April 10, 2013 Version of Select postgraduate reading seminar at the IOE Reading List
Autumn Term – mainly Basic Critical Realism
Session 1: Overall Orientation and Ontology
(a) Overall Orientation
Roy Bhaskar, ‘Prolegomenon: the consequences of the revindication of philosophical ontology for
philosophy and social theory’, Engaging the World: agency, institution, historical formations,
eds M. Archer & A.Maccarini, Routledge 2013, chapter 1
Roy Bhaskar, ‘General Introduction’, Critical Realism: essential readings, edited by Margaret Archer
et al, Routledge 1998.
(b) Ontology
Roy Bhaskar, A Realist Theory of Science, 1975/2008, 4th edition, Routledge, Chapter 1, especially
Sections 3 – 5. This is reprinted in Critical Realism: Essential Readings, Chapter 2.
Roy Bhaskar, ‘Theorising Ontology’, Contributions to Social Ontology, edited by Clive Lawson et al,
Routledge 2007
Ruth Groff,’ Introduction to special issue’ of Journal of Critical Realism 8.3
Session 2: Epistomology and the Logic of Scientific Discovery
Roy Bhaskar, A Realist Theory of Science, Chapter 3, especially sections 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. This is
reprinted in Critical Realism: Essential Readings, Chapter 3.
Andrew Collier, Critical realism: an Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s philosophy, Verso 1994
Phil Gorski, ‘Social “mechanisms” and comparative-historical sociology: a critical realist proposal’
George Steinmetz, ‘Critical Realism and Historical Sociology’
Session 3: (i) The Transformational Model of Social Activity and the Differences between the
Natural and Social Sciences
(ii) Hermeneutics
Roy Bhaskar, The Possibility of Naturalism, 1979/1998, 3rd edition, Routledge, Chapters 2 and 4.
Chapter 2 is reprinted in Critical Realism: Essential Readings, Chapter 8.
Roy Bhaskar, Reclaiming Reality, 1989/2010, 2nd Edition, Chapter 5
Margaret Archer, Realist Social Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1995, chapter 5. This
is reprinted in Critical Realism: essential reading, Chapter 14.
Margaret Archer, new Introduction to the 2nd edition of Social Origins of Educational Systems,
Routledge 2013.
Berth Danermark, Explaining Society, Routledge 1997, especially chapter 4
Andrew Sayer, Realism and Social Science, Sage, 2000.
Session 4: Mind and Emergence
Roy Bhaskar, The Possibility of Naturalism, pp. 97 – 107.
Roy Bhaskar, A Realist Theory of Science, pp. 105 – 118.
Roy Bhaskar, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, 1986/2009, 2nd edition, Routledge,
Chapter 2, Sections 1 – 3, especially pp. 113 – 117.
Christian Smith, What is a person?, University of Chicago Press 2010, especially Part 1
Roy Bhaskar, ‘Critical Realism in Resonance with Nordic Eco-philosophy’, Eco-philosophy in a World
of Crisis, ed Roy Bhaskar et al, chapter 1
Session 5: The Refutation of Hume’s Law (no values from facts) and Explanatory Critique
Roy Bhaskar, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, Chapter 2, Sections 5-7, reprinted in
Critical Realism: Essential Readings, Chapter 17; and
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Roy Bhaskar, The Possibility of Naturalism, pp. 54-65, reprinted in Critical Realism: Essential
Readings, pp. 233-243.
Roy Bhaskar, Philosophy and the Idea of Freedom, 1991/2010, Routledge, Appendix 1: ‘Social Theory
and Moral Philosophy’.
Session 6: Applied Critical Realism and Interdisciplinarity
Roy Bhaskar and Berth Danermark, “Metatheory, Interdisciplinarity and Disability Research: A
Critical Realist Perspective”, Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, vol.8, no.4, 2006,
pp. 278-297.
Roy Bhaskar, “Contexts of Interdisciplinarity”, Interdisciplinarity and Climate Change, edited by Roy
Bhaskar et al., Routledge, 2010, Chapter 1, pp. 1-24
Roy Bhaskar, “Critical Realism in resonance with Nordic Ecophilosophy”, Ecophilosophy in a world of
crisis, edited by Roy Bhaskar et al, Routledge 2011, Chapter 2 (pp. 9-24)
Roy Bhaskar, ‘Foreword’ to Studying Organizations using Critical Realism: a practical guide, edited by
Paul Edwards, Joe O’Mahoney and Steve Vincent, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
2013.
Leigh Price, ‘Reflections on Interdisciplinarity and Violence against Women’, ICCR discussion paper
Rich Moth, ‘How do Practitioners in UK community mental health teams conceptualise mental
distress? The pentimento model as a laminated system’. ICCR discussion paper.
Spring Term—mainly dialectical critical realism
Session 1: Introduction to Dialectical Critical Realism and Absence
Roy Bhaskar, Dialectic: the Pulse of Freedom, 1993/2008, 2nd edition, Routledge, Chapters 1.1, 1.3
and 2.1
Alan Norrie, Dialectic and Difference , Routledge, 2009, Chapters 1 and 2
Roy Bhaskar, Philosophy and the Idea of Freedom, Chapter 7.
Session 2: Contradiction and Hegel and Marx
Roy Bhaskar, Dialectic: the Pulse of Freedom, Chapters (1.6), 1.7 and 2.3, 2.5
Alan Norrie , Dialectic and Difference Chapter 3
Mervyn Hartwig, Dictionary of Critical Realism, Routledge, 2007, Hegel-Marx critique
Roy Bhaskar, Plato Etc., 1994/2009, 2nd edition, Routledge, Chapter 6
Roy Bhaskar, Reclaiming Reality, chapter 7.
