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23Two approaches to naturalistic social ontologySynthese 201 (3): 1-28. 2023.Social ontological inquiry has been pursued in analytic philosophy as well as in the social scientific tradition of critical realism. These traditions have remained largely separate despite partly overlapping concerns and similar underlying strategies of argumentation. They have also both been the subject of similar criticisms based on naturalistic approaches to the philosophy of science, which have addressed their apparent reliance on a transcendental mode of reasoning, their seeming distance f…Read more
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56Context in Mechanism-Based ExplanationPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 51 (6): 523-554. 2021.In this article, we discuss the issue of context-dependence of mechanism-based explanation in the social sciences. The different ways in which the context-dependence and context-independence of mechanism-based explanation have been understood in the social sciences are often motivated by different and apparently incompatible understandings of what explanatory mechanisms are. Instead, we suggest that the different varieties of context-dependence are best seen as corresponding to different researc…Read more
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27Reclaiming Naturalized Critical Realism: Response to McWherterJournal of Critical Realism 16 (2): 200-222. 2017.ABSTRACTThis article responds to McWherter’s detailed critique of my assessment of Roy Bhaskar’s method of transcendental argumentation in chapter four of my Naturalizing Critical Realist Social Ontology. I begin by describing some naturalist ontological and epistemological views defended in my book, thereby showing that my naturalist challenge to the original version of critical realism is not only methodological but also substantial. I also indicate that this point is effectively downplayed in…Read more
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69Bhaskar and Bunge on Social EmergenceJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 39 (3): 300-322. 2009.This article discusses the theories of social emergence developed by Roy Bhaskar and Mario Bunge. Bhaskar's concept of emergent causal power is shown to be ambiguous, and some of the difficulties of his depth-relational concept of social emergence are examined. It is argued that Bunge's systemic concept of emergent property is not only different, but also clearer and more consistent than Bhaskar's concept of emergent causal power. Despite its clarity and consistency, Bunge's definition of the co…Read more
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Syistä selityksiin. Kausaalisuus ja selittäminen yhteiskuntatieteissä (edited book)Gaudeamus. 2018.Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tutkimus on pohjimmiltaan kysymyksiin vastaamista. Kysymysten avulla hahmotellaan yhteiskunnallisille ilmiöille syitä ja seurauksia. Mikä rooli syy-seuraussuhteiden ymmärtämisellä sitten on arvioitaessa ja täsmennettäessä yhteiskuntatieteellisiä selitysmalleja? Kausaalinen järkeily ja selittäminen läpäisee kaikkea yhteiskuntatieteellistä tutkimusta tutkimusmenetelmistä ja -asetelmista riippumatta. Kausaalisuuden käsitettä, kausaalisuhteita ja kausaalisia päätelmiä koskevi…Read more
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7Review of "Poe Yu-ze Wan: Reframing the Social" (review)Journal of Critical Realism 14 (4). 2015.
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82The trouble with transcendental arguments: Towards a naturalization of Roy Bhaskar's early realist ontologyJournal of Critical Realism 4 (1): 28-61. 2005.This article analyzes and criticizes the transcendental arguments Roy Bhaskar uses to justify his transcendental realist ontology. They are compared to Kant's in the Critique of Pure Reason and a detailed reconstruction of those formulated in A Realist Theory of Science is presented. It is argued that these formulations contain certain ambiguities and are beset with other, more serious, problems. First, Bhaskar's descriptions of scientific practices are far more controversial than is presupposed…Read more
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217Overcoming the Biases of Microfoundationalism: Social Mechanisms and Collective AgentsPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 43 (3): 301-322. 2013.The article makes four interrelated claims: (1) The mechanism approach to social explanation does not presuppose a commitment to the individual-level microfoundationalism. (2) The microfoundationalist requirement that explanatory social mechanisms should always consists of interacting individuals has given rise to problematic methodological biases in social research. (3) It is possible to specify a number of plausible candidates for social macro-mechanisms where interacting collective agents (e.…Read more
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21Précis of Naturalizing Critical Realist Social OntologyJournal of Social Ontology 1 (2). 2015.This paper introduces and contextualizes my book Naturalizing Critical Realist Social Ontology (London: Routledge, 2013).
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45Exploring the concept of causal power in a critical realist traditionJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 37 (1). 2007.This article analyses and evaluates the uses of the concept of causal power in the critical realist tradition, which is based on Roy Bhaskar's philosophy of science. The concept of causal power that appears in the early works of Rom Harré and his associates is compared to Bhaskar's account of this concept and its uses in the critical realist social ontology. It is argued that the concept of emergence should be incorporated to any adequate notion of causal power. The concept of emergence used in …Read more
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29How Useful are Transcendental Arguments for Critical Realist Ontology?: A Response to MorganJournal of Critical Realism 5 (2): 344-353. 2006.
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18Naturalizing Critical Realist Social OntologyRouteledge. 2013.This important book provides detailed critiques of the method of transcendental argumentation and the transcendental realist account of the concept of causal power that are among the core tenets of the bhaskarian version of critical realism. Kaidesoja also assesses the notions of human agency, social structure and emergence that have been advanced by prominent critical realists, including Roy Bhaskar, Margaret Archer and Tony Lawson. The main line of argument in this context indicates that the u…Read more
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53Elaborating Naturalized Critical Realism: Response to Ruth Groff, Dave Elder-Vass, Daniel Little and Petri YlikoskiJournal of Social Ontology 1 (2): 359-375. 2015.This paper is a reply to the discussions of Ruth Groff, Dave Elder-Vass, Daniel Little, and Petri Ylikoski of Tuukka Kaidesoja : Naturalizing Critical Realist Social Ontology.
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37How Useful are Transcendental Arguments for Critical Realist Ontology?: A Response to Morgan (review)Journal of Critical Realism 5 (2): 344-353. 2006.
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36Building middle-range theories from case studiesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 78 (C): 23-31. 2019.How are middle-range theories about causal mechanisms built from case studies in the social sciences? My aim is to answer this question by analyzing and improving Derek Beach and Rasmus Brun Pedersen’s account of the method of theory-building process-tracing. After having introduced the basic issues and concepts, I move on to analyze their descriptions of theory-building process-tracing. I identify some ambiguities and problems in their notions of middle-range theory and causal mechanism. In the…Read more
Areas of Specialization
2 more
Philosophy of Sociology |
Social Ontology |
Scientific Realism |
Varieties of Scientific Realism |
Explanation |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |