Why is social science explanation possible?
— Yin Jie, Professor of Science and Technology Research Center of Shanxi University
March 16, 2021 09:26 Source: "China Social Sciences" March 16, 2021 Issue 2126 Author: This reporter Wu Nan

Start from the important question of "What is the real scientific interpretation" discussed by scientific philosophers,The question of "what is the interpretation of social sciences" also occurs in the field of social science philosophy。Natural Science is constantly moving forward,Its ideological and methods are applied to various fields of social sciences,Social science research does also benefit from this。But it is undeniable that,From the perspective of epistemology,Natural Science further squeezed the space of social science epistemology。Compared with the explanation of natural science,What is the particularity of social science explanation? How is social science explanation?,The reporter interviewed Yin Jie, a professor at the Science and Technology Philosophy Research Center of Shanxi University。

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"China Social Sciences":How should we understand "social science interpretation"?

  Yin Jie:Social science interpretation problem is a historic,There is a forefront -based social science philosophy problem。Its historic is mainly manifested in,Many disciplines in social sciences have a long history,These disciplines have generated social science interpretations while birth,Social science interpretation actually appears earlier than natural science。Of course,Social science interpretation as a philosophical problem,It mainly appears after the explanation of natural science。

"Social Science Explanation is cutting -edge problem" mainly refers to,Scientific interpretation has always been the core question of scientific philosophy,The object of its discussion is mainly natural science。With the development of social science,Especially social sciences gradually form a relatively unified category,Make the problem of social science interpretation is no longer a philosophical problem of individual disciplines of social sciences,Instead, it is a scientific philosophy problem in the overall category of social sciences。It can be said,Social science interpretation problem is one of the important research directions of contemporary social science philosophy,It has an important impact on scientific philosophy and social science research。

  "China Social Sciences":Do you think,Compared with natural science interpretation,What are the particularity of social science interpretation?

  Yin Jie:The particularity of social science interpretation is mainly due to its legitimacy,It can also be said to be the source of the source of explanation。Specific performance in several aspects。First, most of the social science interpretation cannot achieve precise predictions like natural science。Second, there are diverse types of social science interpretation,It is difficult to integrate。Third, the social science explanation cannot avoid self -anti -reversal problems。The phenomenon of social science interpretation contains the social subject of a person,Social scientists who explained it are also a member of society。Therefore,People will question,How can social scientists be separated from their social context to provide an objective and scientific explanation? Fourth, the complexity of the research on social science interpretation。Natural scientists are facing the natural world,Social scientists are facing the social world composed of people,People involve emotion、Consciousness、Purpose、Complicated factors such as motivation and value,Social science interpretation involves people and the world、People and others、Three relationships between people and society,and natural scientific interpretation involves the relationship between man and the natural world。Therefore,Social science interpretation issues are more complicated than natural science interpretation problems。

  "China Social Sciences":Source of Social Science's Explanation Source,Is it the core question of social science interpretation?

  Yin Jie:Yes。But the core question of the study of social science interpretation,Except for its explanatory power source problem,It also includes standardized problems,These two problems are closely linked。Specifically,It mainly includes the following important issues。

First, the cause and effect mechanism in social science interpretation。Due to laws and standards, it is too high for social sciences,Many scholars have adopted a strategy of weakening the law,Use mechanism to replace the rules,This causal mechanism can provide explanation for social sciences still needs to continue to explore。

Second, the normative problems in the interpretation of social sciences。Normality is a problem in the field of social sciences,It is also a problem in the field of natural science。We can explain the natural science interpretation of the same norm,to demonstrate the rationality of standardization in the interpretation of social sciences,This is a new idea to solve this problem。

Third, the theoretical structure of social sciences。Look from the current research results,Describes the semantic model of general scientific theoretical structure is not applicable to social science,This is one of the reasons we proposed the words and context models。but,Dialogue context model After all, it is a model at the level of epistemology,What is the specific structure of social science theory,or whether there is a relatively unified structure,Still one of the key issues of social science interpretation research。

  Clear argument about core issues

"China Social Sciences":Social Science Explanation is an important research area for social science philosophy。Current,What is the research status of social science interpretation at home and abroad?

 Yin Jie:Many research on social sciences at home and abroad。Earlier years,Social science interpretation issues are mostly only attached issues when scientific philosophers study general scientific interpretation problems。In recent years,With the rise of the research of social science philosophy,There are many papers and monographs specializing in social science interpretation。

These studies are roughly divided into three categories。The first category is to study the possibility of the application of natural scientific interpretation model for social science bet365 live casino games interpretation。If we have been exploring the complexity of complexity from 2013 to 2016,The complex model of the social science interpretation is proposed。The second category is the general study of social science interpretation into the philosophy of social sciences,If it is studying functionalism, it also involves functional interpretation。The third category is to study the interpretation of specific social disciplines,For example。

  "China Social Sciences":What are the debates about the study of social science?

