The Possibility of Naturalism ― A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences

Since its original publication in 1979, The Possibility of Naturalism has been one of the most influential works in contemporary philosophy of science and social science. It is one of the cornerstones of the critical realist position, which is now widely seen as offering perhaps the only viable alternative to positivism and post positivism. This fourth edition contains a new foreword from Mervyn Hartwig, who is founding editor of the Journal of Critical Realism and editor and principal author of the Dictionary of Critical Realism.

Roy Bhaskar is the originator of the philosophy of critical realism, and the author of many acclaimed and influential works includingA Realist Theory of Science, The Possibility of Naturalism, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, Dialectic: the pulse of freedom, Plato Etc., From Science to Emancipation and (with Mervyn Hartwig) The Formation of Critical Realism. He is an editor of Critical Realism: essential readings and Interdisciplinarity and Climate Change and was the founding chair of the Centre for Critical Realism. He is currently a World Scholar at the University of London Institute of Education.