Scientific realism and the historical emergence of consciousness

Abstract

In “Scientific Realism and the Issue of Variability in Behavior,” J. F. Arocha (2021) proposes a (hylo)-realist method of studying behaviour and consciousness. Arocha adopts the thesis that reality consists of concrete (determinate) things, is orderly and lawful, and that it has an emergent character. I propose that furthering the critical power of the realist position requires the adoption of the thesis that human societies also have emergent properties and are determined by historically specific laws.