Lakatos and MacIntyre on Incommensurability and the Rationality of Theory-change ABSTRACT: Imre Lakatos' "methodology of scientific research programs" and Alasdair MacIntyre's "tradition-constituted enquiry" are two sustained attempts to overcome the assumptions of logical empiricism, while saving the appearance that theory-change is rational. The key difference between them is their antithetical stand on the issue of incommensurability between large-scale theories. This divergence generates
A comparative analysis was performed on the data collected by each case study. Hollway and Jefferson were then able to present empirical evidence that would provide a value added contribution and an improvement in the understanding of fear of crime in the UK. Their evidence determined that regardless of social characteristics and exposure to risk, fear can have a different meaning for each individual. This case study illustrates the elements Corley and Gioia (2011) identified as essential to constructing
Thoughts on a Possible Rational Reconstruction of the Method of "Rational Reconstruction" ABSTRACT: Rational reconstructions standardly operate so as to transform a given problematic philosophical scientific account-particularly of a terminological, methodological or theoretical entity-into a similar, but more precise, consistent interpretation. This method occupies a central position in the practice of analytic philosophy. Nevertheless, we encounter-even if only in a very few specific publications-a
Evolutionary Psychology has been controversial since its rise in the 1990s, with critics and proponents debating its merits as a science. While critics (e.g. David Buller, Elizabeth Lloyd) have extensively criticized the fundamentals of Evolutionary Psychology, few philosophers or scientists have challenged them. Given the growing influence of the evolutionary behavioral sciences within mainstream science like Psychology and Anthropology, it is important analyze the critiques and see if the arguments