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From Sinks to Webs: Critical Social Science after the Fact‐Value Distinction
Author(s) -
Gorski Philip S.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
canadian review of sociology/revue canadienne de sociologie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.414
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1755-618X
pISSN - 1755-6171
DOI - 10.1111/cars.12169
Subject(s) - neutrality , normative , value (mathematics) , epistemology , positive economics , sociology , philosophy , economics , mathematics , statistics
The fact‐value distinction is leaky. The problem is not just that values can color facts. The reverse is also true: facts are also entangled with values. Nor is that the end of the matter. The concepts of fact and value are not epistemologically or ethically neutral either. It is time to abandon the quest for axiological neutrality in favor of systematic attention to the complex relationship between the descriptive and the normative. Instead of attempting to be neutral, social scientists should strive to combine engagement with open‐mindedness.