Analytical Empiricism

Conceptual Overview

Analytical empiricism, as with most forms of empiricism, starts with Francis Bacon's concept of a scientific method. The three roots of modern analytical empiricism in the social sciences are the philosophy of John Locke, the mathematics of Gottlob Frege, and the applied social statistics of Adolphe Quetelet and Charles Babbage. The first two of these roots are woven together in the early 20th century by Bertrand Russell, producing modern analytical empiricism, while the third acts as a legitimation for its application in organizational studies.

Locke establishes the basic position in his 1690 work An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.[Page 56]His basic stance argues that metaphysical presuppositions of knowledge must be eliminated from consideration and replaced by a series of testable hypotheses. He held that what he called simple ideas were of two sorts: external to the individual and internal to the individual (“thought” as defined by Rene Descartes). Externally generated “ideas” contain primary and secondary qualities—primary qualities being those qualities that define the object, while secondary qualities are those that involve both the object and the process of perceiving that object (e.g., color). The second root stems from Frege's theory of concepts, which, in general, distinguishes both mathematically and logically between specific concepts (e.g., x = 5) and complex concepts (e.g., Gx ≡ Ox & x > 5). This theory forms part of the basis for Russell's later development of his theory of types.

Russell argued that modern analytical empiricism diverged from the earlier philosophical forms of Locke by virtue of its reliance on mathematics and its development of specific logical techniques. For Russell, the key to analysis centers around two intertwining issues: clarifying the denotation of any particular term such that it has an absolute meaning and the deployment of logically specific syntax.

The third root is the applied social statistics of Quetelet and Babbage, which creates a milieu conducive to the application of an analytical empiricist stance within the management and organizational literature by legitimizing the primacy of mathematical and logical analyses over verbal description. This enters into the modern management and organization literature via two separate routes: the scientific management of Frederick Winslow Taylor, which emphasizes the use of mathematical analysis, and the organizational analysis of Max Weber, which emphasizes the development of logical analysis and clarity in denotation.

Critical Commentary and Future Directions