From Prediction to Explanation: A Defense of Popper's Situational Analysis and a Critique of Rational Choice Theory as a Subset of Economic Theory

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2014
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Haverford College. Department of Philosophy
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Thesis
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eng
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Abstract
This thesis argues that Karl Popper's situational analysis is a more suitable model for studying social phenomena than utility maximization theory because of the difference in the two models' rationality principle. Utility maximization theory as a subset of rational choice theory claims that agents attempt to maximize some end that they esteem valuable. Although the structure of the rational choice theory allows for the possibility of predictions in addition to a clear distinction between normative and rational behavior, it lacks real explanatory power because of its goal-directed requirement that it imposes upon social phenomena. Arguing that social phenomenon is ontologically such that it ought to be addressed from subject to subject perspective, I show how rational choice theory fails in addressing social phenomena adequately by imposing its own end-directed rationality principle. I show how Popper's rationality principle, in being left ambiguous, allows its rationality principle to emerge through its situations of interest without any pre-specified ends. I argue that social phenomena can never be predictive, and our inquiries should suffice in the pursuit of understanding alone. Additionally, this thesis argues that normativity constitutes the building blocks of rationality following Gadamer's positive sense of prejudice in entering processes of understanding. Furthermore, Popper's rationality principle functions as a prejudice that allows for understanding social situations.
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