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Realism for Social Sciences: A Translational Approach to Methodology (Translational Systems Sciences #36)
by Yoshiyuki Takeuchi Ken Urai Masaaki KatsuragiThis book discusses the growing interest in realism in social sciences of the twenty-first century. The first part of this book provides recent discussions on realism in philosophy. The second part describes specific problems that have returned to realism in various fields of the social sciences, such as economics, cultural anthropology, management science, and statistics. This book clarifies what kinds of movements are taking place and consequently the direction in which the social sciences are heading in the future. Readers would also find that there is great diversity in the way realism and reality are perceived and understood, depending on the objectives and circumstances of each field of social science. This suggests that rather than having a unified view (stance) of realism and reality, it may be more meaningful to value the differences, diversity, and range itself. Therefore, this book does not present a unified view of realism, reality, and actuality. Although the definitions of realism and reality may differ from chapter to chapter, this represents a corner of the current state of the social sciences. This book is unique in that it examines how the issues of realism and reality are viewed, understood, and dealt with in the various fields of social science, instead of examining them by philosophers and philosophers of science. This would clarify how philosophical discussions have been translated into the various fields of social science.
Realism, Idealism and International Politics: A Reinterpretation
by Martin GriffithsThis book defends realism in the study of international politics and demonstrates the heuristic and evaluative utility of Robert Berki's interpretation of political realism and political idealism. It argues that realism is not a meaningless term nor redundant and necessarily rhetorical in politics.
Realism, Ideology, and the Convulsions of Democracy (Studies in Public Choice #44)
by Mikayla Novak Richard E. Wagner Marta Podemska-MikluchThis edited volume explores the tension between reason and sentiment in democracies and its contribution to the decline of liberalism. Bringing together classical liberal scholars with a deep knowledge of public choice ideas, the chapters delve into this tension from a variety of perspectives. Building on the principle of entangled political economy, as articulated by Richard E. Wagner, this volume engages with new facets of the relationship between choice and consequence and their implications for democratic politics. Advocating for a reframing of public choice theory as compatible with civic republicanism, this volume will be of interest to students and scholars of public choice, political economy, political theory, governance, and economic policy.
Realism, Myth, and the Vernacular in Pasolini's Film and Philosophy: Beyond the Middle-Class Matrix
by Max RyynänenPier Paolo Pasolini’s lifework has been studied through the lens of queer studies, film studies, poetry, and many other angles, but there are themes that one could still study. This book aims to bring forth a new understanding of Pasolini as someone who worked in various arts, and through appropriating one art with. Max Ryynänen shows Pasolini’s importance for not just film and film theory, but more broadly visual studies, art research and even cultural philosophy – where Pasolini can be seen to be a real pioneer in discussing unprivileged margins in the society. Ryynänen reads Pasolini not just as a semiotician of film, but also as a cultural philosopher, and argues for that interpretation.
Realism, Science, and Pragmatism: Realism, Science, And Pragmatism (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
by Kenneth R. WestphalThis collection of original essays aims to reinvigorate the debate surrounding philosophical realism in relation to philosophy of science, pragmatism, epistemology, and theory of perception. Questions concerning realism are as current and as ancient as philosophy itself; this volume explores relations between different positions designated as ‘realism’ by examining specific cases in point, drawn from a broad range of systematic problems and historical views, from ancient Greek philosophy through the present. The first section examines the context of the project; contributions systematically engage the historical background of philosophical realism, re-examining key works of Aristotle, Descartes, Quine, and others. The following two sections epitomize the central tension within current debates: scientific realism and pragmatism. These contributions address contemporary questions of scientific realism and the reality of the objects of science, and consider whether, how or the extent to which realism and pragmatism are compatible. With an editorial introduction by Kenneth R. Westphal, these fourteen original essays provide wide-ranging, salient insights into the status of realism today.
