How Social Reality Is Built on Physical Reality
Everything in existence belongs to a single world governed by physics and chemistry. This raises a fundamental question: how can phenomena like consciousness, money, or government exist in a universe made of physical particles? John Searle explores how humans connect basic physical facts to complex social structures. While earlier social scientists lacked the tools to explain this, modern theories of language and intent provide a way to understand how we create an objective social world.
This process involves using rules to assign functions to objects that they do not possess naturally. For example, a piece of paper becomes money because people collectively agree it has that value. This social reality relies on realism—the idea that a real world exists independently of human thoughts—and the concept of truth, where statements are true if they accurately describe that independent world. Through shared abilities and unconscious habits, humans maintain a stable social environment that is as objective as the physical world itself.
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