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Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Chapter 1: In Defense of the No-Miracles Argument -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The NMA -- 1.3 Laudan's Objection -- 1.4 The Rejection of the Demand -- 1.5 IBE -- 1.6 Evolutionary Theory -- 1.7 The End of History Illusion -- 1.8 Ad Hoc -- 1.9 Empiricism -- 1.10 Surrealism -- 1.11 Predictive Similarity -- 1.12 Summary -- References -- Chapter 2: Critiques of the Pessimistic Induction -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The Pessimistic Induction -- 2.3 Problematic Positions -- 2.3.1 The Classic PI and IBE -- 2.3.2 The Classic PI and Evolutionary Theory -- 2.4 The Grand PI -- 2.4.1 Four Intrinsic Problems -- 2.4.2 The PUA -- 2.4.3 The Relative PI -- 2.4.4 The PI over Realists -- 2.4.5 The Epistemic PI -- 2.4.6 The Problem of Misleading Evidence -- 2.4.7 Proportional Pessimism -- 2.5 Summary -- References -- Chapter 3: Critiques of Scientific Antirealism -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The PI Over Antirealist Explanations -- 3.3 The PI Over Pessimists -- 3.4 The PI Over Antirealists -- 3.5 Explanation -- 3.6 Prediction -- 3.7 Two Epistemic Disadvantages -- 3.8 Epistemic Reciprocalism -- 3.9 Empiricism and the Problem of Unobserved Anomalies -- 3.10 Constructive Empiricism -- 3.11 Gap Antirealists -- 3.12 Summary -- References -- Chapter 4: Six New Arguments for Scientific Realism -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 The Optimistic Induction Over Realists -- 4.3 The Argument from Undiscovered Evidence -- 4.4 The Argument from Neighboring Theories -- 4.5 The Counter-Induction for Realism -- 4.6 The English Notion of Rationality -- 4.7 The Grand Optimistic Induction -- 4.8 Tu Quoque -- 4.9 Summary -- References -- Chapter 5: Critiques of Five Variants of Putative Realism -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Entity Realism -- 5.3 Minimal Realism -- 5.4 Axiological Realism -- 5.5 Van Fraassen's Definition -- 5.6 Selective Realism -- 5.6.1 An Analysis.

A tale of two movements -- The seeds of time : legal realism and legal history -- The wealth of historicism : legal history in the critical mold -- Everything flows and nothing abides : the realist turn to social science-- Oh, the tangled webs we weave : the CLS critique of social science -- Night of the living dead : legal realist anticonceptualism -- The world well lost : variations on the linguistic theme -- Realizing realism : reconstruction in legal theory

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. A Tale of Two Movements -- 2. The Seeds of Time: Legal Realism and Legal History -- 3. The Wealth of Historicism: Legal History in the Critical Mold -- 4. Everything Flows and Nothing Abides: The Realist Turn to Social Science -- 5. Oh, the Tangled Webs We Weave: The CLS Critique of Social Science -- 6. Night of the Living Dead: Legal Realist Anticonceptualism -- 7. The World Well Lost: Variations on the Linguistic Theme -- 8. Realizing Realism: Reconstruction in Legal Theory -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sociological Realism presents a clear and updated discussion of the main tenets and issues of social theory, written by some of the top scholars within the critical realist and relational approach. It connects such approaches systematically to other strands of thought that are central in contemporary sociology, like systems theory and rational choice theory. Divided into three parts, social ontology, sociological theory, and methodology, each part includes a systematic presentation, a comment, and a wider discussion by the editors, thereby taking on the form of a dialogue among experts. This book is a uniquely blended and consistent conversation showing the convergence of European social theory on a critical realist and relational way of thinking. This volume is extremely important both for teaching purposes and for all those scholars who wish to get a fresh perspective on some deep dynamics of contemporary sociology.

International Relations scholars have long debated whether the American public is allergic to realism, which raises the question of how they would 'contract' it in the first place. We argue that realism isn't just an IR paradigm, but a belief system, whose relationship with other ideological systems in public opinion has rarely been fully examined. Operationalizing this disposition in ordinary citizens as 'folk realism,' we investigate its relationship with a variety of personality traits, foreign policy orientations, and political knowledge. We then present the results of a laboratory experiment probing psychological microfoundations for realist theory, manipulating the amount of information subjects have about a foreign policy conflict to determine whether uncertainty leads individuals to adopt more realist views, and whether realists and idealists respond to uncertainty and fear differently. We find that many of realism's causal mechanisms are conditional on whether subjects already hold realist views, and suggest that emotions like fear may play a larger role in realist theory than many realists have assumed. Adapted from the source document.

The General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) took place in June 2008. The title of the EADI conference was 'Global governance for sustainable development'. Sustainability, the environment and especially climate change, are closely interlinked with development and global governance. But this field has many barriers. Development specialists and their environmental colleagues move in different circles. But even if clever brains figure out how to achieve sustainable development in theory, realizing it in practice is a different story. Politics and power issues, or what some people call the 'messy side' of development cooperation, are important factors.