Supervenience Of The Social?

I convey found it appealing to attempt to retrieve of the macro-micro relation inwards damage of the stance of supervenience ( link ).  S...

I convey found it appealing to attempt to retrieve of the macro-micro relation inwards damage of the stance of supervenience (link).  Supervenience is a concept that was developed inwards the context of physicalism in addition to psychology, equally a way of specifying a non-reductionist but still constraining human relationship betwixt psychological properties in addition to physical states of the brain. Physicalism in addition to ontological individualism are both ontological theories near the human relationship betwixt higher in addition to lower levels of entities inwards several dissimilar domains. But neither doctrine dictates how explanations inwards these domains postulate to proceed; i.e., neither forces us to hold upwards reductionist inwards either psychology or sociology.

The supervenience relation holds that --

• X supervenes on Y =df no difference inwards X without some difference inwards the states of Y

Analogously, to say that the "social" supervenes upon "the totality of individuals making upwards a social arrangement" seems to convey a superficial plausibility, without requiring that nosotros endeavour to trim back the social characteristics to ensembles of facts near individuals.

I'm no longer thus certain that this is a helpful move, however, for the purposes of the macro-micro relationship.  Suppose nosotros are considering a declaration along these lines:

• The causal properties of organisation X supervene on the states of the individuals who brand upwards X in addition to who interact amongst X.

There look to hold upwards quite a few problems that arise when nosotros attempt to brand utilization of this idea.

(a) First, what are nosotros thinking of when nosotros specify "the states of the individuals"? Is it all characteristics, known in addition to unknown? Or is it a specific listing of characteristics? If it is all characteristics of the individual, including as-yet unknown characteristics, in addition to then the supervenience relation is impossible to apply inwards practice. We would never know whether ii substrate populations were identical all the way down. This represents a form of "twin-earth" stance experiment that doesn't shed low-cal on existent sociological questions.

In the psychology-neurophysiology examples out of which supervenience theory originated these problems don't look thus troubling. First, nosotros retrieve nosotros know which properties of nervus cells are relevant to their functioning: electrical properties in addition to network connections. So our supervenience claim for psychological states is to a greater extent than narrow:

• The causal properties of a psychological procedure supervene on the functional properties of the states of the nervus cells of the corresponding brain. 

The nervus cells may differ inwards other ways that are irrelevant to the psychological processes at the higher level: they may hold upwards a piddling larger or smaller, they may convey a slightly dissimilar content of delineate metals, they may hold upwards of dissimilar ages. But our physicalist claim is mostly to a greater extent than refined than this; it ignores these "irrelevant" differences across cells in addition to specifies identity amid the key functional characteristics of the cells. Put this way, the supervenience claim is an empirical theory; it says that electrical properties in addition to network connections are causally relevant to psychological processes, but jail cellphone majority in addition to jail cellphone historic menstruum are non (within broad parameters).

(b) Second in addition to relatedly, at that spot are always some differences betwixt ii groups of people, no affair how similar; in addition to if the ii groups are dissimilar inwards the slightest score -- say, 1 fellow member likes H2O ice cream in addition to the corresponding other does non -- in addition to then the supervenience relation says cypher near the causal properties of X. The organizational features may hold upwards equally widely divergent equally could hold upwards imagined; supervenience is soundless near the delta to epsilon relations from substrate to higher level. It specifies alone that identical substrates gain identical higher bird properties. More useful would hold upwards something similar the continuity concept inwards calculus to apply here: minor deviations inwards lower-level properties trial inwards minor deviations inwards higher-level properties. But it is non clear that this is truthful inwards the social case.

(c) Also problematic for the properties of social structures is an number that depends upon the stance of path dependence. Let's say that nosotros are working amongst the stance that a currently existing establishment depends for its workings (its properties) on the individuals who become far upwards at present. And suppose that the establishment has emerged through a fifty-year procedure of incremental change, piece populated at each pace past times some similar individuals. The well-established fact of path dependence inwards the evolution of institutions (Thelen, How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills inwards Germany, Britain, the United States, in addition to Japan) entails that the properties of the establishment today are non uniquely determined past times the features of the individuals currently involved inwards the establishment inwards its diverse stages. Rather at that spot were shaping events that pushed the evolution of the establishment inwards this direction or that at diverse points inwards time. This agency that the electrical current properties of the establishment are not best explained past times the electrical current properties of the substrate individuals at present, but rather past times the history of evolution that led this population to this point.

It volition still hold upwards truthful that the workings of the establishment at introduce are theme on the features of the individuals at present; but the path-dependency declaration says that those individuals volition convey adjusted inwards minor ways thus equally to embody the regulative scheme of the establishment inwards its electrical current form, without becoming fundamentally dissimilar kinds of individuals. Chiefly they volition convey internalized slightly dissimilar systems of rules that embody the electrical current institution, in addition to this is what gives the establishment its characteristic way of performance inwards the present.

So explanation of the features of the establishment inwards the introduce is non best couched inwards damage of the electrical current characteristics of the individuals who become far up, but rather past times an historical line of piece of occupation concern human relationship of the path that led to this holler for (and the infinitesimal changes inwards private beliefs in addition to behaviors that went along amongst this).

These concerns brand me less satisfied amongst the full general stance of supervenience equally a way of specifying the relation betwixt social structures in addition to substrate individuals. What would satisfy me to a greater extent than would hold upwards something similar this:

• Social structures supersede the states of individuals inwards the substrate described at a given bird of granularity corresponding to our electrical current theory of the actor.
• Small differences inwards the substrate volition gain alone minor differences inwards the social structure.

These add together upwards to a potent claim; they entail that whatever organisation amongst similar rules of demeanour involving roughly similar actors (according to the damage of our best theory of the actor) volition convey roughly similar causal properties. And this inwards plough invites empirical investigation through comparative methods.

As for the path-dependency number raised inwards comment (c), peradventure this is the best nosotros tin terminate say: the substrate analysis of the demeanour of the individuals tells us how the establishment works, but the historical line of piece of occupation concern human relationship of the path-dependent procedure through which the establishment came to convey the characteristics it currently has tells us why it plant this way. And these are dissimilar kinds of explanations.