Detail the major points either for or against the view that there can be a science of politics, providing examples for each view.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The ideal answer should include:
1. A "real" science must utilize strong applications of the four elements of Thomas Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: central concepts, theories, rules of interpretation, and a list of issues that are worth solving.
2. For: Political scientists are able to identify key concepts, such as "war," both broadly and specifically, and they provide many theories about the concepts that they study (include an example (diversionary war theory, war weariness hypothesis, etc.)); there are also methods of establishing the validity of these theories and many issues worth solving in the field.
3. Against: Few would claim that political science is fully developed on any of these four elements. Most importantly, analysis of politicians cannot be objective and unbiased (culture, individual experience, and other factors impact the analysis), and it defies generalizability. Finally, since Aristotle's time, it has been accepted that the most crucial questions about politics are normative.