4 ms·
The question isn’t whether the social sciences should exist as an academic field, the question is if they deliver reliable enough results to be a cost effective
by philwelch 2y ago
The question isn’t whether the social sciences should exist as an academic field, the question is if they deliver reliable enough results to be a cost effective use of the defense budget.
- ethbr1 2y agoIndeed, but replication crisis isn't that argument, given that's a field-as-whole issue rather than the cost effectiveness of a specific study.
- philwelch 2y agoI'm still talking about the field as a whole; I'm just saying "should the field exist" is a different question than "does the field generate good enough results for the Defense Department to rely on". See also my other comment, "I also don't think the Pentagon has the expertise necessary to tell good social science from bad."
- ethbr1 2y agoIf anything, I'd expect the Pentagon might have better expertise, given how distinct its intellectual zeitgeist is from social science academia.