BHA: idealism

[Ruth Groff <rgroff@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Hans, Eric, all,

I wrote:
>Getting back to Santa, though, I agree with you (I think) that it is the
>intersubjectively held beliefs about him, and the material practices which
>such beliefs engender, that both exist and are real.

I don't think I'd say that social mechanisms "cause" beliefs, exactly, but
the relationship between the two, as Hans appropriately reminds me, is
certainly not a uni-directional one beginning with consciousness.  I see now
how my formulation might have been weighted in that direction, though even
in writing it I didn't think that people just arbitrarily all decide one day
to generate a story about Santa Claus!

On the relevance/character/role of philosophy vs. the sociology of
knowledge, I guess there'll have to be some disagreement.

R.



     --- from list bhaskar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---