Is Reality a Social Construct?

Note: Café Philo is a way of meeting interesting, inquiring people who enjoy talking about life's big issues and conundrums in a convivial atmosphere, rather than a heavy-duty philosophy seminar. Read more about our approach here.

What is Reality?
The philosopher John R. Searle in his book Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization, defined reality as composing of brute (objective) facts and institutional (human) facts.

Brute facts would exist without an observer, and are called objective facts. The institutional facts, are subject to agreed human judgements, as defined by institutions, these can be called subjective facts. Especially as they are more subject to change.

Is this a useful way to define objective and subjective realities?

When people say all of reality is subjective, what do they mean? Do they mean that everything is subject to change and requires belief to maintain it?

Does a belief that all of reality is subjective grant the power to defy a brute fact such as gravity and fly?

How can we find the Brute facts?

Do objective facts have higher quality than subjective ones? A purely subjective fact, such as a preference for white wine, can only be shared as a recommendation. While an objective fact such as the sun will rise tomorrow, can be put to much greater utility. Does that give it a higher value?

What other examples of subjective facts are there? How many people would it require for them to change?

As part of the social reality we are granted what Searl calls deontic powers. These powers carry rights, duties, obligations, requirements, permissions, authorizations, entitlements and so on. They have been described as positive, for example, declaring I have a right, or negative, when I have an obligation.

An example being to use the deontic powers to declare something our property. It declares a right to that object, and an obligation to others not to take it.

Is this a kind of magic, using these deontic powers? Altering subjective reality with a word, phrase or gesture while the brute fact of that reality, the object remains unchanged.

Are there other examples of deontic powers? Over different scales, from the small of the pub, and those of immediate proximate influence, to the grand over nations, countries and the world itself.

Since we are generating the social world, does that mean all power comes from the ground up?

Resources
Social Construction of Reality Explained (YouTube 3 mins)