Review: Words and Distinctions for the Common Good: Practical Reason in the Logic of Social Science

Abstract

In Words and Distinctions for the Common Good, Gabriel Abend identifies perpetual disagreement as the core problem plaguing the social sciences. To address it, he proposes a framework based on practical reason that promotes continuous democratic deliberation about the language we use to investigate the social world. This involves examining both specific terms (what he calls "Word goes first") and conceptual distinctions (now named "Distinction goes first"). The criterion for validating these tools is their contribution to the Common Good, a concept with communitarian roots. Thus, the work does not seek to end the debate, but to lay the groundwork for a more lucid and participatory reflection on how language shapes both social knowledge and the reality it seeks to describe.