Reality and relativism: Shweder on a which? hunt

A comment on Richard A. Shweder's impressive article, "John Searle on a witch hunt," notes that he raises many fundamental philosophical issues that cannot possibly be addressed in a single article. The importance of the background presupposition of External Realism is pointed out, along with fundamental facts about the structure of the universe that have been discovered within that presupposition. Specific issues explored include causal relations as one of the basic modes for explaining the operation of the world; the ontological status of institutions & institutional facts; how status functions work; & the ways in which ontologically subjective institutional facts can be epistemically objective. Shweder's endorsement of K.R. Popper's (1997) philosophy of the three worlds is challenged. It is concluded that Shweder cannot accept both what is known to be true about human capacities & views that are inconsistent with this knowledge. He simply cannot have it both ways; therefore, he must decide which to confirm. References. J. Lindroth