Realism, Value, and Transcendental Arguments between Neopragmatism and Analytic Philosophy (Vienna Circle Institute Library #7)
by Sami PihlströmThe essays collected in this volume and authored by Sami Pihlström emphasize that our relation to the world we live in and seek to represent and get to know better through our practices of conceptualization and inquiry is irreducibly valuational. There is no way of even approaching, let alone resolving, the philosophical issue of realism without drawing due attention to the ways in which human values are inextricably entangled with even the most purely “factual” projects of inquiry we engage in.This entanglement of the factual and the normative is, as explicitly argued in Chapter 7 but implicitly suggested in all the other chapters as well, both pragmatic (practice-embedded and practice-involving) and transcendental (operating at the level of the necessary conditions for the possibility of our representing and cognizing the world in general). The author claims we need to carefully examine the complex relations of realism, value, and transcendental arguments at the intersection of pragmatism and analytic philosophy. This book does so by offering case-studies of various important neopragmatists and philosophers close to the pragmatist tradition, including Hilary Putnam, Nicholas Rescher, Joseph Margolis, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. It appeals to scholars and advanced graduate students focusing on pragmatism and analytic philosophy.
Realism: A Distinctively 20th Century European Tradition (Trends in European IR Theory)
by Felix Rösch Alexander ReichweinThis book examines how IR’s European realist tradition evolved in Europe and, due to emigration, in the United States in the 20th century. It includes an introduction and eight chapters, focusing on historical classical and contemporary structural branches of realist IR theorizing in historical and political contexts in which realist thinking did develop. It reminds us of realist key figures, such as Edward H. Carr, John H. Herz or Hans J. Morgenthau, but also of almost forgotten realists such as Raymond Aron, Stanley Hoffmann or Nicholas J. Spykman. Given IR mainstream textbooks introducing realism as a conservative American Cold War theory, this selection aims to reintroduce realism as a primarily and distinctively European, liberal, normative and critical tradition. A tradition that is almost always misunderstood as a guide for practitioners how to maximize or at least preserve power in the name of the national interest no matter the cost, but that is in fact an argument against reckless and crude power politics, ideology and totalitarianism. This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners and students interested in the realist tradition in IR.
Realist Constructivism
by Samuel BarkinRealism and constructivism, two key contemporary theoretical approaches to the study of international relations, are commonly taught as mutually exclusive ways of understanding the subject. Realist Constructivism explores the common ground between the two, and demonstrates that, rather than being in simple opposition, they have areas of both tension and overlap. There is indeed space to engage in a realist constructivism. But at the same time, there are important distinctions between them, and there remains a need for a constructivism that is not realist, and a realism that is not constructivist. Samuel Barkin argues more broadly for a different way of thinking about theories of international relations, that focuses on the corresponding elements within various approaches rather than on a small set of mutually exclusive paradigms. Realist Constructivism provides an interesting new way for scholars and students to think about international relations theory.
Realistic Rationalism
by Jerrold J. KatzJerrold J. Katz develops a new philosophical position integrating realism and rationalism. Realism here means that the objects of study in mathematics and other formal sciences are abstract; rationalism means that our knowledge of them is not empirical.
Realities in Pedagogical and Phenomenological Contexts: Experience, Mediality, and Optimisation in Education (Phänomenologische Erziehungswissenschaft #13)
by Malte Brinkmann Johannes Türstig Martin Weber-SpanknebelWhat is real? What is evident? What is true? These questions of the constitution of reality in our experiences are among the key questions of phenomenology since its beginning. Lately, they become especially relevant under conditions of digitalisation, acceleration, optimisation, crises, and pandemics. In this volume, these questions are taken up in different interdisciplinary and intercultural, phenomenological perspectives from a pedagogical point of view. Starting from a critique of instrumental scientism and optimisation, the contributions in this book ask about the theoretical, empirical, methodological, and practical constitution of reality within experiences of learning, Bildung, and education, as well as the subjects, materialities, and mediality of such experiences in different pedagogical fields and institutions. The contributions show how Phenomenological Pedagogy is fruitful to explore the realities of pedagogical practices, by grasping lifeworldy, lived-bodily, and social experiences in a qualitatively meaningful, empirical and experience-oriented way. It can thus serve as an alternative to positivistic, scientistic, idealistic, or psychologistic approaches.
Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future
by Donald R. ProtheroA thought-provoking look at science denialism &“for popular science readers who want better to be able to explain and defend science and scientific methods to others&” (Library Journal). The battles over evolution, climate change, childhood vaccinations, and the causes of AIDS, alternative medicine, oil shortages, population growth, and the place of science in our country—all are reaching a fevered pitch. Many people and institutions have exerted enormous efforts to misrepresent or flatly deny demonstrable scientific reality to protect their nonscientific ideology, their power, or their bottom line. To shed light on this darkness, Donald R. Prothero explains the scientific process and why society has come to rely on science not only to provide a better life but also to reach verifiable truths no other method can obtain. He describes how major scientific ideas that are accepted by the entire scientific community (evolution, anthropogenic global warming, vaccination, the HIV cause of AIDS, and others) have been attacked with totally unscientific arguments and methods. Prothero argues that science deniers pose a serious threat to society, as their attempts to subvert the truth have resulted in widespread scientific ignorance, increased risk of global catastrophes, and deaths due to the spread of diseases that could have been prevented. &“Prothero&’s treatise will give the science-minded something to cheer about, a brief summary of the real data that supports so many critical aspects of modern life.&” —Publishers Weekly
Reality Is All The God There Is: The Single Transcendental Truth Taught by the Great Sages and the Revelation of Reality Itself
by Avatar Adi SamrajContemporary renderings of the dharma of the great sages of Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism from the Realized Spiritual Master Avatar Adi Da Samraj • Includes transmissions of wisdom teachings of the great sages Gotama Sakyamuni, Nagarjuna, Shankara, and Ribhu • Presents classic texts of spiritual realization from the perspective of a Realized Teacher • Provides insight into the ultimate realization possible when dualistic consciousness has been transcended In this book Avatar Adi Da Samraj offers his unique renderings of the dharma of the great sages of Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism, including Gotama Sakyamuni, Nagarjuna, Shankara, and Ribhu. Rather than simply translate their teachings from available source texts, Avatar Adi Da, himself a Realized Master, respeaks them as one who has personally realized their truth, revealing that the Buddhist “Nirvana” and the Advaitic “Brahman” point to the same transcendental condition. Avatar Adi Da’s transmissions restore to these texts the profound communication intended by the spiritual masters who created them. The ego nurtures the illusion of separation, an illusion that cannot be removed by the ego’s own efforts. It is only the spiritual master who makes possible the realization of egoless consciousness. The great sages proclaimed a state of spiritual realization that exceeded both worldly dualism and mystical seeking. They had awakened to a reality that spoke of abiding in a state of consciousness only. Avatar Adi Da brings these remarkable declarations back to life and then concludes with his own unique description of a realization that transcends even these extraordinary utterances--the realization of Reality As It Is, free of all forms of the ego’s search.
Reality Without Realism: Matter, Thought, and Technology in Quantum Physics
by Arkady PlotnitskyThis book presents quantum theory as a theory based on new relationships among matter, thought, and experimental technology, as against those previously found in physics, relationships that also redefine those between mathematics and physics in quantum theory. The argument of the book is based on its title concept, reality without realism (RWR), and in the corresponding view, the RWR view, of quantum theory. The book considers, from this perspective, the thinking of Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Dirac, with the aim of bringing together the philosophy and history of quantum theory. With quantum theory, the book argues, the architecture of thought in theoretical physics was radically changed by the irreducible role of experimental technology in the constitution of physical phenomena, accordingly, no longer defined independently by matter alone, as they were in classical physics or relativity. Or so it appeared. For, quantum theory, the book further argues, made us realize that experimental technology, beginning with that of our bodies, irreducibly shapes all physical phenomena, and thus makes us rethink the relationships among matter, thought, and technology in all of physics.
Reality and Fantasy in American Independent Cinema: A Cavellian Approach
by Rick ZinmanIn the 21st century, blockbuster fantasy films have dominated film viewership in the United States. The increased popularity of fantasy films has generated much greater scholarly interest in the study of fantasy films. It has also generated an artistic response by American Indie filmmakers who have developed alternative approaches to the portrayal of film fantasy. Reality and Fantasy in American Indie Films: A Cavellian Approach applies the methods and procedures of Cavellian philosophical film criticism to the study of four prominent American indie films released in 2014 in which fantasy can be said to play an important role: Birdman (Alejandro G. Iñárritu); Boyhood (Richard Linklater); The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson); and Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch).
Reality and Impenetrability in Kant's Philosophy of Nature (Studies In Philosophy)
by Daniel WarrenThis book highlights Kant's fundamental contrast between the mechanistic and dynamical conceptions of matter, which is central to his views about the foundations of physics, and is best understood in terms of the contrast between objects of sensibility and things in themselves.
