Showing papers on "Realism published in 2006"

Research design and data analysis in realism research

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this paper is to apply principles of the realism paradigm within qualitative research projects.Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts by establishing the usefulness of realism research for investigating marketing management phenomena, and then considers the implications of the realism paradigm for research design.Findings – Issues such as the level of prior theory required, the use of replication logic and triangulation are discussed. In addition, guidelines for realism data analysis and reporting are developed.Originality/value – This paper provides an explicit set of principles for realism research design and data analysis that is different from those in other types of research.

Exceeding Our Grasp: Science, History, and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives

Abstract: 1. Realism, Pessimism, and Underdetermination 1.1 Scientific Realism: What's at Stake? 1.2 Problems for Pessimism and Underdetermination 1.3 Recurrent, Transient Underdetermination, and a New Induction over the History of Science 2. Chasing Duhem: The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives 2.1 Duhem's Worry: Eliminative Inferences and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives 2.2 Confirmation: Holism, Eliminative Induction, and Bayesianism 2.3 Pessimism Revisited 3. Darwin and Pangenesis: The Search for the Material Basis of Generation and Heredity 3.1 Preliminary Worries 3.2 Pangenesis: Darwin's "Mad Dream" and "Beloved Child" 3.3 Darwin's Failure to Grasp Galton's Common Cause Mechanism for Inheritance 4. Galton and the Strip Theory 4.1 The Transfusion Experiments: "A Dreadful Disappointment to Them Both" 4.2 Galton's Strip Theory and Its Maturational, Invariant Conception of Inheritance 4.3 Galton's Understanding of "Correlation" and "Variable Influences" in Development 5. August Weismann's Theory of the Germ-Plasm 5.1 German Biology at the End of the Nineteenth Century and Weismann's Theory of the Germ-Plasm 5.2 Germinal Specificity, the Search for a Mechanism of Cellular Differentiation and the Reservation of the Germ-Plasm 5.4 Productive and Expendable Germinal Resources 5.5 Conclusion: Lessons from History 6. History Revisited: Pyrrhic Victories for Scientific Realism 6.1 Realist Responses to the Historical Record 6.2 Once More into the Breach: The Pessimistic Induction 6.3 Reference without Descriptive Accuracy 6.4 Diluting Approximate Truth 7. Selective Confirmation and the Historical Record: "Another Such Victory over the Romans"? 7.1 Realism, Selective Confirmation, and Retrospective Judgments of Idleness 7.2 Theoretical Posits: They Work Hard for the Money 7.3 Trust and Betrayal 7.4 Structural Realism and Retention 7.5 Selective Confirmation: No Refuge for Realism 8. Science without Realism? References Index

Chasing Reality: Strife over Realism

Abstract: Chasing Reality deals with the controversies over the reality of the external world. Distinguished philosopher Mario Bunge offers an extended defence of realism, a critique of various forms of contemporary anti-realism, and a sketch of his own version of realism, namely hylorealism. Bunge examines the main varieties of antirealism - Berkeley's, Hume's, and Kant's; positivism, phenomenology, and constructivism - and argues that all of these in fact hinder scientific research.Bunge's realist contention is that genuine explanations in the sciences appeal to causal laws and mechanisms that are not directly observable, rather than simply to empirical generalisations. Genuine science, in his view, is objective even when it deals with subjective phenomena such as feelings of fear. This work defends a realist view of universals, kinds, possibilities, and dispositions, while rejecting contemporary accounts of these that are couched in terms of modal logic and 'possible worlds.'

