Objectivity, power and interests : a sociological analysis

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Discourse about the human world has, since Socrates, been structured around theassumption that one view of a given matter is better than competing views, and thatargumentation, if carried out correctly and systematically, will favour the view whichhas the preponderance of reasons and evidence on its side. If this supposition weredropped, the nature of social scientific inquiry would change significantly.For many commentators in the social sciences the ineliminable interpretativedimension of social inquiry and the standpoint-bound character of interpretation leadto the conclusion that we have to abandon any notion of objective truth in the socialsciences. The central question raised in this thesis is whether this abandonment isinevitable or even plausible. Is it plausible to conflate objectivity and truth? Isobjectivity a possible characteristic of the individual researcher or a characteristic ofthe scientific research process? Does the cultural environment of the researcherimpact on the validity of research findings? If science is a social phenomenon, arescientific beliefs different from other beliefs? How do the interests of the individualresearcher or the formal organisation of scientific practice impact on the validity offindings? What role does power play in the shaping of knowledge? These are thequestions that will be addressed in the following thesis.The methodology of Max Weber serves as a point of departure and divergencesand similarities to the work of Weber are explored in the writings of Kuhn, theEdinburgh School, Latour, Foucault, Habermas, as well as contemporarypostmodernist and feminist writers. The analysis of these various concepts andapproaches is not presented chronologically, but rather as an exposition of thecontributors of various commentators in the fields of both the sociology of scienceand knowledge, and the philosophy of science.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University