Fallibilism and Ontology in Tuukka Kaidesoja’s Critical Realist Social Ontology
Keywords:
philosophy of social science, critical realism, emergence, naturalism, causal powerAbstract
This article addresses Tuukka Kaidesoja’s critique of the philosophical presuppositions of Roy Bhaskar’s theories of critical realism. The article supports Kaidesoja’s naturalistic approach to the philosophy of the social sciences, including the field of social ontology. The article discusses the specific topics of fallibilism, emergence, and causal powers. I conclude that Kaidesoja’s book is a valuable contribution to current debates over critical realism.
References
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Bhaskar, Roy (1989): The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Human Sciences, Second edition. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Boyd, Richard (1990): “Realism, Approximate Truth, and Philosophical Method”. In: C. Wade Savage (Ed.): Scientific Theories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Cruickshank, Justin (Ed.) (2003a): Critical Realism: The Difference in Makes, Routledge Studies in Critical Realism. London; New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203512302
Cruickshank, Justin (Ed.) (2003b): Realism and Sociology: Anti-Foundationalism, Ontology, and Social Research, Routledge Studies in Critical Realism. London; New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203116708
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Elder-Vass, Dave, Mervyn Hartwig, and Daniel Little (2013): Replies by Elder-Vass and Hartwig to Cruickshank/Little. Understanding Society. Accessed in 2014. (http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2013/12/replies-by-elder-vass-and-hartwig-to.html).
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Kaidesoja, Tuukka (2013): Naturalizing Critical Realist Social Ontology, Ontological Explorations. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203753484
Little, Daniel (2009): “The Heterogeneous Social”. In: Mantzavinos, Chrysostomos (Ed.): Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Philosophical Theory and Scientific Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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