Project description
Big data sheds light on the relationship of physics concepts to social behaviours
Forces, resistance to change, balance and averages or means are concepts related to physical systems and processes that apply equally well to social behaviours and democratic governance. Such a ‘social physics’ paradigm relying on the big data available over recent decades related to crowd behaviours has not been evaluated in depth, nor have the potential links between physics and sociopolitical systems been analysed. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the SOPHY project will combine elements of Begriffsgeschichte, Foucauldian discourse analysis, historical epistemology and social history to provide new insight and raise awareness of the increasingly data-based patterns in society.
Objective
"""Philosophy of Social Physics"" (SOPHY) intends to explore the impact of physics on the genesis of the social sciences and to define the current use of “Social Physics” in the scientific discourse on big data related to crowd behaviors. The general hypothesis is that physical narratives and notions such as force, resistance, balance, and average have played a crucial role in shaping the concepts we use to think of society since the rise of the Sociological thought in the 19th century, and that in reconstructing the genealogy of the social sciences, the reference to natural sciences cannot be limited to the biological framework.
The goal is to provide new insights into the conceptual paradigms that have been underpinning democratic governance in modern and contemporary societies, thus raising awareness about the rationale of increasingly data-based patterns in social policies. The ""Social Physics"" paradigm has not yet been analysed in depth through a political-philosophical perspective capable of showing the internal logic and history of the concepts employed. Additionally, an analysis of the links between physics-related notions and political and social concepts in the 19th century is still to be outlined. Moreover, there is still no historical, conceptual, and philosophical-political study focusing on the origins of social physics as it is understood and structured today.
SOPHY will use a methodology resulting from an original combination of the tradition of Begriffsgeschichte, Foucauldian discourse analysis, Historical Epistemology and History of social concepts. This methodology will allow to analyse the historical semantics of concepts emphasizing their contingency and their cultural and social constructed nature, while defining at the same time the epistemic structure in which they are produced and used."
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
75270 Paris
France