Political Science between Normative Theory and Empirical Analysis

Empirical Approaches to Normative Theory

Empirical methodologies and philosophy are rarely discussed together but this essay is about how simulations and experiments may be useful in the pursuit of philosophical knowledge. It focuses on how these methods can illuminate some fundamental problems in political philosophy viewed as a branch of ethical philosophy. It is widely accepted that the way a social decision is made can affect not ...

Positive Constraints on Normative Political Theory

We consider the relationship between positive and normative political theory, emphasising both the role of normative ideas in motivating political behaviour and particularly the constraints on normative theory imposed by positive theory. Our point of departure is Christiano’s recent claim that the rational choice approach to positive and normative political theory is self-defeating. In arguing ...

The Ongoing Dialog between Empirical Science and Measurement Theory

This review article attempts to highlight from my personal perspective some of the major developments in the representational theory of measurement during the past 50 years. Emphasis is placed on the ongoing interplay between the development of abstract theory and the attempts to apply it to empirically testable phenomena. The article has four major sections. The first concerns classical repres...

URBAN REGIME THEORY: A Normative-Empirical Critique

Over the past 10 years, urban regime theory has become the dominant paradigm for studying urban politics in liberal democracies. Yet there is disagreement about how far it can help us to understand urban political processes. This article argues that regime theory is best understood as a theory of structuring with limits in its analysis of the market economy. These limits undermine its ability t...

Political Philosophy and Racial Injustice: From Normative to Critical Theory