Download - HSRC Press

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zacriteria. For example, religious communication (in a church or during prayer)differs quite extensively from communication in a social, informal small-groupsituation such as at a party or barbecue. It has become customary amongphilosophers to regard each context as analogous to a language game(Wittgenstein’s term) and to view the different criteria which apply in eachcontext as analogous to the rules of the language game. In the same mannerthat the rules of chess and draughts differ, so that certain moves (behaviours)are either acceptable or unacceptable depending upon which game is beingplayed, the contextual rules of a party would determine that differentbehaviours are appropriate from the behaviours which would apply during areligious service.The language game of this book is the language game of statements madewithin the context of social sciences research. And the central concern of thebook is to analyze the distinctive rules of the language game of the socialsciences and to attempt to answer the question: What are the rules of the gamewhich can be employed to distinguish between scientific pronouncements orstatements, and those which are regarded as unscientific?One way of answering this question would be to look at the techniques whichwe employ in everyday language in attempts to make our statements credible,the ways in which we try to convince others of the reliability or accuracy ofwhat we say, and then to compare these procedures with that employed in thescientific context. Let us consider some common assertions:S 1 :S 2 :S 3 :S 4 :S 5Ice cream is delicious.Western Province has the best rugby team in South Africa.The divorce rate in South Africa is extraordinarily high.Violence depicted on TV is likely to increase the level of aggressivebehaviour amongst children.The long-term effect of excessive smoking is lung cancer.Opinions and beliefs about phenomena are usually expressed as statementsabout reality. We may therefore define a statement as any sentence in which aknowledge claim relating to reality is made. Consequently, statements aresentences in which an identifiable epistemic claim is made (episteme is theGreek word for true knowledge). It is for this reason that the study of humanknowledge is known as epistemology. Sentences in which demonstrableepistemic claims are made regarding aspects of reality can therefore bedistinguished from other types of sentences (e.g. commands or questions) inwhich epistemic claims are not made.If we were to give reasons why any of these views are held (Why do you claimthat ice cream is delicious?), we might be inclined to follow one of threestrategies. We could invoke our personal tastes or subjective feelings, we couldrefer to some authority figure, or we could simply invoke a casual observationwhich we have made.4