CEE Member Andreas Vavvos, along with two colleagues, Leigh Price and Jan Zumoberhaus, has put out a call for papers for a special issue of the Journal of Critical Realism focused on philosophy and human–nature relations. This proposed special issue of the Journal of Critical Realism seeks to examine the potential of critical realism to deepen the understanding of human-nature relations and enhance our collective capacity to address the environmental crisis.
It aims to contribute to the critical realist-inspired body of work that seeks to move beyond simple dualisms (nature vs. society, material vs. discursive) to build more integrated, non-anthropocentric, realist, and ethically informed approaches to environmental and ecological questions. It also seeks to continue the cross-fertilization processes between critical realism and other metatheoretical approaches relevant to the question of the complexity of human-nature relations, such as posthumanism, postcolonial and indigenous approaches, and certain strands of Marxist environmentalism. In the latter context of Marxist environmentalism, the use of critical realism has tended to be sporadic and implicit, whilst in the broader field of political ecology, it has been argued that engagement with critical realism has only been superficial and warrants deeper theoretical and empirical exploration. Also relevant is recent critical realist work on technological innovation and environmental justice, which offer valuable entry points for rethinking how techno-political regimes – deeply implicated in extractive economies – reinforce global inequalities.
The need for such work has perhaps never been more urgent. In response to the environmental crisis that we are in, there have arisen several radical social movements, such as Buen Vivir, Fridays for Future, and Extinction Rebellion. Furthermore, many environmental policies are strongly contested (e.g., renewable energy transitions, rare earth extraction, climate mitigation, and nature conservation). These political developments have spurred the emergence of new analytical frameworks such as new materialism, deep ecology, and the ontological turn. However, it has been argued by Graeber (2013, 0:23-0:30) that critical realism provides a ground for emancipatory politics that ‘no one else (is) really offering’, and that it is ‘both radical and commonsensical but also profoundly theoretically high level’.
Within this frame of reference, the editors of the special volume invite scholars, artists, and activists to contribute to a special issue on critical realism and human-nature relations. We welcome papers from environmental philosophy and ethics, anthropology, sociology, geography, political ecology, science and technology studies, environmental education, and related fields. In particular, we seek contributions that move beyond hegemonic approaches – which are at times even reactionary – to sustainability, resilience, and conservation. We aim to explore the emancipatory potential of critical realism for understanding and transforming the causal dynamics that shape socio-ecological systems and human-nature relations.
Possible themes include (but are not limited to):
- Analyses that foster dialogue between critical realism and other (meta)theories – such as social constructivism, posthumanism, new materialism, feminism, and historical materialism – in response to the ecological crisis.
- Further elaboration of critical realist interdisciplinarity, dialectical critical realism and metaReality to better understand ecological degradation and its amelioration.
- Analysis of critical realist morality – grounded in ontological realism and epistemological relativism – and its contribution to achieving an axiology that potentially leads to sustainability. .
- Exploration of the heuristic potential of key critical realist concepts (e.g., epistemic fallacy, eudaimonia, Archer’s analytic dualism, identity-in-difference, morphogenesis/stasis, constellational containment) for ecological theory and ecosystem thinking.
- Development of critical realism in conversation with ecological thinkers, environmental movements, and ecological artists..
- Exploration of the synergies between critical realism and decolonial methodologies/indigenous perspectives on human-nature relations.
Deadline for submissions and other information:
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Abstracts (350 words max) can be sent to Leigh Price at [email protected] before submission of the full paper for an initial assessment of relevance.
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Submission of full papers should be made to the Journal of Critical Realism by 28 February 2026.
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All papers will be subject to double anonymous peer review.
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Submission guidelines and further information on JCR can be found at the journal’s webpage
