Critical realism (philosophy of the social sciences)
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Critical realism is a philosophical approach to understanding science, and in particular social science, initially developed by Roy Bhaskar (1944–2014). It specifically opposes forms of empiricism and positivism by viewing science as concerned with identifying causal mechanisms. In the last decades of the twentieth century it also stood against various forms of postmodernism and poststructuralism by insisting on the reality of objective existence. In contrast to positivism's methodological foundation, and poststructuralism's epistemological foundation, critical realism insists that (social) science should be built from an explicit ontology. Critical realism is one of a range of types of philosophical realism, as well as forms of realism advocated within social science such as analytic realism and subtle realism.
A 2016 summary of what various accounts and versions of critical realism have in common, coauthored by nine scholars including Margaret Archer, Philip Gorski, Daniel Little, Christian Smith, and George Steinmetz, drew out four tenets:
- Ontological realism. Critical realists assert that "much of reality exists and operates independently of our awareness or knowledge of it", including social reality.
- Epistemic relativism. Our knowledge of reality is limited and fallible.
- Judgmental rationality. It is possible to judge that some accounts of social reality are better than others.
- Cautious ethical naturalism. Although the is-ought fallacy ought to be avoided, ethical values can be empirically studied.