Determinism, Social Science, and Public Administration

Abstract

This article critically examines the argument that mainstream social science research should play a greater role in public administration inquiry than it has. Drawing in significant part on the ideas of the late Isaiah Berlin, it is argued here that the deterministic view of human action that is offered by such research is not very useful to public administration practice and, if overemphasized, may even pose dangers to our values of human freedom and responsibility.

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