Peace Research Workshop: The Philosophy of Peace

Dr. Roy Bhaskar – Centre for Peace Studies (CPS)

TIME:
Wednesday, 15th September 2004, 13:15-15:00: Part One
Thursday, 16th September 2004, 09:15-12:00: Part Two

PLACE:
U-06 (Nedre Lysthus - the lower pavilion)


The CPS brings you another chance to meet one of the most influential contemporary voices in social and political philosophy:

Dr. Roy Bhaskar – The Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study of the Social Sciences in Uppsala and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Peace Studies, University of Tromsø.

There will also be an opportunity to meet informally with Dr. Bhaskar at a social gathering from 15:00-16:30 on Wednesday, 15th September, in U-05 about half way through the workshop. Those less familiar with Bhaskar’s work are recommended to attend his session on critical realism as an approach in the social sciences from 10:15-12:00 on Tuesday, 14th September, in U-06 . This will be followed by a chance to meet and chat in more social surroundings at the informal Reception for Dr. Roy Bhaskar from 1500-1630 (also Tuesday, 14th September) in U-05 . For a complete schedule of Dr. Bhaskar’s lectures and workshops while here in Tromsø please see:

A Week with Roy Bhaskar at the CPS, 13th to 17th September 2004: Full Schedule.
Widely considered to be one of the great philosophers of our time, Bhaskar is the founder of the philosophy of critical realism. On his first visit to Tromsø, in April, he presented an account of critical realism and meta-reality as a philosophical foundation for further thinking about an appropriate philosophy of peace that could be relevant to both research and action. This workshop builds directly on that foundation. Those already familiar with Bhaskar’s work and others interested in peace studies and/or learning more about an approach to social scientific inquiry that offers an alternative to both positivism and post-structuralism, are strongly encouraged to attend.

More about Roy Bhaskar and his Philosophy
Born in London in 1944 to an English mother and an Indian father (of the Brahmin caste), he was educated at Oxford University, where his exceptional philosophical talent was first noticed. Early in his career he turned to the study of economics in the hope of better understanding the problem of economic underdevelopment. He later returned to the study of philosophy, however, having found prevailing economic models of society unsatisfactory. His first book, A Realist Theory of Science (1975), received broad international acclaim. The second, The Possibility of Naturalism (1978), applied his ideas about the character of science in general to the social sciences in particular. Together these works form the foundation of Bhaskar’s philosophy of critical realism, explicitly theorising ontology or the character of ‘being’ and suggesting that reality is structured, differentiated and changing.

Critical realism subsequently evolved through several so-called ‘turns’. The dialectical turn is presented in Dialectics: The Pulse of Freedom (1993), which includes a criticism of Hegel’s dialectics. The spiritual turn is presented in From East to West (2000), developing a philosophy of religion compatible with basic notions of critical realism. This spiritual turn is not religious in a narrow sense, but is compatible with ‘all faiths and no faith’. The most recent development is the philosophy of meta-reality, exploring the characteristics of social unity and the conditions of peace.

Much of Bhaskar’s work addresses the challenge of achieving theoretical syntheses. Most recently he has sought to integrate the intellectual traditions of East and West. While Indian philosophy, for example, has emphasised the internal development and refinement of the human mind, the Western tradition has been more preoccupied with how to change the external environment. The argument for merging these two traditions hinges on the claim that the good society can only be built through means that are consistent with its aims.