182 | Sally Haslanger on Social Construction and Critical Theory

<p>Reality is just out there — but how we perceive reality and talk about it depends on choices we human beings make. We decide (consciously or not) to conceptualize the world in certain ways, whether it’s because those ways provide elegant predictive descriptions or because they serve a more subtle political purpose. To get at the true nature of reality, therefore, it’s important to think about which aspects of it are socially constructed, and why. I talk with Sally Haslanger about these issues, and the techniques we can use to understand the world and make it a better place.</p><p><em>Support Mindscape on&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Patreon</em></a><em>.</em></p><p>Sally Haslanger received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently the Ford Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among her awards are the Carus Lectureship, the Distinguished Woman Philosopher award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of several books, including&nbsp;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/resisting-reality-social-construction-and-social-critique/9780199892624" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique</em></a>.</p><ul><li><a href="https://sallyhaslanger.weebly.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Web site</a></li><li><a href="https://philosophy.mit.edu/haslanger/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT faculty page</a></li><li><a href="https://philpeople.org/profiles/sally-haslanger" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PhilPeople profile</a></li><li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gid2OI9zTC0C&amp;hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google Scholar publications</a></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Books-Sally-Haslanger/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ASally+Haslanger" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a></li><li><a href="htt