Critical Realism, Post-Positivism and the Possibility of Knowledge

"Ruth Groff argues that a critical realist approach to the concept of causality allows for a compelling response to the idea that all claims about the world are equally valid. Relativism, Groff observes, presupposes that the world is all possible ways - that it has no determinate, intrinsic features.

The neo-Aristotelian view of causality advanced by critical realists (viz., that causality is a matter of the real powers that things have, in virtue of what they are, to affect other things in specific ways) represents a powerful challenge to the anti-realism that is at the heart of contemporary relativism."

"Groff defends "realism about causality" through close discussions of Kant, Hilary Putnam, Brain Ellis and Charles Taylor, among others. In so doing she affirms critical realism, but with several important qualifications. In particular, she rejects the theory of truth advanced by Roy Bhaskar. She also attempts to both clarify and correct earlier critical realist attempts to apply realism about causality to the social sciences."

"By connecting issues in metaphysics and philosophy of science to the problem of relativism, Groff bridges the gap between the philosophical literature and broader debates surrounding socio-political theory and poststructuralist thought. This approach will make the book of interest to philosophers and socio-political theorists alike."--Jacket.