BHA: Bhaskar's five new books - publishing details

[Mervyn Hartwig <mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Publishing details and blurbs of Bhaskar's five new books, all being
published by Sage (New Delhhi/ Thousand Oaks/ London)

1. *Reflections on Meta-Reality: Transcendence, Emancipation and
Everyday Life*  will probably be released in India this month, and
should be available in the UK very soon and in the USA early next month
at the latest.

In a brilliant series of studies, based on talks given in India, Europe
and America, Roy Bhaskar, the originator of the influential, multi-
discipliinary and international philosophy of critical realism,
presents, for the first time in published from, his new philosophy of
Meta-Reality.

Though based on critical realism, it goes beyond it by showing how the
world of duality, alienation and global crisis in which we live depends
upon and is sustained by a realm of non-duality in which our creativity,
love and intelligence is spontaneously and unconditionally manifest.
This realm contains the seeds of a radically different natural and
social order, of balanced development and a state of affairs in which
the free development and flourishing of each unique human being is the
condition, as it is also the consequence, of the free development and
flourishing of all. In developing this vision, the  philosophy of Meta-
Reality confirms many aspects of the great philosophical traditions of
the past, while correcting their one-sideness and transcending their
dualisms and dichotomies, representing what is valid in them in a
radically new way, apt for our contemporary times of global crisis.

Among the topics discussed are CR and the nature of being, modernism and
post-modernism [the Bhaskarian system is contextualised in relation to
(its immanent critique of) the philosophical discourse of modernity.-
MH], the nature of the self, the relationship between social science and
self-realisation, the ubiquity of transcendental phenomena in everyday
life and the orientation of enlightenment towards collective human
emancipation and universal self-realisation.


2. *The Philosophy of meta-Reality: Re-enchanting Reality*

In this new, long awaited book, which may be regarded as the climax of
all his philosophical work to date, Roy Bhaskar, originator of the
increasingly influential, inter-disciplinary and international
philosophy of critical realism, systematically presents and expounds the
principles of his new philosophy of meta-Reality.

Building on a radically new analysis of the self, human agency and
society, Roy Bhaskar shows how the world of alienation and crisis we
currently inhabit is sustained by the ground-state qualities of
intelligence, creativity, love, a capacity for right-action and a
potential for human self-realisation or fulfilment. In parts one and two
of *The Philosophy of meta-Reality* he shows how transcendence and non-
duality are necessary and ubiquitous features of all social interaction
and human agency; and how these and connected features of human being
and activity sustain the totality of the structures of the world of
duality and oppression in which we live.  In parts three and four of the
book he shows how any objective an agent chooses in life will ultimately
set him or her on a process or dialectic to self-realisation, entailing
a commitment to universal self-realisation; and how these goals or
ideals are explicit or implicit in all emancipatory projects, of
whatever political, social or religious declension. Moreover they all
imply the same principles of clarity and commitment to social
transformation (on all the planes of social being), which he articulates
here. In a very real sense he demonstrates how these principles, for the
first time clearly elaborated here in *The Philosophy of meta-Reality*,
are indeed the culmination of all traditions of thought and practice
oriented to human well-being, emancipation or flourishing.


3. *Beyond East and West: Spirituality and Comparative Religion in an
Age of Global Crisis*

This is Roy Bhaskar's first systematic study of the philosophy of
religion, situated in the context of his revindication of spirituality
developed most fully in the context of the elaboration of his latest
philosophical position, the philosophy of Meta-Reality.  This book is
based on the Radhakrishnan lectures on spirituality and comparative
religion which he gave at the Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata in
February and March 2002; and it will surely attract worldwide interest
and stimulate fresh thinking about old issues in the philosophy of
religion.

*Beyond East and West* is a critique of the dualisms and dichotomies
which characterise contemporary thought, whether secular or religious.
He shows how these dualisms reflect the alienations, contradictions,
injustices and imbalances of the world of duality in which we live,
which is currently hurtling the species and the planet to the precipice
of a fatal crisis. This can be arrested once we appreciate the non-dual
basis, sustained by the qualities of human intelligence, creativity,
love and capacity for right-action, of that world of duality; and how
transcendence, non-duality and related phenomena are ubiquitous and
essential features of all human life, including the structures of the
world of duality which dominate and occlude them. He thus reconnects in
a contemporary context with themes to be found in religious thought.

In this book, Roy Bhaskar engages a critical history of the trajectories
of the great religions of civilisation from their primeval roots - in
particular with the stream originating from the ancient Vedic tradition,
which through Buddhism interacted with the traditions of far eastern
spirituality; and the stream which originated from ancient Egypt,
including both its Greek and its Judaic, Christian and Islamic wings.
He then shows how spirituality is implicit in secular emancipatory
projects, including western liberalism and Marxian socialism.  In a
major tour de force, he shows how all these traditions imply a unique
commitment to universal self-realisation; and displays in a lucid way
how this universal objective can be currently achieved.


