The term “science” represents a claim to universality, but modern social science is based on lessons from European historical experience. Why, then, does it claim to have universal application? We suggest that Weber’s dictum that social science should be value free led to the concealment of Eurocentric values within an apparently objective framework governed by “rationality”.

1. The Puzzle of
Western“Social Science”
Dr. Asad Zaman
For writeup, see: bit.ly/AZpss

2. Why does Western Social Science Claim to be UNIVERSAL?
WHEN: It is founded on lessons derived from European
historical experience
Idealized European History
St Bartholomews Day Massacre

3. Recognition of
Puzzle:
Timothy Mitchell: “The possibility of
social science is based upon taking
certain historical experiences of the
West as the template for a universal
knowledge.”
Many other sources. BUT, it is obvious
that, any generalizations about
societies must be based on historical
experiences of actual societies.

4. Social Science: study of human experience
CAN we generalize from the European experience to universal laws
about mankind?
Can the tragic European experience of brutal religious warfare between
Protestants and Catholics be generalized to all humanity and all
religions?
Does it hold for the Amish, Buddhists, Confucians?
Does it hold for the Islamic Civilization or the Chinese Civilization?

5. Universal Laws:
Blind to Diversity & Evolution
(not necessarily, but actually – at least in Economics)

6. Evolution of Property Rights in Europe
• Initial concept of property as trust, with individual rights limited by
public welfare
• Frequent warfare among landed aristocracy, with seizure of loser’s
property.
• Led to emergence of modern concept of private property with
complete rights.
• CONTRAST: The Cherokee Constitution of 1839 states: “The lands of
the Cherokee Nation shall remain common property”.

7. Hodgson: How Economics Forgot History: The
Problem of Historical Specificity in Social Science
• Describes the Methodenstreit: Battle of Methodologies in late 19th
Century between Schmoller and Menger.
• Qualitative, Historical, Institutional approach lost to the Quantitative
and “scientific” search for mathematicised laws of motion for society.
• The PROBLEM of specificity was NEVER actually solved.
• What are the lessons (universal laws) of social motion to be learned
from the two world wars? If any?

8. Genuine, Unresolved Problem of Specificity
• Specificity: NOTHING can be learnt
from historical experience.
• Science: Universal Laws, invariant
across time & space, applicable to
all societies.
• Both poles are obviously false.
• HOW to find the balance?
UNRESOLVED, BURIED, question.
Abstraction

9. Micro-Version of Same
Problem
My Personal Life
An example for clarity
The Road Less Travelled

10. Can I use historical experience
for personal decisions?
• Suppose I am choosing a career, choosing who to marry, or
making other major life-decisions.
• Are there UNIVERSAL LAWS – based on past human
experience which can guide me?
• Can I rely on past experience to help me decide whether I
should be an artist, engineer, mountain-climber, or
philosopher?

11. Meditation on Uniqueness
• I am unique – no one like me in
the past, or contemporary
• My environment, historical
context is unique.
• My network of social
relationships is unique.
• Any LAW based on past
experience can ONLY provide
general guidance – to be taken
with a LARGE grain of salt.

12. What if past experience is MISLEADING?
• This moment of time never occurred in the past.
• Opportunities, Threats, Choices of today NEVER existed in the past.
• Use of experience would BLIND me to these!!
• How to act when experience is a handicap?
• How would revolutionaries dare to think thoughts which have never
been thought before??
• Intuition – the EUREKA moment! Outside the realm of science.

13. Implications for
Social
“SCIENCE”
Modeling human beings as robots
subject to mathematical laws

14. History,
Environment,
Culture --

15. Secular Modern vs. Traditional Societies
Secular Modern Societies
• Diverse Goals: Rule of Law
• Collective Action: Government
• Competition, Hedonism,
Individualism
• Market Society: Hunger is
incentive for wage-slavery
Traditional Societies
• Organic – Shared goals
• Collective Action: Communities
• Cooperation, Generosity, Social
Responsibility
• Human lives are infinitely
precious

16. Summary
• Evolution and Change in Society means that lessons of past may not
apply to present. Consider the Global Financial Crisis for example.
• Lessons from historical experiences of one society may not apply to
other societies.
This being BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS, why does Western Social Science,
based on European historical experiences, make the CONTRARY claims?
Why does Economics claim general applicability to all present
societies?
We hope to address this puzzle in later posts.

17. Solutions:
Western social science conceals modern secular values within
apparently objective framework. A superior alternative is based on an
explicit three-dimensional framework
1. Normative Ideals: Vision of good life and good society.
2. Positive: Description of current state, in relation to ideal.
3. Transformative: How to get from current state to ideal.
This framework is explained in greater detail in: Islam’s Gift: An
Economy of Spiritual Development: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3321866

18. Links to related materials
Writeup of this video-talk: http://bit.ly/AZpss
Related: Islamic Alternatives to Secular Moral Foundations of
Economics. http://bit.ly/AZia2sm
Islamic Worldview Blog: http://azprojects.wordpress.com
World Economic Association (WEA) Pedagogy Blog:
https://weapedagogy.wordpress.com/

20. Summary
• Writeup: bit.ly/AZpss - "science" represents a claim to
universality, like the laws of physics. Yet, social science
developed in the West, and is obviously grounded in European
historical experiences. Can there be universal laws valid for all
societies across time and space, and can such laws be derived
from the study of European experiences? The goal of this video
is to articulate the puzzle created by the claims to universality of
European experience. Possible approaches to solutions will be
discussed later.