Rhetoric of Social Science

Analysis of the ways in which political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, economists and psychologists establish the authoritativeness of their claims. Focus is on the presentation of data as fact, the use of quantitative methods, and other “strategies” through which social knowledge is transformed into objective information. The course pays particular attention to disputes in the application and interpretation of mathematical methods, with an eye towards debates in history of science and science and technology studies on the nature of mathematical consensus.