Realism

About: Realism is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10799 publications have been published within this topic receiving 175785 citations.

Making realism work : realist social theory and empirical research

Abstract: Introduction: Realist Social Theory and Empirical Research Part 1: Methodology and Measurement Introduction 1. Evidence-Based Policy: A Realist Perspective 2. Complex and Contingent Causation: The Implications of Complex Realism for Quantitative Modelling the Case of Housing and Health 3. Contingent Realism and Single Case Probabilities Part 2: Applying Realism Introduction 4. Class as Variable, Class as Generative Mechanism: The Importance of Critical Realism for the Sociology of Health Inequalities 5 Researching 'Real' Language Part 3: Reflexivity and Realist Research Introduction 6 Methodological Triangulation in Empirical Research: An Indian Exemplar 7. Health Visitors and 'Disadvantaged' Parent-Clients: Designing Realist Research 8. Reflexivity and Social Science: A Contradiction in Terms?

A Realistic Theory of Science

Abstract: It is the main contention of Cliff Hooker's new book that a realistic theory of science, a theory which gives a good account of what actually goes on in science, should be based on realism. Many readers of this journal may disagree. They may be inclined to the view that a realistic theory of science must attribute a significant social component to scientific knowledge, and would see such a theory as incompatible with realism. I do not, however, believe that these positions are necessarily opposed, for some types of realism are compatible with some sociologies of scientific knowledge. I hope to show that Hooker's brand of realism could be acceptable to some who hold that scientific knowledge has a social component, although it will evidently not be congenial to those who go all the way with Woolgar and Latour and deny that the world 'out there' has anything to do with scientific facts. I A Realistic Theory of Science comprises six chapters reprinted with some minor changes from journals and collections dating from 1974, together with a short introduction and a substantial concluding chapter. For the most part the book is about realism. Five of the six reprinted chapters are more or less directly concerned with realism, while the concluding chapter describes the state of play in 1985 for the evolutionary naturalistic realist this being the sort of realist Hooker is. While Hooker's book is the main subject of this Review, I have also been asked to comment on two other books: John Wisdom's Challengeability in Modern Science and Scientific Controversies, edited by H. Tristram Engelhardt and

Realism and the Aim of Science : From the Postscript to The Logic of Scientific Discovery

Abstract: Realism and the Aim of Science is one of the three volumes of Karl Popper’s Postscript to the Logic of scientific Discovery. The Postscript is the culmination of Popper’s work in the philosophy of physics and a new famous attack on subjectivist approaches to philosophy of science. Realism and the Aim of Science is the first volume of the Postcript. Popper here formulates and explains his non-justificationist theory of knowledge: science aims at true explanatory theories, yet it can never prove, or justify, any theory to be true, not even if is a true theory. Science must continue to question and criticise all its theories, even those that happen to be true. Realism and the Aim of Science presents Popper’s mature statement on scientific knowledge and offers important insights into his thinking on problems of method within science.

Fact and Method: Explanation, Confirmation and Reality in the Natural and the Social Sciences

Abstract: In this bold work, of broad scope and rich erudition, Richard Miller sets out to reorient the philosophy of science. By questioning both positivism and its leading critics, he develops new solutions to the most urgent problems about justification, explanation, and truth. Using a wealth of examples from both the natural and the social sciences, "Fact and Method" applies the new account of scientific reason to specific questions of method in virtually every field of inquiry, including biology, physics, history, sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, and literary theory. Explicit and up-to-date analysis of leading alternative views and a wealth of examples make it an ideal introduction to the philosophy of science, as well as a powerful attempt to change the field. Like the works of Hempel, Reichenbach, and Nagel in an earlier generation, it will challenge, instruct, and help anyone with an interest in science and its limits.For the past quarter-century, the philosophy of science has been in a crisis brought on by the failure of the positivist project of resolving all basic methodological questions by applying absolutely general rules, valid for all fields at all times. Professor Miller presents a new view in which what counts as an explanation, a cause, a confirming test, or a compelling case for the existence of an unobservable is determined by frameworks of specific substantive principles, rationally adopted in the light of the actual history of inquiry. While the history of science has usually been the material for relativism, Professor Miller uses arguments of Darwin, Newton, Einstein, Galileo, and others both to undermine positivist conceptions of rationality and to support the positivists' optimism that important theoretical findings are often justifiable from all reasonable perspectives.

Magic(al) realism

Abstract: Bestselling novels by Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a multitude of others have enchanted us by blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Their genre of writing has been variously defined as 'magic', 'magical' or 'marvellous' realism and is quickly becoming a core area of literary studies. This guide offers a first step for those wishing to consider this area in greater depth, by: exploring the many definitions and terms used in relation to the genre tracing the origins of the movement in painting and fiction offering an historical overview of the contexts for magic(al) realism providing analysis of key works of magic(al) realist fiction, film and art. This is an essential guide for those interested in or studying one of today's most popular genres.