Social Metaphysics

Few would dispute that Mount Everest exists and is 8,848 meters high, dogs are mammals with four legs, and that Usain Bolt holds the world record for the 100 meters. None of these facts depends on our point of view. The social world, however, is a much more puzzling place. Driving licenses, marriages and five dollar bills may also be facts, but their status as such depends on the complex set of social beliefs joint actions we attach to them.

This book explores and assesses the major arguments and debates concerning the metaphysics of the social world. It addresses some fundamental questions: What are social objects, and how can we distinguish them from the natural world? How can human thoughts and intentions create new objects? Can social facts be reduced to merely physical facts or objects? Are some kinds, such as race or gender, socially constructed?

Beginning with a discussion of what social facts are, it introduces and assesses the following important topics:

• the challenge of reductionism: can social facts or objects can be reduced to physical facts or objects?
• arguments for eliminating social entities on grounds of vagueness and causal redundancy
• John Searle's theories of how social facts are constructed and limitations of his view
• the language and semantics of social kinds and the relationship with natural kind terms
• are artificats such as tables, psychological kinds, ethnic kinds, and art kinds such as symphonies real or merely 'nominal' kinds of thing? Do they have essences and if so, what sort of essence?
• arguments concerning the social construction of kinds, including those of Berger and Luckman and Ian Hacking
• whether social entities can yield objective knowledge and discoveries, including the arguments of the philosopher Carl Hempel and the anthropologist Clifford Geertz.

Including chapter summaries, annotated further reading, and a glossary, Social Metaphysics is essential reading for anyone seeking a clear and informative introduction to and assessment of the metaphysics of the social world, whether philosophy student or advanced researcher. It will also be valuable reading for those in sociology.