Critical Social Science

This book is a systematic attempt to understand the circumstances in which social science can contribute to the critical assessment of social institutions. The author makes a distinctive contribution to analyzing fundamental problems of modern philosophy and social theory, expanding upon his previous writings in this area. Fay defines a "critical social science" as an attempt to understand in a rational fashion the nature of a just and humane social order and discusses both the limitations and the possibilities of what such an understanding can achieve.