Critical realism is a movement in philosophy and the human sciences most closely associated with the work of Roy Bhaskar. Since the publication of Bhaskars A Realist Theory of Science, critical realism has had a profound influence on a wide range of subjects. This reader makes accessible, in one volume, key readings to stimulate debate about and within critical realism.
It explores the following themes:
* transcendental realist
* the theory of explanatory critique
* dialectics
* Bhaskar's critical naturalist philosophy of science.

Starting from concrete legal issues, Alan Norrie develops a critical vision of law in its relation to morality and socio-historical context. Traced historically, the conflicts he describes can be read today in law's treatment of legality and justice, judgment and responsibility. Joint winner of the Hart / Socio-Legal Studies Association Book Prize 2006.

Critical realism is a movement in philosophy and the human sciences most closely associated with the work of Roy Bhaskar. Since the publication of Bhaskars A Realist Theory of Science, critical realism has had a profound influence on a wide range of subjects. This reader makes accessible, in one volume, key readings to stimulate debate about and within critical realism. It explores the following themes: * transcendental realist * the theory of explanatory critique * dialectics * Bhaskar's critical naturalist philosophy of science.

Dialectic and Difference is the first systematic exploration of Roy Bhaskar 's dialectical philosophy and its implications for ethics and justice.

That philosophy has three aims: a dialecticisation of original critical realism, a critical realisation of dialectic, and a metacritique of western philosophy. In the first, real absence or negativity links structured being to dialectical becoming in a dynamic world. The second draws on Marx to locate the critical impulse in Hegel 's dialectic in a material, open and changing totality. The third identifies a central problem in western philosophy from the Greeks on, the failure to think real negativity as the essence of change ( ontological monovalence ).

Bhaskar 's ethics connect basic human ontology with universal principles of freedom and solidarity. He marries ( constellates ) these with a grasp of how principles are historically shaped. His account of freedom moves from the infant 's primal scream to the eudaimonic society, but thinks the limits to freedom under modern conditions. The morally real in ethics and justice is displaced and reconfigured as relations between the ideal and the actual .

Western philosophy systematically denies the real negativity that drives Bhaskar 's dialectic. Metacritique traces this to Parmenides and Plato 's account of non-being as difference. It enables a critique of the poststructural radicalisation of difference via Nietzsche and the doctrine of Heraclitan flux . Mobilised as the other of Plato 's Forms, this remains a move on Platonic terrain. It too denies real negativity in structured being as the ground of historical change and moral praxis.

This text is essential reading for all serious students of social theory, philosophy, and legal theory.

A Philosophical History of German Sociology presents a systematic reconstruction of critical theory, from the founding fathers of sociology (Marx, Simmel, Weber) via Lukacs to the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer, Adorno, Habermas). Through an in depth analysis of the theories of alienation, rationalisation and reification, it investigates the metatheoretical presuppositions of a critical theory of the present that not only highlights the reality of domination, but is also able to highlight the possibilities of emancipation.

Although not written as a textbook, its clear and cogent introduction to some of the main theories of sociology make this book a valuable resource for undergraduates and postgraduates alike. The following in-depth investigation of theories of alienation and reification offer essential material for any critique of the dehumanizing tendencies of today's global world.

Recently translated into English from the original French for the first time, this text showcases Vandenberghe's mastery of the German, French and English schools of sociology study. The result is an important and challenging text that is essential reading for sociology students of all levels.

Frederic Vandenberghe is a Sociology professor and researcher at Iuperj (Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His writings on a broad range of sociological topics have been published as books and articles around the world. "

Dialectic and Difference is the first systematic exploration of Roy Bhaskar s dialectical philosophy and its implications for ethics and justice.

That philosophy has three aims: a dialecticisation of original critical realism, a critical realisation of dialectic, and a metacritique of western philosophy. In the first, real absence or negativity links structured being to dialectical becoming in a dynamic world. The second draws on Marx to locate the critical impulse in Hegel s dialectic in a material, open and changing totality. The third identifies a central problem in western philosophy from the Greeks on, the failure to think real negativity as the essence of change ( ontological monovalence ).

