Causal Social Construction

Bibliographic Data

ID3077535
AuthorsRiin Kõiv (0000-0002-0781-6462, University of Tartu, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume5
Issue1
Pages77-99
Publication date2019-02-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Ontology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2196-9663 • E-ISSN: 2196-9655
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/jso-2019-0006
OpenAlexW2991296165
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited38

In the social constructionist literature, little has been said about what it means for social factors to cause X in such a way that X would count as causally socially constructed. In this paper, I argue that being caused by social factors - and thus being causally socially constructed - is best defined in terms of a contrastive counterfactual notion of causation. Unlike some plausible alternatives, this definition captures what is at stake in actual social constructionist debates. It makes transparent which factors the truth of a causal constructionist claim may depend on. By doing so, it sheds light on what the disagreements over whether X is causally socially constructed may turn on. It also helps us to see under which condition the claim that X is socially causally constructed is compatible with the claim that X is caused by biological factors

Causal structure · Causation · Counterfactual thinking · Epistemology · Social constructionism · Sociology · Strict constructionism · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Origins and Evolution of Life · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Social Psychology

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