  Yin Jie:Although the study of social science interpretation has achieved some results,But because it is difficult for people,The research progress of core issues such as the source and legality of social sciences is not great。Current,The arguments in the study of social sciences are mainly the following points。

First, the dispute between the relationship between social science interpretation and natural science interpretation。Second, the dispute between society and individual status in the interpretation of social sciences。Third, the scientific method of scientific methods in social sciences。mainly refers to the applicability of experiments and quantification in natural sciences in social sciences。Fourth, whether there is a dispute in the explanation of social sciences。This controversy involves the importance of law、Connotation、Core issues such as the correlation with causality。Five is related issues explained by the discipline of specific social sciences,For the form of historical interpretation, the essential problem is one of the core arguments in the field of historical philosophy。

It is worth mentioning is,Many domestic scholars have conducted in -depth research on social sciences in recent years,produced a group of very valuable research results。Many scholars proposed,Social science explanation should not only choose between naturalism and anti -naturalism,It should be jumped out of dual arguments to find a new direction。

  Introduction of discourse context dimension

"China Social Sciences":You introduced the dimension of discourse context in the research method of social science,No longer uses the subject as the core clue,Based on existing contextualism,The starting point of the discourse context that does not depend on the subjective interpretation of social sciences,Provides a new theoretical architecture for the study of social science。What is the starting point of building this theoretical framework?

  Yin Jie:The discourse context model explained in social sciences is the theoretical and explained social phenomena in social sciences as the discourse in social sciences,The process of explaining is the "response" of the theoretical discourse on social phenomena。Where,Social Science Theory Based on social phenomena based on the core of calculating action variables,Then establish a logical relationship between social structural elements and computable mobile variable sets,Theoretical and social phenomena enters the words context of social science as discourse,Social Science's discourse and context complete evolution,Explanation activity is completed。

There are two starting points for our construction of this model。First, we Bet365 app download must get rid of the influence of natural scientific interpretation,Constructing a legitimacy of social science interpretation under the framework of non -natural science interpretation。Second, the social science interpretation model under this framework must be compatible with natural science,instead of opposing or even negating natural science interpretation。

Take these two points as the research starting point,We found that most of the existing social science interpretation models come from natural sciences,Most of these models promise the so -called "unknown world",That is the constant nature of the natural world,This is obviously not directly used to analyze the social world that changes。Therefore,We believe that these explanations cannot explain the unique essence and interpretation source of social science explanation in the philosophical sense。So,We turned our attention to the theory of epistemology,Return to the relationship between people and the world to examine social science interpretation issues。

 "China Social Sciences":What are the research content of this discourse context model?

  Yin Jie:Our research includes two parts。The first part uses discourse language context to rebuild the dual relationship of "main body -world"。The first step,Reform the existing concept of context,The subjectivity dependence of eliminating traditional context,Reconstruction of the "main body -world" dual relationship。Fans of Van Dike,Discourse and social situation are not a direct relationship,The intermediary of the two is the context。This is the key to inspire us to build discourse and context theory。We use discourse instead of subject as the basic object,The collection of discourse as a tangible definition,Then obtained the concept of concept that does not depend on the subject。"Subject -World" dual relationship is transformed into "discourse -discourse context -external world" ternary relationship。Step 2,We need to explain the direct relationship between the words and context of the discourse and the outside world。We found,The discourse context and the outside world are actually a standardized association,Concept can only enter the external world only under the guidance of normativeity,The concept of no standardization cannot get practical significance。

The second part is mainly to analyze the process of social science interpretation in the theory of words and context。The first step is to discuss the existence and rationality of the context of the social sciences。Because the context of the discourse does not assume the stability of the subject cognition,It is not assumed that the external world is invariant,These advantages can be used as an ideal substrate to analyze social science interpretation。Step 2,Apply the standardized association between the context of the discourse and the outside world to the social science interpretation,Further distinguished behavior and action,Explained the two characteristics of social science interpretation with scientific norms and social norms,The essence of the explanation of social sciences is to combine scientific normativeness with social norms,Binding the theoretical concepts through explanation on the "normative ship",Provided normative to the social world,This is exactly Bet365 app download the source of social science interpretation。

What needs to be explained is,We did not completely give up the subjectivity,Instead, give up the subjectivity first、Start from the discourse that reflects the sexuality of the subject,Then return to the subjectivity of practical significance in the normative relationship between the context and the world,Through this "retreat" strategy reconstructing the relationship between the subject and the world,From this to see a kind of inter -subjective discourse contextism。

  A solution at a epistemology level

"China Social Sciences":Research on the discourse context model explained through social science,What conclusion did you get?

