Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The Original Text: Classical Realism and Quantitative International Politics
- Preface to Part I
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The role of paradigms in scientific inquiry: a conceptual framework and a set of principles for paradigm evaluation
- 2 The role of the realist paradigm in the development of a scientific study of international relations
- 3 Research design: defining and operationalizing the realist paradigm
- 4 Theory construction as a paradigm-directed activity
- 5 Data making as a paradigm-directed activity
- 6 Research as a paradigm-directed activity
- 7 Evaluation: the adequacy of the realist paradigm
- 8 Theory and research in the 1970s: the emerging anomalies
- Part II Neorealism and Neotraditionalism: International Relations Theory at the Millennium
- References
- Name index
- Subject index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
4 - Theory construction as a paradigm-directed activity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The Original Text: Classical Realism and Quantitative International Politics
- Preface to Part I
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The role of paradigms in scientific inquiry: a conceptual framework and a set of principles for paradigm evaluation
- 2 The role of the realist paradigm in the development of a scientific study of international relations
- 3 Research design: defining and operationalizing the realist paradigm
- 4 Theory construction as a paradigm-directed activity
- 5 Data making as a paradigm-directed activity
- 6 Research as a paradigm-directed activity
- 7 Evaluation: the adequacy of the realist paradigm
- 8 Theory and research in the 1970s: the emerging anomalies
- Part II Neorealism and Neotraditionalism: International Relations Theory at the Millennium
- References
- Name index
- Subject index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Summary
Introduction
The proposition
Kuhn's notion that theory construction is a paradigm-directed activity has both an analytical and an empirical meaning. Analytically, the proposition means that it is logically impossible to construct theories without the prior existence of a paradigm (Kuhn 1970a: 15–17). This aspect of Kuhn's notion is substantiated by definition, since it is impossible to have a theory that does not make certain fundamental assumptions. Empirically, the proposition means that a single specific paradigm guides theory construction (Kuhn 1970a: 10–11). It is this empirical aspect that is embodied in the proposition that will be tested in this chapter: The realist paradigm guided theory construction in the field of international relations during the 1950s and 1960s.
According to Kuhn, theory construction in normal science involves clarifying the concepts presented in the dominant paradigm and employing them in light of research to elaborate theories. Kuhn calls theory construction paradigm articulation because the process is conducted by a division of labor, with different scholars working in specialized problem areas suggested by the research agenda of the paradigm. In a sense, the paradigm provides an outline, and theory construction articulates the paradigm by filling in the details. The paradigm provides guidance in that it focuses scholars' attention on certain problems and provides them with a set of fundamental assumptions that the new theoretical work never violates.
The need for paradigm articulation presupposes that the work that originally presented the paradigm did not provide all the answers.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Power of Power PoliticsFrom Classical Realism to Neotraditionalism, pp. 60 - 76Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999