Date
30.05.2005

Time
11:30

Nedre Lysthus (Lower Pavilion)

Symposium

Programme

PART ONE: FORMS OF SOCIAL INQUIRY

Monday

11:00-11:30 Reception
11:30-1300 Keynote 1 R. Bhaskar and B. Danermark, Interdisciplinarity and Critical Realism
13:45-14:30 Session 1 T. Skinningsrud, Is Historical-Sociological Research Interdisciplinary?
14:30-15:15 Session 2 P.S. Robinson, History, Political Theory & ‘Constructed’ Social Divides



Tuesday

08:30-09:15 Session 3 Open Forum: Approaching Interdisciplinarity

PART TWO: SOCIAL INQUIRY AND ITS CRITICAL CONTENT

09:15-10:45 Keynote 2 R. Bhaskar, Intersubjectivity and Peace
10:45-11:00 Coffee
11:00-11:45 Session 4 P. Næss, Prediction, Regressions and Critical Realism
11:45-13:00 Session 5 Open Forum: Critical Realism, Social Science and World Peace

Background

Critical Realism

The basic tenet of philosophical realism is that reality exists independently of our knowledge of it. Critical realist theory, inspired especially by the work of Roy Bhaskar ([1975] 1997), does not claim to represent absolute truth through direct access to reality, however. On the contrary, realist social theory bases itself on the premise that all data are theory dependent and reality can only be known under a particular description. Since we have no direct access to reality, we can have no absolute knowledge of it. Though our knowledge is fallible and so can always be corrected, it is nevertheless possible to distinguish theories’ relative explanatory power. Bhaskar (2002) suggests that the essence of critical realism lies in the combination of ontological realism, epistemic relativism and judgemental rationalism. Implicitly or explicitly, ontology regulates the basic conceptualisations of all social theory, since ontological assumptions determine which entities we investigate. Invariably, those who explicitly declare that they do not ground their social theory in ontological conceptions do so nonetheless implicitly (Bhaskar [1978] 1998, Archer 1995, 2003).

Nettsider
http://uit.no/cps/3288/

Kontaktperson
Stuart Robinson

Epost
Stuartr@sv.uit.no

Tlf/mobil
47292867