The Resources of Critique

Abstract: * Introduction * Part I: Four Kinds of Impasse *1. Modernity and its Promises: Habermas and Bidet *1.1 Between sociological suspicion and the rule of law: * Jurgen Habermas *1.2 With and against Marx and Rawls: Jacques Bidet *2. Between Relativism and Universalism: French * Critical Sociology *2.1 Capitalism and its critiques: Boltanski and Chiapello *2.2 The dialectic of universal and particular: Pierre Bourdieu *3. Touching the Void: Badiou and i ek *3.1 The exception is the norm *3.2 Miracles do happen: the ontology of Alain Badiou *3.3 Unreal: Slavoj i ek and the proletariat *4. The Generosity of Being: Antonio Negri *4.1 All is grace *4.2 Negri's Grundrisse: revolutionary subjectivity versus * Marxist 'objectivism' *4.3 The refusal of transcendence * Part II: Three Dimensions of Progress *5. A Critical Realist Ontology *5.1 The story so far *5.2 Dimensions of realism *6. Structure and Contradiction *6.1 Realism about structures *6.2 The primacy of contradiction *6.3 A dialectic of nature? *7. Justice and Universality *7.1 From fact to value *7.2 Equality and well-being *7.3 Why equality matters *8. Conclusion

Just Wars: From Cicero to Iraq

Abstract: In what circumstances is it legitimate to use force? How should force be used? These are two of the most crucial questions confronting world politics today.The Just War tradition provides a set of criteria which political leaders and soldiers use to defend and rationalize war. This book explores the evolution of thinking about just wars and examines its role in shaping contemporary judgements about the use of force, from grand strategic issues of whether states have a right to preemptive self-defence, to the minutiae of targeting.Bellamy maps the evolution of the Just War tradition, demonstrating how it arose from a myriad of sub-traditions, including scholasticism, the holy war tradition, chivalry, natural law positive law, Erasmus and Kant's reformism, and realism from Machiavelli to Morgenthau. He then applies this tradition to a range of contemporary normative dilemmas related to terrorism, pre-emption, aerial bombardment and humanitarian intervention.Copyright © Alex J. Bellamy 2006

The problem of agency in feminism: a critical realist approach

Abstract: In a recent paper, members from the London Feminist Salon Collective reflected on the vexed problem of agency in poststructuralist theory and asked, ‘as feminist educational researchers, where do we go from here?’ The issue remains pressing as agency, both individual and collective, is at the heart of the feminist, and indeed, all radical political projects. The attractions of poststructuralist theorizing for many feminists has been its decisive break with logocentrism. However, from the 1980s onwards, feminists were pointing to the problems poststructuralism presented in theorizing the nature of agency. In this paper I will argue that we should adopt a different theoretical starting point. Drawing heavily on the work of Margaret Archer, I will argue that critical realism has much to offer theories of political action. While acknowledging the enormous contribution of feminist scholars working within a poststructuralist paradigm, I will argue that the epistemological and ontological assumptions at the hear...

Structure: Its Shadow and Substance

Abstract: On December 9, 1908 Max Planck addressed the Student Corps of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Leiden. His announced topic was The Unity of the Physical World-Picture , but the real intent was a polemic against a whole bevy of famous scientists who had turned against realism in the past fifty years. The debate concerning how science represents nature, and specifically whether it represents more than solely structural aspects of the phenomena, had begun earlier in the 19th century, and would continue for the remainder of the 20th I will discuss both the scientific motivations and the philosophical reactions, including scientific realism and the new Structural Realism, as well as offer an empiricist structuralist view as alternative.

Truth and Realism

Abstract: I. TRUTH AND RELATIVISM II. REALISM AND ANTIREALISM III. METHODOLOGY AND THE NATURE OF THE DEBATES

Against `Realism'

Abstract: We examine the prevalent use of the phrase ``local realism'' in the context of Bell's Theorem and associated experiments, with a focus on the question: what exactly is the `realism' in `local realism' supposed to mean? Carefully surveying several possible meanings, we argue that all of them are flawed in one way or another as attempts to point out a second premise (in addition to locality) on which the Bell inequalities rest, and (hence) which might be rejected in the face of empirical data violating the inequalities We thus suggest that the phrase `local realism' should be banned from future discussions of these issues, and urge physicists to revisit the foundational questions behind Bell's Theorem

