Reductive vs holistic explanations in the human sciences
Two important perspectives in the human sciences concern what counts as an explanation. Should explanations try to reduce a phenomenon down to its smallest parts like chemistry or physics? For disciplines trying to emulate the 'hard sciences' this seems to be a good strategy. This may take care of the 'science' part of the human sciences but what about the 'human' part? This seems to get lost in the explanation. The...