Session 3: Totality
Roy Bhaskar, Dialectic: the Pulse of Freedom, chapters (2.2), 2.7 and 3.8
Alan Norrie, Dialectic and Difference, Chapter 4
Session 4: Agency, ethics and justice
Alan Norrie, Dialectic and Difference, chapter 5
Roy Bhaskar, Dialectic: the Pulse of Freedom, Chapters (3.2), 3.7, 3.10
Roy Bhaskar, Plato Etc., Chapter 7
Alan Norrie, “Can critical realists talk of good and evil?”, Journal of Critical Realism, Vol. 11, No 1
(2012)
Session 5: Metacritique and Poststructuralism
Alan Norrie, Dialectic and Difference, Chapters 6 and 7
Roy Bhaskar, Dialectic: the Pulse of Freedom, Chapters 4.1 and 4.9
Roy Bhaskar, Plato. Etc., Chapters 8-10 and Appendix
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Summer Term—mainly the philosophy of meta-Reality
Session 1: Applied Critical Realism and Critical Discourse Analysis
Norman Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis, 2nd edition, Pearson 2010.
Roy Bhaskar, Possibility of Naturalism, chapter 4
Roy Bhaskar, Plato etc, Chapter 3.
Roy Bhaskar and Berth Danermark and Leigh Price, Interdisciplinarity and Well-Being, especially
Chapters 3-5
John O’Regan, ‘Critical Realism and Critical Discourse Analysis’, ICCR discussion paper
Lilie Chouliaraki and Norman Fairclough, Discourse in Late Modernity, Edinburgh University Press,
1999.
Session 2: The Development of Critical Realism, meta-Reality and Modernity
Roy Bhaskar, Reflections on meta-Reality, 2002/ 2011, 2nd edition, Routledge, Chapters 1 and 4
Roy Bhaskar with Mervyn Hartwig, The Formation of Critical Realism – A personal perspective,
Chapter s 7 – 9.
Mervyn Hartwig, ‘Roy Bhaskar’s critique of the Philosophical Discourse of Modernity’ Journal of
Critical Realism, 2011, Vol. 10.4
Mervyn Hartwig, Dictionary of Critical Realism, entries on: ’meta-Reality’ and ‘philosophical
discourse of modernity’
Seo Min Gyu, ‘Bhaskar’s Philosophy as anti-anthropocentrism: a comparative study of Eastern and
Western thought’, Journal of Critical Realism, 2008, Vol. 7.1, No. 1.
Hans Despain, ‘The pulse of freedom and the existential dilemma of alienation’, Critical Realism and
Spirituality, edited by Mervyn Hartwig and Jamie Morgan, Routledge 2012.
Session 3: Principles of metaReality and the Nature of the Self
Roy Bhaskar, From Science to Emancipation, 2002/ 2011, 2nd edition, Routledge, Preface
Roy Bhaskar, Reflections on meta-Reality, Chapter 2
Roy Bhaskar, The Philosophy of metaRealit: Creativity, Love and Freedom, 2002/ 2012, 2nd edition,
Routledge, chapters 1 and
Session 4: Creativity, Learning and Education
Roy Bhaskar, The Philosophy of meta-Reality, Sage, 2002/2nd Edition, Routledge 2011 – especially
Chapter 3, pp 105 - 121
Roy Bhaskar, From Science to Emancipation, Chapter 11
Melanie McDonald, ‘Critical Realism, metaReality and Making Art: traversing a theory-practice gap’,
Journal of Critical Realism, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2008.
Iskra Nunez, ‘Trancending the Dualisms of Activity Theory’, Journal of Critical Realism, Vol.12.2,
2013.
Session 5: Unconditional Love, Conflict Resolution and Peace
a) Unconditional Love
Roy Bhaskar, The philosophy of meta-Reality, especially Chapter 4
Lena Gunnarsson, ‘Love: exploitable resource or “no lose situation”? – reconciling Jonasdottir’s
feminist view with Bhaskar’s philosophy of metaReality’, Journal of Critical Realism, Vol. 10.4, 2011.
Roy Bhaskar, From Science to Emancipation, Chapter 13
Roy Bhaskar, From East to West, Routledge, 2000, Theoretical Introduction
b) Conflict Resolution and Peace
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Roy Bhaskar, “Theorising Ontology” in Contributions to Social Ontology, edited by Clive Lawson et al,
especially pp 200 - 203
Roy Bhaskar with Mervyn Hartwig, The Formation of Critical Realism, especially pp196 – 9
Roy Bhaskar, ‘Contexts of Interdisciplinarity’, in Interdisciplinarity and Climate Change, edited by Roy
Bhaskar et al, Routledge 2011, pp 18-9
Session 6 : Critical Realism, Religion and the Spiritual Turn
Roy Bhaskar, From Science to Emancipation, chapter X
Margaret Archer, Andrew Collier and Doug Porpora, Transcendence, Routledge 2004.
Roy Bhaskar, ‘Beyond East and West’ and ‘Re-contextualising metaReality’ in Critical Realism and
Spirituality, edited by Mervyn Hartwig and Jamie Mirgan, Routledge 2012, Chapters 8 and 9.
Roy Bhaskar with Mervyn Hartwig, the formation of critical realism, Chapters 7 and 8
Matthew Wilkinson, ‘Islamic Critical Realism’, Journal of Critical Realism, Vol. 12, No. 4, forthcoming.
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