Black Donald
Department of Sociology, University of Virginia.
Br J Sociol. 2013 Dec;64(4):763-80. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12034.
A value judgment says what is good or bad, and value-free social science simply means social science free of value judgments. Yet many sociologists regard value-free social science as undesirable or impossible and readily make value judgments in the name of sociology. Often they display confusion about such matters as the meaning of value-free social science, value judgments internal and external to social science, value judgments as a subject of social science, the relevance of objectivity for value-free social science, and the difference between the human significance of social science and value-free social science. But why so many sociologists are so value-involved - and generally so unscientific - is sociologically understandable: The closest and most distant subjects attract the least scientific ideas. And during the past century sociologists have become increasingly close to their human subject. The debate about value-free social science is also part of an epistemological counterrevolution of humanists (including many sociologists) against the more scientific social scientists who invaded and threatened to expropriate the human subject during the past century.
价值判断阐述什么是好的或坏的，而价值中立的社会科学仅仅意味着不包含价值判断的社会科学。然而，许多社会学家认为价值中立的社会科学是不可取的或不可能的，并轻易地以社会学的名义做出价值判断。他们常常在诸如价值中立的社会科学的含义、社会科学内部和外部的价值判断、作为社会科学一个主题的价值判断、客观性与价值中立的社会科学的相关性，以及社会科学的人文意义与价值中立的社会科学之间的差异等问题上表现出困惑。但是，为什么这么多社会学家如此深陷价值之中——而且通常如此不科学——从社会学角度是可以理解的：最亲近和最遥远的主题吸引的科学思想最少。在过去的一个世纪里，社会学家与他们的人类主题越来越亲近。关于价值中立的社会科学的争论也是人文主义者（包括许多社会学家）对在过去一个世纪里侵入并威胁要剥夺人类主题的更具科学性的社会科学家进行的一场认识论反革命的一部分。
