ABSTRACT
As there is no theory-neutral observation, our access to the world is mediated by precepts. Of primary importance are our precepts about being, that is, our ontological precepts. As regards social reality, our ontological precepts will concern individuals’ ability to exercise free will and the range of enablements and constraints that the social context furnishes. That is, our primary precepts will turn on the structure-agency problematic. The assumptions we have about what affects individuals’ agency will influence how we interpret social and political events. Put simply, a committed individualist, who may see individuals, their actions and the unintended consequences of those actions, would hold that reference to a social reality that was not reducible down to individuals entailed reification; while a structuralist/holist may happily regard people as determined automata, and say that in observing individuals we are observing the effects of structures.
