Hartwig, Bhaskar Critique of PDM_pubd

7/30/2019 Hartwig, Bhaskar Critique of PDM_pubd

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[JCR10.4 (2011) 485-510] (print) ISSN 1476-7430doi: 10.1558/jr.10i4.485 (onlin) ISSN 1572-5138

Equinox Pulishing Ltd 2011, Unit S3, Klham Hous, 3 Lanastr Strt, Shld, S3 8AF.

PERSPECTIVE

BHASKARS CRITIQUE OF THE

PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE OF MODERNITY1

by

Mervyn Hartwig2

[email protected]

Abstract. Uniqul among ontmporar philosophis, Ro Bhaskars ss-

tm o ritial ralism and mtaRalit attmpts to sulat (draw out th

ral strngths o and surpass) th philosophial disours o modrnit

onsidrd as a dialtiall dloping totalit. This papr sstmatiall

xpounds and ommnts on Bhaskars mtaritiqu o that disours and

situats it rif in rlation to Jrgn Harmass arlir ritiqu.

Key words: Bhaskar; ritial ralism; udaimonia; go-historiit; Har-

mas; philosophial disours o modrnit; philosoph o mtaRalit

Acronyms

CM lassial modrnism

CN ritial naturalism

CR ritial ralism

DCR dialtial ritial ralism

EC th thor o xplanator ritiqu

HM high modrnismM th thor and prati o modrnization

PDM philosophial disours o modrnit

PM postmodrnism

PMR th philosoph o mtaRalit

TDCR transndntal dialtial ritial ralism

T/F ourgois triumphalism/ rgrssi undamntalism

TR transndntal ralism

1 This is a risd rsion o a plnar addrss to th Smposium on Contmporar

Soial and Cultural Thoris, Institut o Europan and Amrian Studis, Aadmia

Sinia, Taipi, Taiwan, Nomr 2010.

2 37 Stokwll Grn, Stokwll, London SW9 9HZ, UK. Mrn Hartwig is ounding

ditor oJournal o Critical Realismand ditor and prinipal author oDictionary o Critical

Realism.


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486 MERvN HARTWIG

Equinox Pulishing Ltd 2011.

Introduction

Th philosophial disours o modrnit (PDM) is th rolutionar philo-

sophial disours, th hallmark o whih is th sl-dning sujt,3 that

aompanid th ris and onsolidation o th apitalist sstm rom its irth

in th sixtnth and sntnth nturis to its urrnt gloalizing phas.

It displad a philosophial disours in whih popl dnd thmsls

in rlation to a osmi ordr iwd as intrinsiall maningul, alual

and sard, and will in du ours in turn displad, prhaps ritial

ralism,4 whih aspirs to sulat (i.. snthsiz and transnd) it. Expt in

th ontingnt mattr o its origins, th PDM is not an intrinsiall Europan

or Eurontri phnomnon. It is th philosophial rftion o th gloal-

izing dnami o th apitalist mod o prodution whih otains at th llo th ral rgardlss o whih partiular ntrism holds swa in th rgions

that it inads,5 although its atual ts will strongl mdiatd loal

onditions: a at o th rst gnuinl world ordr, ntr-priphr sstm6

or (in ritial ralist trms) gloal mastrsla-tp soit7 rathr than an

indpndnt Europan, thn Amrian, phnomnon. Thus, although

th disours is urrntl dominatd th Europan-Amrian philosophi-

al ommunit, who ar authorizd to st th latst ashions, this is likl to

hang whn th pintr o th world-sstm hangs.

Th onpt o modrnit or Bhaskar is losl ound up with th ph-

nomnon o go-historiit. Borrowing rom Claud Li-Strauss, Bhaskar

distinguishs th old, onrt soitis o Indignous popls who ha

no sns o histor, i.. in whih th prsnt is xprind as th ndur-

3 Modrnit an and will no longr orrow th ritria whih it taks its orintation

rom th modls supplid anothr poh; it has to create its normativity out o itsel (Har-

mas [1985] 1987, 7, original mphasis). S also Talor 1992.

4 Unlss th ontxt indiats othrwis, ritial ralism is usd throughout in itsxtndd sns to inlud dialtial ritial ralism and th philosoph o mtaRalit.

5 [T]h ral or undrpinning [th dihotomis and dualisms o th PDM] was

nothing ls than th rmorslss logi o th nasnt apitalist mod o prodution and

xploitation o natur and human ings alik, a dnami and sl-xpanding orm o

xploitation without prdnt in human histor, in whih an unonstraind and unon-

sious onatus or dri to aumulation is hurtling humanit (and with it th plant) into

risis at all our plans o soial ing (Bhaskar 2002, 172 n. 7; . 64: Simpl put, I think

modrnism is a r pur idolog o th apitalist mod o prodution).

6 Wallrstin 1974, 1980, 1989; Dussl [1993] 1995.

7 Bhaskar [1993] 2008; Hartwig 2007. Mastrsla or powr2

rlations mra powr-

or rlations o r kind, along lins o nationalit, thniit, ra, gndr, rligious

aliation, ag, disailit, t., as wll as lass. In th poh o modrnit, th onpt us-

ull alls attntion to th xploitati rlation intrinsi to th wag-laour/apital ontrat,

whih is hiddn ommodit tishism.


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BHASKARS CRITIQUE OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE 487


ing prptuation o th past (a ommon iw o non-mastrsla popls),

rom hot historiizd soitis in whih th prsnt is sn as radiall

dirnt rom th past, a produt o hang or tim. Go-historiitis

oth (1) th qualit o haing suh a sl-rfxi onsiousnss o histor, aqualit that is aught in th undamntal ritial ralist onpt o pistmi

rlatiit; and (2) that to whih th onsiousnss rrs, th qualit o

spatializing diahroni hang that is xhiitd all soitis, though at

widl aring rats. At a mta-ll, (3), go-historiit is onptuall a

driati o asn, mraing th whol o Bing, not just human ing.

Go-historiit (3) is thus an pross o dirtional hang in th multi-

rs, .g. gologial. Go-historiit (1) th sl-rfxi onsiousnss

o hang is a rlatil rnt, mrgnt phnomnon, roughl ontm-

poranous with th rst axial iilizations or th ris o mastrsla-tp

soitis. Indd, it prsupposs th othr two dning aturs o axialit:

th nhanmnt o rfxiit and o agntialit.8 Howr, huntr-oragrs

rtainl had a past (and outsid)9 in th sns that th lid in th ull

prsn o thir anstor-rators and mths, with a kn sns o thir

own origins and distint idntit within th osmi ordr; and hot soitis

ha it in ommon with thm that, aording to th ruling idologis, thr

8 Th onpt o axialit dris rom th thmatization Karl Jasprs (who drw on

similar notions dating ak to th ightnth ntur, ut spiall in th work o Max

Wr) o an Achsenzeitor Axial Ag . 800200 bce that witnssd, rlatil indpndntl

in a rang o rgions, a multi-atd soio-ultural rolution, piotal or th susqunt

ours o go-histor, in China, India, anint Isral, Gr and (mor ontrorsiall) th

Nar East and Egpt, a k atur o whih was th disor or nhanmnt o histori-

it, rfxiit and agntialit (Jasprs [1949] 2010). For rnt analsis o th Achsenzeit

and its infun in go-histor s Arnason t al., ds, 2005. For an argumnt that th

pr-Columian iilizations o Msoamria and th Andan rgion xprind thir own

Axial rolution, s Dussl [1993] 1995. This is ongrunt with th iw o Arnason t al.

