Deweyan Pragmatism and Post-Positivist Social Science in IR

Abstract

The appeal of positivism within International Relations (IR) hinges on the belief that it represents the application of science to the study of world politics. This article presents Deweyan pragmatism as an alternative, and better, way of employing scientific method in IR. John Dewey's unique formulations of key scientific concepts like `objectivity', `explanation' and `experimentation' led him to an understanding of social enquiry that retains many of the virtues of scientific method while anticipating and incorporating the epistemological concerns that currently animate post-positivist work in and beyond IR.