Robert D. Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, writes the following in Perspective on Politics (2003, 1:249-255 American Political Science Association). The paper is a slightly expanded version of his presidential address at the 2002 APSA annual meeting ():
Because our discipline, more than any other social science, gives a place of honor to explicit, reasoned debate about normative issues, we have an unusual potential to frame issues that inevitably straddle the fact-value boundary. To do publicly engaged political science, we have to be prepared to be boundarycrossers in this sense. Our values powerfully influence what we choose to study, as well as our policy recommendations, and in that sense our work is intrinsically value-laden. On the other hand, our investigation of the facts can and should be governed by objective rules. In that sense, I agree with Max Weber’s view, as synthesized in a fine recent essay by Steve Hoenisch: “Science and politics are, for Weber, not mutually exclusive; rather, they are mutually inclusive.” 10
Citation: HoenischSteve. n.d. Max Weber’s view of objectivity in social science Available at www.criticism.com/md/weber1.html. Accessed 18 March 2003
In 2003, Encyclopaedia Britannica named Max Weber’s View of Objectivity best of the web for social science.
Wikipedia has cited Max Weber’s View of Objectivity in Social Science as an external link, and Encyclopaedia Britannica has cited it in its entry for Max Weber under the banner of “The Web’s Best Sites.”
The New York Public Library lists Criticism.com among best of the web for media theory and criticism. See New York Public Library: Media Theory and Criticism.
Wikipedia’s entry for indeterminacy cites Interpretation and Indeterminacy in Discourse Analysis.
“Criticism.com is a massive site dedicated to discussion of the new media. A gateway, a propaganda tool and a journal, Criticism.com is a two-tier project combining the best in academic (theoretical) writing and journalism. The editor, Steve Hoenisch, is committed to a site that has a form in keeping with the nature of the Internet. As a result, Criticism.com can be used as a door to a labyrinth of sound-bites or as a more serious aid to theoretical reflection on the new technology and the its implications for culture. At once irreverent and passionate, Criticism.com will appeal to those working in culture, theory and philosophy.” View complete listing.
The Humbul Humanities Hub is a service of the Resource Discovery Network funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and is hosted by the University of Oxford.
In the companion site for Introduction to International Relations, 2d Edition, published by Oxford University Press, authors Jackson and Sorenson include a link to Max Weber’s View of Objectivity as a reading in “explaining vs. understanding.” See http://www.oup.co.uk/oxfordtextbooks/. (2005)
Here’s what the Oxford University Press Companion Web Site says:
“For the more theoretically minded amongst you, this essay [A Wittgensteinian approach to discourse analysis] discusses the impact that the philosophical ideas of Wittgenstein have had upon the development of DA [discourse analysis]. It is written by Steven M. Hoenisch and forms part of a web site on critical theory; however, this is an accessible and user-friendly piece to read and may help you to understand some of the linguistic principles that inform DA.” (2006)
See http://www.oup.com/uk/booksites/content/0199264465/student/links/ch17.
Towson University includes Using French Social Thought for Media Criticism on its reading list for establishing media literacy in post-communist universities.
Dear Steve: By accident I hit on your criticism.com page (searching for sociolinguistics bibliography), and see it has not been updated since December last year. Are you still doing this? [Yes, I’m still working on criticism.com, but sometimes I get sidetracked with other work – Steve.]
Given your aims, are you aware of or interested in including work, references, bibliographies in critical discourse analysis (see also my website [at www.discourse-in-society.org] and the attached short list of books)?
For the spanish speaking worlds we just founded a new journal on the internet in which critical studies will be published: DISCURSO & SOCIEDAD (www.dissoc.org). Best wishes,
Teun A. van Dijk, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Dept. de Traducció i Filologia
December 2005.
Hi Steve,
I have had a great time reading your site. We share a number of interests. I found you googling XML Editors. I am about to review the top 8 or so for the June issue of EContent (from a list of 70 products listed at CMS Review).
As to Weber, he knew we all have values. The need is to get them out in public to help us achieve what Charles Sanders Pierce called the “intersubjective agreement” of a community of (properly skeptical and truly open-minded) inquirers.
This intersubjectivity of thinkers with open declarations of their values is about as close as science can come to objectivity in social science.
Physical science is another matter, since there is a physical world out there with unchanging characteristics to be discovered, independent in itself of our cultures.
– Bob Doyle
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Technology Adviser, CM Pros -
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March 2006.
I just read your review of Kellner’s book and I wanted to alert you to a site on the Internet that deals with media, culture, and simulation. The title of the site is Transparency. Its goal is to make culture and personality transparent to the view and understanding of readers. The sections include “The Age of Simulation”, “Image and Action: Deconstructing the News”, and “The Landscape of Fiction.”
The site has been used in numerous classrooms and received strong comment from around the Internet. You can access a page on that at the bottom of the home page titled “What’s Being Said.”
Since I don’t have time to give you a good overview of what the site is about, I am including a brief item on The Truman Show that was published as a letter-to-the-editor in Salon magazine, which summarizes one aspect of the theory. If you examine the site, I believe you will find it significantly expands the range of ideas on the role of power, “illusion”, and unconscious meaning in contemporary culture. – Ken Sanes
See http://www.transparencynow.com/.
[Weber’s View of Objectivity in Social Science is] a very nice paper. I wish I could remember the Weber commemorative journal, but Portis and others were in it. The best piece was by Guy Oakes, a philosopher at Monmouth College. He also has several outstanding books on Weber’s methodological writings. In your piece I just don’t see an explicit recognition that objectivity is a value! The Western University stands out and is historically unique for trying to restrict itself to knowledge that is true for everyone and for all time as a goal. This provides us with a “perspective” on all other claims. Ultimately valid, no. With an interesting set of consequences, yes. It does allow for an unusual development of power over nature. Is this what life is all about? – David Whitney
I am most impressed by your writing. There is such an abundance of triviality on the Web, your various writings are a delightful oasis. Bravo! I should like to bring to your attention the following literary Web site: . It has the impetuosity of an attaque à outrance, yet is not devoid of subtlety, and thought-provoking audacity. Long live rebels! If inspired, e-mail your reaction. – Guido Cavalcanti
Did you read Donald Levy’s recent book, Freud Among the Philosophers? He builds a cogent case against Wittgenstein. You may be interested. – Jon Mills