Rough Theory

Theory In The Rough

Monthly Archives: March 2005

Soundtrack to Development?

2 Comments Posted by on March 20, 2005

I went to a community festival in Whittlesea this weekend, in part to see how the Whittlesea Council was using the event to promote sustainable practices, and in part to see how VicUrban was using the event to advertise its new Aurora development. I won’t go into detail about the visit here, but the highlight [...]

Miscellaneous

Dichotomy of Enlightenment?

1 Comment Posted by on March 15, 2005

I wanted to conclude this series of posts on Bent Flyvbjerg’s work with a brief discussion of his analysis of Habermas and Foucault. To many social theorists with a critical orientation, Foucault and Habermas appear to represent the key theoretical paths available to social critique. It is therefore common for a theorist to choose either [...]

Critical Theory, Social Science

The Social Structure of Scientific Revolutions?

1 Comment Posted by on March 13, 2005

In the previous two posts on 11 March and 12 March, I’ve provided fairly extensive commentary on Bent Flyvbjerg’s approach to historically-grounded critical theory. My core critique is set out in these earlier entries. Here, and in the entry to follow, I intend only to sketch out a couple of placeholders for other issues raised [...]

Critical Theory, Math and Science, Philosophy of History, Social Science

Beware Greeks Bearing Norms

1 Comment Posted by on March 12, 2005

In this second of four posts on Bent Flyvbjerg, I examine one of his most original contributions to the project of constituting a more historically-grounded social science is his appropriation of the Aristotelian concept of phronesis. By analysing the basis for this appropriation, I hope to cast some light on some of the limitations of [...]

Critical Theory, Philosophy of History, Social Science

Making Social Science Critical

4 Comments Posted by on March 11, 2005

I’ve been reading Bent Flyvbjerg’s Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again. It’s one of several works I’ve been looking through as I begin to think about my own research methodology, and this post represents the first of four examining different aspects of the work. This book, however, [...]

Critical Theory, Social Science

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