← Search

Ontology, Methodological Individualism, and the Foundations of the Social Sciences

Robert Sugden

School of Economics and Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science, University of East Anglia.

This is a review essay based on a critical assessment of The Ant Trap: Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences by Brian Epstein. Epstein argues that models in the social sciences are inadequate because they are based on a false ontology of methodological individualism, and proposes a new model of social ontology. I examine this model and point to flaws in it. More generally, I argue against Epstein's methodological approach, which treats social ontology as prior to social scientific modeling and as certifying the “building blocks” that modelers then use. I argue that modelers can legitimately shape the building blocks for their own models. (JEL A10, B40)

DOI

10.1257/jel.20151372

Volume

54 (4)

Pages

1377-1389

Language

en

Export

BibTeX

Sources

openalex crossref