(2005, 3) that, whil rom on point o iw th Axial Ag is a historial priod with moror lss larl dnd hronologial oundaris, rom anothr th strutural aspts sup-

posdl ommon to th ultural rakthroughs o th Axial Ag would sm to distinguish

on tp o iilization rom othrs, and xampls o this tp might mrg in dirnt

historial sttings, not onl thos o th original Axial Ag. It might, in othr words,

appropriat to spak o axial iilizations as a gnral atgor with an opn-ndd histori-

al ld o appliation, rathr than iilizations o th Axial Ag. Suh onsidrations issu

in a onpt o multipl axialitis, allowing or intrprting .g. th ris o Islam as a

nw axial iilization (Arnason t al. 2005, 35, 8). Bhaskars onpt o mastrsla-tp

soitis is a mor astrat and gnral atgor that onstllationall mras th axial

iilizations as wll as thir sussors on th stag o world histor. His prinipl o axial

rationalit, oupld with th axiom o unirsal solidarit, and groundd togthr with it in

th pratial ordr, proids a mtathortial asis or th rsolution o disputs (Bhaskar

with Hartwig 2010, 801, 198).

9 Bhaskar 2002, 103.


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488 MERvN HARTWIG


is no utur, in th sns that qualitati soial hang is unthinkal: rom

th prspti o total histor, n as historiit (1) mrgd in hot soit-

is, it was rozn ndism and ontologial monoaln, suh that thr

was a histor on, ut not an longr (Marx) (s 5, low). Hot soitis,inluding thos o our own modrnit, ar thus onl hal go-historiizd,

split twn past and utur th dominant outlook laks a sns o th

uturiito praxis10 and rampant trnizationo th status quo d-go-

historiizs. A udaimonian soit, ontrast, would ull historiizd,

omining an awarnss oth (a) o radial dpartur rom th past and ()

o utur hang as nssar and dsiral or human fourishing with a

(r-)nhantd iw o th osmos as th unolding o Bing and o its own

ontinuit and onntdnss with this pross mraing pross and

hang, opnnss to th utur as an ssntial part o our ing.11 W would

li our lis in th momnt, ut in th ull prsn oth o th past and

o th utur, suh that th distaniatd prsnt was prsnt to itsl not

asnt, as in th ast-twith puntualist hr-now o markt soitis. World

go-historiit (2), whr all human soitis ar aught up in th gloal-

izing pross o apital, onstituting a nw rhthmi, was inauguratd in

th dawn o modrnit as w know it.12

Habermas on the Philosophical Discourse o Modernity

Th onpt o th philosophial disours o modrnit as a unid ph-

nomnon rst gaind widsprad urrn with th puliation o Jrgn

Harmass ook o th sam nam in 1985. Harmass ritiqu o th PDM

ommns with G. W. F. Hgl, th rst Europan philosophr to dlop a

lar onpt o modrnit, and his ritiqu o th sujt-ntrd rason o

th Europan Enlightnmnt, ut is ousd largl on th disours o post-

modrnit and its radial rlatiization and rdution o rason, in ordr toidnti and larl mark out a road indiatd ut not takn: th determinate

ngation o sujt-ntrd rason rason undrstood as communicative

ation th rplamnt o th sujtiist paradigm o onsiousnss

and postmodrnism an intrsujtiist paradigm o ommuniati

ation in whih rason is onstrud in trms o unord mutual undr-

standing and riproal rognition.13 It is a powrul ritiqu that has a

good dal in ommon with Bhaskars, and Harmas dos o ours ritiqu

10 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 251.

11 Bhaskar 2002, 128; . So 2008.

12 Hartwig 2007.

13 MCarth 1987, ii, x, xi, original mphasis.


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othr aspts o th PDM lswhr in his our, ut rom a ritial ralist

point o iw ths ritiqus ar sriousl fawd.

Thus, rst, Harmass ritiqu o positiism and mpiriism las th

positiist aount o a ausal law and sin intat in rlation to th naturalworld, issuing in an instrumntalist-manipulati onption o th intrst

inorming th natural sins and th sphr o laour.14 Thr is argu-

al muh mor to sin and knowldg-onstituti intrsts than instru-

mntal rationalit or stratgi ation. For ritial ralism, sin, inluding

natural sin, proprl undrstood and pratisd, has a ital rol to pla in

this and manipation in arriing at th undrstanding to whih th par-

adigm o mutual undrstanding aspirs.15 Sond, and rlatdl, Harmass

ulturalist ronstrution o Marx, on o th k gurs o high modrnism,

within a linguisti paradigm orlooks that Marx was argual an impliit si-

nti ralist and thial naturalist,16 whos philosoph o praxis, moror,

annot rdud to a prodution paradigm as opposd to a paradigm o

ommuniation.17 Third, Harmass prolmati ronstrution o Marx is

ound up with th grounding o his this in a dialti o disours or om-

muniati ation to th nglt o th mor gnral atgor o agn or

intntional ation as suh,18 whih indd h assimilats to th linguisti par-

adigm, rormulat[ing] th onpt o praxis in th sns o ommuniati

ation.19

Othrwis xprssd, whras or Bhaskar ation onstllationallontains sph-ation, Harmas tnds to rdu th ormr to th lattr.

14 Bhaskar [1989] 2010, 188; s also Bhaskar [1986] 2009, 23031 n. 5; [1991] 2010,

142; 2002, 38. As a no-Kantian who, lik Wr, sks to omin positiism with hrm-

nutiism, Harmas is ulnral to th main thrust o th ritial ralist ritiqu o oth

thos traditions. S spiall Bhaskar [1979] 1998.

15 Thr is no ountrpart in Harmas o th Bhaskarian thor o xplanator ri-

tiqu, whih ts transitions rom ats to alus and thor to prati and onluds

that soial thor just is moral philosoph, ut as sin (Bhaskar [1991] 2010, 145).

16 In th 1980s Bhaskar ronstrutd th matur Marx as a sinti ralist (s sp-iall Bhaskar [1989] 2010, h. 7, Dialtis, matrialism and thor o knowldg, 115

45). BhaskarsDialectic: The Pulse o Freedom([1993] 2008), as Alan Norri has suggstd to

m, proids a wa o onstruing th thought o Marx, oth oung and matur, and its

onrn with this and politial onom, alination and xploitation, as a dlopmntal

unit.

17 Harmas 1976; [1985] 1987, Ltur 3, Exursus on th osolsn o th produ-

tion paradigm.

18 [I] thr is a sns in whih th idal ommunit, oundd on prinipls o truth,

rdom and justi, is alrad prsnt as a prguration in r sph-intration, might

on not tmptd to suppos that qualit, lirt and ratrnit ar prsnt in r

transation or matrial xhang ? It is an rror to suppos that this must ha a lin-

guisti oundation; just as it is an rror to suppos that it is autonomous rom sin or

histor (Bhaskar [1986] 2009, 210). C. Norri 2010, 1234, 225, 22830.

19 Harmas [1985] 1987, 335.


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490 MERvN HARTWIG


This lads Harmas to rjt a onpt o manipation, a rsion o whih

is dndd Bhaskar, as th rappropriation o alinatd powrs ring-

ing all soial rlations within th horizon o th liworld.20 Whil Bhaskar

agrs with Harmas, against Hgl, who inoks th highr-ll sujti-it o th stat, that th appropriat modl or th mdiation o th unirsal

and th indiidual (singular) in th thial sphr is th unirsalit o an

unord onsnsus arrid at among r and qual prsons,21 h grounds

this in a mor thorough-going wa in our modid intntional prati,

inluding our disursi prati. Finall, Harmass aount o modr-

nit, modrnization and nlightnmnt in gnral ar dlopmntalist and

Eurontri,22 in th spirit o Wrs Oidntal rationalization thsis, in

partiular aus it tnds to quat th quikning o ritial rfxiit in

th Europan Enlightnmnt with its ntr on to th stag o world histor,

and dos not s or aknowldg adquatl that th onstitution o modrn

Europan sujtiit has as its indispnsal pdstal th onqust and

nslamnt or xploitation o non-Europan popls.23 Aording to Fr-

dri vandnrgh, th -olum studnt dition o philosophial ssas

Harmas pulishd in 2009 to mark his ightith irthda has not a

singl word to sa aout olonization as suh, as distint rom olonization

o th liworld.24

Undrpinning ths waknsss ar a numr o mta-rrors. (1) As a pro-tagonist o th linguisti turn, Harmas ommits a linguistid rsion o

th pistmi alla Harmass Kantian projt o attmpting to rndr

ontologial mdiations as pistmologial diisions.25 This itiats his ntir

ritiqu o postmodrnism aus h shars with his opponnts th sam

undamntal mistak, nshrind in th slogans postmtaphsis, postphi-

losoph and postontolog, whih ail to disriminat twn traditional

mtaphsis or rst philosoph, on th on hand, whih ritial ralism lik-

wis rnouns, and transndntal or sinti ralism and th ontologi-

al ralism it indiats, on th othr.26 Harmas has n a sathing riti

o ontolog, whih Bhaskar r-indiats. For Bhaskar philosoph an ral

rlatil nssar truths aout th undamntal ontours o Bing and

njos a rlati autonom rom sin; or Harmas, philosophs rol is

20 S .g. Dws 1986, 16; Harmas 1986, 177.

21 Harmas [1985] 1987, 40.

22 S .g. Dussl [1993] 1995, 910, 25, 325, 12930 and [1993] 1996, 6, 51.

23 Dussl [1993] 1995, 25.

24 vandnrgh 2010, 3.

