International Association for Critical Realism: Pre-conference Workshop --  Sunday  August 15 to Tuesday August 17

The aim of this workshop is to twofold:

To provide an introduction to critical realism and consider its strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis other philosophical perspectives

To give researchers a chance to reflect upon their own research to see if critical realism can provide a fruitful platform for their own work
 

Timetable   (NB: Presentations will not be lectures but participatory events, with back and forth dialogue, questions and discussions)

Sunday 12.00       Introductions followed by lunch

Sunday 14.30      Caroline New: Introduction to terms and concepts

Key terms and concepts: ontology, epistemology, epistemic & judgmental relativism, positivism and postmodernism/post structuralism/social constructionism, 'dialectical critical realism'.
NB. Hopefully we can continue to discuss these issues over dinner and drinks on Sunday  evening

Monday 09.00    Steve Fleetwood:  What is critical realism an alternative to?

What is wrong with (i) positivism and the (ii) postmodernism/post structuralism/social constructionism triad and their associated methods and techniques

Monday 12.30     Lunch

Monday 14.00    Alan Norrie:  What does critical realism offer social scientists?

What does critical realism offer that other other philosophies of science and their associated methods and techniques do not and cannot?

Tuesday 09.00    Group discussion: critical realism in action ?

We will divide into groups based upon research topics group members are currently undertaking. Each member can discuss their research with others and Caroline, Steve or Alan will facilitate. Each group can then summarise their main findings and feed this back to the whole group.

Selected Background Reading

Archer, M. (1998) ‘Realism and Morphogenesis’, M. Archer, R. Bhaskar, A.Collier, T. Lawson, A. Norrie, Critical Realism: Essential Readings: London, Routledge.

Archer M. (1998) ‘Social Theory and the Analysis of Society’, in May T. Williams G. Knowing the Social World, Open University Press.

Bhaskar R. (1989) The Possibility of Naturalism, Harvester,   Ch 2 ‘Societies’ pp 25-54. If you find this too difficult, try Collier

Collier A. (1994) Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy, Verso, Ch 5 ‘Social Being and Social Knowledge’, pp137-56

Fleetwood S. (2002) ˜Why Mainstream Economics Explains Nothing At All", Post-Autistic Economics Review, No. 17, December,

Fleetwood S. (2004) ‘The Ontology of Organisation and Management Studies’ in S. Fleetwood S. Ackroyd, Realism in Action in Organisation and Management Studies, Routledge .

Fleetwood S. (Forthcoming) ‘Ontology in Organisation and Management Studies, forthcoming in 'Organisation'

Lawson T. (1997) Economics and Reality, London and New York: Routledge, Part one.

Lawson T. (2003) Reorienting Economics, London and New York: Routledge, Part one

Sayer A.  (1984)  Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach,  Routledge, Ch 1, ‘Knowledge in Context’,  especially pp. 29-35 on  concept dependence and pp.  45-49; 72-9; 220-5

Sayer A. (2000) Realism and Social Science, Sage,  Ch’s 1-3 set out the case for realism / against postmodernism.
 

See you in Cambridge

Regards

Alan, Caroline & Steve