Firstly, this article outlines the main points made by Peter Winch in his breakthrough book The Idea of a Social Science. Its Fundamentals thesis, inspired by Wittgenstein and his accounts on the relation between language and reality, is the assumption that social sciences engage in philosophical endeavor, because the problems they deal with are not empirical, but conceptual. Following Wittgensteinian line of thought he comes up with the idea that all social action can be explained as rule following and therefore it should be approached by conceptual means other than those used by natural sciences. Secondly, this article explores the impact that The Idea of a Social Science had on the discussion about the nature of social sciences. It outlines it‘s main critiques which deal with (1) Winch’s conception of philosophy (2) the notion of rule following and (3) descriptive nature of Winch‘s approach. Finally, Winch‘s critique of positivism in social sciences is identified as his main and lasting contribution to social thought., Tomáš Dvořák., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Studie uvádí tematické číslo časopisu Teorie vědy věnované aktualizaci koncepce "filosofických hraček“ – predmětů a přístrojů určených k experimentálnímu vědeckému zkoumání, jež zároveň výrazně ovlivnily utváření moderní vizuální kultury. Abychom plně porozuměli povaze těchto přístrojů a typů zkušeností, již sebou přinášejí, je třeba jejich původ situovat do experimentální vědy a estetiky osmnáctého století a chápat je jako percepční a kognitivní extenze., The article introduces a thematic issue of the journal theory of Science that attempts to revive the category of “philosophical toys” – objects and instruments designed for experimental scientific research that simultaneously played crucial role in the creation of the modern visual culture. It claims that to fully understand their nature and the kind of experience philosophical toys induce, it is necessary to situate their origins in eighteenth-century experimental science and aesthetics and proposes to approach them as perceptual and cognitive extensions., and Tomáš Dvořák.