The book provides a practical guide to the application of Critical Realism (CR), an increasingly popular philosophy of social science, in empirical research projects. Each purpose-written chapter reviews major social science research methods and contains extended illustration of how to conduct inquiry using CR.

An almost unbelievable amount of false philosophy has arisen through not realizing what ‘existence’ means…. [It] rests upon the notion that existence is, so to speak, a property that you can attribute to things, and that the things that exist have the property of existence and the things that do not exist do not. That is rubbish . I have dared to puncture several metaphysical balloons and nothing came out of them but hot air.

Web-based platforms play an increasingly important role in managing and sharing research data of all types and sizes. This article presents a case study of the data storage, sharing, and management platform Figshare. We argue that such platforms are displacing and reconfiguring the infrastructure of norms, technologies, and institutions that underlies traditional scholarly communication. Using a theoretical framework that combines infrastructure studies with platform studies, we show that Figshare leverages the platform logic of core and complementary components to re-integrate a (...) presently splintered scholarly infrastructure. By means of this logic, platforms may provide the path to bring data inside a scholarly communication system still optimized mainly for text publications. Yet the platform strategy also risks turning over critical scientific functions to private firms whose longevity, openness, and corporate goals remain uncertain. It may amplify the existing trend of splintering infrastructures, with attendant effects on equity of service. (shrink)

"This monograph is written with admirable lucidity and delightful wit. In using humor as a weapon in philosophical argument it is beautifully in the Russellian tradition. The arguments appear to be devastating. Defenders of Heidegger will have a hard time trying to answer it." --J.C.C. Smart, Professor of Philosophy, The Australian National University.

This paper provides an overview of how the social licence to operate (SLO) of the Swedish forest industry has been developed over time. For many decades, the SLO has been implicitly operating, shaped by dominant discourses of the day. We can see these SLOs through the agrarian, industrial and post-industrial era. During this era, a focus on bioenergy has seen whole stump removal become a more mainstream practice. This practice gained increasingly widespread acceptance when framed as a necessary response to (...) climate change. However, research has identified problems associated with whole stump removal, including decreased biodiversity, nutrient removal, soil acidification and mechanical soil preparation threatening soil carbon stores. In light of these recent developments, this paper examines the role of knowledge production and accepted discourses in the creation and maintenance of an industry’s SLO. By providing an overview of key legislative changes in the history of forest management alongside data from .. (shrink)

The Alleged Turning Point in European Philosophy Existentialists, especially those who follow either Heidegger or Jaspers, find a great deal objectionable in what they variously call ‘scientism’, ‘scientific rationalism’, and ‘positivism’. In this article I shall discuss one of the alleged defects of scientific rationalism, that it recognizes only one kind of truth—the kind that existentialists call ‘objective truth’. ‘One great achievement of existential philosophy,’ writes William Barrett, ‘has been a new interpretation of the idea of truth in order to (...) point out that there are different kinds of truth, where a rigid scientific rationalism had postulated but one kind: objective scientific truth.’ Not only scientific rationalists but traditional metaphysicians from Plato to Aquinas and Hegel are judged to be equally at fault here: they too have failed to recognize any truth other than the objective variety. It was Kierkegaard who for the first time effectively challenged the assumptions shared by scientific rationalists and traditional metaphysicians. Kierkegaard, in Barrett's words, ‘had to re-open the whole question of the meaning of truth … his stand on the question may well have marked a turning point in European philosophy.’. (shrink)

This is the text of The Lindley Lecture for 1969, given by Paul Edwards, an Austrian-American philosopher.

It's easy to teach yourself Brazilian Portuguese! Complete Brazilian Portuguese: A Teach Yourself Guide provides you with a clear and comprehensive approach to Brazilian Portuguese, so you can progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking, and writing Brazilian Portuguese with confidence. Within each of the 24 thematic chapters, important language structures are introduced through life-like dialogues. You'll learn grammar in a gradual manner so you won't be overwhelmed by this tricky subject. Exercises accompany the texts and reinforce learning in (...) listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This program also features current cultural information boxes that reflect recent changes in society. Features: One and five-minute introductions to key principles to get you started Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author’s many years of experience Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress Extra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of the basics of the language. (shrink)