Thucydides and Modern Realism

Abstract: This paper makes two main arguments about the relationship between Thucydides, modern realism, and the key conceptual ideas they introduce to situate and explain international politics. First, Thucydides refutes the central claim underlying modern realist scholarship, that the sources of state behavior can be located not in the character of the primary political units but in the decentralized system or structure created by their interaction. Second, however, analyses that discuss Thucydides exclusively with respect to this “third-image” realism do not take into account the most important emendation made to political realism in the last half of the twentieth century, Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics . Waltz reformulates the theory of how anarchic political structures affect the behavior of their constituent units and suggests that the question posed by realism—and to be asked of Thucydides—is not whether states behave according to the Athenian thesis or consistently observe the power-political laws of nature, but whether they suffer “costs” in terms of political autonomy, security, and cultural integrity if they do not. Many scholars are therefore incorrect to assume that demonstrating the importance of non-structural factors in The Peloponnesian War severs the connection between Thucydides and structural realism. Thucydides may in fact be a realist, but not for reasons conventionally assumed.

Kant, Science, and Human Nature

Abstract: PART I: EMPIRICAL REALISM AND SCIENTIFIC REALISM PART II: THE PRACTICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE EXACT SCIENCES

Scientific realism and the stratagema de divide et impera

Abstract: In response to historical challenges, advocates of a sophisticated variant of scientific realism emphasize that theoretical systems can be divided into numerous constituents. Setting aside any epistemic commitment to the systems themselves, they maintain that we can justifiably believe those specific constituents that are deployed in key successful predictions. Stathis Psillos articulates an explicit criterion for discerning exactly which theoretical constituents qualify. I critique Psillos's criterion in detail. I then test the more general deployment realist intuition against a set of well-known historical cases, whose significance has, I contend, -been overlooked. I conclude that this sophisticated form of realism remains threatened by the historical argument that prompted it.

The Hidden History of Realism: A Genealogy of Power Politics

Abstract: Challenging the received notions of international relations theory about perhaps its most central tradition - Realism, Molloy demonstrates how a belief in a mode of theorisation has distorted Realism, forcing the theory of power politics in International Relations into a paradigmatic strait-jacket that is simply inadequate and inappropriate to the task of encompassing its diversity. This invigorated new angle offers a counter-memory of Realism that re-asserts the originality and power of Realist insights into the nature of power and international society.

A Realism-Based Approach to the Evolution of Biomedical Ontologies

Abstract: We present a novel methodology for calculating the improvements obtained in successive versions of biomedical ontologies. The theory takes into account changes both in reality itself and in our understanding of this reality. The successful application of the theory rests on the willingness of ontology authors to document changes they make by following a number of simple rules. The theory provides a pathway by which ontology authoring can become a science rather than an art, following principles analogous to those that have fostered the growth of modern evidence-based medicine. Although in this paper we focus on ontologies, the methodology can be generalized to other sorts of terminology-based artifacts, including Electronic Patient Records.

Viewers' Perceptions of Reality Programs

Abstract: This article describes a series of focus group interviews of young adults about reality programs. The interviews were conducted to investigate audiences' understandings of the nature, realism, and gratifications of the programming category. A central element defining reality programs was the perception that the behavior of the cast members was a reflection of their own will and personality and that their actions had consequences in terms of the outcome of the show. These factors also contributed to perceptions of the shows' realism. Participants reported enjoying the programs because of their humor and their unpredictability, which seemed to contribute to the creation of suspense and to greater involvement. Implications for further research are discussed.

