Thursday, December 12, 2013  Replies by Elder-Vass and Hartwig
to Cruickshank/Little  Two leading exponents of critical
realism, Dave Elder-Vass (The Causal Power of Social Structures:
Emergence, Structure and Agency) and Mervyn Hartwig (Dictionary
of Critical Realism), have offered critical replies to my post
presenting some of Justin Cruickshank's criticisms of CR and
indirectly to my own post on "Bhaskar's Core Ideas." I have
invited them to amend and extend their comments and to publish
them here to facilitate a coherent reading and continuing
discussion. Ruth Groff also replied, and her comments can be
read hereThank you, Dave, Mervyn, and Ruth, for contributing to
this discussion!   Replies to Cruickshank/Little on critical
realism  From Dave Elder-Vass:  Cruickshank's argument might
have some merit if it was true that Bhaskar is committed to an a
priori understanding of metaphysics and denies the possibility
that his transcendental arguments could possibly be wrong. But
it just isn't so, and Cruickshan