Philosophy of Marketing. The New Realist Approach

Is the notion of reality of any use to marketing, or does it rather stand in the way of ripe and self- aware marketing research and practice? The present book is about the relevance of reality to marketing. It is about the significance of reference to reality to marketing models, strategic marketing analyses, and effective marketing policies. In a nutshell, the main thesis of this book is that reality matters to marketing. Its consequences and corollaries are: • that reference to reality ought to play a central role in marketing theory and practice; • that marketing researchers and practitioners would greatly benefit by devoting a larger share of their attention to the role played by reference to reality in all human thought and behaviour; • that reality and the (informal or institutionalised) quest for it ought to be the beacon–and not a blind spot–of present and future marketing theory and practice. The second thesis of the book is that intensifying reference to reality would boost marketing research and practice, rather than impair them; and, conversely, neglecting such a reference has prevented marketing from realising its full potential, in several contexts. A greater appreciation of the value of reference to reality for marketing shall emerge, not as an inconvenient, but inescapable, theoretical requirement, but rather as a fecund and viable intellectual opportunity that marketing scholars and practitioners ought to feel eager to embrace and explore, alongside philosophers, psychologists, and social scientists.