Critical realism: one of the main theoretical orientations of the social sciences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper argues that critical realism is one of the main theoretical orientations of the social sciences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Critical realism aims to study the transcendental conditions of cognition, and it assumes that reality exists independently of our perceptive abilities. Furthermore, it assumes that reality is ontologically stratified wherein one can distinguish three ontological domains: empirical, actual, and real. In terms of social science, critical realism, therefore, posits that social structures have a real ontological basis independent of researchers’ empirical observations. This paper also emphasizes the role of Roy Bhaskar in the development of the philosophy of critical realism. It is worth noting that he developed his research in the field of social sciences on the basis of the model of dialectical critical realism. This model is not a solution developed within the social sciences, but a philosophical approach that proposes how knowledge about people and social structures can be developed, interpreted and described.