The problematic alliance between reconstruction and objectivity in international theory
Abstract
This thesis aims to critique three leading advocates of a particular strand of post-positivism, which has become influential in contemporary international theory, and
which is characterized by three defining features: the idea that a proper understanding
of the world requires taking into account the intrinsically contingent character of that
world, which is developed in opposition to the positivist philosophy of science; the
attempt to conceptualize the contingent coming about of identities and practices as an
ongoing and open process of intersubjective (re-) constitution; and the aim to
understand this ongoing intersubjective constitution in a way that excludes normative
judgements. The main purpose of the thesis is to point out a tension between these three
features. What it argues is that the conceptualization of practices as intersubjectively
constituted stands in tension with both the aim to account for the contingent character
of these practices and the aim to understand these practices in a way that excludes
normative judgements. In particular, the thesis attempts to point out three problems that
arise from the combination of these three aims: first, it argues that the notion of
intersubjective constitution entails a particular kind of determinism, which undermines
the post-positivists' aim to account for the contingent character of practices; second, the
thesis argues that this notion inevitably entails a normative stance by the theorist, which
undermines the post-positivists' aim to understand intersubjective process of in a way
that excludes normative judgements; third, it argues that, in the post-positivist empirical
analyses, this normative stance is never defended and, as a result, entails the arbitrary
privileging of particular moral attitudes over others. The main implication of this
critique suggest the need for a fundamentally different notion of social scientific
understanding, which explicitly recognizes and grounds the role of moral judgements.
A minor implication is that contemporary cosmopolitan agendas in world politics seem
inherently flawed.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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