Description
Book SynopsisSocial ontology, in its broadest sense, is the study of the nature of social reality, including collective intentions and agency. The starting point of Tuomela''s account of collective intentionality is the distinction between thinking and acting as a private person (I-mode) versus as a we-thinking group member (we-mode). The we-mode approach is based on social groups consisting of persons, which may range from simple task groups consisting of a few persons to corporations and even to political states. Tuomela extends the we-mode notion to cover groups controlled by external authority. Thus, for instance, cooperation and attitude formation are studied in cases where the participants are governed from above as in many corporations.The volume goes on to present a systematic philosophical theory related to the collectivism-versus-individualism debate in the social sciences. A weak version of collectivism (the we-mode approach) depends on group-based collective intentionality. We-mode coll
Trade Review"This book is an important contribution to the social ontology literature" -- Ethics
Table of ContentsPreface Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Groups and We-Thinking Chapter 3: Collective Intentions Chapter 4: Acting for Social Reasons Chapter 5: Collective Acceptance and the Formation of Group Attitudes Chapter 6: Cooperation and Authority Chapter 7: We-Reasoning in Game-Theoretic Context Chapter 8: Institutional Facts and Institutions Chapter 9: Group Solidarity: All for One and One for All References Index
