Epistemology of the Human Sciences: Restoring an Evolutionary Approach to Biology, Economics, Psychology and Philosophy

420 Pages·2022·5.463 MB·English

by  Walter B. Weimer

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
SERIES EDITORS: DAVID F. HARDWICK · LESLIE MARSH
Epistemology of
the Human Sciences
Restoring an Evolutionary
Approach to Biology,
Economics, Psychology
and Philosophy
Walter B. Weimer
Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism
Series Editors
David F. Hardwick, Department of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine, The University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Leslie Marsh, Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
BC, Canada
This series offers a forum to writers concerned that the central presup-
positions of the liberal tradition have been severely corroded, neglected,
or misappropriated by overly rationalistic and constructivist approaches.
The hardest-won achievement of the liberal tradition has been the
wrestling of epistemic independence from overwhelming concentrations
of power, monopolies and capricious zealotries. The very precondition
of knowledge is the exploitation of the epistemic virtues accorded by
society’s situated and distributed manifold of spontaneous orders, the
DNA of the modern civil condition.
With the confluence of interest in situated and distributed liber-
alism emanating from the Scottish tradition, Austrian and behavioral
economics, non-Cartesian philosophy and moral psychology, the editors
are soliciting proposals that speak to this multidisciplinary constituency.
Sole or joint authorship submissions are welcome as are edited collec-
tions, broadly theoretical or topical in nature.
Walter B. Weimer
Epistemology
of the Human
Sciences
Restoring an Evolutionary Approach
to Biology, Economics, Psychology
and Philosophy
Walter B. Weimer
Washington, PA, USA
ISSN 2662-6470 ISSN 2662-6489 (electronic)
Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism
ISBN 978-3-031-17172-7 ISBN 978-3-031-17173-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17173-4
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
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This book is dedicated to all who fight scientism in science and society
Praise for Epistemology of the Human
Sciences
“Weimer is a polymath. His writings range over disparate domains
including induction, psychology, epistemology, economics, and mensu-
ration theory. His views have proven to be not o nly trenchant but
prescient. For example, Donald Hoffman’s position regarding “The Case
Against Reality,” and the constructivist nature of perception was presaged
by Weimer over forty-five years ago. Similarly, those confronting the
replication crisis in today’s psychotherapy research, would do well to take
seriously his admonitions regarding measurement theory. This volume
should be essential reading for anyone involved in or concerned about
the nature of the sciences.”
—Neil P. Young, Ph.D. Clinical and experimental psychologist
“Minds/brains are complex systems within complex systems (living
organisms) within complex systems (human societies) within complex
systems (ecosystems). Consequently, knowing the mind is infinitely more
challenging than knowing the objects studied by the physical sciences.
Weimer’s book rises to the challenge, thoroughly reviewing the strengths
and shortcomings of both famous and forgotten thinkers such as Bühler,
vii
viii PraiseforEpistemologyoftheHumanSciences
Hayek, Popper, and von Neumann to identify key issues for an evolu-
tionary epistemology: consciousness, duality, determination, description,
explanation, mensuration, semiotics, and rationality. The result is a
guidebook that points the human sciences in the right direction.”
—John A. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Penn State
University
“Having researched and written on the neglected problems surrounding
measurement and experimentation in the social sciences, I am encour-
aged to find those topics highlighted and emphasized as of central
importance in this book on epistemology. Social scientists need to realize
their fields cannot simply borrow the tools and techniques of physical
science without understanding the limitations and differences involved.”
—Günter Trendler, Industrial Services Project Manager,
Ludwigshafen a. R., Germany
Epigraph Source Acknowledgements
Chapter 3: S. Siegel (1956) Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral
Sciences, Page 22.
Chapter 4: A. Islami and G. Longo (2017) Marriages of Mathematics
and Physics: A Challenge for Biology, Page 13.
Chapter 5:
A: C. D. Broad (1933/1949) The “Nature” of a Continuant, 1949,
Page 476
B: A. Rand (1982/1984) The Stimulus and the Response: A Critique
of B. F. Skinner, Page 186.
Chapter 6: I. Lakatos (1976) Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathe-
matical Discovery. Page 142.
Chapter 7: C. G. Hempel (1952) Fundamentals of Concept Formation
in Empirical Science, Page 74.
Chapter 8: W. Block (2020) Personal Comunication, also Letter to the
Editor, The Wall Street Journal.
Chapter 9: Robin Williams (1979) Vinyl Album (Cover) Title:
ix
x EpigraphSourceAcknowledgements
Reality: What a Concept. Casablanca NBLP 7162
© Casablanca Record and Filmworks
© Playboy Publications, Inc.
Published by Little Andrew Publicatios, Inc.
Chapter 10:
A: H. Weyl (1949) Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science,
Page 300.
B: K. R. Popper (1977) Part 1, in The Self and Its Brain, Page 70.
C: V. Vanberg (2004) Austrian Economics, Evolutionary Psychology
and Methodological Dualism: Subjectivism Reconsidered. Page 4.
D: F. A. Hayek (1952) The Sensory Order, Page 121.
Chapter 11: F. A. Hayek (2017) Within Systems and About Systems,
Page 2.
Chapter 12: H. Weyl (1949) Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural
Science, Pages 215–216.
Chapter 13: H. H. Pattee (1981) Symbol-Structure Complimentarity in
Biological Evolution, Page 118.
F. A. Hayek (1978) New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics
and History of Ideas, Page 43.
Chapter 14: J. Bronowski (1978) The Origins of Knowledge and Imagina-
tion, Pages 105–106.
H. H. Pattee (2001) The Physics of Symbols: Bridging the Epistemic
Cut, Page 13.
Chapter 15: F. A. Hayek (1973/2012) Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol.
1: Rules and Order, Page 33.
Justice L. Brandeis (1927) Dissenting Opinion. Olmstead V. United
States XXX, 277, U. S. 479 of 1927.