Andrew Collier

Although one of the most influential thinkers of the last millennium, Karl Marx was relatively unheralded during most of his lifetime. Famous for predicting the inevitable demise of capitalism, it was only after his death that his immortal clarion call reached a wide audience: "Workers of the world unite – you have nothing to lose but your chains." Andrew Collier breathes new life into the achievements of Karl Marx, arguing that his work is still of vital relevance in today’s global climate of inequality. Covering all the elements of Marxist thought from his early writings to his masterpiece, Das Kapital, Collier probes the apparent inconsistencies in Marx’s work and reclaims him as a philosopher and political theorist. This jargon-free introduction is a timely reminder of his undiminished influence, and will fascinate students, activists and interested readers alike.

A Beginner's Guide

Marx

This volume develops and defends critical realism whilst engaging critically with existentialist philosophy in a number of ways. The work of existentialist thinkers as diverse as Kierkegarrd, R.D. Laing, Heideggar and Sartre is discussed at length and Andrew Collier argues that there is much to be learnt from their work, especially in Heidegger's critique of the technological view of the world. However the book concludes with a defence of objectivity against the various forms of subjectivism advanced by the existentialists.

On Realism, Existentialism and Politics

In Defence of Objectivity and Other Essays

The Philosophy and Politics of Psychotherapy

R. D. Laing

Tony Lawson

Roy Bhaskar

Alan Norrie

Margaret Archer

Critical realism is a movement in philosophy and the human sciences most closely associated with the work of Roy Bhaskar. Since the publication of Bhaskars A Realist Theory of Science, critical realism has had a profound influence on a wide range of subjects. This reader makes accessible, in one volume, key readings to stimulate debate about and within critical realism. It explores the following themes: * transcendental realist * the theory of explanatory critique * dialectics * Bhaskar's critical naturalist philosophy of science.

Essential Readings

Critical Realism

Being and Worth extends recent depth-realist philosophy to the question of values. It argues that beings both in the natural and human worlds have worth in themselves, whether we recognise it or not. This view is defended through and account of the human mind as essentially concerned with that of which it is independent. Conclusions follow both for environmental ethics - that natural beings should be valued for themselves, not just for their use to us - and for justice in the human world, based on the idea that humans are unique and equal in respect of 'having a life to live'.

Being and Worth

In Being and Worth Collier argues that beings both in the natural and human worlds have worth in themselves. He builds on recent work in critical realism to provide a reassessment of Spinoza's philosophy of mind and ethics and his conclusions are developed with particular reference to environmental ethics.

R. D. Laing: the Philosophy and Politics of Psychotherapy

Margaret Scotford Archer

Douglas V. Porpora

The book explores religious experience as a justifiable reason for religious belief, demonstrating that the three pillars of Critical Realism - ontological intransitivity, epistemic relativity and judgemental rationality - can be applied to religion.

Critical Realism and God

Transcendence

This book is about the growth of shadow banking in China and the rise of China’s free markets. Shadow Banking refers to capital that is distributed outside the formal banking system, including everything from Mom and Pop lending shops to online credit to giant state owned banks called Trusts. They have grown from a fraction of the economy ten years ago to nearly half of all China’s annual Rmb 25 trillion ($4.1 trillion) in lending in the economy today. Shadow Banks are a new aspect of capitalism in China – barely regulated, highly risky, yet tolerated by Beijing. They have been permitted to flourish because many companies cannot get access to formal bank loans. It is the Wild West of banking in China. If we define capitalism as economic activity controlled by the private sector, then Shadow Banking is still in a hybrid stage, a halfway house between the state and the private economic. But it is precisely this divide that makes Shadow Banking an important to the rise of capitalism. How Beijing handles this large free market will say a lot about how the country’s economy will grow – will free markets be granted greater leeway?

Shadow Banking and the Rise of Capitalism in China

Atheism as a belief does not have to present intellectual credentials within academia. Yet to hold beliefs means giving reasons for doing so, ones which may be found wanting. Instead, atheism is the automatic default setting within the academic world. Conversely, religious belief confronts a double standard. Religious believers are not permitted to make truth claims but are instead forced to present their beliefs as part of one language game amongst many. Religious truth claims are expected to satisfy empiricist criteria of evidence but when they fail, as they must, religious belief becomes subject to the hermeneutics of suspicion. This book explores religious experience as a justifiable reason for religious belief. It uniquely demonstrates that the three pillars of critical realism - ontological intransitivity, epistemic relativity and judgemental rationality - can be applied to religion as to any other beliefs or theories. The three authors are critical realists by philosophical position. They seek to establish a level playing field between religion and secular ideas, which has not existed in the academic world for some generations, in order for reasoned debate to be conducted.

Andrew Collier

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