Perspectivism: A Contribution to the Philosophy of the Social Sciences
advances the philosophy of perspectivism, showing how its capacity to
assess competing views of a particular concept by approaching them as
different 'sides' of a multi-dimensional object supports a concept of
'adequate' rather than 'absolute' truth.
Presenting four case studies - of the social scientific concepts of
power, equality, crime, and sex and gender - Smith demonstrates the
manner in which the perspectivist approach does not take all differing
views of a concept to be equally good, but views all perspectives taken
together as contributing towards the best that we can know about any
given concept at the present time.
An exposition and analysis of the means by which perspectivism allows
for truth and objectivity in the social sciences, this volume will
appeal to scholars of philosophy and across the social sciences with
interests in questions of epistemology and research methodology.