Theoretical Procedures and Elder-Vass’s Critical Realist Ontology

Abstract

This article scrutinizes some theoretical procedures prevalent in the philosophy of social science. These procedures are exemplified in Elder-Vass's critical realism, which promises to place the social sciences on a sound ontological footing. The article focuses on the way that Elder-Vass's general emergentist ontology is constituted and on the methods through which it is applied to society. It is contended that the ontology is not and could not be grounded in science and that its philosophical use distorts what it is applied to. The incoherent methods that social ontological projects constitutionally rely on entail that they cannot ground social scientific explanation.

Sawyer’s Theory of Social Causation: A Critique

“…One theme of this article has been that the theory stands in some need of the empirical arbitration of sociological research. It could be objected that that argument itself stands in need of justification and that the required arbitration should be stated, instead, in terms of a fidelity to the nuances of ordinary language usage in the Wittgensteinian tradition (for example, Tsilipakos, 2014Tsilipakos, , 2015. But if it is granted, Sawyer provided both positive and negative examples of arbitration in action.…”

Realist Social Theory and Its Losing Battle with Concepts

“…1 Although, as mentioned, in what follows, I will be discussing (critical) realist theorizing, my main purpose is not to refute Elder-Vass, Bhaskar, or Harré and Madden but rather to call into question their procedures for handling concepts. The following discussion, it is hoped, will provide the means by which a case as to the widespread use of (at least some of) these problematic procedures can be made (see Tsilipakos 2012, forthcoming), and thus the reader is encouraged to remain sensitive to the general social theoretical relevance of the discussion.…”

Elder-Vass on the Causal Power of Social Structures

“…For further criticism of the critical realism movement, see King (1999a, 1999b) and Sawyer (2001). For criticism of Elder-Vass, see King (2007), Porpora (2007), Varela (2007), Sawyer (2011), and Tsilipakos (2014).…”

“… 19 Tsilipakos (2014) also finds Elder-Vass’s characterization of the notion of having a causal power of its own empty. Although I am with Tsilipakos on this, I disagree with much in his Wittgensteinian criticism of Elder-Vass and social ontology in general. …”