Objective Mental Reality- The 'Dark Matter' of the Social Sciences - Volume 1: The Physical and Social Spheres

The book offers a philosophical and cognitive justification for the author's concept of Objective Mental Reality (OMR), which links individual consciousness with society's intersubjective understanding of the world.The first part of the book explains why the concept of OMR is essential to modern science. Objects and phenomena do not exist for humans in isolation: they are formed in consciousness as mental representations and only in OMR do they acquire the status of real entities. This makes reality understandable, structured, and actionable.The second part is devoted to the physical realm of OMR. Any object appears not only as an object of perception but also as a bearer of cultural meanings. Even the scientific picture of the world turns out to be part of OMR, since its laws and facts are also mental constructions.The third part addresses the social sphere. Institutions, roles, norms, values, and events exist only insofar as people believe in them and confirm them through their behavior.OMR is revealed as a "second layer" of reality, where entities are formed that organize experience and guide our behavior. The book offers a groundbreaking explanation of how consciousness and society create the world we live in, revealing the key role of the OMR in the interaction of psyche, matter, and society.

List of contents

Part I. The Grounds for Introducing the Concept of Objective Mental Reality.- Chapter 1. How the Existence of Objective Mental Reality Came to Be Recognized .- Chapter 2. The Mental Grounds for the Emergence of Objective Mental Reality.- Chapter 3. Entities of the World That Are Fashioned by Human Consciousness.- Part II. The Physical Part of Objective Mental Reality.- Chapter 4. Two Aspects of Things (items).- Chapter 5. Physical Entities of Objective Mental Reality.- Chapter 6. The Scientific Picture of the Physical World as a Part of Objective Mental Reality.- Part III. The Social Part of Objective Mental Reality.- Chapter 7. The Mental Component of Social Reality.- Chapter 8. Physical Aspects of Social Reality and Objective Mental Reality.- Chapter 9. Actions and Events in Objective Mental Reality.

About the author

Sergey Ernestovich Polyakov (born 1956) is a psychiatrist and psychologist with more than forty years of clinical and research experience. After graduating with honors from the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University in 1979, he combined clinical practice with scientific research. In 1986, he defended his Candidate of Sciences (PhD-equivalent) dissertation in psychiatry and subsequently served as senior and later principal research fellow at the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry. In 1991, he founded and directed one of the first in Russia private multidisciplinary medical clinic in Moscow.
Since the early 2000s, Polyakov has focused on developing a comprehensive original theory of phenomenological psychology. This theory represents a coherent scientific system that explains the nature of mental phenomena. One of its key components is the concept of Objective Mental Reality—an intersubjective layer of the psyche shaped by society, which defines the human worldview, thinking, and patterns of behavior.
At the heart of his approach lies the conviction that the psyche does not merely reflect the world but actively constitutes it in the form of stable entities and constructions. This perspective has made it possible to integrate disparate experimental data, empirical findings, and observations into a unified system, with a particular emphasis on verbal and mixed representations that ensure shared understanding and collective knowledge.
He is the author of several monographs, including Myths and Reality of Modern Psychology (2004), Phenomenology of Mental Representations (2011), Concepts and Other Constructions of Consciousness (2017), The “Dark Matter” of the Social Sciences (2024), Phenomenology of Sensory Representations (2024), and Phenomenology of Symbolic Representations (2025). Together, these works establish the foundations of a new phenomenological psychology and highlight its significance for the social sciences and the humanities.

Summary

The book offers a philosophical and cognitive justification for the author's concept of Objective Mental Reality (OMR), which links individual consciousness with society's intersubjective understanding of the world.
The first part of the book explains why the concept of OMR is essential to modern science. Objects and phenomena do not exist for humans in isolation: they are formed in consciousness as mental representations and only in OMR do they acquire the status of real entities. This makes reality understandable, structured, and actionable.
The second part is devoted to the physical realm of OMR. Any object appears not only as an object of perception but also as a bearer of cultural meanings. Even the scientific picture of the world turns out to be part of OMR, since its laws and facts are also mental constructions.
The third part addresses the social sphere. Institutions, roles, norms, values, and events exist only insofar as people believe in them and confirm them through their behavior.
OMR is revealed as a "second layer" of reality, where entities are formed that organize experience and guide our behavior. The book offers a groundbreaking explanation of how consciousness and society create the world we live in, revealing the key role of the OMR in the interaction of psyche, matter, and society.

Product details

• Authors: Sergey Ernestovich Polyakov
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 22.03.2026
• EAN: 9783032111326
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3211132-6
• No. of pages: 255
• Illustrations: X, 255 p.
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology; Philosophie des Geistes, Phenomenology, Phänomenologie und Existenzphilosophie, Philosophy of Mind, Behavioral Sciences and Psychology, Cognitive Science, collective consciousness, objective mental reality, verbal representations, mental constructs, symbolic universe