Ethical Realism: A Vision for America's Role in the World

Abstract: 217 pelos factos no terreno, muita gente começou a ficar preocupada em ver o seu nome associado a uma Administração tão inepta. De 2005 a esta parte, o mundo das universidades, dos think tanks e das revistas académicas norte-americanas entregou-se à tarefa de delinear novas abordagens estratégicas para o pós-bushismo. Infelizmente, nem sempre esse esforço tem sido acompanhado de um questionamento mais profundo de algumas das premissas de base da política externa americana, as mesmas que em larga medida contribuíram para a situação delicada em que se encontra o gigante americano. Daí que este pequeno livro – meio panfleto, meio ensaio – mereça ser acolhido por todos quantos prezam um debate aberto, informado e sem tabus. É assinado por dois autores, um britânico e o outro norte-americano, que se situam em pólos políticos senão opostos, pelo menos bem distintos. Anatol Lieven, actualmente professor no King's College em Londres, foi durante anos correspondente internacional de jornais como o Times e o Financial Times, actividade que abandonou em 2001 para se radicar nos eua como investigador no Carnegie Endowment e, mais recentemente, na New America Foundation. As opções mais controversas da Administração Bush provocaram divisões na comunidade de analistas de política externa nos Estados Unidos como não sucedia desde a Guerra do Vietname. Nos últimos anos, temos assistido a uma sequência de actos de contrição por parte de figuras que até 2003 haviam apoiado, ou dado o benefício da dúvida, à estratégia gizada pelo Presidente após o 11 de Setembro (e até em relação à decisão de depor Saddam pela força). Francis Fukuyama, Kenneth Polack, George Will ou até mesmo Richard Haas são alguns dos nomes mais conhecidos deste cortejo de renegados. À medida que os argumentos invocados para legitimar a expedição militar ao Iraque foram sendo desmentidos r e c e n s ã o

Making sense of international relations theory

Abstract: Making Sense of IR Theory - J. Sterling-Folker Realist Approaches: Realism - J. Sterling-Folker Structural Realism: The Consequences of Great Power Intervention - K.R. Adams Neoclassical Realism: The Motives of Great Power Intervention - J. Taliafero Liberal Approaches: Liberalism - J. Sterling-Folker Neoliberalism: Institutions at War - S. Kay Public Goods Liberalism: The Problems of Collective Action - M. Butler and M. Boyer Game Theory Approaches: Game Theory - J. Sterling-Folker Game Theory: Modeling Interstate Conflict - S. L. Quackenbush and F.C. Zagare Constructivist Approaches: Constructivism - J. Sterling-Folker Social (De)Construction: The Failure of a Multinational State - M. Hoffmann Relational Constructivism: A War of Words - P.T. Jackson Postmodern And Critical Theory Approaches: Postmodernism and Critical Theory - J. Sterling-Folker Postmodernism: A Genealogy of Humanitarian Intervention - R. Shinko Critical Theory: Dialogue, Legitimacy, and Justifications for War - M. Lynch Historical Materialism And World System Approaches: Historical Materialism and World System Theory - J. Sterling-Folker Historical Materialism: Imperialist Rivalry and the Global Capitalist Order - A.W. Cafruny World System Theory: A Bird's Eye of the World Capitalist Order - A. Freyberg-Inan Feminist Approaches: Feminism - J. Sterling-Folker Liberal Feminism: Local Narratives in a Gendered Context - J. Mertus Critical Feminism: Gender and War - F. D'Amico Biopolitical Approaches: Biopolitics - J. Sterling-Folker Biopolitics: Evolutionary History and Modern Conflict - V.S.E. Falger and J.M.G. van der Dennen English School Approaches: The English School - J. Sterling-Folker The English School: Sovereignty and International Law - T. Knudsen Applying IR Theory - J. Sterling-Folker.

