How is metaphysics related to the empirical sciences? Should metaphysics in general be guided by the sources, methods and results of the sciences? And what about the special case of the metaphysics of the social world: should it likewise be guided by the sources, methods and results of the social sciences? In her paper “Social Science as a Guide to Social Metaphysics?”, K. Hawley raises the question: If we are sympathetic to the project of naturalising metaphysics, how should we approach (...) the metaphysics of the social world? She proceeds by discussing three approaches to social metaphysics: inference to the best explanation from current social science, descriptive conceptual analysis, and normative, especially ‘ameliorative’ projects. At the end of her discussion, she reaches a rather pessimistic conclusion, especially as regards the IBE approach: “a number of phenomena indicate that the prospects for securely basing social metaphysics via inference to the best explanation from social science are currently faint. […] We need to look elsewhere if we are to develop a metaphysics of the social world.” In my comments on her paper, I try to re-animate the program of an inductive metaphysics by defending the idea that the method of inference to the best explanation should be the central method of justification for metaphysics in general and for social metaphysics in particular. (shrink)

This study analyzes 400 minutes of natural conversations between Korean married women and investigates their interactions with focus on their use of address terms to index closeness. In particular, it examines the emergence of the female solidarity term caki ‘you’, and demonstrates solidarity’s entailment of power. Traditionally, Korean women with children have been addressed by reference to their children’s names even by her friends. Caki, which allows friends to directly address each other, has become a popular alternative, indicating solidarity. In (...) addition, contrary to their traditional dismissal as gossip, Korean mothers’ conversations and networks have become a socially recognized form of power, called the ‘Married Women’s Network’, for sharing valuable information, particularly on children’s education. Therefore, women’s use of the solidarity term caki may also be motivated by a power factor to stay integrated in the mothers’ network, demonstrating Tannen’s ‘paradox of power and solidarity’. (shrink)