Philosophical Foundation of an Historical Social Science.

Period 01-10-1999 to 30-09-2003
Type Predoctoral Fellowship
Promotor(s) Prof. Dr. Erik Weber
Fellow Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding agency Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

I am working at the crossroads of: philosophy of science, esp. social sciences, theoretical history, philosophy of history and the methodology of historical social sciences. More specifically, I am analyzing works produced in the areas of macro-history and historical sociology, international relations theory and economics, concentrating on the following topics: (1) How to develop a typology of the existing research done in the above mentioned areas? (2) What are the ontological and methodological presuppositions: individualism, relationalism or holism? How to relate micro- with macro-research? (3) What's the perspective taken by the researcher: participant or observer? God's eye or a contingent perspective? (4) Which forms of the explanation are used? Do they talk about "theory"? (5) Prospects for macro-history and historical social sciences in general.