STATEMENTS FROM A SOCIOCYBERNETIC PERSPECTIVE OF HUMAN CONDUCT*
Society, social structure, social class, culture, or group pressure
do <<not>> make people do anything.
People are responsible for their action, but <<not>> for everything
that happens to them.
Personality, socialization, and social background do <<not>> make
people do anything. (Rather, these provide resources for action,
but determine none of it.)
Scientific facts and theories do <<not>> describe reality.
Social life, by which is meant living and acting together, depends
on arrangements people make.
No scientist in any discipline, including physics, has discovered,
or can discover, any law or principle of nature, or has or can
gain knowledge of reality.
People guide their actions by directions they give themselves.
Problems people have in social life are results of missing,
inadequate, or poorly implemented arrangements.
Discovering the laws of social life is <<not>> possible, or
even sensible.
Biological agents such as germs or viruses, or chemical agents
such as alcohol or cocaine or steriods do <<not>> make people
do anything. (Rather these can affect performance levels and
the coordination and control of behavior)
We can study arrangements and how they are made, and we can
improve upon them, and create new and more useful ones.
Technology does <<not>> make people do anything. (Rather, technology
provides resources for action.)
Scientists in all disciplines provide ways of solving problems
people are having.
Social norms, rules, values, beliefs, customs, traditions, laws,
or social sanctions do <<not>> make people do anything. (Rather,
these are devices people use to facilitate living and acting
together.)
People can <<not>> be made to do anything, unless they are
literally and directly and physically forced to.
Genetic inheritance or any other biological factors do <<not>>
make people do anything. (Rather, these permit people to do what
they do, and, undoubtly permit them to do much that so far they
have not done.)
Without making arrangements people are socially incompetent.
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*Slight modifications of statements used in the courses of Bob Stewart.