AMCS 4023 - Models of Social Science

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

What distinguishes the social sciences from the natural sciences? What goals and assumptions do they share? Does studying "humans" with free will pose any problems for applying the methods of the natural sciences to the study of society? How do various social sciences-in particular anthropology, economics, and political science-differ from one another? And where did the social sciences (both the disciplines and the conceptual issues) come from historically? These are the animating questions of this course. This class explores these questions in historical and contemporary perspective, as they relate to the rise of the social sciences as a set of academic disciplines. We set out the theoretical structure of the scientific method, paying particularly close attention to the relationships between theory and evidence, inference and hypotheses. Next we consider four problems and methods of the social sciences. These include questions of (1) treating human beings as a rational actors; (2) attributing causal forces other than a person's own will to human behavior; (3) empirical observations and inference; and (4) the role of interpretation. In all four cases, we are interested in asking: Toward what solutions have these problems lead social scientists, and what other sets of difficulties do their solutions raise? We also pay particularly close attention to the role that concepts play in social analysis.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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