Cultures of Inquiry : From Epistemology to Discourse in Sociohistorical Research

Cultures of Inquiry provides a unique overview of research methodologies in social science, historical and cultural studies. John R. Hall describes eight interconnected methodologies that transcend present-day disciplinary and interdisciplinary boundaries. In this way, he is able to move beyond the objectivism/relativism debate in the philosophy and sociology of knowledge by showing how alternative research practices are formed. His book connects concrete methodological issues of research to contemporary philosophical and postmodern debates about knowledge. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Tables and figures......Page 11 Acknowledgments......Page 13 Prologue......Page 15 1 Introduction: the Third Path......Page 20 From the foundations of knowledge to the cultures of inquiry......Page 23 The repression of the old Methodenstreit......Page 24 From the end of purifying binaries to the Third Path......Page 28 Inquiry and its frames of reference......Page 30 The hermeneutic deconstruction of inquiry......Page 33 Deconstruction, totalization, and supplement......Page 34 Hermeneutics after poststructuralism......Page 36 The forms of discourse and practices of inquiry......Page 37 Part I Formative discourses......Page 45 2 Value discourse and the object of inquiry......Page 47 Meaning in history......Page 49 Ultimate meaning as moral barometer......Page 51 Max Weber and the valuation of truth......Page 53 The relativism of multiple value objectivities......Page 56 Values, objectivity, and science......Page 59 The positivist dilemma......Page 60 Realism......Page 61 Pragmatic realism as conceptual constructionism......Page 63 Conventionalism......Page 64 Science and the problem of relative values......Page 67 From Marx to negative dialectics......Page 69 Habermas and the objective value of communication......Page 70 Habermas and his critics......Page 72 Coda 2 How values consolidate projects of explanation......Page 77 3 Narrative cultures and inquiry......Page 86 Genre as metanarrative......Page 88 Narratives as cultural communications......Page 92 The social relationship between narrator and audience......Page 96 Plot in/of the lifeworld and the quest for intrinsic narrative......Page 100 Extrinsic objects of inquiry and the passages from narrative......Page 108 Coda 3 The explanatory and interpretive potential of narrative accounts......Page 112 4 The conceptual possibilities of social theoretical discourse......Page 118 Case-pattern and analytic-element models......Page 121 Meaning, historicity, and general theory......Page 125 Analytical realism and the terrain of theoretical discourse......Page 130 The functional or dialectical system......Page 131 The system of exchange......Page 133 Connecting analytic elements and case patterns......Page 134 The ellipsis: Simmel and social forms......Page 135 Approaches to concept formation and the possibilities of social theory......Page 141 The four approaches and developments of theory......Page 143 The logical and dialogical connections of theoretical approaches......Page 147 Coda 4 The uses of theory in explanatory and interpretive accounts......Page 151 Voluntary action and analytic-variable accounts......Page 152 Causal-deterministic, meaning, and exchange relations......Page 153 Functional and dialectical relationships......Page 155 Time, historicity, and theoretical accounts......Page 156 Historicity and theory......Page 157 Theory, historicity, and narrative......Page 161 5 The core of explanation and interpretation as formative discourse......Page 164 Traditions of inquiry......Page 166 Explanatory-factor frameworks......Page 170 Probabilities......Page 173 Conjuncture......Page 175 Historical time......Page 177 Effort......Page 178 Part II Practices of inquiry......Page 181 6 Discursive hybrids of practice: an introductory schema......Page 183 The discursive articulations of practice......Page 184 The pandisciplinarity of inquiry......Page 187 7 Generalizing practices of inquiry......Page 194 Totalizing theory as universal history......Page 196 The application of social theory to cases......Page 202 Analytic generalization......Page 207 Contrast-oriented comparison......Page 212 8 Particularizing practices of inquiry......Page 218 Situational history......Page 219 Specific history......Page 224 Configurational history......Page 230 Historicism......Page 234 9 The prospects for inquiry......Page 243 The Third Path......Page 246 Regimens of discourse and the articulations of practice......Page 248 Relations among practices......Page 249 Assemblages of inquiry......Page 250 Choices and developments of practice......Page 253 Commitments of value......Page 255 The practice of translation......Page 259 Reflexive practice......Page 266 Between reason and the differend......Page 269 1 INTRODUCTION: THE THIRD PATH......Page 276 2 VALUE DISCOURSE AND THE OBJECT OF INQUIRY......Page 279 CODA 2 HOW VALUES CONSOLIDATE PROJECTS OF EXPLANATION......Page 282 3 NARRATIVE CULTURES AND INQUIRY......Page 283 4 THE CONCEPTUAL POSSIBILITIES OF SOCIAL THEORETICAL DISCOURSE......Page 286 CODA 4 THE USES OF THEORY IN EXPLANATORY AND INTERPRETIVE ACCOUNTS......Page 289 5 THE CORE OF EXPLANATION AND INTERPRETATION AS FORMATIVE DISCOURSE......Page 291 6 DISCURSIVE HYBRIDS OF PRACTICE: AN INTRODUCTORY SCHEMA......Page 292 7 GENERALIZING PRACTICES OF INQUIRY......Page 293 8 PARTICULARIZING PRACTICES OF INQUIRY......Page 295 9 THE PROSPECTS FOR INQUIRY......Page 297 Bibliography......Page 299 Index......Page 322 Cultures of Inquiry provides an overview of research methodologies in social science, historical and cultural studies. Facing Kant's proposition that pure reason cannot contain social inquiry, John R. Hall uses a method of hermeneutic deconstruction to produce a'critique of impure reason', thereby charting a'third path'to knowledge. Inquiries conventionally allocated to science or interpretation, modern or postmodern, he argues, depend upon interconnected methodologies that transcend present-day disciplinary and interdisciplinary boundaries. He identifies four formative discourses and eight methodological practices of inquiry, and explores new possibilities for translation between different types of knowledge. Cultures of Inquiry neither exoticizes academic subcultures nor essentializes Culture as the spirit of academe. Instead, it addresses workaday issues of research via a sociology of knowledge that speaks to controversies concerning how inquiry is and ought to be practiced under conditions of epistemological disjuncture. Cultures Of Inquiry Provides A Unique Overview Of Research Methodologies In Social Science, Historical And Cultural Studies. 1. Introduction -- Part I. Formative Discourses: -- 2. Value Discourse And The Object Of Inquiry -- 3. Narrative Cultures And Inquiry -- 4. The Conceptual Possibilities Of Social Theoretical Discourse -- 5. The Core Of Explanation And Interpretation As Formative Discourse -- Part Ii. Practices Of Inquiry: -- 6. Discursive Hybrids Of Practice: An Introductory Schema -- 7. Generalizing Practices Of Inquiry -- 8. Particularizing Practices Of Inquiry -- 9. The Prospects Of Inquiry. John R. Hall. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 285-307) And Index. This text provides an overview of research methodologies in social science, historical and cultural studies. Facing Kant's proposition that pure reason cannot contain social inquiry, the author uses a method of hermeneutic deconstruction to produce a critique of impure reason. Inquiries conventionally allocated to science or interpretation, modern or postmodern, he argues, depend upon interconnected methodologies that transcend contemporary disciplinary and interdisciplinary boundaries. He identifies four formative discourses and eight methodological practices of inquiry, and explores new possibilities for translation between different types of knowledge Cultures of Inquiry provides a unique overview of research methodologies in social science, historical and cultural studies. Describing eight interconnected methodologies that transcend present-day disciplinary and interdisciplinary boundaries, it moves beyond the objectivism/relativism debate in the philosophy and sociology of knowledge by showing how alternative research practices are formed