Heaps can be said to exist because of vagueness in the definition of what precisely makes something a heap. Race is the same way, which is why it is a social construct. I’m not saying that “heap” and “race” are not useful terms. They do correlate with actual differences, but they are social constructs because they are convenient simplifications to help us describe phenomena.
If “heap” is a social construct, so is all language, basically, and then everything is a social construct. Sigh.
Post-modernists sometimes say things like “reality is socially constructed”, and there’s an uncontroversially correct meaning there. We don’t experience the world directly, but through the categories and prejudices implicit to our society; for example, I might view a certain shade of bluish-green as blue, and someone raised in a different culture might view it as green. Okay.
Then post-modernists go on to say that if someone in a different culture thinks that the sun is light glinting off the horns of the Sky Ox, that’s just as real as our own culture’s theory that the sun is a mass of incandescent gas a great big nuclear furnace. If you challenge them, they’ll say that you’re denying reality is socially constructed, which means you’re clearly very naive and think you have perfect objectivity and the senses perceive reality directly.
Plus, you might be interested in the wonderfully named Troll’s Truisms:
A Troll’s Truism is an ambiguous statement by which an exciting falsehood may trade on a trivial truth. For example, ‘morality is socially constructed’ sounds like a radical assertion of cultural relativism until we are told that by ‘morality’ the speaker means not morality itself but just our beliefs about right and wrong. Of course, these beliefs are, in some sense, socially constructed, if only because our acquisition of many beliefs is mediated by language and beliefs about right and wrong are certainly among those acquired in that way. Hence in this sense of ‘morality’ the statement is true and trivially so.
If “heap” is a social construct, so is all language, basically, and then everything is a social construct. Sigh.
It is true that all language is socially constructed, but I was trying to draw attention to how “race” is especially subjective. Many linguistic terms are much more precise. A “species” for example refers to related individuals who reproduce among themselves, producing viable offspring. There is still some room for ambiguity, but it is less than what you get with “race”. Besides, what’s wrong with the idea that all language is socially constructed? It is possible to believe that without falling prey to the fallacy of grey.
Then post-modernists go on to say that if someone in a different culture thinks that the sun is light glinting off the horns of the Sky Ox, that’s just as real as our own culture’s theory that the sun is a mass of incandescent gas a great big nuclear furnace.
I would personally prefer to use the term “better informed” rather than “more real”. Hypothetically, if both theories turned out to be completely false, and supposing we learned of that but still had no idea what the actual truth was, it wouldn’t be certain which of them is more “real”, but it would be relatively clearer which one had stronger evidence supporting it at the time. To give a different example, if we knew that one of the two theories is 100% true but aren’t told which one it is, it would be reasonable for us to think it is far more likely to be the theory based on scientific evidence (i.e. the theory that actually aligns with the scientific definition of a theory as being a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:).
If “heap” is a social construct, so is all language, basically, and then everything is a social construct. Sigh.
Maybe this will help—hot off the bit presses:
Plus, you might be interested in the wonderfully named Troll’s Truisms:
It is true that all language is socially constructed, but I was trying to draw attention to how “race” is especially subjective. Many linguistic terms are much more precise. A “species” for example refers to related individuals who reproduce among themselves, producing viable offspring. There is still some room for ambiguity, but it is less than what you get with “race”. Besides, what’s wrong with the idea that all language is socially constructed? It is possible to believe that without falling prey to the fallacy of grey.
I would personally prefer to use the term “better informed” rather than “more real”. Hypothetically, if both theories turned out to be completely false, and supposing we learned of that but still had no idea what the actual truth was, it wouldn’t be certain which of them is more “real”, but it would be relatively clearer which one had stronger evidence supporting it at the time. To give a different example, if we knew that one of the two theories is 100% true but aren’t told which one it is, it would be reasonable for us to think it is far more likely to be the theory based on scientific evidence (i.e. the theory that actually aligns with the scientific definition of a theory as being a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:).