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. 43 n. 2 Rio de Janeiro 2000
Abstract
The article describes critical realism as a philosophical approach that stresses some themes central to all sociological thought: the relation between philosophy and sociology, the notion of cause, the problem of naturalism, the relation between concepts, models, and reality, the relation between agency and structure, and so on. It is further argued that in positing the non-dissolution of the ontological and epistemological dimensions of knowledge, critical realism may represent a viable alternative to the dead-ends of conventionalism and skepticism found in the positivist and pragmatist approaches.
Keywords: philosophy of social sciences, realism, naturalism
DOI: 10.1590/S0011-52582000000200006
Critical realism: a research program for the Social Sciences
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