Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 20:23:13 -0400
From: Richard Moodey <moodey001-AT-mail1.gannon.edu>
Subject: Re: BHA: Nice to meet you all


Hi Oliver,

Welcome to the list.  I still feel like something of a newcomer and 
outsider, but I have been lurking, and occasionally contributing, for over 
a year, now, so I guess I can welcome you along with the others.

I spend some years in the Jesuits, but left before becoming a priest.  I 
still am a Catholic, if a somewhat heretical one (aren't we all, these 
days?).  This in itself makes me something of an outsider on this list.

I came to critical realism through my study of the Jesuit 
philosopher/theologian, Bernard Lonergan, and of the works of Michael 
Polanyi.  Lonergan and his followers call themselves critical realists, as 
do some of the followers of Polanyi.   I became interested in trying to 
find similarities between their ideas and those of Bhaskar.  I'm still 
struggling with this.

I am a professor emeritus of sociology at Allegheny College in Meadville, 
PA, and am currently teaching as a visiting professor at Gannon University, 
in Eria, PA.  I have a continuing interest in theory, methods, and the 
philosophical and theological foundations of social science, and of 
sociology particularly.

Best regards,

Dick Moodey

At 02:17 AM 05/12/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Dear Bhaskar Listers,
>
>I have just joined the list and I would like to
>introduce myself.
>My name is Olivier Urbain, I was raised in Belgium
>1961-1985 then went to the U.S. to complete a PhD in
>literature 1985-1990. The methodology in my department
>was basically social constructionism, and I had to put
>up with this for five years.
>Indeed I was sceptical about the "relativism" I was
>supposed to apply to literary criticism and was hoping
>for something better. I graduated and gave up my
>search, then moved to Japan. In 1996 I met Johan
>Galtung at Soka University, where I work, and I
>discovered Peace Studies.
>
>To make a long tale short, I have recently discovered
>that critical realism (CR) provides me with the tools
>I had always dreamed of, allowing me to combine
>critical awareness with emancipation. I found the
>latest exchanges on this list stimulating, and would
>like to quote Sayer (1993) in a passage which seems to
>provide some answers to our current predicament. First
>let me quote Carroll, Richard and Mark:
>
>Carroll wrote:
> > Why, the imperialists are digging themselves a
>larger and larger hole
>
>Richard wrote:
> > I agree, but I fear that the hole they are digging
>will be large enough
> > to swallow up many more than the imperialists.
>
>Mark wrote:
> > The Bush/Rumsfield mis-
> > and disinformation machine is comparable only to
> > Goebbels, the military action resembled eerily the
> > Nazi Blitzkrieg (...)
>
>I wholeheartedly agree with the concerns expressed in
>the above passages.
>
>For me the first step towards building a less violent
>society is to allow more and more people to become
>critically aware. The propaganda machine designed by
>the neo-con and neo-liberal imperialists world wide is
>indeed a very powerful capable of manufacturing
>consent, and I am convinced their ultra-violent and
>inhumane behavior is supported by  millions of people
>who simply do not know what is going on. I am also
>convinced that a huge number of people would stop
>supporting the neo-con/neo-liberal/imperialist
>program, if they only knew the facts and events
>underneath the propanda, e.g. the real reasons for the
>war and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq,
>(who's next?)
>
>Sayer (1993:253-253) clarifies the power of CR to come
>up with a practically adequate diagnosis, and shows
>that the therapy is already included in the
>emancipatory dimension of the CR project, sorely
>lacking in philosophies affected by nave
>objectivism and radical relativism:
>
>[Now the point of all science, indeed all learning and
>reflection, is to change and develop our
>understandings and reduce illusion. () Learning, as
>the reduction of illusion and ignorance, can help to
>free us from domination by hitherto unacknowledged
>constraints, dogmas and falsehoods. () The radical
>implication of this can be revealed most provocatively
>by asking what is wrong if researchers stimulate this
>potentially emancipatory change in others in the
>process of trying to achieve it for themselves? Then
>consider a further deliberately loaded question:
>should the aims of the social sciences be to provide
>greater knowledge of society as an object or to assist
>in our emancipation? () Again, what is learning for,
>if not to change peoples understanding of their world
>and themselves?]
>
>I look forward to getting to know all of you, and if
>possible I would like to ask each member of this list
>to send a brief self-introduction.
>
>With best regards,
>
>---Olivier Urbain---
>
>__________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
>http://search.yahoo.com
>
>
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