A Realist Theory of Science

Roy Bhaskar is the originator of the philosophy of critical realism, and the author of many acclaimed and influential works including A Realist Theory of Science, The Possibility of Naturalism, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, Reclaiming Reality and Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom. He is an editor of the recently published Critical Realism: Essential Readings and is currently chair of the Centre for Critical Realism.

'A genuinely original argument in the philosophy of science is a rare thing indeed. Bhaskar has produced a new... strong, elaborate and well-integrated, elegant and powerful argument.' - Rom Harre, Mind 1977
'A remarkably interesting and stimulating book in an area of philosophy in which such books have become all too rare.' - S. Korner, Times Literary Supplement 1975

Introduction Chapter 1. Philosophy and Scientific Realism 1. Two Sides o f ‘Knowledge’ 2. Three Traditions in the Philosophy of Science 3. The Transcendental Analysis of Experience A. The Analysis of Perception B. The Analysis of Experimental Activity 4. The Status of Ontology and Its Dissolution in Classical Philosophy 5. Ontology Vindicated and The Real Basis of Causal Laws 6. A Sketch of a Critique of Empirical Realism Chapter 2. Actualism and the Concept of a Closure 1. Introduction: On the Actuality of the Causal Connection 2. Regularity Determinism and the Quest for a Closure 3. The Classical Paradigm of Action 4. Actualism and Transcendental Realism: The Interpretation of Normic Statements 5. Autonomy and Reduction 6. Explanation in Open Systems