ABSTRACT
As critical postmodernists, Giroux, McLaren, and Aronowitz employ postmodernist antifoundationalism as the epistemological grounding for a transformative social theory that they believe avoids orthodox Marxism's reductionism, scientism, and determinism, I argue that this version of antifoundationalism is inadequate because it allows for a relativism that disables radical practice and theory. The postmodern Marxism that key contributors to Rethinking Marxism advocate is similarly problematic. In contrast, Dewey's naturalistic pragmatism and Bhaskar's critical realism offer a more fruitful approach because these perspectives successfully integrate ontological realism with a recognition of the active role of human beings in creating knowledge.
