Title: Course Unit Outline 2017/18 Knowledge Production and Justification in Business and Management Studies (Epistemology) BMAN 80031 Credit Rating: 15 Level: (UG 1/2/3 or PG) PG Delivery: (semester 1, 2 or both Semester 1 etc) Tutor(s): Prof. Laszlo Czaban Special Note: This course can be taken for audit purposes only. Please discuss with the course convener at the start of the course unit. Aims: This course of 1 lecture and 10 seminars is intended to familiarise doctoral students with the major philosophical and methodological issues involved in the production of valid knowledge in business and management studies. It focuses on the particular nature of business and management research in the context of general theories of scientific knowledge, such as logical positivism, critical rationalism and realism, and considers how the social and management sciences differ from the physical and biological sciences. Learning Outcomes: On completion of this unit successful students will be able to: By highlighting the methodological and theoretical assumptions of different approaches to business and management studies, the course aims to equip students with the understanding necessary to make informed and well reasoned choices in undertaking substantial research in these fields. In particular, the connections between different kinds of research strategies and philosophical approaches will be considered throughout the course. Content: After the initial lecture, the course consists of seminars organised around presentations by groups of students dealing with the topics listed under each heading on the basis of the prescribed reading. These presentations should summarise and criticise the main arguments of the authors in dealing with these topics. Each student will be involved in two presentations. Assessment will be based on two group presentations (10% each) and an essay to be completed after the end of the course (80%). A key text for the course is:
Andrew Sayer, Method in Social Science, 2nd Edition, Routledge, 1992. Students might also find the following useful: Chalmers, A., What is this thing called Science? Fay, B., Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science. Hollis, M., The Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Maki, U., Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism and Social Construction, (Cambridge U P 2002). Additional material is available in the MBS Eddie Davies library. Session 1. Introductory Lecture: Knowledge Production and Justification in Business and Management Studies Varieties of scientific knowledge and their purposes; the nature of business and management studies as a set of different scientific fields and as bodies of knowledge, their relations to other social sciences and to managerial practices, differences between the natural and social sciences, positivism and critical rationalism, the failure of the empiricist research programme, the realist approach, the nature of social phenomena and social science, knowledge and practice in the social sciences. Session 2 (Group 1). Knowledge and Practice in Business and Management Studies Presentation title: The Production and Practical Uses of Knowledge in Business and Management studies. Technocratic conceptions of the social sciences and their problems; the social sciences as policy sciences producing theories for coping; the modern sciences as reputational organisations and their varied audiences; business and management studies as particular kinds of reputational organisations; varieties of knowledge in business and management studies and the conditions of their practical uses; factors affecting the demand and supply of types of knowledge in business and management studies. Prescribed Reading: Fay, B., Social Theory and Political Practice, chapter 2. Rule, James (1997) Theory and Progress in Social Science, Cambridge University press, chapter 8. Van der Ven, Andrew (2007) Engaged Scholarship: A guide for organizational and social research, Oxford University Press, chapter 1. Whitley, Richard (1984) ""The Fragmented State of Management Studies: Reasons and Consequences", Journal of Management Studies, 21. 331-348. Whitley, Richard (2000) The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences (second edition), Oxford U P. Introduction and chapter 1. Whitley, Richard (2008) "Varieties of Knowledge and their Use in Business and Management Studies," Organization Studies, 29 (4)
