A Social Ontology

A Social Ontology represents an effort to formulate a system of philosophy that is compatible with the nature of the world as described by empirical science. Arguing against the atomism of mainstream Western liberal thought, Weissman argues that all reality is "social" - that is, each particular (organism, individual, etc.) is immersed in high-order systems (in case of humans, this means kin-groups, friendships, political systems etc.). After exploring how the idea of the social ontology works in the case of human experience, Weissman goes on to explore the way this theory can be applied in a range of areas, such as ideas about free speech and ecology.