Tony Lawson

Critical realism : essential readings

Critical realism is a movement in philosophy and the human sciences most closely associated with the work of Roy Bhaskar. Since the publication of Bhaskars A Realist Theory of Science, critical realism has had a profound influence on a wide range of subjects. This reader makes accessible, in one volume, key readings to stimulate debate about and within critical realism. It explores the following themes: * transcendental realist * the theory of explanatory critique * dialectics * Bhaskars critical naturalist philosophy of science.

Feminism, Realism, and Universalism

Feminists have drawn attention to, and rightly criticized, the tendency of dominant groups unthinkingly to universalize their own values and practices. In so doing, however, many feminists have appeared inclined to criticize almost any practice of generalizing, a development that has proven problematic for feminist epistemological and emancipatory projects. Such considerations invite a questioning of how, if at all, the general and the particular are, or might legitimately be, combined in any context. The argument here is that addressing this sort of question can benefit from a more explicit attention to ontology than is to be found in much of the feminist literature. Illustrations of how ontology can make a difference are developed.

Ontology and Feminist Theorizing

In an earlier paper in Feminist Economics (Tony Lawson 1999), I suggested that there are likely significant benefits to feminist theorizing from adopting an explicit and sustained concern with ontology. I suggested this in the context of observing that theorizing of an explicitly ontological or realist nature is often downplayed and frequently actively discouraged in feminist writing. Several authors have since commented on my earlier paper, indicating points both of agreement and disagreement. In this essay I respond to some of the more critical comments and attempt to clarify my position in the light of them.

Emergence and Morphogenesis: Causal Reduction and Downward Causation?

What is the relation between the causal powers of complex systems and those of their organised components? Whilst causal reductionists tend to contend that the former powers can be accounted for in terms of the latter, certain advocates of downward causation have it that causal powers of systems can act back on their own components. Focussing upon processes whereby systems are actually formed, I question both of these contentions. Typically missing from arguments for both, I argue, is an adequate analysis of the manner in which the components of a system are organised in relation to each other, and indeed of the causal contribution of any such organising relations.

The Modern Corporation: The Site of a Mechanism (of Global Social Change) that Is Out-of-Control?

The modern corporation, in particular the multinational, is assessed by many as being the site of an unstoppable mechanism of frequently unwanted, often far-ranging, social change. My concern here is to identify the structural conditions that underpin the workings of the corporation that ground these assessments. Specifically, my concern is to identify the fundamental nature of the corporation and specifically the multinational, examine how the structural conditions that underpin its workings emerged, and briefly question whether these conditions, now firmly established, are at all susceptible to constructive transformation

An orientation for a green economics

This paper argues that any successful project in economics will need to adopt a philosophical orientation that is rather different to that of the current mathematical mainstream. In particular, it argues that explicit, systematic and sustained ontological analysis is required. The possibilities and limits of ontology are elaborated. The paper also sets out the explicit ontological conception that the author finds to be the most sustainable. He sees signs that such an orientation is being adopted in green economics and is optimistic that this development will continue. This paper defends crucial ideas that underlie and explain green economics.

Keynes and the Analysis of Rational Behaviour

In a social context characterised by significant uncertainty how, if at all, is rational conduct possible? Economists concerned with this question often draw upon chapter 12 of Keynes’ General Theory. Unfortunately this chapter, while in any case not explicitly set out as an account of rationality per se,2 appears to be open to different interpretations on this issue (Carabelli, 1985, 1988; Coddington, 1982; Dow and Dow, 1985; Fitzgibbons, 1988; Hodgson, 1988; Lawson, 1985, 1989; Meeks, 1978; O’Donnell, 1989; Shackle, 1974; Skidelsky, 1983) — not least because Keynes appears there to provide various different claims, or contrasting points of emphasis, concerning matters central to questions of rational behaviour (see Lawson, 1989c).

A Speeding Up of the Rate of Social Change? Power, Technology, Resistance, Globalisation and the Good Society

Various commentators express the view that society is accelerating in some manner. In this chapter I assess what this might mean and seek to identify factors that could explain the widespread acceptance of this view. In the course of so doing I elaborate an account of social reality that allows me to identify the nature of social stability and thereby of the kinds of factors that might work to undermine it. In particular I examine the nature of recent developments in technology and of their take up in capitalist development. Conclusions are drawn as to whether society is indeed accelerating in some way, and speculations offered as to the sort of society for which ongoing developments could lay a basis.

Collective Practices and Norms

Social positioning applies not just to people, artefacts and communities but also to practices. This is a proposition I investigate in the current paper. I do so in the context of examining how relative stability is often maintained even in the midst of intense social morphogenesis.

Eudaimonic Bubbles, Social Change and the NHS

Eudaimonia is a term for a society in which we all flourish in our differences. The world we live in is far from that, even though, I argue, there are persistent tendencies pushing us in its direction. A fundamental question that arises is whether we can achieve a degree of flourishing along one set of axes at least, in the here and now. To this end I introduce the notion of eudiamonic bubbles, by which I mean relatively advantageous, if often precarious, conditions in which sub-communities can insulate themselves, relatively speaking, from specific sets of dehumanising or oppressive features characteristic of the wider community within which they are located, and which allow a degree of flourishing. I explore the conditions of their emergence and survival and illustrate using the case of the (English) National Health Service. I also identify systematic forces working continually to burst this particular bubble and question whether, even in the immediate future, the NHS, qua a eudaimonic bubble, can survive.