Reality and Its Depths: A Conversation Between Savita Singh and Roy Bhaskar
by Roy Bhaskar Savita Singh Mervyn HartwigThis book on the philosophy of critical realism and meta-Reality and its development is based on conversations between Roy Bhaskar, the originator of the philosophy, and Savita Singh, a distinguished Indian poet and social theorist. The wide range of topics covered include the priority of being over thought, reversing the traditional emphasis in the West; transcendence as an everyday phenomenon; the prefiguration of the good society in the characteristic labour of women; the metacritique of Nietzsche and Derrida, and of Marx and Marxism; recognition and immortality; and the principle of hermeticism: there is no authority but yourself. The book will appeal to anyone wanting to understand Roy Bhaskar’s thought, and offers a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in critical realism and its development.
Reality and Its Dreams
by Raymond GeussOne of political philosophy's most trenchant and inventive critics challenges the field's normative turn, arguing that the study of politics should focus on real politics, where normative judgments arise from concrete configurations of power. Raymond Geuss shows how this can be done without succumbing to a toxic relativism or abandoning utopianism.
Reality and Its Order
by Werner HeisenbergAvailable here for the first time in English, "Reality and Its Order" is a remarkable philosophical text by Werner Heisenberg, the father of quantum mechanics and one of the leading scientists of the 20th century. Written during the wartime years and initially distributed only to his family and trusted friends, the essay describes Heisenberg’s philosophical view of how we understand the natural world and our role within it. In this volume, the essay is introduced by the physicist Helmut Rechenberg and annotated by the science historian Ernst Peter Fischer. The content, particularly within its historical context, will be of great interest to many physicists, philosophers and historians of science.
Reality and Negation - Kant's Principle of Anticipations of Perception
by Marco GiovanelliKant, in the Critique of pure reason, only dedicates a few pages to the principle of Anticipations of Perception and only a few critical studies are outspokenly dedicated to this issue in recent critical literature. But if one considers the history of post-Kantian philosophy, one can immediately perceive the great importance of the new definition of the relationship between reality and negation, which Kant's principle proposes. Critical philosophy is here radically opposed to the pre-critical metaphysical tradition: "Reality" no longer appears as absolutely positive being, which excludes all negativity from itself, and "negation" is not reduced to being a simple removal, the mere absence of being. Instead, reality and negation behave as an equally positive something in respect to one another such that negation is itself a reality that is actively opposed to another reality. Such a definition of the relation between reality and negation became indispensible for post-Kantian Philosophy and represents a central aspect of Kantian-inspired philosophy in respect to Leibnizian metaphysics. The present work therefore departs from the hypothesis that the essential philosophical importance of the Anticipations of Perception can only be fully measured by exploring its impact in the Post-Kantian debate.
Reality and Value: An Introduction to Metaphysics and an Essay on the Theory of Value (Routledge Library Editions: Metaphysics)
by Arthur Campbell GarnettOriginally published in 1937. This book addresses the importance of the theory of values that rests on a general metaphysical understanding founded on a comprehensive view of all aspects of the world. The author speaks against the absolutist theories with a realistic one encompassing a theory of space and time and considering value as an object of immediate intuition. These great philosophical questions feed into discussions of the philosophy of religion and of science. Garnett distinguishes between spiritual and other values on the ground that the spiritual values are not subjective to satiety, while other values are. He contends that our knowledge of mind is as direct and reliable as our knowledge of the physical world. This is an important early book by an influential 20th Century thinker.
Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy
by David J. ChalmersA leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it. Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already. Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis. Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.
Reality: Fundamental Topics is Metaphysics (Philosophica)
by Peter LoptsonIn Reality: Fundamental Topics in Metaphysics, Peter Loptson argues for a conception of metaphysics as the most general or comprehensive method of inquiry. Working from a broadly analytic and naturalist perspective, he confronts positions that claim metaphysics to be impossible, as advanced in ancient, Kantian, post-Kantian, and contemporary philosophy, showing them to be unsuccessful. He draws the topics of his selective investigation of metaphysics partly from the work of Kant, whom he conceives as a primary guide to what metaphysical enquiry seeks to know. Loptson provides accounts of basic categories of what is real and outlines major historical metaphysical systems. He then goes on to explore aspects of existence, essence, substance, universals, space, time, causality, mind, freedom, and other topics. This important contribution to metaphysics offers both sustained arguments on all aspects of the subject and important insights into the major metaphysical systems from the history of philosophy. The first edition of Reality appeared in 2001 to great acclaim. For this new edition the author has augmented the work's original arguments and extensively enlarged its scope and engagement with current stances and debates.
