Bourdieu - The Craft of Sociology [made in istanbul]

manifesto for a revolutionary scientific praxis


The work of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has emerged, over the last two decades, as one of the most substantial and innovative bodies of theory and research in contemporary social science. The Craft of Sociology, both a textbook and an original contribution to epistemology in social science, focuses on a basic problem of sociological research: the necessity of an epistemological break with the preconstructed objects social practice offers to the researcher. Pierre Bourdieu and his co-authors argue in the epistemological tradition of scholars like Bachelard, Canguilhem, Koyre, a tradition that identifies the construction of the object as being the fundamental scientific act. Their way of discussing the issue makes it accessible not only to academics and experts of epistemology, but also to advanced students of social science, using for illustration a wide range of texts from the various social sciences as well as from philosophy of science. The book includes an interview with Pierre Bourdieu and an introduction by the editor to his sociological methodology.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wfgzxl2uozm/THE_CRAFT_OF_SOCIOLOGY__BOURDIEU.pdf



http://books.google.com/books?id=Ric6fNR-K-EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Bourdieu+-+The+Craft+of+Sociology&ei=yl3xStzSLIauyASdj9jiDg&hl=tr#v=onepage&q=&f=false

On Charles Taylor’s Philosophical Anthropology and Cultural Moral Realism

Strong Evaluation Without Sources
On Charles Taylor’s Philosophical Anthropology and Cultural Moral Realism
by Arto Laitinen

- Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy/Sociology, University of Jyväskylä
- 373 pages

This study examines three central claims by Charles Taylor: 1) strong
evaluations are inescapable for human beings; 2) strong evaluations are best
interpreted in a pluralist, moral realist and 'cultural' way; 3) such cultural moral
realism must ultimately rely on some 'constitutive goods'/'moral sources'. The
first two claims are defended in this study in a qualified form, but the third one
is criticized and rejected after close scrutiny.
The first part of the study examines some central concepts of philosophical
anthropology (human agency, personhood, identity, interpersonal recognition)
and asks how the notion of 'strong evaluation' can illuminate them. Taylor's
concept of 'strong evaluation' refers to value-judgements and evaluations which
are based on qualitative distinctions concerning the worth of options. The first
chapter is a detailed examination of this concept; criticizing some of Taylor's
own characterizations, defending Taylor against Kantian criticisms, but
suggesting a more extended theory than Taylor's own (making room for e.g.
'small values' and deontic norms). The next chapters specify and defend in
qualified form Taylor's views that human agents are inevitably strong
evaluators, and that they ought to have the basic moral status of persons, and
that a person's 'identity' consists of strong evaluations. Interpersonal
recognition is analyzed in this study in terms of norms and values.
Misrecognition an inadequate response to the relevant norms and values.
The second part of the study develops a novel 'cultural moral realist'
approach to ethics, claiming that values are relational, dependent on subjects
and cultures, but that cultural relativism, internalism, and non-objectivism are
wrong in restricting the validity of values. The moral theory defended covers
questions of the universal validity and relational ontology of goods, cultural
diversity, plurality, generality, and the incommensurability of goods, moral
knowledge and personal orientation. It draws upon the work of Taylor, John
McDowell, and Joseph Raz. The central thesis is that cultural moral realism
does not need any 'moral sources' or 'constitutive goods'.

Keywords: strong evaluation, Charles Taylor, person, identity, recognition,
cultural relativism, subject-dependence, moral realism, moral sources,
constitutive goods, pluralism, universalism, ethics, philosophical anthropology.

link

Wittgenstein: Rethinking the Inner

Wittgenstein: Rethinking the Inner
By Paul Johnston

The idea of the inner is central to our conception of a person and is at the heart of all interaction. But how should we understand this concept, and what do we mean when we wonder what is going on inside our heads? This accessible and non-technical guide to Wittgenstein provides insight into his work in this area and on the problem of the inner. Using Wittgenstein's recently published writings on the philosophy of psychology, together with unpublished material, Paul Johnston presents a thorough account of a subject that was central to Wittgenstein's later work. He shows that Wittgenstein's arguments involve a radical re-thinking of our understanding of the inner and present a challenge to contemporary views which has yet to be fully appreciated or understood. "Wittgenstein" demonstrates how a Wittgensteinian approach can dissolve age-old problems about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between the mind, the body, and the soul. The resulting picture of the inner, with its stress on the crucial role of language, sheds light on the direction of Wittgenstein's work and presents a stimulating and controversial alternative to more fashionable positions on the subject.

"Tell them I've had a wonderful life." Wittgenstein