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CHAPTER 1WHAT IS SOCIAL SCIENCESRESEARCH?Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaTHE SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE GAMEOur true lover of knowledge naturally strives for reality, and will not restcontent with each set of particulars which opinion takes from reality, butsoars with undimmed and unwearied passion till he grasps the nature ofeach thing as it is ... (Plato, Republic, 490b)It is an essential part of being human to strive continually to know oneself andone’s environment better. In an important sense, everybody is a philosopher —a lover of wisdom. This “passion to grasp the nature of each thing as it is”(Plato), is manifested primarily in the statements we make about reality.Making pronouncements about that which exists — or believed to exist —again, is an intrinsic component of all meaningful human experience. Althoughit is true that people may hold many beliefs that are never articulated in words,it is also true that, to the extent that language is essential for meaningful humaninteraction, making of statements about reality is an essential dimension ofhuman existence. It is, therefore, only natural that a book on the methodologyof the social sciences, on the principles which underlie the production andutilization of knowledge, should begin with a closer look at the nature of suchstatements.An important characteristic of statements is that they are invariably bound tospecific contexts. Different types of statements in different situations orcontexts perform different functions, and therefore comply with different3