The Philosophy of Social Practices: A Collective Acceptance View

by Raimo Tuomela

• ISBN13: 9780521818605
• ISBN10: 0521818605
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a systematic philosophical and conceptual study of the notion of a social practice. Raimo Tuomela explains social practices in terms of the interlocking mental states of the agents; he shows how social practices (for example customs and traditions) are 'building blocks of society'; and he offers a clear and powerful account of the way in which social institutions are constructed from these building blocks as established, interconnected sets of social practices with a special new social status. His analysis is based on the novel concept of shared 'we-attitudes', which represent a weak form of collective intentionality, and he makes instructive connections to major topics and figures in philosophy and the social sciences. His book will be of interest to a wide range of readers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of social science, psychology and sociology, and artificial intelligence.

Table of Contents

List of figures	ix
Acknowledgments	x
Introduction	1	(4)
Collective intentionality and the construction of the social world	5	(12)
Wide and narrow social constructivism	5	(4)
The contents of this book	9	(8)
Collective intentionality	17	(23)
Introduction to collective intentionality	17	(1)
Collective intentions surveyed	18	(4)
Shared we-attitudes	22	(4)
Collective intention to act together	26	(7)
Mutual belief	33	(7)
Appendix: the we-mode and the I-mode	36	(4)
Conceptual activity, rule following, and social practices	40	(38)
Introduction	40	(3)
Sellars on conceptual activity	43	(5)
Can conceptuality be noncircularly characterized?	48	(4)
Elementary conceptual activity	52	(3)
Collective pattern-governed behavior	55	(9)
Are social practices required for conceptuality?	64	(12)
Conclusion	76	(2)
An account of social practices	78	(44)
Introduction	78	(2)
Collective social action	80	(9)
What are social practices?	89	(10)
Theses regarding core social practices	99	(9)
Presuppositional and motivational reasons	108	(5)
Customs and other kinds of social practices	113	(8)
Conclusion	121	(1)
A Collective Acceptance account of collective-social notions	122	(34)
Introduction	122	(3)
The basic features of the Collective Acceptance account	125	(11)
The Collective Acceptance account made precise	136	(5)
Collective commitment	141	(3)
Qualifications and additions	144	(7)
Collective acceptance as shared we-attitude	151	(3)
Conclusion	154	(2)
Social institutions	156	(45)
Social institutions introduced	156	(6)
The basic ideas	162	(5)
The final account	167	(16)
Searle on social institutions	183	(3)
Social organizations and institutional social practices	186	(6)
Conclusion	192	(9)
Appendix: Institution concepts as reflexive concepts	194	(7)
Social practices in a dynamic context: a mathematical analysis	201	(33)
Introduction	201	(2)
Preconditions of social practices	203	(2)
States and sentences	205	(3)
Frames	208	(3)
Social practices mathematically analyzed	211	(3)
Towards a social dynamics	214	(4)
The individual level	218	(2)
An example of a social practice	220	(1)
Social norms, task-right systems, and social institutions	221	(11)
Conclusion	232	(2)
Epilogue	234	(3)
Notes	237	(29)
References	266	(6)
Index	272