Exercise 1.0

In his book, The Construction of Social Reality, John Searle writes ‘There are portions of the real world, objective facts in the world, that are only facts by human agreement. In a sense there are things that exist only because we believe them to exist. … things like money, property, governments, and marriages. Yet many facts regarding these things are ‘objective’ facts in the sense that they are not a matter of [our] preferences, evaluations, or moral attitudes.’ (Searle, 1995: 1)

List of 10 ‘things that exist only because we believe them to exist.’

1. Society
2. Taxation
3. Religion
4. Laws
5. Capitalism
6. Socialism
7. Community
8. Crime
9. Globalisation
10. Nation states

The items on the above list are constructed by thought and communication (through language) in humans who all agree on the facts that define them. For example, crime is agreed to be the actions of groups or individuals that break socially established laws.  Taxation is universally agreed to be the extraction/payment of a percentage of income to the government/ruler of a society. As John Searle states these things ‘exist only because we believe them to exist…’(Searle, 1995:1). Without humans these things would not exist as they have no physical element and can only be created through human thought, interaction and implementation. Searle names these facts ‘institutional facts’ as they depend on human institutions and ‘collective intentionality.’ (Searle, 1995:27)

The examples on the list differ from things such as mountains, rocks and forests. Regardless of human presence these natural, physical items would still exist. They do not require a collective agreement as to what they should be – they just exist regardless of what they are called or who sees them. Searle names these facts ‘brute facts’ that are independent of human beings. (Searle, 1995:27)

‘Yet many facts regarding these things are ‘objective’ facts in the sense that they are not a matter of (our) preferences, evaluations, or moral attitudes. (Searle, 1995, 1)

Searle describes ‘facts regarding these things’ as ‘objective’. If we look at nation states, I can say that I am a UK citizen. This is an ‘objective’ fact that I, as an individual with morals and attitudes, have no influence over. I could also state that within the Christian religion Christmas Day is always on 25th December.

Bibliography

Searle, J. R. (1995) The Social Construction of Reality’. London:Penguin books

Smith, B. and Searle J. (2003) American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 62:2 205-309 At http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/articles/searle.pdf (Accessed 25/07/2019)