The Quest for Knowledge in International Relations
How Do We Know?

Lebow asks what kinds of knowledge international relations theories seek? How do they search for it and claim to have found it?

Richard Ned Lebow (Author)

9781009098922, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 April 2022

320 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.508 kg

'Ned Lebow's Quest for Knowledge asks what scholars can come to know about international relations. Lebow provides a powerful argument advancing his highly-nuanced interpretivist-reflectivist methodology. At the same time, Quest surveys the range of current methodological approaches, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each, including his own version of interpretivism. Methodology is, as Lebow rightly observes, only the tip of an iceberg, in that each approach is built upon a complex of metaphysical and epistemological premises - premises that the book makes explicit. Quest for Knowledge is another superb scholarly work by Lebow, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the legitimacy of various social science methods.' Fred Chernoff, Harvey Picker Professor of International Relations, Colgate University

What do we mean by theory in international relations? What kinds of knowledge do theories seek? How do they stipulate it is found? How should we evaluate any resulting knowledge claims? What do answers to these questions tell us about the theory project in IR, and in the social sciences more generally? Lebow explores these questions in a critical evaluation of the positivist and interpretivist epistemologies. He identifies tensions and problems specific to each epistemology, and some shared by both, and suggests possible responses. By exploring the relationship between the foundations of theories and the empirical assumptions they encode, Lebow's analysis enables readers to examine in greater depth the different approaches to theory and their related research strategies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations theory and philosophy of social science.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. What is knowledge?
3. Positivism and interpretivism
4. Positivism: Correlational research
5. Positivism: Experiments
6. Positivism: Rationalism
7. Interpretivism: Causal narratives
8. Interpretivism: Practice turn
9. Counterfactuals
10. Verification vs. Falsification
11. Causal and non-causal narratives
12. Reason
13. Cause
14. The causal paradox
15. Mechanisms
16. International relations as an ethical practice.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Social & political philosophy [HPS]