Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Critical Realism Critical Realism and Normativity

Editor: Leigh Price, Rhodes University

Email: [email protected]

Deadline for submission: 30 October 2018

Since the publication of ‘A Realist Theory of Science’ in 1975, critical realism has been associated with the revindication of ontology. Now, over 40 years later, the idea of ontology is well-established. However, in 2007, Roy Bhaskar issued what he called a ‘corrective’ to ontology: he stated that he wanted to ‘deflate ontology’ (2007, 192). He did not deny that ontology was still important, but he wanted us to consider ontology from the point of view of living in a better world. He wanted an ontology that included the call for social justice, peace and a sustainable future. He, therefore, enjoined us to keep in mind epistemological and axiological concerns, whilst at the same time deepening our ontological explorations. In this proposed special issue of Journal of Critical Realism, ‘Critical realism and normativity’, we would like to explore what this corrective to ontology might entail. As the title suggests, we think that issues of normativity will be central to the discussion. However, within this mandate, we encourage authors to interpret the call as broadly as they wish. Relevant topics might include (this list is by no means exhaustive):

• Moral realism and ethical naturalism

• Practical applications of critical realism in contexts of collective action

• The ‘Diagnosis, Explanation, Action’ version of Bhaskar’s dialectic, designed for achieving a better world

• Concrete utopia

• Desire and the reality principle

• There-Is-No-Alternative compromises

• Ethics of personalism and emotivism

• Critical realist critiques of competing/complementing approaches to normativity, such as:

  • o Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics (see also Alasdair MacIntyre and Martha Nussbaum)

  • o Bentham’s utilitarianism (see also Richard Layard)

  • o Rawls’ theory of justice (see also Amartya Sen)

  • o Habermas’s discourse ethics

  • o Slavoj Žižek’s ethics

  • o Alain Badiou’s ethics

Timeline for submissions

1. Submission of full papers to Journal of Critical Realism will open on 1 April 2018 and close on 31 October 2018.

2. All papers will be subject to peer review. Feedback period is January–February 2019. Final decisions by 31 March 2019.

3. Final papers required by 12 April 2019.

4. Publication in JCR 18(3) June 2019.