Critical review of anthropological presupposition of social sciences in critical realism from the perspective of Allameh Tabatabaii

This research paper provides a way of criticizing anthropological presupposition of social sciences in critical realism (CR). The main question of this research is: based on the theoretical foundations of Allameh Tabatabaii, what are the criticisms of the anthropological presupposition of critical realism in social sciences? Critical realism (CR) is the name of a school that was formed in the field of methodology and social sciences. This school criticized two important schools in social sciences, i.e. the school of positivism and the school of interpretation that emphasizes the element of ‘verstehend’ (: understanding). Through the criticism of the mentioned schools, critical realism (CR) acquired the principles and presuppositions that provide the basis for explanation in social sciences. We can divide these presuppositions into different categories, including ontological presuppositions, epistemological presuppositions, and anthropological presuppositions. An important part of the presuppositions of the critical realism school is the anthropological presuppositions.As we know, man and his social dimensions are the main subject of social sciences. Therefore, any wrong understanding of what human is and its characteristics can lead to a wrong understanding of social sciences as well as errors in the analysis of social phenomena. Considering the role played by the anthropological presupposition of social sciences, it is important to critically examine these presuppositions. Here, relying on the thoughts of Allameh Tabatabaii, we will review the anthropological presuppositions of social sciences from the perspective of critical realism.By applying the analytical-rational method, these forms can be found in the anthropological presuppositions of critical realism: based on Allame Tabatabaeii’s point of view, it can be concluded that: (۱) the claim of generally independence of the human agent from the social world is false. (۲) it is not the case that man is forced and turned to social life based on this determinism. (۳) it is not the case that all aspects of human existence, especially all sciences, are affected by society.

کلیدواژه ها:

Anthropological presupposition ، critical realism (CR) ، social sciences ، methodology ، Allameh Tabatabaii ، Roy Bhaskar