In the philosophy of perception, critical realism is the theory that some of our sense-data (for example, those of primary qualities) can and do accurately represent external objects, properties, and events, while other of our sense-data (for example, those of secondary qualities and perceptual illusions) do not accurately represent any external objects, properties, and events. In short, critical realism refers to any position that maintains that there exists an objectively knowable, mind-independent reality, whilst acknowledging the roles of perception and cognition. The philosophy of perception concerns how mental processes and symbols depend on the world internal and external to the perceiver. ...

Critical realism refers to a number of communities. These include the American critical realists (Roy Wood Sellars, George Santayana, and Arthur Lovejoy) and a broader movement including Bertrand Russell and C.D. Broad. More recently it refers to the community associated primariy with the work of Roy Bhaskar. It is also the name used by a number in the science-religion interface community. Roy Wood Sellars (1883-1973), was an American humanist philosopher. ... George Santayana George Santayana (16 December 1863 – 26 September 1952), was a philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist. ... Arthur Onken Lovejoy (Berlin, October 10, 1873 - Baltimore, December 30, 1962) was an influential intellectual historian, and the founder of the history of ideas. ... Wikisource has original works written by or about: Bertrand Russell Writings available online A Free Mans Worship Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic? Icarus: The Future of Science Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? Ideas that Have Harmed Mankind In Praise of Idleness (1932) Nobel Lecture (1950... Charlie Dunbar Broad (known as C.D. Broad) (30 December 1887 - 11 March 1971) was an English philosopher known for his thorough and objective analysis in works such as Scientific Thought (1930) and Examination of McTaggarts Philosophy (1933). ... Roy A. Bhaskar (born 1944) is a British philosopher, most closely associated with the philosophical movement of Critical Realism. ...

Locke and Descartes

According to Locke and Descartes, some sense-data, namely the sense-data of secondary qualities, do not represent anything in the external world, even if they are caused by external qualities (primary qualities). Thus it is natural to adopt a theory of critical realism. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Locke Free, full-text works by John Locke Works by John Locke at Project Gutenberg Works by Locke on the Web John Locke Online Bibliography Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry John Locke Bibliography John Locke Manuscripts Readable versions of the Essay... Wikisource has original works written by or about: René Descartes Works by René Descartes at Project Gutenberg A summary of his book A Discourse On Method French French Audio Book (mp3) : excerpt about animals/machines from Discourse On the Method Discourse On the Method – at Project Gutenberg Selections from...

By its talk of sense-data and representation, this theory depends on or presupposes the truth of representationalism. If critical realism is correct, then representationalism would have to be a correct theory of perception. Representationalism, or the representational theory of perception, is a philosophical doctrine that in any act of perception, the immediate (direct) object of perception is a sense-datum that represents an external object, which is the mediate (indirect) object of perception. ...

American critical realism

The American critical realist movement was a response both to direct realism (especially in its recent incarnation as new realism), as well as to idealism and pragmatism. In very broad terms, American critical realism was a form of representational realism or representationalism, in which there are objects that stand as mediators between independent real objects and perceivers. Direct realism is a theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world. ... New Realism refers to the group of artists (Y. Klein, Christo, Arman, Spoerri) founded in 1960 by Restany and Klein. ... ... Pragmatism is a school of philosophy which originated in the United States in the late 1800s. ... Representationalism, or the representational theory of perception, is a philosophical doctrine that in any act of perception, the immediate (direct) object of perception is a sense-datum that represents an external object, which is the mediate (indirect) object of perception. ...

One innovation was that these mediators aren't ideas (British empiricism), but properties, essences, or "character complexes." Empiricism is generally regarded as being at the heart of the modern scientific method, that our theories should be based on our observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith; that is, empirical research and a posteriori inductive reasoning rather than purely deductive logic. ...

British realism

Similar developments occurred in Britain. Major figures included Samuel Alexander, John Cook Wilson, H. A. Prichard, H. H. Price, and C.D. Broad. Samuel Alexander (January 6, 1859 - September 13, 1938) was an Australian-born philosopher. ... Harold Arthur Prichard (1871-1947), often , was an English intuitionist moral philosopher and epistemologist. ... Henry Habberley Price (1899-1984) was a British philosopher, known for his work on perception. ... Charlie Dunbar Broad (known as C.D. Broad) (30 December 1887 - 11 March 1971) was an English philosopher known for his thorough and objective analysis in works such as Scientific Thought (1930) and Examination of McTaggarts Philosophy (1933). ...

