Re: BHA: Mainstream Philosophy of Science

[Andrew Mearman <ajmearman@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ruth,

Was it you that mentioned Psillos?  Would you say that
your explanation below also explains his omission of
Bhaskar?  He does seem to me (from reading a few
chapters; and this might be a gross simplification) to
have the same approach as you describe below.

Andrew


--- Ruth Groff <rgroff@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Marsh,
>
> Longer response later, but for now: boy can I ever
> relate!  [Have you not noticed my repeated posts on
> this issue?]
>
> And it's not just in philosophy of science either;
> it's in metaphysics, philosophy of language and
> history of philosophy too.  For what it's worth, I
> think that the explanation is that Bhaskar, like
> Harre and Madden and now Ellis and a few others, in
> propounding a non-Humean, non-Kantian account of
> causality, was writing very much against the
> mainstream.  To make a dent when you are doing that,
> you have to be unbelievably persistent -- and you
> have to take it as an explicit goal, I think.  You
> have to publish where those people publish, engage
> closely with what they say and do it over and over
> and over and over and over ... you get the point.
> Charles Taylor is a good model for that kind of
> dogged persistence I think.  I get the sense that
> Ellis has been up to it on a smaller scale in
> Australia.  The other approach, of course, and a
> perfectly respectable one it seems to me, is to more
> or less dismiss the people who you think are
> spouting nonsense, and not waste time that could be
> better spent on other things trying to make
> in-roads.  It seems to me that that's been Bhaskar's
> approach.  So I think that mainstream philosophers
> don't know about Bhaskar because he hasn't
> undertaken to force himself upon the discipline.
> [Though I should tell you that my friend who is a
> serious historian and philosopher of science guy
> tells me that his impression is that people *do*
> know about Bhaskar, but are put off by his writing
> style.  I don't see why that should be a problem
> with RTS, personally, but that's what he tells me.]
>
>
> Anyway I'd love to talk about this more.  What are
> you planning to say at this conference?
>
> Warmly,
> Ruth
>
>
>
>
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