Sociologies (Mar 2016)
L’étude scientifique du politique est-elle une science de l’observation des faits politiques ?
Abstract
Can we relate sociological analyzes of policy objects to a science of observing political facts? The purpose of this article is to figure out cognitive biases induced by the explanatory logic derived from the observation of sciences in the analysis of political fact. Social naturalism occurs as a symptom of a more general cognitive bias that origins an ontological reductionism. While admitting an epistemological monism of modern science, the author highlights the ontological question of the mode of existence that differently arises for ‘social beings’ and ‘nature beings’. This excessive ‘scientificisation’ of policy studies has consequence on the evaluation of political objects. This questions the use of big data in Political Studies.