Dominant Approaches in the Anglo-American Philosophy of the Natural Sciences Session 3 (Group 2). Logical Positivism as a Philosophical Research Programme Presentation title: The Nature and Purpose of the Logical Positivist Research Programme and its Problems. The goals of the Logical Positivist programme; the nature of its basic assumptions about reality, perception and knowledge in contrast to other philosophical approaches; the separation of the context of discovery from the context of justification; the verification principle of meaning and the rejection of metaphysics; logical positivist models of explanation and prediction; problems of the empirical base and the theory laden nature of facts and experience. Caldwell, B., Beyond Positivism, chapters 2, 3 Chalmers, A., What is this thing called Science? Chapters 2.3. Hands, D Wade (2001) Reflections without Rules: Economic Methodology and Contemporary Science Theory (Cambridge University Press), pages 70-88. Hollis, M., Philosophy of Social Science, chapters 2. 3. Stockman, N., Antipositivist Theories of The Sciences, chapter 1 Van der Ven, Andrew (2007) Engaged Scholarship, chapter 2. Session 4 (Group 3). Science as a System of Rational Criticism Presentation title: The Purpose, Assumptions and Problems of the Critical Rationalist Research Programme in the Philosophy of Science. The problem of induction and Popper s solution; the role of metaphysics in science and the demarcation principle; the logic of falsification and its problems; fallacies of affirming the consequent and denying the antecedent; the conventionalism of basic statements; the inadequacy of purely logical accounts of explanation; the nature and difficulties of ceteris paribus clauses; building theoretical arguments and the use of Toulmin s model of argument. Chalmers, A., What is this thing called Science? Chapter 4. Hands, D. W. Reflections without Rules, pages 88-100, 275-286. Hollis, M., Philosophy of Social Science, ch. 4. Popper, K., Logic of Scientific Discovery, chs. 1, 4 & 5. Sayer, A., Method in Social Science, chs. 5, 7 and 8 Stockman, N., Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences, Ch. 2 Van der Ven, A., Engaged Scholarship, chapter 3. Session 5 (Group 4). Theories of Scientific Progress and the Epistemological Reconstruction of the History of Science Presentation title: Empiricist Theories of Scientific Progress, the Rationality of Scientists Choices and the Problems of Lakatos Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes.
Grounds for claiming progress in science; rules for assessing competing theories; the degrees of verisimilitude and empirical content of scientific theories; problems of crucial experiments and demonstrating progress; criteria for assessing the rationality of scientific change and the selection of research programmes; the use of the history of science to support theories of knowledge. Chalmers, A., What is this thing called Science?, chapters 5,6 &7. Hands, D. W. Reflections without Rules, pages 286-303. Lakatos, I., "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes", in Lakatos and Musgrave (eds), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Popper, K., Conjectures and Reputations, Chs. 1, 10 Session 6 (Group 5). The Nature of Scientific Change and its Consequences Presentation title: Kuhn s theory of scientific change, its major problems and implications for the relations between the History and Philosophy of Science. The Kuhnian model of scientific development, its assumptions and contradictions; the consequences of a revolutionary history of scientific change for theories of scientific progress; the role of philosophical theories in developing histories of the sciences; the failures of the empiricist programme in the philosophy of science and their implications for the production and justification of knowledge claims. Chalmers, A., What is this thing called Science? Ch 8. Hands, D. W. Reflections without Rules, pages 101-114. Kuhn, T.S., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chs. 2-10. Kuhn, T. S., The Essential Tension (University of Chicago Press, 1977), chapters 9, 11 and 12. Session 7 (Group 1). The Realist Alternative Presentation title: The Purpose and Nature of the Realist Research Programme in the Philosophy of Science. The purpose and assumptions of the Realist research programme in the philosophy of science; the interdependence of epistemology, ontology and sociology; the failure of Humean Atomism; levels of explanation and ontology; causal mechanisms and structures; types of explanation in Realism; open and closed systems; theories and evidence; laws and regularities. Prescribed Reading: Archer, M et al (eds) Critical Realism: Essential readings, (Routledge, 1998). Chs 2. 3. 4. Hands, D. W. Reflections without Rules, pages 114-123. Maki, U. (2001) Realisms and their Opponents: Philosophical Aspects, International Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, volume 19. Pp. 12815-12821. Sayer, A., Method in Social Science, chs. 1and 2
Stockman, N., Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences, Ch. 4 Different Kinds of Knowledge, their Justification and their Uses in the Human Sciences Session 8 (Group 2). Social Science as the Study of Meaningful Phenomena Presentation title: The Relevance of Philosophical Theories of Natural Scientific Knowledge for the Human Sciences and the Implications of the Concept Dependent Nature of Social Phenomena for Social Scientific Knowledge. The role of theories of natural scientific knowledge in evaluating social scientific knowledge claims; the concept governed nature of social phenomena; constitutive and regulative rules in describing and explaining social phenomena; Winch s arguments about the impossibility of a (naturalistic) social science; language and the