James C. Scott on Metis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2026iss30.5549Keywords:
Philosophy of Social Science, metis, social know-how, applicability of knowledge, social scienceAbstract
James C. Scott’s Seeing like a State offers an account of socially relevant know-how that is characteristic of successful lived-in ways of social order, which he calls mêtis. In this paper, I examine Scott’s ideas on mêtis and raise some questions about cases wherein the need for mêtis is not easily met, drawing from various cases in the field of disaster studies.
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