IN THE CONTEXT OF DİCHOTOMİC RELATİONSHİPS THE FACT-VALUE PROBLEM

Abstract

The fact-value dichotomy, which is one of the most basic concept pairs of social sciences, is related to the subjects of objectivity, subjectivity and value-judgment. This pair of concepts appears at every level of theoretical and applied research. While investigating the nature of social reality and the social world, the fact-value plane is very sensitive. Attributing value to the fact or presenting values as fact is extremely risky for the objectives of objective scientific research. Because the fact-value dichotomy raises some important questions about the objectivity problem in scientific knowledge, the value-judgment problem, the criticism and the application principles in terms of social studies. Answering these questions requires a sociological analysis of the fact-value dichotomy. Therefore, the focus point of this study is the relational sociological analysis of the fact-value dichotomy. In this context, in the present study, the fact-value dichotomy will be discussed first at the sociological level, and then the nature and importance of the dichotomic relationship in social sciences will be emphasized. The main purpose of the study is to examine the dichotomous relationship between factual reality and contingent reality from different perspectives. The study, on the one hand, draws attention to the ontological aspect of the dichotomous relationship, on the other hand, aims to clarify the epistemological and methodological aspects. The point that makes the study important is that it deals with the fact-value problematic from a dichotomous (relational) perspective rather than individually. In other words, the study is important in terms of starting from the fact that fact and value create and complement each other. Since the study was designed in a theoretical context, the phenomenological approach was preferred. As an analysis technique, content and expression analyzes were emphasized.