Critical realism, a philosophical approach
associated with Roy Bhaskar (1944–2014),
combines a general philosophy of science (transcendental
realism) with a philosophy of social science
(critical naturalism) to describe an interface
between the natural and social worlds.
== Contemporary critical realism ==
=== Overview ===
Bhaskar developed a general philosophy of
science that he described as transcendental
realism and a special philosophy of the human
sciences that he called critical naturalism.
The two terms were combined by other authors
to form the umbrella term critical realism.
Transcendental realism attempts to establish
that in order for scientific investigation
to take place, the object of that investigation
must have real, manipulable, internal mechanisms
that can be actualized to produce particular
outcomes.
This is what we do when we conduct experiments.
This stands in contrast to empiricist scientists'
claim that all scientists can do is observe
the relationship between cause and effect
and impose meaning.
Whilst empiricism, and positivism more generally,
locate causal relationships at the level of
events, critical realism locates them at the
level of the generative mechanism, arguing
that causal relationships are irreducible
to empirical constant conjunctions of David
Hume's doctrine; in other words, a constant
conjunctive relationship between events is
neither sufficient nor even necessary to establish
a causal relationship.The implication of this
is that science should be understood as an
ongoing process in which scientists improve
the concepts they use to understand the mechanisms
that they study.
It should not, in contrast to the claim of
empiricists, be about the identification of
a coincidence between a postulated independent
variable and dependent variable.
Positivism/falsificationism are also rejected
due to the observation that it is highly plausible
that a mechanism will exist but either a)
go unactivated, b) be activated, but not perceived,
or c) be activated, but counteracted by other
mechanisms, which results in its having unpredictable
effects.
Thus, non-realisation of a posited mechanism
cannot (in contrast to the claim of some positivists)
be taken to signify its non-existence.
Falsificationism can be viewed at the statement
level (naive falsificationism) or at the theorem
level (more common in practice).
In this way, the two approaches can be reconciled
to some extent.
Critical naturalism argues that the transcendental
realist model of science is equally applicable
to both the physical and the human worlds.
However, when we study the human world we
are studying something fundamentally different
from the physical world and must, therefore,
adapt our strategy to studying it.
Critical naturalism, therefore, prescribes
social scientific method which seeks to identify
the mechanisms producing social events, but
with a recognition that these are in a much
greater state of flux than those of the physical
world (as human structures change much more
readily than those of, say, a leaf).
In particular, we must understand that human
agency is made possible by social structures
that themselves require the reproduction of
certain actions/pre-conditions.
Further, the individuals that inhabit these
social structures are capable of consciously
reflecting upon, and changing, the actions
that produce them—a practice that is in
part facilitated by social scientific research.
Critical realism has become an influential
movement in British sociology and social science
in general as a reaction to, and reconciliation
of, postmodern critiques.
=== Developments ===
Since Bhaskar made the first big steps in
popularising the theory of critical realism
in the 1970s, it has become one of the major
strands of social scientific method, rivalling
positivism/empiricism, and post-structuralism/relativism/interpretivism.After
his development of critical realism, Bhaskar
went on to develop a philosophical system
he calls dialectical critical realism, which
is most clearly outlined in his weighty book,
Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom.
An accessible introduction to Bhaskar's writings
was written by Andrew Collier.
Andrew Sayer has written accessible texts
on critical realism in social science.
Danermark et al. have also produced an accessible
account.
Margaret Archer is associated with this school,
as is the ecosocialist writer Peter Dickens.
David Graeber relies on critical realism,
which he understands as a form of 'heraclitean'
philosophy, emphasizing flux and change over
stable essences, in his anthropological book
on the concept of value, Toward an anthropological
theory of value: the false coin of our own
dreams.
Recently, attention has turned to the challenge
of implementing critical realism in applied
social research.
An edited volume examined the use of critical
realism for studying organizations (Edwards,
O'Mahoney, and Vincent 2014).
Other authors (Fletcher 2016, Parr 2015, Bunt
2018, Hoddy 2018) have discussed which specific
research methodologies and methods are conducive
(or not) to research guided by critical realism
as a philosophy of science.
== In economics ==
Heterodox economists like Tony Lawson, Lars
Pålsson Syll, Frederic Lee or Geoffrey Hodgson
are trying to work the ideas of critical realism
into economics, especially the dynamic idea
of macro-micro interaction.
According to critical realist economists,
the central aim of economic theory is to provide
explanations in terms of hidden generative
structures.
This position combines transcendental realism
with a critique of mainstream economics.
It argues that mainstream economics (i) relies
excessively on deductivist methodology, (ii)
embraces an uncritical enthusiasm for formalism,
and (iii) believes in strong conditional predictions
in economics despite repeated failures.
The world that mainstream economists study
is the empirical world.
But this world is "out of phase" (Lawson)
with the underlying ontology of economic regularities.
The mainstream view is thus a limited reality
because empirical realists presume that the
objects of inquiry are solely "empirical regularities"—that
is, objects and events at the level of the
experienced.
The critical realist views the domain of real
causal mechanisms as the appropriate object
of economic science, whereas the positivist
view is that the reality is exhausted in empirical,
i.e. experienced reality.
Tony Lawson argues that economics ought to
embrace a "social ontology" to include the
underlying causes of economic phenomena.
== Marxism ==
A development of Bhaskar's critical realism
lies at the ontological root of contemporary
streams of Marxist political and economic
theory.
The realist philosophy described by Bhaskar
in A Realist Theory of Science is compatible
with Marx's work in that it differentiates
between an intransitive reality, which exists
independently of human knowledge of it, and
the socially produced world of science and
empirical knowledge.
This dualist logic is clearly present in the
Marxian theory of ideology, according to which
social reality may be very different from
its empirically observable surface appearance.
Notably, Alex Callinicos has argued for a
'critical realist' ontology in the philosophy
of social science and explicitly acknowledges
Bhaskar's influence (while also rejecting
the latter's 'spiritualist turn' in his later
work).
The relationship between critical realist
philosophy and Marxism has also been discussed
in an article co-authored by Bhaskar and Callinicos
and published in the Journal of Critical Realism.
== In international relations theory ==
Since 2000, critical realist philosophy has
also been increasingly influential in the
field of international relations (IR) theory.
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson has called it 'all
the rage' in the field.
Bob Jessop, Colin Wight, Milja Kurki, Jonathan
Joseph and Hidemi Suganami have all published
major works on the utility of beginning IR
research from a critical realist social ontology—an
ontology they all credit Roy Bhaskar with
originating.
== Ecological economics ==
The British ecological economist Clive Spash
holds the opinion that critical realism offers
a thorough basis—as a philosophy of science—for
the theoretical foundation of ecological economics.
He therefore uses a critical realist lens
for conducting research in (ecological) economics.
However, also other scholars base ecological
economics on a critical realist foundation,
such as Leigh Price from Rhodes University.
== See also ==
Philosophy of social science
Structure and agency
Theological critical realism
Transformative Studies Institute
