Making Social Science MatterA dialogue on science...Is there a ”natural science logic” and a ”social science logic”?

Instead of trying to emulate the natural sciences and create a kind of general theory the strength of social sciences lies in their rich reflexive analysis of values an power – so essential to all kinds of development - cultural, social, ecological economical, technological.

Aristoteles 3 logics

•Techne

•Episteme

•Phronesis

Erfarenhetsbaserad kunskapKontextIntuitivt logisk

Regelbaserad kunskapMätbarhetAnalytiskt logisk

Flyvbjergs 2 logiker

Phronesis I

”True state, reasoned, and capable of action with regard to things that are good or bad for man”

(Aristoteles)

Phronesis II“We will see that in their role phronesis, the

social sciences are strongest where the natural sciences are weakest: just as the social sciences have not contributed much to explanatory and predictive theory, neither have the natural sciences contributed to the reflexive analysis and discussion of values and interests, which is the prerequisite for an enlightened political, economic and cultural development in any society, an which is at the core of phronesis.” (Flyvbjerg, p.3)

Why it is important to understand the logics…

1. Novices act on the basis of content-independent elements and rules.

2. Advanced beginners use situational elements, which they have learned to identify and interpret on the basis of their own experience from similar situations.

3. Competent performers are characterizes by the involved choice of goals as a basis for their actions.

4. Proficient performers identify problems, goals and plan intuitively from their own experientially based perspective.

5. Expert´s behavior is intuitive, holistic and synchronic, understood in the way that a given situation releases a picture of problem, goal, plan, decision, and action in one instant and with no division in phases.

Experienced

paramedics Students in

paramedics

Teachers in

paramedics

Experienced

paramedics

90 %Students in paramedics

50 %

Teachers in

paramedics

30 %

Aristoteles 3 logics• Episteme Scientific knowledge. Universal, invariable, context-

independent. Based on general analytical rationality. The original concept is known today from the terms ”epistemology” and ”epistemic”.

• Techne Craft/art. Pragmatic, variable, context-dependent. Oriented toward production. Based on practical instrumental rationality governed by a conscious goal. The original concept appears today in terms such as ”technique”, ”technical”, and ”technology”.

• Phronesis Ethics. Deliberation about values with reference to praxis. Pragmatic, variable, context- dependent. Oriented towards action. Based on practical value-rationality. The original concept has no analogous contemporary term.

As for teachers in heart-lung resuscitation, the rule-based, rational mode of thinking generally constitutes an obstacle to good results, not because rules and rationality are problematic in themselves, but because the rational perspective ha been elevated from being necessary to being sufficient, even exclusive.

This has caused people and entire scholarly disciplines to become blind to context, experience, and intuition, even though these phenomena and ways of being are at least as important and necessary for good results as are analysis, rationality, and rules.

Questions in a social science (phronetic reserach)

1. Where are we going?2. Is this desirable?3. What should be done?4. Who gains and who loses?

(mechanisms of power)

Where science does not reach, art, literature, and narrative often help us comprehend the reality in which we live.

Flyvbjerg, s. 18