Overview
Social 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 collective intentionality is not individualistically reducible and is needed to complement individualistic accounts in social scientific theorizing. The we-mode approach is used in the book to account for collective intention and action, cooperation, group attitudes, and social practices and institutions, as well as group solidarity. Tuomela establishes the first complete theory of group reasons (in the sense of members' reasons for participation in group activities). The book argues in terms of game-theoretical group-reasoning that the kind of weak collectivism that the we-mode approach involves is both conceptually and rational-functionally different from what an individualistic approach (""pro-group I-mode"" approach) entails.
Full Product Details
Author: Raimo Tuomela (Professor Emeritus of Social and Moral Philosophy, Professor Emeritus of Social and Moral Philosophy, University of Helsinki)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 23.10cm
Weight: 0.399kg
ISBN: 9780190612382
ISBN 10: 019061238
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 30 June 2016
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
This book is an important contribution to the social ontology literature -- Ethics
""This book is an important contribution to the social ontology literature"" -- Ethics
Author Information
Raimo Tuomela is Professor Emeritus of Social and Moral Philosophy at the University of Helsinki and permanent visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Munich. He holds Ph.D. degrees in philosophy from the University of Helsinki and Stanford University. His previous works include The Philosophy of Sociality: The Shared Point of View (OUP 2007), The Philosophy of Social Practices (2002), Cooperation: A Philosophical Study (2000), and The Importance of Us (1995). Currently Tuomela functions as the president of the International Social Ontology Society.