understanding of other cultures, the internal relatedness of social phenomena and its implications, the nature of a social science of meanings, meaning change and social realities. Fay, B., Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science, chs. 4, 5. Hollis, M., Philosophy of Social Science, ch. 7. Thomas, David Naturalism and Social Science, Chapter 3. Wilson, B. (ed) Rationality, Chs. 1, 5. Winch, P., The Idea of a Social Science, ch. 3. Session 9 (Group 3). Actors Accounts, Rationality and Social Science Presentation title: The Implications of the Ontological Priority of Actors' Accounts for the Epistemological Status of the Social Sciences and the Role of Rational Choice in Social Scientific Explanations. The ontological priority of actors' accounts in the human sciences and its epistemological implications; fallibilism in common-sense and scientific reasoning; the role of actors rationalities in constituting and explaining actions; the limitations of rational choice theories in the social sciences; varieties of rationality and rational actions in social scientific explanations. Prescribed Reading: Boudon, R., "Beyond Rational Choice Theory," Annual Review of Sociology, 29. 2003. 1-21. Fay, B., Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science, chs. 6, 7. Harré, R. and P. F. Secord, The Explanation of Social Behaviour, Chs. 6, 7 Hollis, M., Philosophy of Social Science, chs. 6. 9. 11. Rule, James, Theory and Progress in Social Science, chapter 3. Session 10 (Group 4). The Role of Values in Social Science Presentation title: The Value-laden and Critical Nature of Social Research and the Epistemological status of Business and Management Studies. The constitutive role of personal and collective values in social science; adequate descriptions and problem definitions; differences in the role of values in constituting "objective" knowledge in the natural and social sciences; relations
between facts, values and social action; the idea(s) of a critical social science; the role of values in management and policy research; rationalist ideals and clinical practices. Fay, B., Critical Social Science, chapters 2. 3 & 4. Fay, B., Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science, ch. 10. Hollis, M., Philosophy of Social Science, ch. 10. Stockman, N., Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences, ch.6 Toulmin, S., Return to Reason (Harvard University Press, 2001), chapters 7 and 8. Whitley, R.D., "The Scientific Status of Management Research, Journal of Management Studies, 21, 1984, pp. 369-390. Session 11 (Group 5). The Realist Approach to Social Science Presentation Title: The Realist Research Programme in the Social Sciences, its Implications for Research Strategies and Forms of Practical Engagement. The nature of the realist research programme in the social sciences, its assumptions and difficulties, the duality of social structure and its dependence upon social actions, stratification of the social world and causal explanation in social science, powers of social objects and their realisation in open systems, limitations of naturalism and the nature of a realist social science; realism and realisticness in economics; intensive and extensive research strategies; variance and process approaches in business and management studies and their implications for engaging with the world of practice. Ackroyd, S and S Fleetwood (eds) Realist Perspectives on Management and Organisations, (Routledge, 2000) chs 1, 2. Archer, M et al (eds) Critical Realism: Essential readings, chs 10, 11, 14. Hands, D. W. Reflections without Rules, pages 320-341. Maki, U (1996) Scientific Realism and Some Peculiarities of Economics, pp 427-447 in R S Cohen et al (eds) Realism and Anti-Realism in the Philosophy of Science, Dordrecht: Kluwer. Sayer, A., Method in Social Science, Chs. 3, 4, 9 Stockman, N., Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences, ch. 8. Van der Ven, A., Engaged Scholarship, chapters 5 and 9. Teaching and learning methods: After the initial lecture, the course consists of seminars organised around presentations by groups of students dealing with the topics listed under each heading on the basis of the prescribed reading. These presentations should summarise and criticise the main arguments of the authors in dealing with these topics. Each student will be involved in two presentations. Preliminary reading: Chalmers, A. F., (1999), What is this thing called Science?, Oxford UP Fay, B., (1996), Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science: A Multicultural Approach, Blackwell Hollis, M., (1994), The Philosophy of Social Science, Cambridge UP
Maki, U., (2002), Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism and Social Construction, Cambridge U P Sayer, A., (1992), Method in Social Science, 2nd Edition, Routledge. Learning hours: Activity Staff/student contact 22 Tutorials Private study 100 Directed reading 28 Total hours 150 Other activities e.g. Practical/laboratory work Hours allocated Assessment: Assessment activity Length required Weighting within unit Group presentations 100% Essay (optional) Feedback only