Let's get real: developing realist approaches within the philosophy of social science

It is argued that the philosophical approach of ‘critical realism’ is of considerable importance in providing a framework to guide the development of useful social science analyses, but that its impact is limited by its poor ‘public relations’ and lack of engagement with ongoing social analyses. There are several major issues which critical realism has not adequately tackled. These are identified and possible routes for overcoming these indicated. The whole essay is set within a particular viewpoint on the relationship between social theory and the philosophy of social science.     

Giovanna Borradori,Philosophy in a Time of Terror: Dialogues with Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Mispredicting and misremembering: patients with renal failure overestimate improvements in quality of life after a kidney transplant

OBJECTIVE: People tend to overestimate the impact that future events will have on their quality of life. In the case of a medical treatment like kidney transplant, this should result in biased predictions--overestimates of how much the transplant will benefit quality of life. The authors surveyed kidney transplant patients, both before and after transplant, to test whether they would overestimate the benefits of a successful transplant for their quality of life. DESIGN: The authors interviewed 307 patients on a waiting list for cadaveric renal or renal-pancreatic transplant, and 195 patients one year after a successful transplant. A sub sample of patients were interviewed both before and after transplant. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey included measures of quality of life, both in terms of an overall estimate (0-100), and across sub domains, including health, employment, and travel. RESULTS: Cross-sectional results suggested that overall quality of life improved after transplant, but the predictions of pretransplant patients overestimated the magnitude of the improvement (p < .01). In addition, patients predicted large improvements in specific life domains that did not change. These results were confirmed in longitudinal, prospective analyses. Additional analyses showed that posttransplant patients recalled their pretransplant quality of life to be much lower than what they had reported at the time. CONCLUSION: Consistent with an impact bias, patients substantially overestimated the benefits of a successful kidney transplant, both in terms of predictions of life after treatment, and in their memories of QOL before the transplant.     

Progress in the Use of English after 22 Years by Children of Chinese Ancestry in Honolulu

In performing an ordering-for-search task, 70 kindergarten, 140 second, and 140 fourth grade boys and girls used category membership of items more frequently if they had previously observed a presentation of the items grouped by category than if they had manipulated the items themselves. However, the latter was more helpful than prior observation of the items in random order, except for kindergartners. Category membership was used as frequently with words as with photos, not only in the ordering-for-search task, but in a delayed recall task as well. Type of material had only a few specific effects on performance of these tasks.     

The academic study of Buddhism in the United States: A current analysis

This paper presents the results of a survey of 125 scholars in the discipline of Buddhist Studies, conducted during the academic year 1992–3. The results document the age range of the respondents, their gender, the schools at which they earned their academic degrees, their rank, geographic area of expertise, professional societies to which they belong and hold positions of authority in, journals and presses in which they publish, as well as the editorial positions they maintain, citation of grants obtained, and comparative publication data. The survey is presented in a contextual demographic framework relative to the discipline of Religious Studies and is nominally self‐reflective.