In the following essay I set out the substantive content of Dustin McWherter's recent book The Problem of Critical Ontology, and I then consider the significance of this work as a form of constructive critique of Bhaskar in relation to Kant. This allows us to then make some general comments on the way constructive critique can be read in different ways, indicating different forms of ultimately reconcilable necessity and sufficiency in different domains of argument. In so doing, I also consider (...) some problems of epistemology and the issue of whether partial ignorance is acceptable. (shrink)

In this article, I will discuss two prominent views on the relevance and irrelevance of ontological investigations for the social sciences, namely, ontological foundationalism and anti-ontological pragmatism. I will argue that both views are unsatisfactory. The subsequent part of the article will introduce an alternative role for ontological projects in the philosophy of the social sciences that fares better in this respect by paying attention to the ontological assumptions of actual social scientific theories, models, and related explanatory practices. I will (...) illustrate and support this alternative through discussion of three concrete cases. (shrink)

In this wide-ranging interview, Dave Elder-Vass discusses his main contributions to critical realist theory over two decades. In the first half, he explains his early work on emergence, agency, str...