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Social reality and the hole in determinism
Author(s) -
Baumeister Roy F.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2007.10.007
Subject(s) - dualism , causation , determinism , epistemology , meaning (existential) , social reality , democracy , causal structure , social psychology , duality (order theory) , physical law , sociology , psychology , philosophy , law , political science , mathematics , physics , discrete mathematics , quantum mechanics , politics
To believe in free will is to believe that people really make choices, in which more than one outcome is possible. Instead of the outmoded dualism of mind and body, we need to understand the duality of physical and social reality. Social reality, composed of meaning, reveals the inadequacy of physical determinism. Social realities (e.g., money, justice, democracy, law, mathematics, culture) do not have the properties of physical matter (e.g., chemical composition, mass, velocity, molecular structure), but they can affect behavior and thereby enter into the stream of physical causation.