Reality’s Fugue: Reconciling Worldviews in Philosophy, Religion, and Science
by F. Samuel BrainardScience, religion, philosophy: these three categories of thought have organized humankind’s search for meaning from time immemorial. Reality’s Fugue presents a compelling case that these ways of understanding, often seen as competing, are part of a larger puzzle that cannot be rendered by one account of reality alone.This book begins with an overview of the concept of reality and the philosophical difficulties associated with attempts to account for it through any single worldview. By clarifying the differences among first-person, third-person, and dualist understandings of reality, F. Samuel Brainard repurposes the three predominant ways of making sense of those differences: exclusionist (only one worldview can be right), inclusivist (viewing other worldviews through the lens of one in order to incorporate them all, and thus distorting them), and pluralist or relativist (holding that there are no universals, and truth is relative). His alternative mode of understanding uses Douglas Hofstadter’s metaphor of a musical fugue that allows different “voices” and “melodies” of worldviews to coexist in counterpoint and conversation, while each remains distinct, with none privileged above the others. Approaching reality in this way, Brainard argues, opens up the possibility for a multivoiced perspective that can overcome the skeptical challenges that metaphysical positions face.Engagingly argued by a lifelong scholar of philosophy and global religions, this edifying and accessible exploration of the nature of reality addresses deeply meaningful questions about belief, reconciliation, and being.
Reality’s Fugue: Reconciling Worldviews in Philosophy, Religion, and Science
by F. Samuel BrainardScience, religion, philosophy: these three categories of thought have organized humankind’s search for meaning from time immemorial. Reality’s Fugue presents a compelling case that these ways of understanding, often seen as competing, are part of a larger puzzle that cannot be rendered by one account of reality alone.This book begins with an overview of the concept of reality and the philosophical difficulties associated with attempts to account for it through any single worldview. By clarifying the differences among first-person, third-person, and dualist understandings of reality, F. Samuel Brainard repurposes the three predominant ways of making sense of those differences: exclusionist (only one worldview can be right), inclusivist (viewing other worldviews through the lens of one in order to incorporate them all, and thus distorting them), and pluralist or relativist (holding that there are no universals, and truth is relative). His alternative mode of understanding uses Douglas Hofstadter’s metaphor of a musical fugue that allows different “voices” and “melodies” of worldviews to coexist in counterpoint and conversation, while each remains distinct, with none privileged above the others. Approaching reality in this way, Brainard argues, opens up the possibility for a multivoiced perspective that can overcome the skeptical challenges that metaphysical positions face.Engagingly argued by a lifelong scholar of philosophy and global religions, this edifying and accessible exploration of the nature of reality addresses deeply meaningful questions about belief, reconciliation, and being.
Realizing Awakened Consciousness: Interviews with Buddhist Teachers and a New Perspective on the Mind
by Richard BoyleIf, as Buddhism claims, the potential for awakening exists in all human beings, we should be able to map the phenomenon with the same science we apply to other forms of consciousness. A student of cognitive social science and a Zen practitioner for more than forty years, Richard P. Boyle brings his sophisticated perspective to bear on the development of a theoretical model for both ordinary and awakened consciousness.Boyle conducts probing interviews with eleven prominent Western Buddhist teachers (Shinzen Young, John Tarrant, Ken McLeod, Ajahn Amaro, Martine Batchelor, Shaila Catherine, Gil Fronsdal, Stephen Batchelor, Pat Enkyo O'Hara, Bernie Glassman, and Joseph Goldstein) and one scientist (James Austin) who have experienced awakening. From the paths they traveled to enlightenment and their descriptions of the experience, he derives three fundamental properties of awakened consciousness. He then constructs an overarching model that explains how Buddhist practices help free the mind from attachments to reality and the self and make possible the three properties of awakening. Specifically, these teachers describe how they worked to control attention and quiet the mind, detach from ideas and habits, and open themselves to compassion. Boyle's account incorporates current theories of consciousness, sociological insights, and research in neuroscience to advance the study of awakened consciousness and help an even greater number of people to realize it.