The status of the social sciences as sciences has always been precarious. However, the central role played by statistical methods in the modern social sciences has seemed to provide at least several of them with a badge of scientific status, inasmuch as a recurrent theme in the use of statistics in social inquiry has been the idea that statistical methods should be capable of revealing distinctive laws and causal relations upon which the social world is ordered. Yet today, the major methodological issue confronting the social sciences is the emergence of a crisis over the most widely used statistical methods, generally known as "causal modeling" techniques. This conference, being held at Notre Dame University in October, 1993, is bringing together for the first time the major protagonists in the current debate about whether statistical methods can generate causal knowledge. Also participating are sophisticated critics from philosophy and social sciences who are exploring alternative interpretations of the crisis at the broadest philosophical level. The significance of the present situation is considerable, for the "natural science" model of social scientific knowledge has had a substantial impact on many areas of thought. Its apparent dissolution from within is an event requiring philosophical interpretation. This conference promises to assist in bringing these controversies out of the narrowly technical literature and into the consciousness of the larger intellectual community.
