This book on the philosophy of critical realism and meta-Reality and its development is based on conversations between Roy Bhaskar, the originator of the philosophy, and Savita Singh, a distinguished Indian poet and social theorist. The wide range of topics covered include the priority of being over thought, reversing the traditional emphasis in the West;  transcendence as an everyday phenomenon; the prefiguration of the good society in the characteristic labour of women; the metacritique of Nietzsche and Derrida, and of Marx and Marxism; recognition and immortality; and the principle of hermeticism: there is no authority but yourself. The book will appeal to anyone wanting to understand Roy Bhaskars thought, and offers a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in critical realism and its development.

Savita Singh is a distinguished feminist poet (writing in both Hindi and English),  political theorist and commentator on gender issues. She has received many awards for poetry and her work is translated in several  languages including French, German and Spanish. She has worked in the area of  Indian modernity, feminist literature and culture and labour. She is the founding director, currently professor, in the School of Gender and Development Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University. Roy Bhaskar (19442014) was the originator of the philosophy of critical realism and the author of many acclaimed and influential works, includingA Realist Theory of Science; The Possibility of Naturalism; Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom; The Philosophy of MetaReality; Enlightened Common Sense and (with Mervyn Hartwig)The Formation of Critical Realism. Mervyn Hartwig is founding editor (retired) ofJournalof Critical Realism and editor and principal author ofDictionary of Critical Realism. He has written introductions to all Roy Bhaskars single-author books, which were reissued by Routledge 2008-2016, and most recently has edited Bhaskars 1971 DPhil thesis,Empiricism and the Metatheory of the Social Sciences for publication (2018).

Childhood and University.- Transcendental Realism and Critical Naturalism.- The Transitions to Dialectical Critical Realism and the Theory of Everyday Transcendence.- How False Theories Work: TINA Formations and the Critique of Irrealism.- Recovery of Truth and the Dialectic of Self-Realisation.- God, the Cosmic Envelope and the Self.- The Emotions, Thought and Self-Realisation.- Critique of Modernism and Postmodernism.- The Question of Women.-  Recognition and Immortality, Failure and Success.- Re-enchanting Reality: Practical Ways to Become Freer.