File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_2002/bhaskar.0209, message 60


Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 23:41:43 +0100
From: "karl.maton" <karl.maton-AT-pop.ntlworld.com>
Subject: Re: BHA: Are we dialectical materialist realists or empiricist realists?


Hi Mervyn,

>
> I agree about the additional premises, but that is precisely the way in
> which CR is intended to be deployed. Bhaskar has produced little
> sociology of knowledge (though Meta-Reality vol. 3 - or is it 2? -
> sounds promising), but there's nothing in the little he has done to
> suggest it's beyond his or CR's competence, ergo, it must be a matter of
> priority.

I would differ here.  I agree about how CR is meant to be deployed.  But this
precisely means, to my mind, that it should employ the approaches which are
designed to do the kind of soc of knowledge work which Bhaskar suggested in his
intentions to write the PON sequel that CR could do on its own.  I don't think it
can.  It simply isn't a sociology.  Sociology needs CR, yes.  But CR cannot do it
all on its own.  I think there are definite reasons beyond priority that meant he
could not write the soc of philosophy book he intended.  This isn't a criticism.  I
think CR is wonderful but its fatal mistake will be its current tendency at times
to believe it can do it alone.  There are a number of examples now in education,
for example, of people using CR on its own and disregarding the approaches
(Bernstein, Bourdieu with some modifications, etc) which can be employed to build
on a CR basis.

> In saying that 'in terms of his own philosophy, only he [Bhaskar] is the
> best judge of this' I had in mind his radical libertarianism: imo he
> takes really seriously 'the free development of each as a condition of
> the free development of all' such that he should be free to develop his
> thought in any way he sees fit (in the same way that e.g. a composer of
> music should be) provided only that in so doing he isn't harming others.
> Genuine freedom optimizes creativity.

Oh god, yes ... I wouldn't want to dictate what he does.  I'm with you on this,
though I arrive there from the direction of, strangely enough, Wilde's Soul of Man
Under Socialism, which is still brilliant fun to read.

With best wishes,

Karl

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Karl Maton
School of Education, University of Cambridge

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