The subject in the world of social constructions

Ele­na O. Tru­fano­va
Insti­tute of Phi­los­o­phy, Russ­ian Acad­e­my of Sci­ence

The sub­ject in the world of social con­struc­tions

Abstract. The paper presents crit­i­cal analy­sis of social con­struc­tion­ist approach to the prob­lem of the sub­ject. This prob­lem is regard­ed in two main aspects – the sub­ject as the Self and as a per­son on one hand and the sub­ject of sci­en­tif­ic knowl­edge on the oth­er. The def­i­n­i­tions of the main con­cepts used by social con­struc­tion­ists (social con­struc­tion, dis­course, voice) is giv­en. The specifics of social con­struc­tion­ism in com­par­i­son with con­struc­tivism and social con­struc­tivism is con­sid­ered, and prin­ci­ple fea­tures of social con­struc­tion­ism are ana­lyzed. Con­struc­tion­ist cri­tique of the clas­si­cal con­cept of the sub­ject is ana­lyzed and the prin­ci­ple alter­na­tive con­cepts of Self pro­posed by social con­struc­tion­ists are researched. The con­struc­tion­ist ideas of the social bias of the sub­ject of sci­en­tif­ic knowl­edge and of the impos­si­bil­i­ty to have knowl­edge about real­i­ty behind the social con­struc­tions are ana­lyzed. The con­clu­sion is drawn that the sub­ject can­not be delet­ed from any research of cog­ni­tion and that the renounce­ment of the con­cepts of the Self, real­i­ty, truth and objec­tiv­i­ty that is pro­posed by social con­struc­tion­ists is unpro­duc­tive.

Key­words: the sub­ject, sci­ence, social con­struc­tion­ism, the Self, cog­ni­tion, real­ism, anti-real­ism.

DOI: 10.5840/dspl20181214

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