Wendt's Challenge to Social Science: Quantum Physics, Consciousness, and Society

Alexander Wendt's Quantum Mind and Social Science challenges social scientists to replace contemporary understandings of the individual and society with concepts better suited to quantum reality. This would mean replacing reductionist materialism with notions of consciousness as probabilistic,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCritical review (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 189 - 198
Main Author Steinmo, Sven
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Astoria Routledge 03.04.2017
Critical Review
Subjects
Alexander Wendt
atomism
Consciousness
Determinism
Holism
Materialism
Physics
quantum social science
self-interest
Social sciences
Social scientists
Society
subject-object distinction
Wendt, Alexander
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Alexander Wendt's Quantum Mind and Social Science challenges social scientists to replace contemporary understandings of the individual and society with concepts better suited to quantum reality. This would mean replacing reductionist materialism with notions of consciousness as probabilistic, not strictly determined; and substituting, for individualistic models of society, new ones that acknowledged our connectedness to each other "at a distance," i.e., without mediation by mechanisms modeled on Newtonian physics. His challenge is welcome, for in both respects, Wendt would have us replace ways of thinking that have long been inadequate to explain empirical reality.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0891-3811
1933-8007
DOI:10.1080/08913811.2017.1317464