ABOUT INDIVIDUALISM AND HOLISM: NOTES ON THE INDIVIDUALIST CONCEPTION OF RAYMOND BOUDON
ABOUT INDIVIDUALISM AND HOLISM: NOTES ON THE INDIVIDUALIST CONCEPTION OF RAYMOND BOUDON

Summary/Abstract: The article addresses the long-lasting disputes between individualistic and holistic approaches in explanatory methodologies from social sciences, trying to grasp the main ideas underlying these two apparently contradicting views. The term individualism has different meanings in the fields of moral, descriptive, ontological and methodological discourses; so does its counter-term of holism. While the author shares the position of ontological holism, he calls for combining the two perspectives in the field of methodology, given that explanation in social sciences always contains, in different proportions, individualistic and holistic elements. The text discusses the relations between methodological individualism and other forms of individualisms, the explanatory power of individualistic approaches when it comes to macro-social phenomena, and the problem of rationality. Paying tribute to the wide-ranging intellectual heritage of Raymond Boudon, the author critically examines his contribution to the development of social science methodology.

• Details
• Contents