25 Bhaskar [1986] 2009, 23031, n. 5; . 2002, 38.

26 For th dirn twn traditional and Bhaskarian mtaphsis, s Bhaskar

[1986] 2009, h. 1.3, Mtaphsis and mthod, 1027.


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rathr mrl to intgrat th rsults o th sins into a ohrnt aount

o human histor and prospts, aandoning th philosoph o histor in

aour o a thor o soial olution. Lik all dngators o ontolog, Har-

mas and th postmodrnists oprat with a tait ontolog o atualism andmpirial and/or onptual ralism.27 Harmass ddution o a onatus

to mutual undrstanding immannt within disours an sn as a partial

mo into ontolog a philosophr who othrwis dnis it.28 (2) Rlatdl,

Harmas is nsnard within th antinom o transndntal pragmatism:

[I] natur has th transndntal status o a onstitutd ojtiit, thnit annot ild th historial or mpirial ground o th onstituting suj-tiit or knowldg; onrsl i natur is th historial ground o sujti-it and/or an mpirial ground o knowldg, it annot rgardd soll

as a onstitutd or positd ojtiit: it must ssntiall initsel(andonl, so to spak, ontingntl a possil ojt o knowldg or us).29

In short, humanit annot oth onstitutd and onstitut th natural

world. (3) Harmass thor o truth aknowldgs onl thr o th our

momnts o Bhaskars thor (th thor o th truth ttrapolit) duiar,

adquating and xprssi-rrntial (intrsujti or onsnsual) truth;

it laks a onpt o truth as most undamntall ontologial and althi

th truth o things as distint rom propositions, i.. truth as ral, xisting

ojtil, indpndntl o our ass to it, as th ral rasons or thingsrom th point o iw o th possiilit o human prati.30 Finall, (4)

Harmass anti-naturalism marginalizs th xtra-ommuniati or xtra-

disursi onstraints on human agn in his thial thor onl to ha

thm rturn with a ngan in th thor o ommuniati ation in

th orm o th olonization o liworld sstm (th onom and stat

apparatuss o-ordinatd th non-linguisti mdia o mon and powr),

rproduing th Kantian antinom twn phnomnal sstm and nou-

mnal liworld a rturn that is rlatd to Harmass Wrian attmpt

to marr hrmnutiism with positiism.31 Th prospt Harmass phi-

losoph ors is thus that th puli spa o mor or lss good rasons

annot maintaind as it is swallowd up th strutural ioln that h

aknowldgs prmats modrn soitis.32 Unlik Bhaskar, Harmas ails

27 S .g. Harmas [1985] 1987, 31314; Norri 2010, 225; Bhaskar 2002, 82; Outh-

wait 1994, 4041.

28 Norri 2010, 230.

29 Bhaskar [1986] 2009, 78 n. 18, original mphasis, paraphrasing and xpanding

MCarth 1978, 111.

30 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 21421; Hartwig 2007a.

31 Bhaskar [1989] 2010, 189, s also 11314, 141, 1889; Norri 2010, 1234.

32 Norri 2010, 229.


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492 MERvN HARTWIG


to draw th onlusion that, or unirsal r fourishing to possil, dis-

ursil moralizd powr2rlations must aolishd in thir ntirt, and

to dlop an manipator axiolog that mras this.

The Elements o the Bhaskarian Critique

Bhaskars ritiqu o th PDM had n initiatd (though not undr that

ruri) in 1975 with th puliation o his rst ook, A Realist Theory o Science

and, aus his philosophial mthod is on o transndntal ritiqu,33

in whih transndntal argumnts or ralist positions simultanousl ild

immannt ritiqus o rial disourss, it was ongoing rom that tim. In th

rst two ars o th nw millnnium, stimulatd isits to India, whrmodrnit, modrnization and gloalization wr (and ar) hot topis in

th aadm, Bhaskar drw th thrads o his ongoing ritiqu togthr in a

lapidar oriw in his ooks artiulating th nw philosoph o mtaRalit

(PMR),34 th thmatization o whih indd th ongoing ritiqu ds pow-

rull into. Unlik that o Harmas, this ritiqu is xpliitl situatd within

a ritiqu o th ntir Wstrn philosophial tradition35 and is positd on

th iw that modrnit as w know it should itsl situatd within th

roadr and dpr ontxt o othr possil modrnitis, oth (i) in th

sns that go-histor ould ha happnd dirntl (thr ha n

multipl axialitis [axial iilizations] and nlightnmnts, rom th prsp-

ti o whih Wstrn modrnit an sn to a partiular apitalist

and Europan orm o dlopmnt o iilizational struturs that ar ar

oldr);36 and (ii) in th sns that thr ar multipl modrnitis within th

modrn world-sstm oring rih rsours or ting a transition to th

udaimonian soit that is ntraind mtathortiall ritial ralisms

manipator axiolog as th moral althia or ojt/i o th spis. This

33 S Bhaskar [1986] 2009, 1027; Hartwig 2009a, xxxxi.

34 Bhaskar 2002a, 2002, 2002. Th xtnt to whih th philosoph o mtaRalit is

dlopmntall onsistnt with th prior phass o Bhaskars philosophial sstm and/

or nssar or thir ompltion is ontrorsial among ritial ralists. S .g. Morgan

2003; Hartwig 2011. In th tradition o ritial thor, Waltr Bnjamin appars to ha

hld, lik Bhaskar, that human manipation prsupposs that th world is nhantd and

has a mtaRal asis; . Markus 2009.

35 Bhaskar [1993] 2008 and [1994] 2010. Th onpt o th Wst or Oidnt nil

xmplis modrnits pnhant or (xpliit) xlusion ut (tait) inlusion o th non-

modrn Othr (whih I om on to low) in rlation to th South o th Wstrn hmi-

sphr: Aria and Latin Amria. For ritiqus o th orrlati onpt o th Orint that

him with ritial ralism, s Said 1993 and Dirlik 1997.

36 Bhaskar with Hartwig 2010, 198, s also 16970.


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unirsal onrtl singularizd human fourishing in natur is an ojt/

i immannt in human prati, issuing, i ralizd, in a rihl dirs plan-

tar iilization o r fourishing that is not dominatd a world-sstm

and disours o modrnit as w know it.37

But, lik that o Harmas, aswll as Max Horkhimr and Thodor Adornos arlir ritiqu o th phi-

losoph o modrnit,38 and tru to th logi o immannt ritiqu, th un-

damntal imptus o Bhaskars ritiqu, as o his philosoph gnrall, is th

transndn and haling o diision and split in a roniliation that ss

an nd to th lind domination o natur and humans humans. This,

in ssn, is th ritial ralist mra.39 Howr, whil th motiating

ision o Bhaskar and Harmas is similar, th wa th arr it through is

r dirnt.

