Objectivity and Endurance: On Some Evaluative Criteria for Social Science Knowledge

Abstract

Circularity is a pervasing situation in epistemological problems. An important variety of circularity is found in the social sciences: The researcher can be considered as being part of the object which he intends to study, namely the society. Influences in both directions — from society to the researcher and from the researcher to society — exist and may destroy the notion of objective knowledge. A recent formulation of this problem is found in Becker’s writings [1970, p. 23]: “We can never avoid taking sides, so we are left with the question of whether taking sides means that some distortion is introduced into our work so great as to make it useless.”

The article is a revised version of a paper given at the Vienna Conference. The partly critical comment given by J. O’Neill at this occasion showed me that some of my ideas did not come out clearly enough and that the parts on “endurance“ would deserve a thorough clarification. To this end, the article was, in some parts, completely rewritten. The reader should keep in mind that J. O’Neill’s comment as publisher in this volume is based on the older version of this paper and not on this revised one.