當前政治學門之內外陰影與光明展望

Bring Light Back to Politics: Reflections on the Pitfalls of Today’s Political Science from the Habitual Domains Perspective

習慣領域學說不僅能運用在認識個人及組織的限制和潛力，也能運用在更高層次的現象觀察。本研究應用習慣領域學說的深度視野，勾勒出政治學門的習慣領域，指出學門的內外陰影內有知識論立場分立而找不到相通點的困境，對外則有學生家長乃至社會各界對於嚴重學用落差的質疑，以及如何找到光明展望。政治學門長期受限於對政治的定義以及既有知識論體系的固化，不易找出轉變社會對於政治學刻板印象的方法。本研究提出擴展學門實際領域的兩個倡議：一是在知識論體系上，認清不同知識論體系的強處之後，重新正視社會科學領域長期忽略的實用主義中探討人性的傳統；二是在方法論體系上，重新面對「意義探勘」這個方法論的重要性。前者能縮短學生及社會對於政治學學用落差的認知，後者則能促進學門內及跨學門更高層次的合作。實用主義者的核心關懷是認識自己與他人痛苦的來源並提出解決策略，因此，若能在政治學門中重新恢復實用主義，結合意義探勘的方法論，並重新推出新的課程，不但大有機會讓政治學成為落實習慣領域學說「覺、學、用、享」理念的學門，也足以幫助未來各行各業的領導者迎接數據時代中「人」（治理）與「機」（人工智慧）必須分庭抗禮的局面。

Political science as a discipline has been challenged from within and outside. The division between the major two epistemological stances─positivism and interpretivism ─has dominated the development of the discipline, while the society in Taiwan remains doubtful about if this discipline could help build a better government and provide students better skills for job market. This article summarizes the sources of the problems and how likely these serious problems could be resolved. The proposed solution is a synergy of my personal observation about the field, experiences of teaching political methodology, and learning about the habitual domains (HD) theory. I suggest two solutions to solve the above challenges to the discipline: First, take the “thick data” or meaning mining methodological approach to weave researchers from different kingdoms of epistemology. Second, revive the pragmatism tradition that prioritizes humanity and human nature as the subjects of study. These two strategies of re-focusing the discipline will help future statesmen and stateswomen to balance the influence of artificial intelligence and bring wellbeing to their fellow citizens.