Bhaskar xpliitl situats th trajtor o ritial ralism itsl within th

widr ontxt o th PDM, pointing out that no mans all aspts o th

tradition ar rgrssi and that ritial ralism itsl onstituts so man

sussi ritiqus o its phass,40 th ris o ah o whih was assoiatd

with a rolutionar or ountr-rolutionar transition or uphaal. Th

link with soial uphaal is undrlind aus or Bhaskar th prolms o

philosoph ar losl ound up, or rsonat, with th prolms o soial

li, and ar to xplaind in trms o thm mor undamntall than

in trms o philosophs intrinsi dnamis; and rolutionar transorma-tions onorm to th non-aritrar ritrion or signiant soial hang

gnratd ritial ralisms transormational modl o soial atiit.41

This mans (1) that th dlopmnt o ritial ralism is haratrizd

a pross o doul immannt ritiqu rst o th PDM, and sond o its

own prious phass isolating and rmding, or suggsting rmdis or,

37 C. Enriqu Dussls onpt o transmodrnit, whih, howr, has th disadan-

tag onptuall, lik postmodrnism, o inluding that whih it wants to mo ond although drawing on modrnit, transmodrnit sks to orom modrnit in all its

aspts in a mo to a nw plantar plurirs that is not an ag o multipl modrnitis

o th ormr kind (Dussl 2010, Astrat). Dussls liration philosoph has muh in

ommon with Bhaskars philosoph o manipation, inluding th grounding o mani-

pator this in agn as wll as disours, ut is onsidral mor hrmnutial and

phnomnologial in orintation, sking to marr th insights o th linguisti turn with

Marx and, rlatil to ritial ralism, laking in onptual rigour and a mtathortiall

groundd mthod o argumnt. S Dussl [1980] 1985, [1993] 1996, and 2003; Alo and

Mndita, ds, 2000.

38 Horkhimr and Adorno [1947] 1973.

39 Bhaskar with Hartwig 2010, h. 5, Th ritial ralist mra: ritial naturalism

(19751979), 7490; Hartwig 2009.

40 Bhaskar 2002, 166.

41 S Bhaskar [1979] 1998, [1994] 2010.


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494 MERvN HARTWIG


inompltnsss in ah as; and (2) that ritial ralism is not anti-mod-

rn in a rgrssi or undialtial sns. Howr, it dos maintain that

th PDM is undamntall inimial to unirsal r fourishing, or whih

w nd to mo on to a radiall dirnt worldiw that inorporats itsral strngths. Modrnit dos ha its rowning gloris, in partiular th

ida, as ull dlopd in dialtial ritial ralism and mtaRalit, o

rih indiidualism: onrtl singularizd indiidual human fourishing in

natur; ut this is otn misrognizd th PDM as atomisti gontri

indiidualism.42

Th phass o th PDM (togthr with thir assoiatd soio-politial ro-

lution) ar:

1. Classical modernism(CM) (th momnt o th irth and onsoli-dation o th apitalist world sstm, inoling th gloal olonial

xpansion o Europ and th aompaning soio-ultural-politial

rolutions o th sixtnth, sntnth and ightnth nturis;

or, th adnt o world histor, whn oth tim and go-histor

mod up a gar).43

2. High modernism(HM) (th rolutions o 1848 and 1917).

3. Th thor and prati omodernization(M) (th dat o asism,

th rolution o 1949 and th onst o th Cold War and o ormal

dolonization).

4. Postmodernism (PM) (th rolutionar uphaals o 1968 and

th arl 1970s in Wstrn Europ, and rolution and ountr-

rolution in th South, ginning with th vitnam War).

5. Bourgeois triumphalism/endismand its rgrssi simularum, rli-

gious and othrundamentalism(T/F) (th ollaps o th Soit

lo and th intnsiation o th sond phas o gloalization o

apital).

Whil distint, all ths phass ar, lik thos o ritial ralism itsl,

momnts in a dlopmntal pross, th latr phass o whih partiall

ritiqu and dpn ut also ontinu (or onstllationall ontain) what

was impliit in th arlir phass, suh that, onsidrd snhroniall, th

an ollapsd lik a olding tlsop or a Russian nsting doll: T/F >

PM > M > HM > CM. Th ar unid ao all a trmndous undrl-

ing rror:44 ontologial monoaln lading to triumphalism and ndism

(alrad impliit in th rst or as phas), and so onstitut a dialtial

42 Bhaskar with Hartwig 2011.

43 Bhaskar 2002, 103.

44 Bhaskar 2002, 123.


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totalit. Ontologial monoaln is th iw, undrpinnd ultimatl ar

o hang on th part o ruling lits, that Bing is purl positi, doid o

th ngatiit that is transndntall nssar or hang to our.45 It puts

a stop to histor on hal o th mastr-lasss, and this is th srt soialmaning o th r distintion twn th modrn and th non-modrn:

on ou sa w modrns, w ha arrid, thn ou rul out th possiil-

it o hang.46 Alongsid ut mor undamntal than th pistmi alla

and th ollaps o strutur and natural nssit in atualism, ontologial

monoaln is th third grat rror o Wstrn philosoph. It is rutd

th transndntal ddution o th atgor o asn or ral ngation and

ontrasts with ontologial polaln, whih indiats th ralit o asn

and asnting and mras hang.47

Th rlationship twn th phass o th PDM and th dloping riti-

al ralist non-prsrati sulator ritiqu is indiatd shmatiall in

Tal 1.

1. Classical Modernism

Classial modrnisms iw o th world (th impliit ontolog it srts) is

ritiqud th rst phas o ritial ralism, transndntal ralism, as atom-

isti and atualist. It is struturd around (1) ego- and anthropocentricityor -centrismoupld on to (2) abstract universality, oth o whih ar als or illusor,

manistation[s] o th logi o ommodiation (intrinsi to apitalism) and

th riation and alination it produs,48 and undamntall at odds with

th moral althia o th spis. Th gur o ntrism, whih is groundd in

th pistmi alla, hr dos dut or an iw that taks human ing or

aspts o human ing to th ntr or goal o th/its unirs (.g. go-

ntrism, Eurontrism, anthropontrism). Not just lassial modrnism ut

th ntir tradition o th PDM, Bhaskar argus, is onstitutd this inar

strutur o an go, it an indiidual or a group, lass, gndr, nation stat

(or som omplx o ths) ojtil st against a maniold, dsrid in

atualistiall unirsal trms, whih is th ojt o th gos ation (manipu-

lation and xploitation).49 This als dualit o astratd go-idntitis or

ntrisms and astrat unirsalit is manistd in th at that th disours

45 C. Horkhimr and Adornos iw in Dialectic o Enlightenment, as summarizd

Zuidraart 2007, that what is rall mthial in oth mth and nlightnmnt is th

thought that undamntal hang is impossil.

46 Bhaskar 2002, 122.

47 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, spiall 3848.

48 Bhaskar 2002, 235.

49 Bhaskar 2002, 168.


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496 MERvN HARTWIG


Table 1. Th philosophial disours o modrnit and th ritial ralist and mtaRalist

sulator ritiqu

The Philosophical Discourse o Modernity The Critical Realist and MetaRealist Critique

Moment o

the PDM

Defning characteristics Corresponding CR/PMR

concepts and critique

Moment

o CR/

PMR

Main stadion and concept(s):

understanding being as

lassial mod-rnism (CM)

(1) go-, anthropo-ntriit or -ntrism,t. (atomism)(2) astrat unirsalit(atualism, irralism)(oth undrpinnd th pistmi alla)

th intrinsi xtrior

th sl as soial andintrrlatd at a un-damntal ll withth osmos; dialtialunirsalit

TR 1M non-idntit ing as struturd, dirn-tiatd and hanging;hol trinit: judgmntalrationalit, pistmi rlati-ism, ontologial ralism

high modrn-ism (HM)

(3) inomplt total-it (ritiqu o CM)(ollows rom (2))(4) lak o rfxi-it (ritiqu o CM)(ollows rom (3))

opn totalit, rfxiit;ritiqus HMs sustitu-tionism, litism, rdutimatrialism

CN 2E prossinluding asn or ngati-it and ontradition;mrgn;irrduiilit o mind

modrniza-tion thorand prati(M)

(5) unilinarit(5') judgmntalism(5") disnhantmnt

multilinarit, opnsstms;dialogu;(r-)nhantmnt

EC 3L totalit intrnal rlationalit,holisti ausalit;xplanator ritiqu

postmodrn-ism (PM)

