Explicit

Social Reality and Fitness-(Episode LX)
Explicit

Fitness in Philosophy by James Fitzgerald and Robby Gustin

Episode notes

Most people would agree that things like rocks, tables, chairs, the sun, and oceans are all real.

By real here, we mean something like: these things would exist even if humans didn't exist.

But what about social reality?

What about things that depend on humanity for their existence and yet have real power and influence?

Here are some examples

-Money

-The presidency of the United States

-Laws

-The existence of nation states

Take money for example. There's no inherent value or meaning to green pieces of paper (at least in the US) outside the meaning and value that humans have made up.

And yet, this doesn't mean it's imaginary either. A person with 1000 green pieces of paper with $100 printed on it wields a considerable amount of actual monetary power in the world.

Similarly, if human ... 

 ...  Read more
Keywords
philosophy