Improvement of Social Science as a Guide to Social Metaphysics

Abstract

If we are sympathetic to the project of naturalising metaphysics, how should we approach the metaphysics of the social world? What role can the social sciences play in metaphysical investigation? In the light of these questions, this paper examines three possible approaches to social metaphysics: inference to the best explanation from current social science, conceptual analysis, and Haslanger-inspired ameliorative projects. From the point of view of the naturalising metaphysician, there seems little reason to think that our everyday concepts, which are well-suited to enabling our thought about the superficial features of medium-sized objects, will give us any kind of insight into the ultimate nature of physical reality; after all, science itself has shown us ways in which physical reality is more bizarre than we could possibly have imagined from the armchair. Despite these challenges, there is scope for substantive further investigation of the role of social science within social metaphysics. Moreover this methodological inquiry pro mises to shed light not just on the proper approach to the social realm, but to questions about the proper role of empirical study within philosophy more generally.