(6) ormalism and(6') untionalism(ritiqu o PDM,strssing idntit anddirn, and rjtingunirsalit)(7) matrialism (ritiquo PDM)

apts dirn utrinstats unit or (dia-ltial) unirsalit (on-ntion) and ritiqusPMs judgmntal irra-tionalism and lak o aonpt o manipation

DCR 4D transormati agn rfxiit; manipatoraxiolog;unit-in-dirsit

triumphalismand ndism/rnasntundamntal-ism (T/F)

(8) ontologial monoa-ln (a purl positiaount o ralit, dn-gating hang)

ontologial polaln,th ralit o asn;antuatd ritiqu omatrialism (impliitonsiousnss pradsing); ritiqu o su-jtojt dualit; alsasolut o markt andothr undamntalisms

TDCR

PMR

5A spiritualitth asolut (God);unirsal sl-ralization;o-prsn; transndn

6R nhantmnt ing asintrinsiall maningul, alu-al and sard

7A/Z non-dualit (prima ounit and idntit or dir-n) orth asolut (ground-statand osmi nlop) in-nit or unendingpossiilit;gnralizd o-prsn;transndn

Note. Columns should rad rtiall (dlopmntall), suh that (roadl) T/F > PM >M > HM > CM, and PMR > TDCR > DCR > EC > CN > TR.


13/26



oth xpliitl xluds (thr xprining diult sustaining its own

unirsalit this is th logi o ntrism) and taitl inluds (thr los-

ing th atgor o th modrn this is th logi o astrat unirsalit50)

a pr- or non-modrn Othr. Thus w ha th gur o th intrinsic exteriororpast, impliitl srtd in th disours, low th ll o onsious-

nss, as th nssar ondition o that disours, rfting th xploitation

o th xludd in ralit, whthr th xludd othr indiiduals, non-

ourgois lasss, womn, olonizd popls, t.51 a lassi xampl o a

TINA ompromis ormation.52 A TINA (thr is no altrnati) ormation

is asiall th supprssion th als o th truth on whih it dpnds and

whih sustains it (rursil ommittd thor/prati inonsistn), n-

ssaril rsulting in mrgnt rror and illusion and xmpliing philosophi-

al unsriousnss.53 So th alsit o th xlusion o th non-modrn Othrin thor, in th r onpt o modrnit (or in lassist, patriarhal, raist,

t., disourss), oms up against th truth o th inlusion o th xploitd

Othr in prati th Othr is inth On, th sla in th mastr, th priph-

r in th ntr (t.) in that th On is ruiall dpndnt on th Othr,

and oth ar part o an onl taitl aknowldgd totalit.54 Classial modrn-

isms totalityis thror (3) dtotalizd or incomplete and sl-ruting (sl-

ontraditor), and (4) laking in reexivity.54

50 Astrat unirsalit projts stional intrsts as unirsal (Bhaskar 2002, 267).

51 Bhaskar 2002, 1689, original mphasis.

52 [T]h atual onstitution o th prsumd suprior or priilgd trm o nssit

prsupposd in prati and drid its own supriorit rom th xistn and xploita-

tion o th inrior or supprssd trm (Bhaskar 2002, 170).

53 Bhaskar 2002a, 219; s also [1993] 2008, 1169. Th undamntal thrust o Bhaskars

mtaritiqu o th ntir Wstrn philosophial tradition is that it is a giant philosophial

TINA ormation in rsonan with a soial on (mastrsla-tp soit). Th ritial

ralist ritiqu oprats at th lls oth o soial orms and o philosoph. S Bhaskar

2002, 17 and [1994] 2010; Hartwig 2010. 54 As Enriqu Dussl has argud in rlation to Europs olonizd Othr, th xprin

o onqust and xploitation o othr popls is ssntial to th onstitution o th modrn

go, not onl as a sujtiit, ut as sujtiit that taks itsl to th ntr or nd o

histor (Dussl [1993] 1995, 25). For Dussl, th onqust and xploitation o th Othr

a pross inoling not on, ut thr holoausts (Indignous popls and nslad Ari-

ans as wll as Jws) has n rationalizd an irrational sacrifcial myth o modrnit, th

othr sid o th oin o its rational emancipatory nucleus (Dussl [1993] 1996, 52, original

mphasis; . Horkhimr and Adorno [1947] 1973). This mth maks th onquror and

xploitr th hro, and th itim rsponsil or thir own itimization, and is a prsistnt

thm in th disours o modrnit rom th onqust o th Amrias to th Gul Wars.

On o its k philosophial sours, as Dussl points out, is Kants iw that Enlightn-

mnt is th xit o humanit rom its ulpal immaturit Lazinss and owardi ar

th rasons wh so larg a part o humanit, long atr natur has rlasd thm rom

alin guidan (naturaliter maiorennes), nrthlss gladl rmain in lilong immaturit,


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498 MERvN HARTWIG


Th atomisti go o modrnit, on th ritial ralist aount o th sl,

is an illusion: it is ral in trms o ausal a, o ours, ut laks a ral

ojt.55 On this aount, popl ar not disonntd gos ut modid

prsonalitis with transndntall ral sls or ground-stats, prooundlintrrlatd at th ll o th soial, human iolog and th undamntal

stats o th unirs.56 Th asn o an go is atuall taitl prsupposd

man manipator disourss. Thus th onpt o th udaimonian

soit on in whih th r dlopmnt o ah is a ondition or th

r dlopmnt o all prsupposs that our fourishing and dlop-

mnt is as important to m as m own. This is r similar to th injuntions

o Buddhism against th go or th priilging o ons own standpoint, and

or that mattr to th impliations o th Goldn Rul or thi o ripro-

it, solidarit and undrstanding in Christianit and othr rligions and inall sstms o unirsalizing this. But suh an thi is in no wa rstritd

to rligion or xpliit manipator disourss: it is a hiddn or unrog-

nizd atur o rda li in all soitis, nssar or human soialit

and soial onding. In ritial ralism it nds its mtathortial xprs-

sion in th prinipls o dialtial unirsalizailit and unirsal solidar-

it, groundd in th onrt unirsal. Astrat unirsalit, th n mor

undamntal gorning prinipl o modrnit, whih nds its most strik-

ing manistation in smoli logi and mon,

57

is ontrastd with dialti-al unirsalit: th unirsal dos not xist apart rom th singular and is

highl mdiatd and hanging; togthr unirsalit, prossualit, partiular

mdiations and thir onrtl singular outom onstitut th onrt

unirsalsingular. A human ing thus onsists in a or unirsal human

natur, partiular mdiations and th rhthmis o hr world-lin, uniqul

indiiduating hr as in t a natural kind sui gnris.58 Critial ral-

and wh it is so as or othrs to stalish thmsls as thir guardians. [Auklrung ist

dr Ausgang ds Mnshn aus sinr slst rshuldtn Unmndigkit Faulhit undFighit sind di Ursahn, warum in so gror Til dr Mnshn, nahdm si di Natur

lngst on rmdr Litung ri gsprohn (naturalitr maiornns), dnnoh grn

zitlns unmndig lin; und warum s andrn so liht wird, sih zu drn vor-

mndrn auzuwrn] (Kant 1783; m translation, orrowing rom Dussl spiall).

55 S sp. Bhaskar 2002, h. 2, Who am I?, 69116.

56 Th transndntall ral or ssntial or althi sl or ground-stat is ultimatl an

impliitl onsious ld o possiilit intrrlatd with all othr ground-stats as part o

a muh iggr quantum ld (Bhaskar 2002, 92). Th asi ida hr is that ultimatl

thr is onl on kind o stu inormation-nrg or lds o impliitl onsious possiil-

it with its o root mattr noldd within thm whih is ingrdint in rthing in th

multirs, so rthing is intrrlatd at a undamntal ll.

57 Bhaskar 2002, 17.

58 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 395; s also Bhaskar 2010, 1819; Hartwig 2007, 2007h;

Bhaskar with Hartwig 2010, 801.


