The Construction of Social Reality
£4.92
A clear-headed rebutal of postmodern nihilism - Searle s concise and accessable book cuts through postmodern claims that all reality is socially constructed to distinguish between things for which this is true (social or institutional facts which are true because they are believed in - such as marriage, or law or money) and those for which this is not (brute facts, independant of human beings, such as the existence of Everest).
Can I have it both ways? An external reality in a world of social constructions. - One of the most trying issues when giving a conference paper, teaching or just in general chit-chat arises when the notion of an `external reality , which exists independent of my own thought processes, is brought up. Increasingly Postmodernism and Post-structuralism have taken hold within the academic community, to the point that whenever an assertion is made it is immediately being deconstructed by Derridians in Hyper drive seeking to assert their will to power. If this sounds like a familiar picture, then you need to get this book. Searle develops a consistent and insightful argument based around the questions of how ontologically objective brute facts in the external would relate to both the social and institutional world- whether that is in the form of baseball, money, the presidency or war. He does so by falling back on the conception of the Background and its relation to intentionality, which he explains with rare clarity and depth. Thus the book works as a basic introduction to social constructivism in the social sciences, but in a manner that is detached from the various disciplines and in the form of well considered and deeply analytical philosophy. As such this book is suitable for any aspiring constructivist and for those who require bedrock for deep analytical arguments.It should however be stipulated that Searle does not take to Postmodernism and Post-structuralism kindly, and if there is one failure in the book it is that he does tend to straw man Derrida, but given the history of their antagonistic debate this should not be a surprise. Enjoy the read, it is worth it.
Succinct, but mind stretching. - John Searle has produced a stimulating book in which he discusses weighty philosophical issues grounded in the taken for granted everyday life that human beings construct for themselves.
Great Book - Searle demonstrates once again why he is one of our best thinkers. Confronting head-on the postmodern claim that reality and truth are social constructs, Searle demolishes (deconstructs?) this claim and illustrates just how foolish and unexamined it is. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the ideas that have taken the humanities and higher education to a new nadir--which should be everyone. This is a great book.
Seriously in-depth critical analysis of social reality - John Searle presents a critical analysis of the structure of social reality. In his theory of the mind he illustrates how it all hangs together. He describes a world of reality where complex structure is invisible, and in which certain things only exist because we believe them to exist.