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Problemistics - Problémistique - Problemistica
The Art & Craft of Problem Dealing
Empirical Generalization
Definition (Robert K. Merton)
Features (R. Harré)
Features (Peter Caws)
Features (Jennifer Trusted)
[1968] Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, The Free Press, New York, Enlarged Edition
“... the empirical generalization: an isolated proposition summarizing observed uniformities of relationships between two or more variables.”
(Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 149)
[1963] R. Harré, An Introduction to the Logic of the Sciences, Macmillan & Co., London
“When it is found ... that there are limits to the application of a generalization ... attempts are usually made to formulate a new generalization which will include all the results obtained under all the sets of conditions that have been investigated.” (p. 155)
“... the appearance of a contrary instance is not a signal for a rejection of the generalization but rather for more intensive investigations into the conditions under which the generalization holds.” (p. 156)
[1965] Peter Caws, The Philosophy of Science, D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, New Jersey
“It is quite clear that one protocol sentence of the form ‘Ai is not B’ (called a contrary instance) is enough to ruin the empirical generalization ‘All A’s are B’, while no additional number of sentences of the form ‘Aj is B’ (called confirming instances) will be sufficient to remove the possibility of an adverse case (unless all the A’s are examined, in which case ‘All A’s are B’ ceases to be an empirical generalization and becomes merely a shorthand way of writing a rather long protocol sentence.” (Part I, Chapter 11, p. 76)
[1987] Trusted, Jennifer, Inquiry and Understanding. An introduction to explanation in the physical and human sciences, Macmillan, London
“As a rule empirical generalizations unsupported by higher-level theory are not thought to be as reliable (let alone as satisfying) as generalisations that are explained (and therefore supported by) such a theory.”
(Chapter 8, p. 69)