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isms totalit in th human sphr, ontrast with that o th PDM, inluds

ron on th plant whil lrating th ralit and potntial o dirsit

at prsonal, ommunal and rgional lls.

2. High Modernism

Th als gontriit and astrat unirsalit o lassial modrnism wr

th ous o th ritiqu o lassial modrnism high modernism, roadl

ndorsd ritial ralism, whih rahd its apog philosophiall and

thortiall in Marx and idolog-ritiqu and Sigmund Frud. Idolog-

ritiqu xposs, rst, th rprsntation o stional intrsts as unirsal

ons,59

raling th tait dpndn o th xluding on th xludd60

apturd in th gur o th intrinsi xtrior; and this has n uilt on

minism, dpndn thor and othr momnts rprsnting th

xludd. Sond, it shows th nssar dpndn o a als thor on a

tru ground, prguring th thor o th TINA ormation.61 Howr, in its

pronnss to sustitutionism (whih rlis on som agnt othr than our-

sl to t dsiral soial hang) and litism, driing rom th lak o

an organi intlligntsia in th Gramsian sns, high modrnism is itsl ul-

nral to som aspts o its own ritiqu litism itsl rprsnts stional

intrsts as unirsal;62 and to th mtaRalist argumnt or th prima o

sl-rrntialit or th sl-transormation or sl-ralization o th human

sujt: manipator soial hang nssaril gins with sl-hang in

this sns, w annot rl on othrs (.g. th working lass or lits/xprts)

to do it or us w ha to do it oursls.63 Emanipator high modrnism is

additionall ulnral to th ritiism that it prsupposs a spiritualit that

it ails to thmatiz xpliitl or ground adquatl, whr spiritualit is most

undamntall ating in awarnss o and onsistntl with th ralit o th

hiddn non-dual sustratum o ratiit, lo, right-ation and rdom thatsstms o soial opprssion dominat and olud n as th dpnd on

thm.64

Lik lassial modrnism, high modrnism is also (with important xp-

tions that do not inlud most Marxism sin Marx) tpiall rdutil

matrialist in outlook. Rduti matrialism holds that th world is rutl

59 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 168.

60 Bhaskar 2002, 27.

61 Bhaskar 2002, 278.

62 Bhaskar 2002, 309.

63 Bhaskar 2002, 119.

64 S .g. Bhaskar 2002, 11516, 119.


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500 MERvN HARTWIG


phsial, arguing that an smingl non-phsial phnomnon (.g. on-

siousnss) ull rdus to som othr idntid phsial ntit (.g. rain-

stats or nural prosss). Suh rdutionist riation has th onsqun

o d-agntiing human agn and downplaing th normous ratipowr o thought.65 Th ritial ralist ritiqu o this position was inaugu-

ratd th dmonstration o th sui gnris ralit o mind as an mrgnt

powr in Bhaskars The Possibility o Naturalism66 and is arrid through in

th philosoph o mtaRalit, with its rjtion o th notion that Bing

is xhaustil phsial and its spousal o mtaphsial realismrathr than

matrialism (or idalism).

3. Modernization

As Harmas has pointd out, th trm modrnization was introdud as

a thnial onpt onl in th 1950s, th h-da o untionalist and o-

lutionar approahs to soial thor.67 Modrnization thor and prati

was haratrizd (5) unilinearity, whr dloping ountris would

inital pass through th sam stags o onomi and politial growth as

th Wstrn world, and histor as a whol is a stor o unilinar progrss, with

Wstrn ountris in th anguard; ritial ralism ritiqus this as a ariant

o litism and (in Popprs sns) historiism and shows that its dtrminis-

ti ast is losl ound up with atualism.68 Thr ar no laws o historial

dlopmnt inxoral dtrmining a uniqu squn; histor ould ha

n, just as it ould , r dirnt. Intrinsi to unilinarit was (5') a

judgementalism ompltl at odds with modrnits own pralnt iw that

rational judgmnts onrning mattrs o alu ar impossil whr

dlopd, Wstrn and modrn ar not onl suprior to anthing inon-

sistnt with thmsls ut prsnt a modl that othrs must ollow; and (5")

an antuatd disenchantmento th world, whih had n prsnt in thPDM rom th outst, whr th world was inrasingl draind o intrinsi

maning and alu, whih wr sourd instad to th sl-dning modrn

sujt. During this priod disnhantmnt ound xprssion ao all in

65 Bhaskar 2002, 245.

66 Bhaskar [1979] 1998.

67 Harmas [1985] 1987, 2.

68 Dussl (.g. [1993] 1996, 4) ritiqus it as th dlopmntalist alla. Harmass

iw ([1985] 1987, 3) that [t]h thor o modrnization dissoiats modrnit rom

its modrn Europan origins and stlizs it into a spatio-tmporall nutral modl or pro-

sss o soial dlopmnt in gnral is orrt in rgard o stlization ut orlooks that

Europ was dmd to ha shown and to showing th wa.


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Wrian rationalization and th Nitzshan dath o God,69 ntraining a

lin o thought that issud in th poststruturalist nd o man (Fouault),

histor (Lotard) and (through its hat-dath) maning (Drrida).70

Whil rjting an iw o go-histor that ss it as an inxoral prosso dlopmnt towards a pr-ordaind goal, iwing it rathr as a radiall

opn, ontingnt, unn and multiorm pross puntuatd rgrssion

and oldak, ritial ralism dos hold that thr is a rtain tndntial ratio-

nal dirtionalit in histor. This is a latnt tlolog at th ll o th soial

ral insrid, not just in human sph (. Aplian and Harmasian dis-

ours this, dmonstrating th immannt rationalit o linguisti intrsu-

jtiit), ut mor gnrall in prati as suh a dp arning and striing

or r fourishing immannt in praxis: th puls o rdom.71 This notion

o tndntial rational dirtionalit has n dmd som to taintdwith Eurontrism, ut th struggl or rdom oms rom popl whrr

th ar rom th olonizd, th priphr, th sualtrn and so on and

to imagin that this is not so is itsl a Eurontri onit. As Bhaskar has

pointd out, th puls o rdom ould ha n thmatizd quall wll in

ritial ngagmnt with Chins, or Indian, or Indignist philosoph, as with

Wstrn.72 Likwis, in arguing or th r-nhantmnt o th world, Bhaskar

is not arguing or th imposition o an aritrar transndnt iw, wrapping

th world on mor in th mthi. On th ontrar, th argumnt is that thworld is alwas alrad nhantd,73 i.. intrinsiall maningul and alual,

and that this is osurd th disnhantd gaz in th smog o th dmi-

ral an mrgnt ll o ralit haratrizd atgorial rror, ignoran

and illusion that otains in all mastrsla-tp soitis, ut rahs its ullst

xprssion to dat in apitalist modrnit. In ordr to s th world or what it

rall is nhantd w must shd th dmi-ral.74

4. Postmodernism

Postmodrnism, along with th nw soial momnts that aompanid

it, is a aklash against th ntir tradition o th PDM, aspiring to spak on

hal o all thos who wr taitl xludd rom it. Ao all, prhaps, it is

69 Gauht [1985] 1997.

70 Bhaskar 2002, 170.

71 Bhaskar [1993] 2008; Hartwig 2007d.

72 Bhaskar with Hartwig 2010, 138.

73 S .g. Bhaskar 2002, 243, n. 35.

74 Th onpt o dmi-ralit is rst xpliitl laoratd in Bhaskar 2000, 6, 339, ut

had n usd in oral prsntations rom 1994 (Bhaskar, prsonal ommuniation). It

uilds on th thor o th TINA ormation.


