There is No Such Thing as a Social Science: In Defence of Peter Winch [Hardcover]

The death of Peter Winch in 1997 sparked a revived interest in his work with this book arguing his work suffered misrepresentation in both recent literature and in contemporary critiques of his writing. Debates in philosophy and sociology about foundational questions of social ontology and methodology often claim to have adequately incorporated and moved beyond Winch's concerns. Re-establishing a Winchian voice, the authors examine how such contentions involve a failure to understand central themes in Winch's writings and that the issues which occupied him in his Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy and later papers remain central to social studies. The volume offers a careful reading of the text in alliance with Wittgensteinian insights and alongside a focus on the nature and results of social thought and inquiry. It draws parallels with other movements in the social studies, notably ethnomethodology, to demonstrate how Winch's central claim is both more significant and more difficult to transcend than sociologists and philosophers have hitherto imagined.Contents: Preface; Introduction: the legendary Peter Winch and the myth of 'social science'; Beyond pluralism, monism, relativism, realism etc: reassessing Peter Winch; Winch and linguistic idealism; Seeing for themselves: Winch, ethnography, ethnomethodology and social studies; Winch and conservatism: the question of philosophical quietism; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.The revived interest in Peter Winchs work since his death in 1997 provoked this exciting new volume. A focus on the misrepresentation he suffered through a failure to understand central social and philosophical themes in his writing, encouraged the authors to re-establish a Winchian voice and examine how his central claim is both more significant and more difficult to transcend than sociologists and philosophers have hitherto imagined.Phil Hutchinson, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, RupelCœ