Some Motives and Mechanisms of Theoretical Abuses in the Social Sciences
The social sciences, in their daily practices, especially because of their desire to produce general theories, sometimes commit theoretical abuses. The present contribution, stemming from several symptomatic case studies, attempts to formalize the epistemological mechanisms leading to wild generalizations : negligence vis-à-vis the contingency of the original objects under examination ; use of made-to-measure examples ; recourse to analogies, indifference to the question of levels of analysis ; and reification of theses. This study explores the underlying rationale behind such abuses through an investigation of causalities, in particular social and mental ones. Finally, we intend to scientifically integrate philosophical knowledge of these mechanisms and motives, on one hand, through reiterating basic methodological rules and, on the other through demonstrating that they are embodied in situ in genuine research programs that acknowledge the limits of their findings.