BHA: Re: what's next

["Caroline New" <c.new@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ruth asks for lurkers to come out.  I would like a group reading of 'Being
Human', and then go back to DPF, using the 'key concepts' (!) approach.
Caroline
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mervyn Hartwig" <mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bhaskar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 5:30 PM
Subject: BHA: what's next


> Hi all,
>
> Ruth wrote:
> >what in the bejeezis are we going to do about breathing
> >some life back into our extremely quiet list?!  A good healthy discussion
> >about whether one can be a critical realist but not be a materialist?  A
> >return to RTS?  Or DPF?  Something else?  PON?  Any ideas?  Any takers?
>
> I suggest a reading and discussion of:
>
> Margaret S. Archer, Being Human: the Problem of Agency. Cambridge
> University Press, 2000. 323pp paperback 0 521 79564 8
>
> The third in a trilogy, this deals with the agential basis of her social
> theory. It is a big book in more than one sense, one that any (D)CR
> person will need to read no matter what their particular focus. This is
> what the blurb says:
>
> 'Humanity and the very notion of the human subject are under threat from
> postmodernist thinking which has declared not only the 'Death of God'
> but also the 'Death of Man'. This book is a revindication of the concept
> of humanity, rejecting contemporary social theory that seeks to diminish
> human properties and powers. Archer argues that being human depends on
> an interaction with the real world in which practice takes primacy over
> language in the emergence of human self-consciousness, thought,
> emotionality and personal identity  - all of which are prior to, and
> more basic than, our acquisition of a social identity.'
>
> *Being Human* strikes some mighty blows against subjective (linguistic)
> idealism and social constructionism and would provide a platform for
> discussing just about anything within the (D)CR canon. Notwithstanding
> its appropriation of some marxist concepts (including 'the primacy of
> practice') I think the book is ultimately profoundly liberal in its
> worldview and helps to provide a window on the soul of the later
> Bhaskar.
>
> Our DPF reading clearly got somewhat bogged down. I think we should put
> it aside for a time - for dipping into now that we've digested a goodly
> chunk of it, rather than wading through - and focus on material that
> listers find more digestible. All the issues raised by the Bhaskarian
> canon could still be brought up. Though I think operating predominantly
> within the analytical problematic, Archer is beginning to nibble at
> dialectics...
>
> Unfortunately, I don't know the price of the book but it shouldn't be
> too much, being a paperback. We'd have to wait a bit for people to get
> copies... If listers wanted a more detailed idea of contents before
> deciding, I could provide that.
>
> Mervyn
>
>
>
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