Abstract

HARRE, Rom. Social construction and consciousness. discus.filos [online]. 2012, vol.13, n.20, pp.13-36. ISSN 0124-6127.

There does not seem to be the "problem of consciousness", only various conundrums that come to the fore when we reflect on the special character of higher organisms. Roughly one might say that common to many puzzles about consciousness is the thought that human beings, at least, are aware that they are aware of material things, some of the states of their own bodies, and can monitor themselves thinking about these and other matters. In this paper I propose to use the analysis of certain relevant kinds of talk as a way of investigating how far some of the phenomena comprehended under the broad term 'consciousness' are socially constructed. By that I mean the question as to whether they are brought into being, or if already existing, are they modified in various ways, by social, that is interpersonal processes and structures. I shall work with the widely shared principle that the main instrument through which such creations and modifications come to be is language.

Keywords : Conscious; consciousness; grammar; language; problem of consciousness; social construction; psychological research programmes.

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