Description
Book SynopsisCollectivity: Ontology, Ethics, and Social Justice brings new voices and new approaches to under-developed areas in the philosophical literature on collectives and collective action. The essays in this volume introduce and explore a range of topics that fall under the more general concept of collectivity, including collective ontology, collective action, collective obligation, and collective responsibility. A number of the chapters link collectivity directly to significant issues of social justice. The volume addresses a variety of questions including the ontology and taxonomy of social groups and other collective entities, ethical frameworks for understanding the nature and extent of individual and collective moral obligations, and applications of these conceptual explorations to oppressive social practices like mass incarceration, climate change, and global poverty. The essays draw on a variety of approaches and disciplines, including feminist and continental approaches and work in legal theory and geography, as well as more traditional philosophical contributions.
Trade ReviewHess, Igneski, and Isaacs have assembled an exceptional collection of new papers exploring the issues of ontology, ethics and social justice with respect to collectives. Many of the chapters advance and deepen prior analyses of the way collective entities should be considered from the point of view of moral responsibility, practically and theoretically. Collectivity makes provocative moves in the direction of aligning moral assessment and ontological considerations with the real world of corporations, organizations, groups, nations, and other collectives that control much of the social, political, and economic events that shape our lives for good or ill. -- Peter A. French, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Arizona State University
This is a very fine collection of essays by a group of prominent scholars who together both deepen our philosophical understanding of collective responsibility and open our eyes to the importance of taking oppression, group identity, and social justice seriously in ascribing of it. -- Marion Smiley, J. P. Morgan Chase Chair in Ethics, Brandeis University
Table of ContentsIntroduction, Kendy Hess, Violetta Igneski, and Tracy Isaacs Part One: Ontology Chapter 1: Social Creationism and Social Groups, Katherine Ritchie Chapter 2: The Peculiar Unity of Corporate Agents, Kendy Hess Chapter 3: Can There Be an Ethics for Institutional Agents? Sean Cordell Chapter 4: At Cross Purposes: The Responsible Subject, Organizational Reality and the Criminal Law, Jennifer Quaid Part Two: Ethics Chapter 5: Making Sense of Collective Moral Obligations: A Comparison of Existing Approaches, Anne Schwenkenbecher Chapter 6: Individual Duties in Unstructured Collective Contexts, Violetta Igneski Chapter 7: Global Obligations and the Human Right to Health, Bill Wringe Chapter 8: When Are Collective Obligations Too Demanding? Felix Pinkert Chapter 9: Who Does Wrong When an Organization Does Wrong? Stephanie Collins Part Three: Social Justice Chapter 10: What Would a Feminist Theory of Collective Action and Responsibility Look Like? Tracy Isaacs Chapter 11: Identities of Oppression: Collective Intentionality’s Seriality Problem, Eric Chelstrom Chapter 12: Resisting Oppression Together: Participatory Intentions and Unequal Agents, Christina Friedlaender Chapter 13: Geographically Gated Communities: Collective Participation, Marginalization, and the Importance of Shared Values, Sarah Roe and Elyse Zavar