Contemporary critical realism

General philosophy

Critical realism is presently most commonly associated with the work of Roy Bhaskar. 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 elided by other authors to form the umbrella term Critical Realism. Roy A. Bhaskar (born 1944) is a British philosopher, most closely associated with the philosophical movement of Critical Realism. ... The philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy which studies the philosophical foundations, assumptions, and implications of science, including the natural sciences such as physics and biology, and the social sciences, such as psychology and economics. ...

Transcendental Realism refers to the fact that in order for scientific investigation to take place, the object of that investigation must have real, manipulable, internal mechanisms that can be triggered 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. 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/falsification are also rejected due to the observation that it is highly-plausible that a mechanism will exist but either a) go un-activated, b) be activated, but imperceived, c) be activated, but counteracted by other mechanisms, which result in it having unpredictable effects. Thus, non-realisation of a posited mechanism can not (in contrast to the claim of positivists) be taken to signify its non-existence.

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 to 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 they are in 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.

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.

An edited volume, - Critical Realism: Essential Readings - is the best available reader in critical realism.

There is also a Journal of Critical Realism, which publishes articles on the theory and results of the practice of critical realist social science.

A lively email discussion on critical realism can be joined on the Critical Realism e-mail list.

Since his development of Critical Realism, Bhaskar has gone 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.

Bhaskar is frequently criticised for the density and obscurity of his writing. An accesible introduction was written by Andrew Collier.

Theological critical realism

Critical realism is a name that a community of scientists turn theologians apply to themselves. The community includes John Polkinghorne, Ian Barbour, and Arthur Peacocke. The aim of the group is to show that the language of science and Christian theology are similar, forming a starting point for a dialogue between the two. Alister McGrath and Wentzel van Huyssteen (the latter of Princeton Theological Seminary) are recent contributors to this strand. Tom Wright, New Testament scholar and Anglican Bishop of Durham also writes on this topic as evidenced by: John Polkinghorne (October 16, 1930 - ) is a British scientist and theologian. ... Ian Graeme Barbour He was born in Beijing, 1923. ... Dr. Arthur Peacock was born in 1924. ... // What is science? There are various understandings of the word science. According to empiricism, scientific theories are objective, empirically testable, and predictive — they predict empirical results that can be checked and possibly contradicted. ... Christian theology practices theology from a Christian viewpoint or studies Christianity theologically. ... Dr. Alister McGrath Alister E. McGrath (born January 23, 1953) is a Christian theologian born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently serving as Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford. ... Tom (N.T.) Wright is the Bishop of Durham of the Anglican Church and a leading British New Testament scholar. ... The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... Arms of the Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the officer of the Church of England responsible for the diocese of Durham, one of the oldest in the country. ...

...I propose a form of critical realism. This is a way of describing the process of "knowing" that acknowledges the reality of the thing known, as something other than the knower (hence "realism"), while fully acknowledging that the only access we have to this reality lies along the spiralling path of appropriate dialogue or conversation between the knower and the thing known (hence "critical"). (The New Testament and the People of God, pp. 35–36)

Critical realism in economics

Heterodox economists like Tony Lawson, Fredericke Lee or Geoffrey Hodgson are trying to work the ideas of critical realism into economics, especially the dynamic idea of macro-micro interaction.

External links

• Bhaskar and American Critical Realism
• Critical realism (philosophyprofessor.com)
• Chapter XI: Realism (Introduction to Philosophy by Dallas M. Roark)
• Critical Realism (philosophypages.com)

References

Archer, M., Bhaskar, R., Collier, A., Lawson, T. and Norrie, A., 1998, Critical Realism: Essential Readings, (London, Routledge).

Bhaskar, R., 1975 [1997], A Realist Theory of Science: 2nd edition, (London, Verso).

Bhaskar, R., 1998, The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences: Third Edition, (London, Routledge)

Bhaskar, R., 1993, Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom, (London, Verso).

Collier, A, 1994, Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar's Philosophy, (London, Verso).

Lopez, J. and Potter, G., 2001, After Postmodernism: An Introduction to Critical Realism, (London, The Athlone Press).

McGrath, A. E., 2001, A Scientific Theology, (London, T&T Clark)

Polkinghorne, J, 1991, Reason and Reality: The Relationship between science and theology, (London, SPCK)