4. *From Science to Emancipation: Alienation and Enlightenment*

This unique collection of studies, based for the most part on
transcripts of talks in India, Europe and America over the last five
years, covers the period in which Roy Bhaskar was developing out of the
seeds of the most radical phase of critical realism, his new philosophy
of meta-Reality.  Because of the spontaneous and informal nature of
these talks and discussions, this book provides probably the most
immediately accessible introduction to his thought, both for those new
to it and those already familiar with it alike.  From Science to
Emancipation will surely provide, together with its [forthcoming]
companion volume Fathoming the Depths of Reality: Savita Singh in
Conversation with Roy Bhaskar, an indispensible resource for all
students of philosophy and human sciences.

The first part consists in a systematic account of the development of
critical realism from its roots as a critique of empiricism in the
philosophy of science in *A Realist Theory of Science* to its
articulation of a philosophy of universal self-realisation in *From East
to West*.  This takes the reader gently through transcendental realism,
critical naturalism, the theory of explanatory critique, the theory of
dialectic as elaborated in dialectical critical realism to
transcendental dialectical critical realism. The second part of the book
contains discussions of the relationships between critical realism and
Marxism, discourse theory, (containing a debate with Ernesto Laclau),
ethnomethodology (containing a debate with Rom Harre), ethics and
finally, religion.

The third part of the book describes the route from the most radical
form of critical realism to Roy Bhaskar's new philosophy of meta-
Reality, in which critical realism is seen as, in virtue of its
commitment to non-identity, being at best the best description of the
relative world of duality.  That world, however, he now maintains, is
underpinned and constituted by non-duality, which is theorised in his
new philosophy.  Part three considers some themes on this transition
route, including the topics of post-modernism, Marxism and the global
crisis; the relation between the left and the right brain; and an
illuminating interview on the latest phase of Roy Bhaskar's philosophy.
The concluding part of this book contains some recent explorations
within this philosophy of meta-Reality, including talks on
unconditionality in love, the nature of education and the limits of
thought.


5. *Fathoming the Depths of Reality: Savita Singh in Conversation with
Roy Bhaskar*

Savita Singh, poet and philosopher, interviews - in a series of
stimulating dialogues, sustained over several successive days - Roy
Bhaskar, originator of the increasingly influential, international and
multi-disciplinary philosophy of critical realism.

This book presents the main features of Roy Bhaskar's philosophy in a
readily comprehensible form, with any difficulty in his formulations
ironed out in the course of Savita Singh's probing questions. The result
is probably the simplest and clearest statement of the themes and
development of his philosophy ever published. It presents them,
moreover, in a form which brings out, in a quite unique way, the
specific biographical origins, trajectory and context of their
development.

These conversations contain an especially clear articulation of the more
advanced dialectical features of his thought, in which the reader gets a
unique insight into the nature and limits of the intellectual and
communicative process. A special feature of this book is a very concise
statement of his system of dialectical critical realism. *Fathoming the
Depths of Reality* also incorporates sustained dialogues on the
relationship between critical realism and Marxism; on issues of
modernity and modernisation; on feminism and the nature of domestic
labour and women's role and oppression in India and throughout the world
today; and on problems of everyday life including questions of our
successes and failures, our objectives and dreams, our anxieties and
frustrations. Finally the book takes us to the boundaries of Roy
Bhaskar's ever-expanding thought, articulating his very latest ideas.

Savita Singh teaches political theory at Delhi University and has just
completed a study on the contemporary discourse of modernity in India.
She is the author of the widely acclaimed book of Hindi poems Apne Jai
Sa Jeeven (A Life Like My Own) and she is currently working on a follow-
up to Fathoming the Depths of Reality with Roy Bhaskar called New Ways
of Being, New Ways of Seeing.

Roy Bhaskar has taught philosophy and related subjects in universities
throughout the world.  He is the author of numerous highly acclaimed
books, including *A Realist Theory of Science*, *The Possibility of
Naturalism*, *Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation*, *Dialectic:
The Pulse of Freedom* and *From East to West*.  He was the founding
Chair of the Centre for Critical Realism, which now has a sister
organisation, the International Association of Critical Realism.  He has
been called the "world's greatest living philosopher"; and is now
engaged in worldwide work oriented to the project of universal self-
realisation.
************

Books 2-5 will all be launched in Delhi on July 11th, together with the
already published *Reflections on Meta-Reality*.  They will then be
launched in UK/Europe in August, probably in the third or fourth week
and should definitely all be available at the Bradford conference.
Finally they will be launched in the USA, on the east and west coasts in
the first week or ten days of September.

--
Mervyn Hartwig
Editor, Journal of Critical Realism (incorporating 'Alethia')
13 Spenser Road
Herne Hill
London SE24 ONS
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7 737 2892
Email: <mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subscription forms:
http://www.criticalrealism.demon.co.uk/iacr/membership.html

There is another world, but it is in this one.
Paul Eluard



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