Bhaskar s ethics connect basic human ontology with universal principles of freedom and solidarity. He marries ( constellates ) these with a grasp of how principles are historically shaped. His account of freedom moves from the infant s primal scream to the eudaimonic society, but thinks the limits to freedom under modern conditions. The morally real in ethics and justice is displaced and reconfigured as relations between the ideal and the actual .

Western philosophy systematically denies the real negativity that drives Bhaskar s dialectic. Metacritique traces this to Parmenides and Plato s account of non-being as difference. It enables a critique of the poststructural radicalisation of difference via Nietzsche and the doctrine of Heraclitan flux . Mobilised as the other of Plato s Forms, this remains a move on Platonic terrain. It too denies real negativity in structured being as the ground of historical change and moral praxis.

This text is essential reading for all serious students of social theory, philosophy, and legal theory.

A Philosophical History of German Sociology presents a systematic reconstruction of critical theory, from the founding fathers of sociology (Marx, Simmel, Weber) via Luk cs to the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer, Adorno, Habermas). Through an in depth analysis of the theories of alienation, rationalisation and reification, it investigates the metatheoretical presuppositions of a critical theory of the present that not only highlights the reality of domination, but is also able to highlight the possibilities of emancipation.

Although not written as a textbook, its clear and cogent introduction to some of the main theories of sociology make this book a valuable resource for undergraduates and postgraduates alike. The following in-depth investigation of theories of alienation and reification offer essential material for any critique of the dehumanizing tendencies of today s global world.

Recently translated into English from the original French for the first time, this text showcases Vandenberghe's mastery of the German, French and English schools of sociology study. The result is an important and challenging text that is essential reading for sociology students of all levels.

Fr d ric Vandenberghe is a Sociology professor and researcher at Iuperj (Instituto Universit rio de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His writings on a broad range of sociological topics have been published as books and articles around the world.

Arguing that the relationship between ethical judgment and legal justice is fundamentally social. Law and the Beautiful Soul thus cuts through the rigid polarity that counterposes the ethical as autonomous to sociolegal explorations of context and history - not to mention the abstract ethics of 'the Other' that so absorbs postmodern legalism. In making his case Professor Norrie demonstrates how seemingly technical legal issues can be related to wider questions about the nature of law and society. This book is relevant to academics and students interested in criminal law; jurisprudence and theories of justice; and critical. sociolegal and orthodox legal theory.

In this follow-up to Law and the Beautiful Soul, Alan Norrie addresses the split between legal and ethical judgment. Shaped by history, law's formalism both eschews and requires ethics. The first essays consider legal form in its practical aspect, and the ethical problems encountered ('law's architectonic'). The later essays look at the complex underlying relation between law and ethics ('law's constellation'). In Hegel's philosophy, legal and ethical judgment are brought together in a rational totality. Here, the synthesis remains unachieved, the dialectic systematically 'broken'. These essays cover such issues as criminal law's 'general part', homicide reform, self-defence, euthanasia, and war guilt. They interrogate legal problems, consider law's method, and its place in the social whole. The analysis of law's historicity, its formalism and its relation to ethics contributes importantly to central questions in law, legal theory and criminal justice.

In this follow-up to Law and the Beautiful Soul, Alan Norrie addresses the split between legal and ethical judgment. Shaped by history, law's formalism both eschews and requires ethics. The first essays consider legal form in its practical aspect, and the ethical problems encountered ('law's architectonic'). The later essays look at the complex underlying relation between law and ethics ('law's constellation'). In Hegel's philosophy, legal and ethical judgment are brought together in a rational totality. Here, the synthesis remains unachieved, the dialectic systematically 'broken'. These essays cover such issues as criminal law's 'general part', homicide reform, self-defence, euthanasia, and war guilt. They interrogate legal problems, consider law's method, and its place in the social whole. The analysis of law's historicity, its formalism and its relation to ethics contributes importantly to central questions in law, legal theory and criminal justice.

