Richard Swedberg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155227
- eISBN:
- 9781400850358
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155227.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
In the social sciences today, students are taught theory by reading and analyzing the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and other foundational figures of the discipline. What they rarely learn, however, ...
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In the social sciences today, students are taught theory by reading and analyzing the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and other foundational figures of the discipline. What they rarely learn, however, is how to actually theorize. This book is a practical guide to doing just that. This user manual for social theorists explains how theorizing occurs in what the book calls the context of discovery, a process in which the researcher gathers preliminary data and thinks creatively about it using tools such as metaphor, analogy, and typology. The book guides readers through each step of the theorist's art, from observation and naming to concept formation and explanation. To theorize well, you also need a sound knowledge of existing social theory. The book introduces readers to the most important theories and concepts, and discusses how to go about mastering them. If you can think, you can also learn to theorize. This book shows you how. The book features helpful examples throughout, and also provides practical exercises that enable readers to learn through doing.Less
In the social sciences today, students are taught theory by reading and analyzing the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and other foundational figures of the discipline. What they rarely learn, however, is how to actually theorize. This book is a practical guide to doing just that. This user manual for social theorists explains how theorizing occurs in what the book calls the context of discovery, a process in which the researcher gathers preliminary data and thinks creatively about it using tools such as metaphor, analogy, and typology. The book guides readers through each step of the theorist's art, from observation and naming to concept formation and explanation. To theorize well, you also need a sound knowledge of existing social theory. The book introduces readers to the most important theories and concepts, and discusses how to go about mastering them. If you can think, you can also learn to theorize. This book shows you how. The book features helpful examples throughout, and also provides practical exercises that enable readers to learn through doing.
Richard Swedberg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155227
- eISBN:
- 9781400850358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155227.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter presents the project of creative theorizing in social science. One can approach the topic of theorizing and its current situation with the help of the distinction between the context of ...
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This chapter presents the project of creative theorizing in social science. One can approach the topic of theorizing and its current situation with the help of the distinction between the context of discovery and the context of justification. The expression context of discovery refers to the stage at which new ideas for how to explain a phenomenon are generated. The context of justification refers to the stage that comes after this, or when these ideas are given the form that they should have when they are presented to the scientific community. The new type of theorizing advocated in this book primarily draws on a plurality of forms of thinking. These forms include analogies, pattern recognition, diagrams, and the like.Less
This chapter presents the project of creative theorizing in social science. One can approach the topic of theorizing and its current situation with the help of the distinction between the context of discovery and the context of justification. The expression context of discovery refers to the stage at which new ideas for how to explain a phenomenon are generated. The context of justification refers to the stage that comes after this, or when these ideas are given the form that they should have when they are presented to the scientific community. The new type of theorizing advocated in this book primarily draws on a plurality of forms of thinking. These forms include analogies, pattern recognition, diagrams, and the like.
Richard Swedberg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155227
- eISBN:
- 9781400850358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155227.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter examines how to use analogies, work with metaphors, and recognize and read patterns. Using analogies and metaphors as well as pattern recognition represent three ways of thinking that ...
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This chapter examines how to use analogies, work with metaphors, and recognize and read patterns. Using analogies and metaphors as well as pattern recognition represent three ways of thinking that differ from the classical way of reasoning. One of their strengths is precisely that they are able to proceed in ways that formal logic cannot. Another is that they are helpful in coming up with new approaches to things. They are also especially helpful when used in combination with patient and methodical reasoning. Analogies, metaphors, and pattern recognition have all been used in a wide array of disciplines, from archaeology and biology to economics and law. This means that there exists plenty of experience to draw on for the theorizer.Less
This chapter examines how to use analogies, work with metaphors, and recognize and read patterns. Using analogies and metaphors as well as pattern recognition represent three ways of thinking that differ from the classical way of reasoning. One of their strengths is precisely that they are able to proceed in ways that formal logic cannot. Another is that they are helpful in coming up with new approaches to things. They are also especially helpful when used in combination with patient and methodical reasoning. Analogies, metaphors, and pattern recognition have all been used in a wide array of disciplines, from archaeology and biology to economics and law. This means that there exists plenty of experience to draw on for the theorizer.
Anthony Corbeill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163222
- eISBN:
- 9781400852468
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163222.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines eight different explanations that scholars have put forward since antiquity for the literary phenomenon of the non-standard gender. More specifically, it investigates why some ...
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This chapter examines eight different explanations that scholars have put forward since antiquity for the literary phenomenon of the non-standard gender. More specifically, it investigates why some poets were thought to have greater access to literary authority than others. The explanations range from semantic distinctions to morphology and analogy, metrical convenience, sound, and Greek intertextuality. Informing these various ancient explanations is an assumption that the desire and ability of the most highly respected poets to transform grammatical gender provides tangible evidence of the superior knowledge that these poets possess of the relationship between language and the natural world. Roman scholars attributed to poets the privileged knowledge of an early poetic language, one that had access to mythic and folkloric associations dating back to the period when the Latin language was first coming into existence.Less
This chapter examines eight different explanations that scholars have put forward since antiquity for the literary phenomenon of the non-standard gender. More specifically, it investigates why some poets were thought to have greater access to literary authority than others. The explanations range from semantic distinctions to morphology and analogy, metrical convenience, sound, and Greek intertextuality. Informing these various ancient explanations is an assumption that the desire and ability of the most highly respected poets to transform grammatical gender provides tangible evidence of the superior knowledge that these poets possess of the relationship between language and the natural world. Roman scholars attributed to poets the privileged knowledge of an early poetic language, one that had access to mythic and folkloric associations dating back to the period when the Latin language was first coming into existence.
