ABSTRACT

This chapter on argument making is constructed within and with reference to the classical European tradition of social theorizing, which in form is taken to be interpretive and critical and which can be deployed in a dialogic form when addressing other cultures. Three broad strategies of grasping the nature of the social sciences and each have been adopted at various times and in various ways: arguments from natural science, arguments from human understanding, and arguments from human political organization. Humanist Marxism is usually said to have its roots in the early work of Marx. This work was explicitly ethically engaged (notions of alienation); it was rooted in philosophy (the idea of dialectical analysis); and it was turned towards involvement with public arguments. The chapter addresses the three key issues of social science: the nature, status and utility of the social sciences.