In The Construction of Social Reality, John Searle argues that there are two kinds of facts--some that are independent of human observers, and some that require human agreement.
The Construction of Social Reality
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About the Author
John Searle is the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize in 2002 and the National Humanities Medal in 2004.
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This book is about a problem that has puzzled me for a long time: there are portions of the real world, objective facts in the world, that are only facts by human agreement. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
This book is about a problem that has puzzled me for a long time: there are portions of the real world, objective facts in the world, that are only facts by human agreement. Read the first page
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whether you agree with Searle or not, I think it would be hard to disagree with the fact that this is an extremely well written and lucid work on a mordern issue that has rarely found clear expression. This work is to be read and treasured by all lovers of philosophy, especially to those with a bent in epistemology. Searle is a tremendous communicator and, if you are willing to come to the book with and "open mind", you will find his arguments both challenging and stimulating. Do miss out on this great work!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is an impressive work by the lucid John Searle. This work is relatively brief but contains Searle's insightful treatment of both social reality and a cogent defense of realism, the idea that there is a reality independent of human construction. This book repays careful reading. Not because it is difficult to understand, to the contrary, Searle is a very clear writer with a real talent for presenting useful examples. Rather, Searle's arguments are simple but often have substantial implications whose importance emerges only on reflection. In this book, Searle describes the likely underpinnings of social, as opposed to physical reality. He develops very interesting analyses of how these two spheres differ and how we differ in our relation to them. He shows also the relationship between them. Searle's treatment of social constructionism is particularly powerful and demonstrates the implicit contradictions and sterility of this faddish ideology. Searle is particularly concerned with maintaining a high level of rational discourse in intellectual life. His work is a model in this respect.
Format:Paperback
This book is perhaps Searle's most rigorous and complex effort at philosophizing, and yet one of his most readable. I think we are indebted to his research assistant for the clarity of locution and punctuation -- two areas where Searle can be vulnerable. This book also uses many concepts discussed at length in two of his other books: "Speech Acts" and "Intentionality." Having read these two other books, while definitely helpful, is not necessary, as Searle is kind enough to describe his meanings and references as he goes along. And he goes along at quite a rapid clip. This is, moreover, one of those books one cannot afford to skip a sentence without serious impairment of further understanding.
With these caveats in mind, I highly recommend this tour of Searle's defense of naive realism in modern analytic terms. He is highly analytic, and builds quite a fortress that he is pained to defend against criticisms of circularity. Nowhere is this charge more appropriate than in his defense of language as simultaneously being an "institutional" and "brute" fact. Each reader will have to decide whether or not he succeeds, but, if he has failed, it is not for a lack of effort.
Of all Searle's books, this is the one I enjoyed the most. Searle is an excellent analytic philosopher, but a grammarian he's not. His lack of grammatical discipline usually interferes with his philosophizing and frequently plagues his other works, but is completely remedied in this book. It's not an "elegant" work, by any means, but it is clear, concise, and comprehensible. His arguments are thoroughly explained, developed, and explored, so that even a novice could follow his impeccable logic. And, there are an abundance of arguments, new linguistic devices, and formulations and reformulation of his ideas to sustain his central motif: Objective reality is objectively real.
This is a great display of analytic thoroughness, coupled with a generous amplification of his ideas. A truly "fun" read.
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3.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Searle's Attempt to Naturalize the Status Quo
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered. Read more
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered. Read more
Published on July 1 2003
4.0 out of 5 stars
Searle's Most Important Work. A Must Read!
The author's premise in this book is "Man is an irrational animal." This is a fascinating claim, although it had drawn some undeserved criticism. Read more
Published on July 20 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars
Searle does get it!
I'm afraid it's the reviewer from Paris who just doesn't get it. Searle quite clearly acknowledges that the concept of "mountain" is mind-dependent or socially... Read more
Published on Feb 18 2000 by R. Starkey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Searle does get it!
I'm afraid it's the reviewer from Paris who just doesn't get it. Searle quite clearly acknowledges that the concept of "mountain" in mind-dependent or socially... Read more
Published on Feb 18 2000 by R. Starkey
1.0 out of 5 stars
hONEST BUT MISGUIDED
Searle seems to have it all worked out. Mountains would exist irrespective of whether we were here or not.. or at least so he argues. Read more
Published on Jan 7 2000 by AKI LEHTI
5.0 out of 5 stars
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... Read more
Published on Aug 26 1999 by jdwilliams@csupomona.edu
2.0 out of 5 stars
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". Read more
Published on Jan 21 1999 by judym70@hotmail.com
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