Abstract
The most significant basic difference between the scientist and the engineer, Agassi and Jarvie have argued, is that the former seeks true explanations of reality, whereas the latter seeks effective control over it. Since control is often achievable with little or no understanding of underlying principles, this difference is of considerable methodological significance. Confusingly, however, Popper seems to have recommended to explorers of the social realms to limit themselves to piecemeal social engineering. Are social scientists engineers, or a crossbreed between engineers and scientists? Are their methodological challenges different from those of natural scientists proper? Jarvie’s work on technology and the social sciences explores the answers to these questions.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for example, the interesting early collection of essays Applied Science and Technological Progress, published by The National Academy of Sciences in 1967, and especially C.S. Smith’s paper discussed in the following pages. See https://books.google.co.il/books?id=BTcrAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22National+Academy+of+Sciences#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- 2.
Agassi (1971) argues that metaphysical frameworks render some generalizations of natural laws and other uninteresting trends. Would Popper concur? Let us assume that he would. Would this have led him to reformulate his abovementioned Section 27 of Poverty? It is extremely difficult to answer these questions.
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Bar-Am, N. (2019). How Should Social Engineers Develop Critical Social Science?. In: Sassower, R., Laor, N. (eds) The Impact of Critical Rationalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90826-7_2
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