How is Sociological Realism Possible

Sociology after Cognitive Science

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2397780
AutoresPatrick Pharo (CERSES-CNRS-PARIS 5, France, autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume10
Fascículo3
Páginas481-496
Data de publicação2007-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1368431007080708
OpenAlexW2139965753
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas32

This article explores the limits of social constructionism and criticizes the 'demiurgic conception of society' associated with it. It contemplates the possibility of sociological realism by investigating the intrinsic and objective properties of action, cognition and morality. The incorporation of intrinsic meanings and intentions in social actions, the objective information supporting cognitive processes and human sensitivity to pleasure and pain as well as the normative rejection of undue suffering, delineate the objective core of social facts, which can be interpreted or influenced, but not arbitrarily or capriciously constructed or manipulated. This general argument is supported by various illustrations drawn from the semantics of social actions and classical puzzles of interpretative sociology such as the meaning of suicide or the morality of social sanctions

Epistemology · Morality · Normative · Realism · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Critical Realism in Sociology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Social Psychology