The critical realist conception of open and closed systems

Fleetwood, Steve

Abstract

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The critical realist (CR) conception of open and closed (O&C) systems is not about systems: it is about (ir)regularities in the flux of events and states of affairs. It has recently been criticised on the grounds that critical realists (CRs) should take on board ideas about the general nature of systems; recognise that genuinely open social systems would be impossible; avoid polarities or dualisms where either there are event regularities and open systems, or there are no event regularities and closed systems and accept partial regularities and partially open systems; and understand that orthodox economics is not based upon event regularities, laws or Humean empiricism. The objective of this paper is to ‘take stock’ of these recent criticisms.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 25, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Aug 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 26, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 10, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Economic Methodology
• Print ISSN: 1350-178X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9427
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 41-68
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2016.1218532
• Keywords: critical realism, open systems, closed systems, event regularities, stochastic event; regularities, demi-regs, restricted closure, partial event regularities, partial closed systems.
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/901865
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2016.1218532
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Economic Methodology on 10th August 2016, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2016.1218532.
• Contract Date: Sep 26, 2016