Methodology
Rahman Sharifzadeh
Abstract
Roger Trigg’s Understanding Social Science does a good job of criticizing positivist and deterministic approaches to social science, either biological, social, or psychological. In the context of critical realism, Trigg criticizes in a good and detailed way many of the common dichotomies, ...
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Roger Trigg’s Understanding Social Science does a good job of criticizing positivist and deterministic approaches to social science, either biological, social, or psychological. In the context of critical realism, Trigg criticizes in a good and detailed way many of the common dichotomies, amongst which naive realism / non-realism is most important. Although Trigg attempts to go away from positivistic and non-critical methodologies, and in result opens up a way for rational evaluation and judgment, as we shall see, he does not develop his methodology very well; moreover, his understanding of what society is and what social structures and realities are made of may endanger the empirical aspect of his methodology. Furthermore, it seems to me that some of Trigg’s arguments in the field of rationality are ambiguous and do not go far enough in the critique of constructivists’ and relativists’ attitudes.
Methodology
Leila Namdarian; Alireza Seghatol Eslami
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to critically evaluate the book titled “Social Studies of Technology: Theoretical and Interdisciplinary Reflection” by Reza Samim. Science and Technology Studies is an interdisciplinary field that has been ignored in the Iranian scientific context and has not ...
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The purpose of this article is to critically evaluate the book titled “Social Studies of Technology: Theoretical and Interdisciplinary Reflection” by Reza Samim. Science and Technology Studies is an interdisciplinary field that has been ignored in the Iranian scientific context and has not received much attention by scientists and researchers. The publication of this book has helped to enrich the scientific literature of this field in the country. Another advantage of this book is to provide some of the local and cultural considerations in the area of science and technology studies. The content evaluation of the book shows that since the book editor had not had a clear picture of the questions in this field of study, he was not very successful in organizing the articles in both theoretical and interdisciplinary reflections. The presentation of the theoretical and interdisciplinary topics in most papers is mainly focused on the sociological perspective of technology and, therefore, its viewpoint seems to be closer to the traditional and conventional view in which the relationship between science and technology and society than to new approach named Science and Technology Studies. Also, categorizing the book's articles into two sections of theoretical and interdisciplinary reflections is not very meaningful considering interdisciplinary field of study, and perhaps a justified distinction should be made between the two sections of theoretical reflections and appropriate case studies.
Methodology
Arash Mousavi; Mohammad Amin Baradaran Nikou
Abstract
In this paper, we intend to introduce, criticize, and analyze the book “After Method”; written by John Law and translated by Mojtaba Azizi. The book is published in 2004 by Routledge. “After Method” is asking a massive evolution in methodology. Also, it criticizes the main stream ...
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In this paper, we intend to introduce, criticize, and analyze the book “After Method”; written by John Law and translated by Mojtaba Azizi. The book is published in 2004 by Routledge. “After Method” is asking a massive evolution in methodology. Also, it criticizes the main stream of ontology and epistemology. First, the theoretical context of the book, its main ideas, the writer, and the translator are introduced. In the following, the book is criticized for both form and substantive content. Formally, some writing tips, typographic, and editorial notes are observed. In the content section, firstly the translation of the specialized terminology is discussed. Then, some sentences are chosen, the translation of which makes understanding the text difficult. Comparisons between the original text and the translated text are made. The problems are shown and suggestions are also provided. The translation of such novels, on the one hand, expands and enriches the literature in Persian, and on the other hand, it is always confronted with difficulties. The ambiguity of translating some of the specialized terminology and the inability to translate the concepts into the reader is the main problem of the translation.
