SELECT CONCEPTS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 2:
AXIOMATIC OR DEDUCTIVE THEORY
1.
According
to Zetterberg 1965 (as quoted by Bailey 1995: 45), inspite of minitheories,
many researchers reserve the term “theory” for sets of two or more interrelated
propositions that explain and predict.
2.
The
most common interrelated propositions is AXIOMATIC or DEDUCTIVE THEORY that basically takes this
deductive syllogism:
Proposition 1: If A then B.
Proposition 2: If B then C.
Therefore:
Proposition 3: If A then C.
3.
In
the said theory, if propositions 1 and 2 are true statements, it follows by
deduction that proposition 3 is also true.
4.
True statements from which other statements are deducted are
called axioms or postulates. Although axioms and postulates are interchangeable, axiom has a mathematical
connotation and is more often used for statements that are true by definition
or for propositions involving highly abstracts concepts. Thus, we can say that
propositions 1 and 2 are axioms. The term “postulate” is more often used for
statements whose truth has been demonstrated empirically.
5.
A
proposition that can be deduced from a set of postulates is called a theorem. Thus, proposition 3 in
item #2 above is a theorem.
6.
FORMAL THEORY: this is a type of an axiomatic or deductive theory
that consists of a system of (1) a set
of axioms whose truth is assumed (and tested only by testing some of their
logical consequences) and cannot be deducted from other statements in the
theory; (2) statements or theorems following from the axioms or axioms in
conjunctions with the theorems and definitions; and (3) a set of definitions of
some of the descriptive terms that appear in the axioms even as definitions may
also be introduced in the course of proving the theorems. In a formal theory,
the axioms may not be subject to tests but Bailey 1994 says that some or all of
the theorems must be tested in order for a theory to be proven or
disproven. Thus, for Bailey, formal
theory allow us to use axioms that are abstract or unmeasureable and,
therefore, untestable, provided that we
are ultimately able to deduce from them some empirically testable propositions.
Prof. Art Boquiren January 2004 based on Bailey
1994: 41-48, 494