>I do not consider a belief that theories should have some contact
>with empirical reality to be either empiricism or positivism. Reality
>cannot be cancelled with a label.
the problem, of course, is that---as i suggested with my Rorschach-like list of concepts--is that theories address phenomena that we cannot actually see, touch, taste, smell, etc. for example, one might have a theory that the nature of the state in western societies changed in the shift from early capitalism to late capitalism and perhaps one can support that theory by reference to empirical reality. but if i were to take your position of radical doubt, i'd have to ask: what is a state, how do we know it exists? what is capitalism and how do we know it exists? early v. late capitalism? and what on earth is a society and how do we know it exists? we can't see society, can we? have you ever seen one? when has anyone ever seen a capitalism?
kelley