues is predictive ,
then the problems surrounding those issues can
be taken into account fairly in advance and
possibly be solved before they become
detrimental or dangerous
• Social Science was meant to be provided of
data , statistics and factual knowledge for
decision making and for social action via
quantitative methods . But it is Qualitative heavy
• Value -leadenness is an aspect of factual information
that cannot simply be set aside. Quantitative
methods should not be kept separate from
qualitative ones
• Objectivity in social science is precluded ( ruled- out-
excluded) ) by the fact that the phenomenon it deals
with are –unlike natural sciences – Partly man made
• Objects of any science are partly real and partly
constructed
• The presence of value in scientific inquiry is not ‘bad’ in
principle , it becomes so when values are ignored
• Ways and context should be realized while choosing
methods but A mixed method (Approach) could be
more applicable to establish a smooth coordination
between social science and natural science to deal
with the problems
• Objectivity may become a more realistic goal to pursue
as it is more inclusive and contextual concept
 Reminder : Key Concepts
• Scientific Objectivity
• Coordination between Social Science and Natural Science
• Cause and Effect Relationship –Nature & Natural Phenomena –Science
• Induction and Deduction
• Laws , constructs and Theories
• Ontology – Epistemology – Methodology
• Subjective and Objective Knowledge
• Quantitative –Qualitative – Mixed Methods
• Empiricism – Empirical views
• Normative and Factual
• Critical Scrutiny