ABSTRACT
As I warned at the beginning of Chapter 3, realist interpretations of knowledge and science diverge significantly from orthodox philosophies of science. The latter have had a farreaching influence upon the practice of social science, and one which in general I believe to have been damaging. It is only for this reason that I now want to pause in the elaboration of a realist approach to social science in order to devote some attention to key elements of the orthodoxies. In so doing I hope to answer some of the probable objections to the foregoing arguments by undermining the philosophical position from which the critics might draw support. This will also help to add substance to the criticisms of the unsatisfactory nature of generalization and of some other approaches and methods to be discussed in subsequent chapters.