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502 MERvN HARTWIG


a ration against th astratl (atualistiall) unirsalizing tndnis o

that disours, olitrati o idntit and dirn, whih am to a pak

in modrnization thor and prati. This is a r important orrti

rom a ritial ralist point o iw; it is a ration, prgurd th xprs-siist 1960s ultural rolution, against th logi o Wstrn domination in

th nam o apitalist gloalization.75 Unortunatl, howr,

in th r antuation in this phas o a nw politis o idntit and di-rn th intronntdnss and unit o humanit and indd liingorms was lost. What was missing hr was an onption o a dialtialtotalit, with th ruial onpts odialectical universalityand concrete sin

gularityasnt.76

That is to sa, postmodrnism ails to distinguish twn astrat atualist

and dialtial unirsalit, jttison[ing] unirsalit rathr than atualism!77

It dngats unirsalit, ut is itsl a unirsal modrn idolog. Th ra o

postmodrnism rought out th (6) ormalismand (6') unctionalismo th

whol tradition, whih assumd th non-autonomous plastiit o natur,

tratd as an ojt o instrumntal rasoning and prati, togthr with

(7) a materialism that was rdutionist in thor and mhanial in pra-

ti. B ormalism Bhaskar mans th undialtial gloriation o ormal,

analtial, astrat, quantitati mods o rasoning and mods o ing78

that haratrizs th dominant disourss o modrnit as a whol; and,rlatdl, th prioritization o disursi or intuiti mods o rasoning,

whih is in part rrsd postmodrnism.79 Philosophiall, mhanial

matrialism downplas th rol o idas and intntionalit in go-histor; as

manistd in Marxism it

nr am to trms with th rol o onsiousnss, idas and intntionalit,th dning haratristis o soial li, as oundational aturs o soialli. Th rsult was that its own sl-undrstanding and its own prati wasautl limitd a ailur to om to trms with th sujti and sl-transormati prrquisits o soial hang.80

75 Bhaskar 2002, 235.

76 Bhaskar 2002, 171, original mphasis.

77 Bhaskar 2002, 236.

78 Bhaskar 2002, 29.

79 Th postmodrn ritiqu o logontrism, ndorsd Harmas, nds its oun-

trpart in th Bhaskarian ritiqu o th disursi intllt, whih howr nompasss

all orms o analtial and dialtial rason, not just th philosoph o onsiousnss,

and ritiqus Harmass ommuniati rason or its atualism. S spiall Bhaskar

2002, h. 3, Th Zn o ratiit and th ritiqu o th disursi intllt, 99166. In

PMR oth th disursi and th intuiti intllt ar undrpinnd supramntal or

ground-stat onsiousnss.

80 Bhaskar 2002, 188 n.15.


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Sustantil, matrialism hings on a sns o th uttr sparatnss o th

go rom th rst o th world, whih undrwrits manipulati tratmnt

o popl as wll as th world o ojts (with whih man [sks] to ll

his own innr mptinss) and sts up a mastrsla rlationship twnth go or th modrn, and th non-go, othr or non- or pr-modrn. 81

Postmodrnism rjts and displas this go, along with unirsalit, ut

th arr o th donstruti disours rmains mstrious, unsusp-

til to rfxi situation.82 Who or what is it that pronouns th disap-

paran o th go? Critial ralism an agr that th atomisti go is a

(ausall aious) illusion ut it upholds th ralit o th modid pr-

sonalit and o th transndntall ral sl or ground-stat that undrpins

and sustains oth.83 Postmodrnisms inailit to sustain a ohrnt totalit

is mirrord in poststruturalism (and also idnt in struturalism), whih

dtotalizs th osrr rom th ld sh osrs. Nithr is thror

al to sustain an notion o itsl.84 Cruiall, th rlationship postmod-

rnism postulats twn th postmodrn and th modrn dupliats th

idologial rlationship twn th modrn and th non-modrn in th

PDM as a whol, and its dnial o ontolog and o th possiilit o a judg-

mntall rational assssmnt o othr positions ntails that it annot sustain

a onpt o manipation or indd its own rationalit, ausal a or

ralit. It mistaks a modalit o rason instrumntal or stratgi rational-it, groundd in powr

2soial rlations85 and th dominant orm o rason

in modrnit or rason itsl.86 Hr Bhaskars ritiqu joins ors with

that o Harmas: oth thinkrs position thmsls within th onati

dri to rdom linking Dsarts, Kant, Hgl and Marx, on th on hand,

and ritial thor and dialtial ritial ralism, on th othr,87 against th

wholsal poststruturalist attak on th hritag o th Enlightnmnt that

aims to sr th link twn rdom and rason. Harmas dmonstrats

that postmodrnism is unsrious: th supposdl radial ritiqu o rason

rmains tid to th prsuppositions o th philosoph o th sujt rom

whih it wantd to r itsl th othr o rason rmains th mirror

81 Bhaskar 2002, 171.

82 Bhaskar 2002, 70.

83 Bhaskar 2002, h. 2, Who am I?, 69116; 2002, xxxxi, 36.

84 Bhaskar 2002a, 208; 2002, 172; 2000, 229; . Harmas [1985] 1987, 336.

85 Morgan 2007.

86 Bhaskar distinguishs sn lls o rationalit, whih ar thn groupd into our: (1)

instrumntal; (2) ritial (inluding xplanator ritial); (3) manipator; and (4) his-

torial rason or go-historial rational dirtionalit. Ths ar st out in Hartwig 2007g,

summarizing Bhaskar [1986] 2009, 181., [1993] 2008, 261 and [1994] 2010, 147, 153.

87 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 335.


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504 MERvN HARTWIG


imag o rason in powr.88 On th othr hand, Harmas joins ors with

poststruturalism, ontra Bhaskar, in assrting th prmann o disn-

hantmnt and th Wrian iron ag and th inliminailit o powr2

rlations. Whras th animating ision o Harmas is o a roniliationo modrnit whih has alln apart on th asis o orms o liing togthr

in whih autonom anddpndn an trul ntr into non-antagonisti

rlation,89 that o Bhaskar is o a unirsal r fourishing that prsupposs

th aolition o mastrsla-tp rlations in thir ntirt.

5. Triumphalism/Fundamentalism

Postmodrnisms dnial o th possiilit o th rational assssmnt o othrpositions hlpd pa th wa, with th ollaps o th Soit lo, or th

mphati rassrtion o ourgois triumphalism and ndism, with thir

undrpinning philosophial rror o (8) ontological monovalence.90 As on-

pts, triumphalism and ndism, togthr with ntrism, ntail ah othr

as ollows: ntrism triumphalism ndism.91 Th ar impliit in Marxs

ritiqu o Hgl, and ntral to th Bhaskarian ritiqu o th irralism o

th Wstrn philosophial tradition gnrall. Hgl xmplid all thr

o ths atgorial rrors whn h said: World histor trals rom ast to

wst; or Europ is th asolut nd o histor, just as Asia is th ginning.92

Triumphalism is th orwning xaggration o human powrs to know,

ontrol t. Cogniti triumphalism in Hgl, or xampl, idntis th

whol o Bing with what lis within th sop o human ogniti om-

ptn. Politiall, triumphalism ound xprssion atr 1989 in a rru-

dsn o no-imprialism, rationar nationalism and hauinism.93

Endism is th iw that histor, whil on ral, has om to an nd in th

prsnt. Thus, aording to twntith-ntur ndism, modrnit had a

ginning around aout 1500, in th light o whih its past appars as pr-histor, and it has now arrid at an nding, an rlasting posthistor. 94

Thr will o ours ontinu to a utur, aording to this iw, ut thr

will no mor qualitati soial and institutional hang or idologis o

88 Harmas [1985] 1987, 309.

89 Harmas 1986, 125.

90 Bhaskar 2002, 172.

91 Hartwig 2007.

92 Hgl [1837] 1975, 197.

93 Bhaskar 2002, 167.

94 C. Harmas [1985] 1987, h. 1, Modrnits onsiousnss o tim and its nd or

sl-rassuran, 122.


