Conceptual schemes and social ontology. What does grammar tell us about the nature of our representations of the world? Do the linguistic categories that we use fundamentally shape the way we organize our understanding of the world? Do different cultures or different linguistic communities possess different "conceptual schemes"? Are different conceptual schemes incommensurable or can we translate from one to the other? These questions come up in the context of any discussion of social ontology -- what does the social realm consist of?
In an earlier post we noticed that "thing" and "object" are ontological categories that perhaps don't work as well in the social realm. Perhaps more fluid categories such as process, relation, or activity work better. First, what is a conceptual scheme? Peter Strawson offered a very focused analysis of the everyday metaphysics involved in the ways we analyze and represent the world around us. . (1959) that we can do "descriptive metaphysics" by examining the conceptual schemes we actually use. ). Illuminations. Illuminations: The Critical Theory Website is a WWW research resource for those interested in the Critical Theory project. Firmly based in Frankfurt School thought, this site maintains a collection of articles, excerpts, and chapters from many contemporary writers of and about Critical Theory. Additional submissions from graduate students and others are also available, as are links to other websites and related sources.
If you are interested in contributing to this continuos and growing project, created by Douglas Brown and Douglas Kellner, please contact Douglas Kellner at The University of Texas at Austin or Byron Hawk at The University of Texas at Arlington. We welcome and encourage your participation in this on going project, but in order to meet our own expectations and to adhere to academic, theoretical, and scholarly protocol all submissions must be addressed to one of the contributors listed above. This site best viewed with Netscape Navigator Download Netscape Now. Critical Theory Resources. EServer: Cultural Studies and Critical Theory. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory.