还原论、层次观与机制解释——兼论现代社会科学方法论的分歧与整合

Reductionism,View of Hierarchy and Mechanism Explanation——Concurrently Discussing on the Divergence and Integration of Methodology in Modern Social Science

现代社会科学方法论的分歧主要体现在自然与社会、一元论与二元论、个体主义与整体主义等诸多方面的对立,由此所引发的各种争论实质上可聚焦到还原论的适用性问题上。基于层次的视角,探讨个体与社会的关系是还原论的核心问题之一。随着研究不断地推向深入,还原的目标转向为借助发现机制以解释现象,还原的功能转变为促进解释。机制解释可借助层次的概念对从社会到个体的结构进行连贯的阐述,实现与还原解释的互补和联动。对社会科学方法论进行批判性的评价,整合不同观点的合理要素,或许能够为社会科学的研究提供一种可实现性策略。

The divergence of methodology in modern social science are mainly reflected in the opposition in many aspects,such as nature and society,monism and dualism,individualism and collectivism.Such controversies all involve the applicability of reductionism.One of the core issues of reductionism is to clarify the relationship between individual and society based on hierarchical perspective.With the research continues to deepen,purpose of reduction turns to explain phenomena by discovering mechanism,and function of reduction turns to promote explanation.Mechanism can coherently explain the structure from society to individual by the concept of hierarchy and realize the complementarity and linkage with reductionism.Critical evaluation of methodology in social science and integration of reasonable elements from different viewpoints may be able to provide a feasible strategy for social science research.