We've had this conversation before. One way of summarizing my take on this
is that "dialectical materialism" has some unfortunate baggage which can be
avoided by reconsidering the issues under a new rubric. One source is Tony
Lawson's article on critical realism in volume I of Phil O'Hara's
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
At 02:13 PM 8/3/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/03/00 11:33AM >>>In my interpretation,
> critical realism starts with the axiom that empirical
>reality exists independent of our perception of it. The rest of the
>epistemology is based on that. In many ways it's a critique of postmodern
>ultra-skepticism, in which any person's opinion about empirical reality is
>just as good as any others.
>
>_________
>
>CB: Is this different than the old notion that materialism starts from the
>axiom that there is objective reality ?
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
