Introduction: Objectivity, science and social science -- A skewed comparison -- What model of science for social science? -- What model of knowledge of social science? -- What model of object for social science? -- Chapter I: Anthropological objects -- From positivism to interpretivism -- Anthropological objects I: cockfighting in Bali -- Anthropological objects II: witchcraft in the Bocage -- Anthropological objects III: Nuer 'sacrifice" and Txikao 'couvade' -- Complex anthropological objects -- Chapter II: Sociological objects -- Received paradigms -- Against prescriptive assumptions: indexical social objects -- Sociological objects: stages of research and levels of construction -- A classic example: suicide -- Chapter III: Historical objects -- The normative view: explaining history by Hempelian laws -- "What' do historians explain? -- Quantitative and qualitative history: samples of research -- Making history in museums -- Chapter 4: Economic objects -- Economic theory and methodological concern -- Rhetorical objects of economic practice -- Realist objects of economic practice -- The 'partial' object of economics -- Chapter 5: Geographical objects -- A natural or a social science? -- 'Space and place': quantitative reconstructions -- 'Space and place': qualitative reconstructions -- 'Space and place': realist reconstructions -- The possible worlds of human geography.