Executing Truth: Public Policy and the Threat of Social Science

(Hardback)

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With the increasing use of algorithms to govern public life, a proliferation of promises surrounding big data, and an ever tighter union of academic specialists and the state bureaucracy, we are, it seems, on our way to an administrative utopia. At what cost, though Executing Truth critically appraises this reformation of politics by way of the social sciences. It argues that what is lost with this reformation is a deeper consideration of the problematic relation of truth to politics; a problem which cuts deeper than any social science might plumb. In seeking to recover what is lost, this book offers a comprehensive study of the problem. The author works his way back from the debates in politically applied social science (or policy science) to the foundational thinkers. These include Harold Lasswell, John Dewey, Max Weber, and Georg Hegel. At the end of this journey, Executing Truth calls for a return to the everyday (or the most comprehensive basis for distinguishing between theoretical perspectives), and outlines the implications of this return for those political advisors state executive actors tasked with speaking truth to power.

Reviews

A bold, philosophically nuanced account of what is truly at stake in the perennial problem of truth and politics. Negatively, the book demonstrates that modern executive attempts to resolve the problem by allying politics with impartial social science necessarily fails; positively, it delineates (via an analysis of key thinkers Lasswell, Dewey, Weber and Hegel) a path toward adequate resolution. Weierter argues we must turn from the abstract truths of social scientific theory toward philosophical understanding of the everyday in which all, including policy-makers, are necessarily embedded. A challenging book recommended for anyone interested in the enduring conundrum of good policy-making. -- John Kane, Griffith University

Author Bio

Stuart Weierter is senior statistician at Queensland State Government