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Continuities in the development of the physical and social sciences: Principles of a new social physics

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Knowledge in Society

Abstract

The original concept of “social physics” was built on positivist philosophy and scientific method. Evidence from quantum physics suggests that a postpositivist “social physics” may yet be viable, not because social science should emulate physics, but because physics is more like social science. The five principles of complementarty, uncertainty, the measurement problem, nonlocal causation, and participatory collusion are presented in this article to demonstrate the contemporary convergence of the physical and social sciences into a new social physics.

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Authors
  1. E. Sam Overman
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Additional information

E. Sam Overman is associate professor of public affairs at the Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver CO 80204. He recently editedMethodology and Epistemology for Social Science, selected papers by Donald T. Campbell (University of Chicago Press, 1988). He has published other articles on policy physics and social science philosophy, and has conducted research and published extensively in the area of information resource policy and management.

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Overman, E.S. Continuities in the development of the physical and social sciences: Principles of a new social physics. Knowledge in Society 2, 80–93 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687222

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