Reality TV: Realism and Revelation

Abstract: Anita Biressi and Heather Nunn. Reality TV: Realism and Revelation. Wallflower Press, 2005. 183 pages; $22.50. Therapeutic Culture In Reality TV: Realism and Revelation, Anita Biressi and Heather Nunn discuss the cultural significance of reality TV programming in Britain. Using several case studies, the authors demonstrate how this genre (which includes talk and game shows, law and order programming, 24/7 formats, and dramatic reconstruction) has changed viewers' expectations, the definition of celebrity, and, most importantly, the representation of the "truth." Each chapter reads like a separate essay, but uniting such topics as the documentaries of Errol Morris, re-enactments like The Trench, and the televised death-defying stunts of illusionist David Blaine is the relationship between subjectivity and performance. Further, the emphasis on confession and exhibitionism indicates how pervasive "therapeutic discourse" and "the revelation of trauma" have become in popular culture (7). The initial chapters describe various examples of the observational documentary in order to trace how reality TV programs, with their focus on "ordinary" (i.e. working and middle class citizens) have borrowed from this format. What has been lost, for better or worse, however, is the political, left-leaning agenda of the documentary. State-funded films of the '30s and '40s, for instance, examined the lives of the working class and advocated change, while docudramas (films that used fictional characters to treat real social issues), like Cathy Come Home by director Ken Loach, gave viewers access to tenements and caravans, satisfying voyeuristic curiosity but also exposing the failure of the welfare state to abolish the class barrier in Britain. Yet as film and TV began to focus more and more on narratives of personal trauma, the goal of political advocacy took a back seat to the focus on domestic drama and "narrative-fuelled entertainment" (84). Reality TV programming is both a product of and fuelled by what Biressi and Nunn call a "therapeutic culture," with its dominance of subjective experience and the eroding boundary between public and private. One of the most disturbing examples of the media's and viewing public's fascination with the revelation of personal trauma was the British Everyman documentary series on Court TV, Our Father the Serial Killer. Biressi and Nunn make excellent use of this strange program in which a brother and sister, convinced that their now elderly and harmless-looking father committed a series of grisly murders, retrace the scenes of his alleged crimes. Though the program never proves or disproves the father's guilt, it becomes clear that the siblings were victims of abuse at his hands. That such a trauma-based narrative would attract a large viewing audience and serve as "entertainment" is a topic worthy of its own book. Perhaps the weakest part of Reality TV: Realism and Revelation is its cursory attention to the larger historical context in which reality TV has grown up. The authors make passing reference to changes in technology that have led to audience-driven programs, as well as the breakdown of the economic and social order that allows working class participants in such shows as Big Brother to attain publicity and instant wealth. …

Science as a Guide to Metaphysics

Abstract: 1. Introduction Analytic metaphysics is in resurgence; there is renewed and vigorous interest in topics such as time, causation, persistence, parthood and possible worlds. We who share this interest often pay lip-service to the idea that metaphysics should be informed by modern science; some take this duty very seriously.

The RealIty of Tense

Abstract: I argue for a version of tense-logical realism that privileges tensed facts without privileging any particular temporal standpoint from which they obtain

Reality check: the role of realism in stress reduction using media technology.

Abstract: There is a growing interest in the use of virtual and other mediated environments for therapeutic purposes. However, in the domain of restorative environments, virtual reality (VR) technology has hardly been used. Here the tendency has been to use mediated real environments, striving for maximum visual realism. This use of photographic material is mainly based on research in aesthetics judgments that has demonstrated the validity of this type of simulations as representations of real environments. Thus, restoration therapy is developing under the untested assumption that photorealistic images have the optimal level of realism, while in therapeutic applications 'experiential realism' seems to be the key rather than visual realism. The present paper discusses this contrast and briefly describes data of three studies aimed at exploring the importance and meaning of realism in the context of restorative environments.

Japan's Security Strategy in the Post-9/11 World: Embracing a New Realpolitik

Abstract: List of Tables and Figures Foreword Abbreviations Japan's Strategic Evolution What If: Scenarios of Strategic Change Elite and Public Opinion: Creeping Realism Japan and September 11th Under North Korea's Shadow: Japan and Missile Defense Japan, the Iraq War, and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Transitional Realism Epilogue Selected Bibliography

Realism about Structure: The Semantic View and Nonlinguistic Representations

Abstract: The central concern of this article is whether the semantic approach has the resources to appropriately capture the core tenets of structural realism. Chakravartty (2001) has argued that a realist notion of correspondence cannot be accommodated without introducing a linguistic component, which undermines the approach itself. We suggest that this worry can be addressed by an appropriate understanding of the role of language in this context. The real challenge, however, is how to incorporate the core notion of ‘explanatory approximate truth’ in such a way that the emphasis on structure is retained.

Immanent Realism: An Introduction to Brentano

Abstract: A life, a novel.- Brentano and Aristotle.- Psychology from an empirical standpoint.- Metaphysics and the science of the soul.- A woodworm in the intentional relation.- Ficciones.- Continua.- Reverse Aristotelianism: The metaphysics of accidents.- Other writings: Ethics, aesthetics and history of philosophy.- A history of Brentano criticism.- A wager on the future.