I've been sitting down with Roy's book
The Order of Natural Necessity for the past few Saturday mornings to start my day, and here I'll compile the notes I've taken. I'd originally sent these to
Paul, and he requested I post them here for everyone to review.
Part 3 of my Notes is in this post.
Check out Part 2 of my Notes at this link.
Start at Part 1 of my Notes by clicking here.
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Notes for Chapter 2, continued. This is from the section entitled,
Critical Naturalism.
TO SUM IT UP:
Critical Naturalism is to the
social sciences as
Critical Realism is to the
physical sciences, or scientific practice in general. A major aspect of the social sciences Bhaskar points out is that it includes a number of
dualisms: a pair of related concepts that coexist and conflict with one another. In this chapter Bhaskar spends time identifying a series of dualisms and describes them in the context of his theory of Critical Naturalism. Dualisms detailed here include:
Structure & Agency
Body & Mind
Facts & Values
Details of these examples are below.
STRUCTURE & AGENCY
This is a dualism with a cyclical relationship between its two aspects. Structure is required for Agency, while Agency reinforces current, or inspires change of, current Structure(s). Some examples of this include:
- Language. Language exists so that beings can communicate with one another. Language is the Structure, communication with that language is the Agency.
If a language is not used, it "dies." Maybe a new language is developed and adopted in its stead. In this case, Agency inspires a new Structure.
- Marriage. This is a social structure in which people participate. If people no longer married, the practice would eventually die out and fade away.
In both of these cases, history and culture reinforce the current status quo, and add constraints and resistance to social change. Those who attempt to resist or replace Structures will inevitably encounter this resistance.
When one successfully replaces a previous Structure with a new or different one, then that society is transformed. Bhaskar refers to this process as the
Transformational Model of Social Activity (TMSA).
BODY & MIND
Body exists first, and the Mind is an emergent power of the Body. The Mind reinforces how the Body acts in the material world. See Part 2 of my notes for details on an
emergent power and
Emergence.
FACTS & VALUES
When you begin to learn new facts, you become implicitly critical of opposing views. For example:
Earth-centered versus Sun-centered models of our solar system.
Round Earth/"Glober" versus Flat-Earthers.
Witchcraft versus the non-superstitious.
When you internalize these facts you change your behaviour at a social/cultural level.
Stephen's editorial: I think this is the root of cognitive dissonance. When someone learns new facts, but does not change their behaviour, cognitive dissonance grows. History and culture can act as resistant forces that oppose someone trying to change their behaviour, when it wouldn't match up with the social structures and agents of their community. I see Bhaskar's TMSA as part of the process here, as well.
SOCIAL SCIENCE HAS SEVERAL DIFFERENT LEVELS TO STUDY
Bhaskar notes that social science isn't just about these relationships that occur between people. There's more to society and how people participate in them than just these dualities. He identifies "seven levels, at least" where social phenomena occur.
1. Sub-Individual: "My motives and my unconscious."
2. Individual: "I think, therefore I am. In fact, I am a separate being from others around me."
3. Micro-social world: "How can I communicate with and cooperate with other beings, while still being an individual?"
4. Meso-social world: "If I'm a manager, how do I relate with my subordinates? If I am a politician, how do I relate with my fellow citizens or with other politicians?" [To sum it up: this is the level of general sociology and ethnomethodology.]
5. Macro-social world: "How would I describe the economy of the town or country where I live?" "What is North America?"
6. Mega-social world: "How did Islam develop?" "What is feudalism, and how did it emerge?"
7. Planetary social world: "What is this planet? What is its connection to other planets and the solar system?"
To be continued...