#shared reality

[neotrin]

Photo dump from my Cosm Matrix screening in Dallas! I highly recommend going (and sitting in the center of the second or third level) if you get the chance. The added visuals offered lots of neat surprises and Easter eggs and were clearly created by Matrix fans. It was fun to look around the dome and take in all the details. The couches were not comfortable, but that was our only complaint. A very cool experience! 9/10

[trooper1023]

"They Knew" by Sara Kendzior. Published 2022.

The differences between a conspiracy, and a conspiracy theory.

Here are two pages from the end of the third chapter. Frighteningly entitled, "Epstein Wasn't The First."

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Social Ontology

Social ontology is the philosophical study of the nature and structure of social reality. It explores what kinds of things exist within the social world—such as governments, laws, identities, institutions, and norms—and how they come into being, persist, and influence human life. While traditional ontology concerns itself with being in the abstract, social ontology asks what it means for something to exist socially.

What Is “Social” About Social Ontology?

Social ontology examines entities that do not exist in a purely physical or mental realm but rely on collective human participation and recognition. For example:

A nation is not just a landmass but a shared idea.

Money is only valuable because we collectively agree that it is.

A university is more than buildings—it is a network of roles, norms, and functions.

These entities depend on collective intentionality—the shared beliefs, practices, and agreements that allow social structures to exist.

Key Questions in Social Ontology

What are social entities? Are things like corporations, borders, or laws real? If so, how are they different from physical objects or mental states?

How do institutions and roles form? What makes someone a president, a parent, or a citizen? Are these identities constructed or discovered?

What is collective agency? Can groups act as agents? Is a protest or parliament a single actor, or just many individuals?

What grounds social norms and facts? Why do we follow traffic laws, religious rituals, or social etiquette? What gives them their authority?

Influential Thinkers and Theories

John Searle: Argued that many social facts (like property, marriage, or currency) are institutional facts, created through collective acceptance and maintained by language.

Margaret Gilbert: Developed theories around joint commitment, where group actions depend on mutual understanding and shared obligations.

Émile Durkheim: Considered society to have a kind of collective consciousness that shapes individual behavior.

Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre: Examined how being-with-others (Mitsein) forms part of our existential structure.

Why It Matters

Social ontology informs:

Politics: What legitimizes authority?

Economics: What constitutes value and exchange?

Law: What gives rules their normative power?

Identity: How do race, gender, and class emerge and operate in social systems?

Understanding the ontological status of social constructs helps us critique, reform, or sustain the structures that govern human life. It reveals that society isn’t just something we live in—it’s something we continually create through recognition, language, and shared action.

[fieriframes]

[WHERE'S THIS BEEN ALL MY DIET? (laughs) THE RIGHT BLEND OF SEASONINGS-- VERY RICH. MM-HMM. BUT ELABORATE PERSPECTIVAL NETWORK, A SHARED REALITY IS WOVEN, AND THEN YOU DIP A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, UH... LYUTENITSA. WHAT'S IN THE MIX? TOMATO AND ROASTED PEPPER SPREAD.]

[neurosciencenews]

Our Shared Reality is Fraying

Humans need to believe that there is truth in order to maintain relationships, institutions and society.

[thebonesofhoudini]

Visit Original Link

Mateyou - Shared Reality

[shrinkrants]