An Aristotelian resolution of the idiographic versus nomothetic tension.

Abstract

I wish to acknowledge the teaching and advice of Professor Martha Nussbaum relevant to this project. It was her analysis that first put me on to the issue and her erudition that pointed out an avenue of approach to it. Any errors in my analysis, however, are totally my own. An abridged version of this article was presented at a meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association at Arlington, Virginia on April 11, 1987. Thanks are also due to John Stevenson for his thoughtful criticism of an earlier draft.

Globalization, ideologies and well-being: a study of a West African and a North European society

“…Kroskrity (2000, p. 3) illustrated the fruitfulness of the connection between the two when he states that: 'language ideologies provided an additional tool or level of analysis (Silverstein, 1979) that permitted us to use the more traditional skills of linguistic anthropologists as a means of relating the models and practices shared by members of a speech community to their politicaleconomic positions and interests. ' Silverstein (1988) also emphasized the reciprocal interaction between language and ideology: 'the total linguistic fact, the datum for a science of language, is irreducibly dialectic in nature. It is an unstable mutual interaction of meaningful sign forms contextualized to situations of interested human use and mediated by the fact of cultural ideology' (p. 220).…”

BSchools and Their Business Models

“…In short, there is an epistemological gap between what theory provides and what managers actually bring into mindful professional practice (Tsoukas and Mylonopoulos 2004). The gap arises from the difference between the generalities essential to the language of theorizing and the indexicalities of practice -the distinction between the idiographic and the nomothetic (Silverstein 1988). In a world of certainty, that normally presumed by neoclassical economists and systems theorists, this gap cannot arise.…”

Personality and social psychology: towards a synthesis

“…Thus, there seems to be growing consensus that it is possible, in principle, for idiographic and nomothetic approaches to join forces so as to contribute to a more comprehensive analysis of the issues of personality psychology (see also Brody, 1988: 121;Laux and Weber, 1987;Silverstein, 1988;Thomae, 1987). In the next sections, different approaches will be reviewed which are committed to this view and offer research strategies combining both nomothetic and idiographic objectives in personality research.…”