21/26



hang: th utur will in this sns onstllationall ontaind within

th prsnt. Applid to our ontmporar situation, ndism prolaims that

thr ar no altrnatis to apitalism. Suh dnial o th ongoing natur o

go-historiit, or d-go-historiization, is haratristi o mastr-lasss,aus th ontinuation o go-histor must soonr or latr spll th nd

o thir rul, and it is a potnt moti o th Wstrn philosophial tradition,

whih assists in lgitimating that rul.95 Endism is alsid th irrduil

transormati natur o human praxis, whih asnts and rats, n as it

rprodus, th gin. Endism was nil xmplid in th work o Franis

Fukuama just as th disours o ourgois triumphalism was gtting sri-

ousl undr wa.96 Fundamntalism (or oundationalism), whthr in th

orm o markt or rligious and othr undamntalisms or th thor o

pistmolog, is th iw that ons knowldg is inorrigil or rtain

aus it is asd on induital prinipls. It inital splits ralit

into two (iz. that whih onorms to its ritrion and that whih dos

not),97 giing ris to th prolm o th On and th Othr, whthr in phi-

losoph or th politis o idntit. In ontrast to Bhaskar, modrnit limits

undamntalism to th attmpt to dnd th pr-modrn or traditional in

a traditional wa,98 thr ltting markt undamntalism o th hook. In

lat modrnit undamntalism is a ousin o postmodrnism, lik it rjt-

ing unirsalit and unit and apting th ssntialit o dirn, utsaing Im right and our wrong to postmodrnisms thr is no right

and wrong.99 What undamntalism ignors is that w an nr start rom

srath or an induital starting point aus w ar alwas thrown into

an alrad xisting pistmologial dialti or larning pross, ntailing

pistmologial rlatiit and th possiilit o ritiqu. It thus arris at

th opposit onlusion to that o its dialtial ountrpart,100 ndism or

95 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 64. Endism and th notion o posthistor ontrasts with thMarxian and Bhaskarian iw that histor propr will gin onl atr th spis mos on

rom its powr2-strikn stat. In udaimonian soit, ar rom historiit haing ndd, it

would mrad and shit up a gar as impliit and stmid human rati potntiali-

tis ar unlokd and unoldd in an in prinipl nr-nding opn olutionar pross,

with an mphasis on ing and ltting rathr than haing and ontrolling.

96 Fukuama 1992.

97 Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 300.

98 C. Giddns 1994, it. vandnrgh 2004, 115 n. 70.

99 Bhaskar 2002, 41, 97.

100 Dialtial ountrparts or antagonists ar in onfit or rlatil suprial mattrs

utnssar to ah othr in ing groundd in (a) ommon atgor mistak(s), hn

taitl ompliit. So thir antagonism or opposition is ultimatl phon, and is rald

as suh whn orrahd a ullr onptual ormation that maks good th atgor

mistak.


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506 MERvN HARTWIG


asolutism,whih assums that w ar, or an , lt with nothing to do. All

undamntalisms so man smptoms o th alination and ragmntation

o ing101 thus turn on th proision o a als asolut or god (th

induital starting point), spurrd in th last instan, as in th as ondism, ar o hang. Toda, rnasnt rligious and othr undamn-

talisms, summond to aount in a dialti o ioln th als our-

gois god, th Moloh o powr and mon (an astrat unirsal), joins it

in supprssing ratiit, lo and rdom.102

In ourgois triumphalism and ndism, th idolog o noliralism/

noonsratism prolaims th nd o idolog, and markt undamntalism

th inalliilit o th markt as a mans o soling multipl and ompound-

ing soial and onomi prolms and riss. Th hda o triumphalism

aompanid th intns phas o gloalization, undr th dominan o

markt undamntalism, that ollowd th dmis o th Soit lo atr

1989. It ma wll , as Bhaskar has suggstd, that

this logi o th nd has itsl a larl idntial nd. For whn r-thing is ommodid, that is, rid and turnd into a thing, thn thpross o ommodiation must om to a halt; and sin thr will

nothing mor to ommodi, thr an no urthr asis or ommodi-ation, that is, th xpansion, and thus th r surial, o th rgim oommodiation, riation and alination. Th onl qustion is whthr

this rgim oms to a halt or th pross o ommodiation is aso-lut or whn it dos, or i it did, thr would no mor natur andnothing mor to ount as a human ing.103

Th disours that aompanid th phas o gloalization atr 1989 an

thought o as a rst su-phas o triumphalism/undamntalism. From th

tim o 9/11 and th war on trror a sond su-phas nsud, haratr-

izd th lash and proliration o undamntalisms:

101 Bhaskar 2002, 173.

102 Bhaskar 2002, 242; 2002a, 347. As I writ, saag uts to puli xpnditur aross

th glo ar ing justid as nssar to plaat th markt. Suh sariial ioln,

as Dussl [1993] 1995 rminds us, has n a ardinal atur o Wstrn modrnit rom

its inption.

103 Bhaskar 2002, 173. Bhaskar dos not o ours li that th pross o ommodi-

ation ould om asolut in prati, aus it prsupposs and dpnds on a non-

dual ralm that prsnts an unsurpassal ral arrir to alination (s .g. Bhaskar 2002,

18; Bhaskar with Hartwig 2010, 1934; . Suzuki 2005). Harmas agrs with Bhaskar

that th pross o alination and riation has limits in a unit o rationalit that lis

nath th husk o rda prati (itd in Cook 2005, 56) and proids th indis-

pnsal asis or th soial sstm as a whol, ut dos not ground this in ation as distint

rom sph-ation, nor iw it as an ontologiall ral tndn (xisting intransitil in

rlation to an partiular ation), nor sour it ultimatl to human ground-stats.


23/26



th lash o markt undamntalism in allian with Christian and prhapsalso Jwish undamntalism, on th on hand, with Islami undamntalismon th othr, oupld with, and orlaid , th raking out o mriad loaland ptt undamntalisms, hauinisms and asolutisms.104

6. Current Trends

Toda thr ar signs that w ar ntring a nw su-phas o triumphalism/

undamntalism haratrizd a partial rturn to a multi-polar world (in

whih th mrging BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India, China] ountris proid a

partial ountr-wight to US hgmon), inrasing riss o intrnational

law and o-opration and th antuatd urgn o onomi and o-

logial hallngs, ut undr th ontinud hgmon o markt unda-

mntalism st mor than r on a ours o indnit growth that an onl

lad to ologial disastr.105 In suh a ontxt o multi-polarit and risis

oth xtrnall and within nation-stats, thr ma gratr sop or phi-

losophis o unirsal r fourishing with thir projts o udaimonia or

transmodrnit to fourish, and or a ginning to mad at implmnt-

ing thir onrt utopian isions on a plantar sal.106 A k rsour or

suh philosophis is th ida and ralit o multipl modrnitis o-prsnt

and rsurgnt within th apitalist world-sstm. This has alrad hlpd tontrain a powrul disours o post-sularit hallnging on o th ntral

tnts o th disours o modrnit: th Wrian notion that modrniza-

tion inxoral lads to th dissolution o rligious and spiritual worldiws,

issuing in a sular gloal soit. W an xpt suh trnds to ontinu or

th orsal utur.107 I, as th Bhaskarian aount has it, th onomi

riss urrntl stting gloalizd humanit ha n ratd most un-

damntall a tripl dismdding: o mon rom th ral onom; o

th ral onom rom soit; and o soit rom its spiritual inrastrutur

(or mtaRal asis)108 and th mor gnral riss a our-old alination

o popl rom natur, ah othr, thir soial rlations and thir ssntial

sls, th solution an onl a tripl r-mdding and quadrupl d-

alination that rings sstm, shorn o its htronomous lmnts, within



106 Conrt utopianism onsists in th xris o onstruting modls o altrnati

was o liing on th asis o som assumd st o rsours, ountralaning atualism

and inorming hop (Bhaskar [1993] 2008, 395). C. th urgoning ld o uturs

studis, or a ritial ralist tak on whih s Patomki 2006.

107 Hartwig and Morgan, ds, 2011.



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508 MERvN HARTWIG


th horizon o th rda li o popl in touh with thir ral sls an

rda li in whih ralism aout transndn nals us to transnd

sujtojt dualit.109 This is th prinipl o sujt-rrntialit or sl-

rfxiit in soial hang, whih prioritizs sl-hang and sl-ralization(th duation o th duators) as indispnsal to soial transormation.110

Popl do not indd mak histor in irumstans o thir own hoosing,

ut th do mak it.

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