Reflections on phronetic social science: a dialogue between Stewart Clegg, Bent Flyvbjerg and Mark Haugaard

Abstract

Clegg, Flyvbjerg and Haugaard debate the strengths and weaknesses of a Foucauldian–Nietzschean critique of power compared to a tradition exemplified by Lukes and Habermas. Flyvbjerg and Clegg argue that the pursuit of universal normative principles and of rationality without power may lead to oppressive utopian thinking. Drawing on the Aristotelian tradition of phronesis, they propose a contextualist form of critique that situates itself in analysis of local practices to render domination transparent and open to change. While Haugaard accepts there cannot be a universal view that transcends the particularities of context, he argues that the phronetic approach is crypto-normative because it implicitly presupposes unacknowledged liberal normative premises; moreover, any use of ‘truth’ as a criterion follows Enlightenment principles of verification.

Keywords:

• phronesis
• power
• truth
• domination
• critique

Notes

1. I remember that when reading these words I set the book down and wondered if I should give up academia altogether. Following fashion, to me, is a mindless and pointless activity.

2. Interested readers should also see: http://www.watoday.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/truth-trivial-in-an-election-now-theres-a-fact-20130820-2s92b.html. There are three fact-checking sites active in the current campaign: Polifact Australia (http://www.politifact.com.au/), The Conversation’s Election Fact Check (http://theconversation.com/au/factcheck), and the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) FactCheck site (www.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/). Of these, The Conversation’s site most approximates the norms of social science in that each analysis is subject to peer review that is published along with the analysis.

3. https://www.facebook.com/StealthyFreedom (accessed 13/15/2015).

4. I am deliberately referring Habermas, as presented by Flyvbjerg, to emphasise the performative contradiction.