Winch's philosophical bearings

Winch's The Idea of a Social Science is explicitly based on a conception of philosophy. This article outlines and criticizes this conception, and then explores the relevance of this for Winch's conception of social science. W inch identifies philosophy with conceptual analysis, and social science wit h unearthing the meaning of concepts operating within a form of life. These identifications produce a one-sided view both of philosophy (which must al so criticize schemes of concepts and propose alternatives to them) and of s ocial science (which must also explain schemes of concepts and sometimes at tempt to change them).