The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences (Critical Realism: Interventions (Hardcover))

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. It is one of the cornerstones of the critical realist position, which is now widely seen as offering perhaps the only viable alternative to positivism and post positivism. This edition contains a new foreword. Education, Politics & IR, Sociology & Social Policy Book Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Contents 5 Foreword to the Third Edition 8 Preface to the Second Edition 10 Preface to the First Edition 12 Acknowledgements 14 Chapter 1 Transcendental Realism and the Problem of Naturalism 15 The Problem of Naturalism 15 How is a Philosophy of Science Possible? 18 Experiment and Application: The Intransitive Dimension 23 Discovery and Development: The Transitive Dimension 26 The Social Sciences and Philosophy 28 Towards a New Critical Naturalism 32 NOTES 38 Chapter 2 Societies 41 Introduction 41 Against Individualism 43 On the Society/Person Connection 48 Some Emergent Properties of Social Systems 55 On the Limits of Naturalism 62 Social Science as Critique: Facts, Values and Theories 73 APPENDIX A Note on the Marxist Concept of Ideology 85 A. Sciences and Ideologies in Historical Materialism 85 B. Science v. Ideology in the Critique of Political Economy 87 NOTES 92 Chapter 3 Agency 102 Introduction 102 Agents, Reasons and Causes I: Objections to Naturalism 106 Agents, Reasons and Causes II: Naturalism Vindicated 113 Emergent Powers and Materialism I: Against Reductionism 120 Emergent Powers and Materialism II: In Defence of Transcategorial Causality 125 Rational Explanation 132 NOTES 139 Chapter 4 Philosophies 146 Metaphilosophical Preliminaries 146 The Critique of the Positivist Tradition: Explanation, Prediction and Confirmation 150 The Critique of the Hermeneutical Tradition I: Concepts, Reasons and Rules 160 The Critique of the Hermeneutical Tradition II: Explanation and Understanding 168 The Hermeneutical Circle and the Logic of Emancipation 182 Conclusion 188 NOTES 190 Postscript 198 NOTES 211 Bibliography 215 Index of Names 223 Index of Subjects 226 The Possibility of Naturalism is one of the cornerstones of the critical realist position, which is now widely seen as offering a viable alternative to positivism and postmodernism. This revised edition includes a substantial new introduction 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. This volume examines and contributes to debates surrounding social capital, social movements and the role of civil society in emerging forms of governance