A realistic view on disagreement: Roots, resolutions, and the trauma of the scientist

Building on insights from social psychology and political philosophy, I develop a realistic view on disagreement. According to this view, disagreements among people can be traced back to the heterogeneity of social reality and people’s differing social positioning in it with the relativity of identities playing a mediating role. I discuss theoretical and meta-theoretical as well as practical and normative implications of such a view. I also look into the fate of the scientist when she leaves the narrow confines of academia and enters the public sphere in order to intervene in disagreements. Drawing on the vertical structuration of social reality and the corresponding hierarchical or nested nature of people’s identities, I elaborate on a promising path to the resolution of disagreement, in which both scientists and social critics can play constructive roles. This elaboration eventually puts a proceduralist slant on my realistic view on disagreements and their resolution