Epilogue:
Sociological Realism
It is often supposed that social constructivism undermines truth. If reality is
socially constructed, there is no objectivity and no reality. I deny the conclu-
sion. Social constructivism is sociological realism; and sociological realism
carries with it a wide range of realist consequences.The Sociological Cogito
The philosophically strongest argument is traditionally that which is self-
grounding, certain in itself, without appeal to empirical observation. The
classic argument of this kind, the cogito, seeks irrefutable truths by passing
statements through the acid bath of doubt. “I am thinking” is irrefutable
because “I am not thinking” nevertheless displays oneself thinking.
The familiar conclusion from the cogito is the existence of the self. This is
not the most useful path of argument. The self which is proven is ambiguous,
conceivably only momentary and insubstantial. Consider what else is proven
by the cogito. First of all, time exists. To doubt this (“time does not exist”) is
to make a statement in time. Conscious thinking occupies the saddleback of
the present, merging imperceptibly with past and future.
Second, thinking exists. This thinking which is irrefutably proven takes
place in language; it constitutes a kind of conversation, myself saying some-
thing to myself.^1 The cogito reveals a speaker and an audience. Denial proves
it. To think to oneself “there is no one speaking” is uttered by a speaker; “there
is no audience for this statement” is received by an audience. Thinking has a
social form.
We have not yet proved the existence of other people. This too is given by
verbal thinking. Language takes place in words which carry meaning, and
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