Many books seek to explain the general principles of the criminal law. Crime, Reason and History stands out and alone as a book that critically and concisely analyses these principles and comes up with a different viewpoint: that the law is shaped by social history and therefore systematically structured around conflicting elements. Updated extensively to include two new chapters on loss of control and self defence and with an extended treatment of offence and defence, this new edition combines challenging and sophisticated analysis with accessibility.

CENSORED is the second book in the William Blake series. William and Marie, his new french wife, take to the sea in a Brigantine called the Lady-Bird. Their trip starts out as a honeymoon adventure and a dip into commerce, transporting wines and tea by sail-power. But along the way they become embroiled in a smuggling operation of an epic scale that has left dead and broken lives in its wake. William, as an author, decides to write an account of the event that will point a finger at those responsible. People in high places decide that they cannot allow him to do this.

This book is the first story in a series William Blake novels. The "Hunter" becomes the "Hunted" in a bizarre Shooting Club induction ceremony that ends in bloody disaster. William is forced to become the Hunter once more to find the only witness that can clear him of a murder charge.

A collection of my contemporary Poems. Many have been inspired by observations of the natural world around us, but all are in easy to read, everyday language.

Marie and William return from their Honeymoon adventures to a home in chaos. A stalker is making their lives a misery and destroying everything they've built together. Then the stalker becomes a killer.

The criminal attacks that occurred in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, have profoundly altered and reshaped the priorities of criminal justice systems around the world. Domestic criminal law has become a vehicle for criminalizing 'new' terrorist offenses and other transnational forms of criminality. 'Preventative' detention regimes have come to the fore, balancing the scales in favor of security rather than individual liberty. These moves complement already existing shifts in criminal justice policies and ideologies brought about by adjusting to globalization, economic neo-liberalism, and the shift away from the post-war liberal welfare settlement. In Regulating Deviance, a collection of essays focuses on the future directions for the criminal law in the light of current concerns with state security and regulating 'deviant' behavior. The contributions come from leading scholars in the fields of criminal law and procedure, criminology, legal history, law and psychology, and the sociology of law. (Series: Onati International Series in Law and Society)

The criminal attacks that occurred in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, have profoundly altered and reshaped the priorities of criminal justice systems around the world. Domestic criminal law has become a vehicle for criminalizing 'new' terrorist offenses and other transnational forms of criminality. 'Preventative' detention regimes have come to the fore, balancing the scales in favor of security rather than individual liberty. These moves complement already existing shifts in criminal justice policies and ideologies brought about by adjusting to globalization, economic neo-liberalism, and the shift away from the post-war liberal welfare settlement. In Regulating Deviance, a collection of essays focuses on the future directions for the criminal law in the light of current concerns with state security and regulating 'deviant' behavior. The contributions come from leading scholars in the fields of criminal law and procedure, criminology, legal history, law and psychology, and the sociology of law. (Series: Onati International Series in Law and Society)

Series Information:
Critical Realism: Interventions

Many books seek to explain the general principles of the criminal law. Crime, Reason and History stands out and alone as a book that critically and concisely analyses these principles and comes up with a different viewpoint: that the law is shaped by social history and therefore systematically structured around conflicting elements. Updated extensively to include two new chapters on loss of control and self defence and with an extended treatment of offence and defence, this new edition combines challenging and sophisticated analysis with accessibility.

Punishment, Responsibility and Justice is about punishment, responsibility and criminal justice. Building on the author's previous work, it examines the Kantian retributive basis of the criminal law and explores an alternative relational or dialectical approach. The latter serves as the basis for a critique of perennial problems in criminal justice thinking. The book examines the work of modern theorists like Antony Duff, George Fletcher and Michael Moore, and central legal issues relating to offence and defence in the 'general part'. It contrasts the law's model of individual fault with one in which responsibility is shared between agents and their communities.