Dados is one of the most widely-read social sciences journals in Latin America. Created in 1966, it publishes innovative works, originating from academic research, by Brazilian and foreign authors. Edited by IESP-UERJ, it aims to reconcile scientific rigor and academic excellence with an emphasis on public debate based on the analysis of substantive issues of society and politics.
Dados vol. 38 n. 2 Rio de Janeiro 1995
Abstract
In analyzing critical realism as a philosophy of the social sciences, the text delineates the concept and poses questions concerning its doctrine. The argumentation takes three lines: (1) advocates of critical realism waver between a descriptive and a prescriptive philosophy of science, and although they have recently leaned more towards the second, the first still tends to be overriding; (2) contrary to critical realism's intentions, the importance of its social theory lies in explaining the social order, not in transforming it; (3) critical realism adopts a reduced notion of explanation. Similar to positivism and "falsificationism", critical realism views the acquisition of knowledge as a one-way process, thus failing to recognize that confrontation also affects people's attainable knowledge of themselves and their culture.
O Realismo Crítico e as Ciências Sociais
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