  Yin Jie:In this study,We use discourse language context to make up for the shortcomings of language dimensions in social science interpretation problems,At the same time, the traditional context relationship between words and sentences has pushed to the relationship between discourse and discourse context。

We can still see from the model,Experience transformed into concepts in the context of discourse language and obtains practical normativeity,This is the essence of normality; and the words context is not only the field of knowledge,It is also the main form of knowledge,shows a social science knowledge theory of the subject; at the methodology level,Dialogue context model will not cause methodology,It reflects the integration of individualism and overallism at the methodology level,It also shows a tension between human actions between freedom and decision theory。

The most important thing is,The model shows a kind of equal and essential relationship between social science interpretation and natural science interpretation。Because we always want to determine the social science interpretation from the perspective of natural science,This consequence is that people can only preserve the uniqueness and legitimacy of social sciences in interpretation and understanding。The context model demonstrates the process of social science interpretation and natural science interpretation.,Also the interaction between the context of two discourse and the outside world,The two do not have fundamental differences in explanation。

Discourse context model as a formalized interpretation model compatible with natural science,Fully illustrates that social science interpretation is also a real scientific interpretation。Social science interpretation and natural science interpretation,All are the scientific methods we understand the world,This reflects the scientificity of social science interpretation; social science interpretation will combine scientific norms and social norms,Not only explains social phenomena,And also provides scientific action specifications to people in the society or the world,This reflects the explanation of social science。From this,We provide a conceptual solution for the core issue of "Social Science Explanation",At the same time, it points to a kind of subjective understanding of discourse context as the essential characteristics。

  Improve the scientific level of research

"China Social Sciences":Do you think,What do this research has brought on the research method of humanities and social sciences?

  Yin Jie:Humanities and social science research should be guided by solving scientific problems,Make full use of emerging technology,Take diversification、Research methods for interdisciplinary,Further improvement of research、Scientific level。

First,Humanities and Social Sciences should ask scientific issues、Solving scientific problems as the primary principle of research。Like natural science,Humanities and Social Sciences also belong to scientific issues、Scientific research on solving scientific problems。Humanities and social sciences should reflect humanistic care,But only the humanities and social sciences that solve problems can truly reflect humanistic care。

Second,Humanities and social science research should look at scientific issues more from the philosophical level。In recent years,Natural science methods Involved in social science research have achieved fruitful results,At the same time, a certain impact on the original social science research。From the perspective of philosophy,These new conflicts just reflect our new understanding of the world,Non -denial of recognition,Humanities and social science research requires actively adapting to this new change to achieve greater development。At the same time,experience in the development of social science also tells us,A good humanistic and social science research with original meaning must include the philosophical view of important value。We need to think more about specific scientific issues from the philosophical level,Give full play to the reflection and promotion of social science research, especially cross -disciplinary interdisciplinary research。

third,To fully recognize the opportunities and challenges brought by the fresh science and technology to humanities and social sciences,Further improve the scientific level of social science research。Opportunity performance as,These new technologies provide new for humanities and social sciences、Strong research tools,Make them obtain information that I can't get in the past; challenge performance as,The impact of the new technology on the theoretical method of the original social sciences,and new social theory and practical problems caused by new technologies。Face these opportunities and challenges,I think we should work hard from two aspects。The first is to actively use new technologies to improve the accuracy of humanities and social science research。Active and appropriate means that we must take the initiative to use new technologies when doing research,You must also correctly understand the status of new technologies,Prevent the situation of using technical replacement research itself。At the same time,Although the precise predictions of social science are indeed some of their own restrictions,But this can not be used as a reason for social science without improving accuracy,Social science can use at least new technical methods to improve the accuracy of describing facts。The second is that some disciplines should develop in form of formalization and modeling。I think,Formation and modelization is an important manifestation of a scientific level of discipline。We don’t say that all humanities and social sciences should be formalized、Modelization,Instead of talking about humanities and social sciences, it should not be rejected to move closer to this direction。

bet365 live casino games Fourth,Questions about the spread of social science。Although the hard theory of natural sciences is rarely understood,But natural scientists have done a lot of popular science work,People's recognition of natural science is very high。On the contrary,Many people have prejudice or even misunderstandings about social scientific research。An important reason for this phenomenon is,People do not know enough about social science,This has a lot to do with the spread of social science itself。If we can fully show the strictness and professionalism of social sciences,Let people realize that social sciences are the same as natural science as a rigorous scientific research,This will have great benefits to understanding and supporting humanities and social science research。

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