PROGRESS AND CUMULATION IN THE HUMAN-SCIENCES AFTER THE FALL

What do we mean by progress and cumulation in the social and human sci ences? Recent thinking in the philosophy and history of science has le d to an abandonment of some versions of logical positivism and of veri ficationism that had a strong deductive and theory testing orientation . What is to replace them is less clear. This paper argues that progre ss and cumulation can be seen as a process of evaluation and retention within an epistemic community. Scholarly disciplines differ in their social structure and in their epistemic and normative commitments. Sin ce sociology is a fragmented discipline, progress and cumulation diffe r within its multiple subdisciplines, which to varying extents represe nt epistemic communities. Brief sketches of progress (advance) and cum ulation in several subdisciplines are offered.