The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences

by Roy Bhaskar

Since its original publication in 1979, The Possibility of Naturalism has been one of the most influential works in contemporary philosophy of science and social science and one of the cornerstones of critical realism.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Theory

229 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Roy Bhaskar (born May 15, 1944) is a British philosopher, best known as the initiator of the philosophical movement of Critical Realism.

Bhaskar was born in Teddington, London, the elder of two brothers. His Indian father and English mother were Theosophists.[1]

In 1963 Bhaskar began attending Balliol College, Oxford on a scholarship to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Having graduated with first class honours in 1966, he began work on a Ph.D. thesis about the relevance of economic theory for under-developed countries. This research led him to the philosophy of social science and then the philosophy of science. In the course of this Rom Harré became his supervisor.

Reviews

[Johnny Go · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read

[Karim Kadry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't understand most of it
But loved nonetheless

[Bruce Lee Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a difficult but also a most important book. Bhaskar passed away in 2014, but as early as 1975 in "A Realist Theory of Science" he became the spokesperson and essentially the founder of Critical Realism. [At the time, and still in this book, he unfortunately still referred to it as Transcendental Realism -- that's what happens when you actually read Kant. Also, too much use of linguistic analogies thanks to Wittgenstein I'm guessing, with terms like "intransitive," transitive," and "predicate" -- not to mention way too much Latin for the modern reader.]

This book lays the groundwork the scientific studies of sociology and psychology without reducing them to physics or chemistry. In other words, it lays a foundation for the ontology of social, economic, linguistic, cognitive/psychological sciences by treating them as materially (naturally) real, without Humean, reductionist, positivist diminishment of their own "causal powers." It's all about the interplay of human agency (both roles and reflexivity) and the separate, irreducible reality of social structures.

I would recommend Elder-Vass or Margaret S. Archer's later works for an easier transition into Critical Realism. As I've said in other reviews, complexity theorists and cognitive scientists need to understand Critical Realism if they ever want to understand society or consciousness as natural activities not based on any non-material, Cartesian dualism.

He is not a great writer and this book as his other writings deserved editing and feedback before publication. All the complaints notwithstanding, has an enormous breadth of background in philosophy, science and politics -- he even incorporates Marx, Lucás, Gramsci, Habermas and Sartre into his thinking and activism, which is no doubt why he had to avoid the typical academic paths and journal review constraints that would have slowed down his intellectual growth and exposition. Nonetheless, this book is readable for the dedicated who want to understand perhaps the most important philosopher of the last 50 years and how his work contributes to the foundations
and renewal of numerous fields of knowledge outside the laboratory.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

in the words of my colleague, "this is as comprehensible as my toddlers at bedtime"

[Alex Stretton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, will have to read again to rap head around a few sections