On the construction of reality and truth. Towards an epistemology of community social psychology.

Abstract

An expression of community socialpsychology based on the need to transform social reality, and to considerpeople as the constructors ofthat reality, is examined from an epistemologicalpoint of view. Dualism, the position considering that object and subject are separate entities, and monism, the perspective stating that there is only one substance, are discussed The consequences of both conceptions for community social psychology, and their incompatibility, as well as the notions of reality and truth are analyzed. That analysis deals with the problems of defining reality, of separating subject and object of knowledge, of language's role, and of relativism and truth. Finally, a constructionist view of monism based on relatedness, and action, is proposed, stating the mutually influencing union of subject and object in the construction of reality.