The Ontology of Social Agency
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11307972 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frederick Stoutland (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 533-551 |
| Publication date | 2008-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Analyse & Kritik (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0171-5860 • E-ISSN: 2365-9858 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/auk-2008-0210 |
| OpenAlex | W2396615541 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 5 |
The main claim of the paper is that there are irreducibly social agents that intentionally perform social actions. It argues, first, that there are social attitudes ascribable to social agents and not to the individuals involved. Second, that social agents, not only individual agents, are capable of what Weber called “subjectively understandable action.” And, third, that although action (if not merely mental) presumes an agent’s moving her body in various ways, actions do not consist of such movements, and hence not only individual persons but social groups are genuine agents. We should be pluralists about individuation, rejecting both individualism and collectivism by granting that social agency is neither more nor less ultimate, well-founded, or basic than non-social agency
Action (physics · Agency (philosophy · Collectivism · Epistemology · Individualism · Individuation · Methodological individualism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Social ontology · Social relation · Social science · Sociology · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
| Citations per year | 0.64 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Highly cited | No |