Political Cleavage: A Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis
- 1 April 1975
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in British Journal of Political Science
- Vol. 5 (2) , 231-248
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007123400008140
Abstract
Abraham Kaplan in his ‘paradox of conceptualization’ draws attention to the fundamental problem of concept-formation: ‘The proper concepts are needed to formulate good theory, but we need a good theory to arrive at the proper concepts’. On this view, concepts are neither right nor wrong but are more or less useful; their utility is determined by the twin and mutually dependent requirements of empirical precision and theoretical importance. ‘Empirical precision’ has to do with a concept's ability to ‘carve up’ the world of phenomena without unnecessary ambiguities; ‘theoretical importance’ has to do with the utility of a concept in the development of statements of wide explanatory and predictive power.Keywords
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