Realism and Methodology in Political Science: Our Need For Generalisations

Generalisations play a major role in social science knowledge. However, their specific features as they appear in the social sciences have never been clarified. Yet, it is argued that the social sciences can do without them and the special methodology that supports them, namely statistics. However, searching for generalisations in the social sciences is not part and parcel of an attempt at making the social sciences bend to the positivistic ideal-type of the natural sciences.