ABSTRACT
Political science has no “general theory” of politics that could pass as a “paradigm.” Matters of ethical moment, for example, can be studied as the subject matter of empirical science. Political inquiry is an informal discipline. Much of its research and scholarly activity is fragmentary and seemingly random. Individuals and groups of individuals pursue some special concern with the techniques suitable to their purpose. The “observations” which are referred to as “protocol statements,” or “observation statements” do function, at least in part, within the compass of ordinary language, but they are not dependent upon the paradigm under scrutiny. Knowledge claims can only be made in a natural or reconstructed language and language use, when employed for cognitive purpose, is rule governed. The “objectivity” of science implies no more than the employment of techniques that assign maximally reliable truth status to propositions.
