A Realist Theory of Science

ISBN-13: 9780415454940 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 279 str.

Roy Bhaskar

Opis

Now acknowledged as a classic in the philosophy of science, A Realist Theory of Science is one of the very few books which has transformed, not only our understanding of science, but that of the nature of the world it studies. Since its original publication in 1975, this book has inspired the multi-disciplinary and international movement of thought known as 'critical realism'; and its ideas have been influential across the whole spectrum of the sciences, arts and humanities and in a diverse array of social practices and professions.

In this book, Roy Bhaskar sets out to revindicate ontology, critiquing the reduction of being in favor of knowledge, which he calls the "epistemic fallacy". Employing a transcendental argument from the nature of experimental activity, he establishes a critique of the dominant positivist and neo-Kantian traditions in the philosophy of science, developing a new ontology in which concepts of structure, difference and change come to the fore. Then, analyzing the nature of scientific discovery and development, he shows how, against both the empiricist and rationalist traditions, science can come to have a posteriori knowledge of natural necessity.

The resultant position, which the author characterizes as transcendental realism, has the power to resolve many traditional philosophical problems, such as the problem of induction. At the same time it lays the basis for radically new accounts of social science, ethics and the project of human emancipation.

Spis treści

Introduction Chapter 1. Philosophy and Scientific Realism 1. Two Sides o f ‘Knowledge’ 2. Three Traditions in the Philosophy of Science 3. The Transcendental Analysis of Experience A. The Analysis of Perception B. The Analysis of Experimental Activity 4. The Status of Ontology and Its Dissolution in Classical Philosophy 5. Ontology Vindicated and The Real Basis of Causal Laws 6. A Sketch of a Critique of Empirical Realism Chapter 2. Actualism and the Concept of a Closure 1. Introduction: On the Actuality of the Causal Connection 2. Regularity Determinism and the Quest for a Closure 3. The Classical Paradigm of Action 4. Actualism and Transcendental Realism: The Interpretation of Normic Statements 5. Autonomy and Reduction 6. Explanation in Open Systems

O autorze

Roy Bhaskar is the originator of the philosophy of critical realism, and the author of many acclaimed and influential works including A Realist Theory of Science, The Possibility of Naturalism, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, Reclaiming Reality and Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom. He is an editor of the recently published Critical Realism: Essential Readings and is currently chair of the Centre for Critical Realism.