ABSTRACT
Bhaskar’s developing interest in spirituality, God, and to a lesser extent religion, was revealed in four books that together constituted the first fruits of what became known as the ‘spiritual turn’ in critical realism: From East to West: Odyssey of a Soul; From Science to Emancipation: Alienation and the Actuality of Enlightenment; Reflections on Meta-Reality: Transcendence, Emancipation and Everyday Life; and Meta-Reality: Creativity, Love and Freedom (The Philosophy of Meta-Reality, Volume 1) (Bhaskar 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2002c). Initially, Bhaskar referred to this new philosophical outlook as transcendental dialectical critical realism, and argued that ‘dialectical critical realism must develop into a philosophy of (universal) self-realisation’ (Bhaskar 2000, p. x). Partly, perhaps, due to the negative reaction to this ‘spiritual turn’ among some – though by no means all – critical realists, Bhaskar moved on to offer a revised version of his emergent philosophy, now dubbed the ‘philosophy of meta-Reality’. Though the differences between the two stages of the spiritual turn are not insignificant, ultimately the continuities outweigh the dissimilarities. The following sections will offer an overview of the philosophy of transcendental dialectical critical realism presented in From East to West, trace its spiritual roots and lineage, explore the transition to the philosophy of meta-Reality, and finally outline the contours of the philosophy of meta-Reality itself.
