Topic: Social Metaphysics

Social metaphysics studies the nature of sociality and its relation
to individual human beings (and more broadly, the world). It
overlaps the foundations of social theory, philosophical social
theory, the philosophy of social science, and the metaphysical
foundations of social and political philosophy. There are at least
two components to social metaphysics. One is the study of sociality
and especially collectivity: the nature of social actions, social
relations, joint agents and actions, joint intentions and beliefs,
social groups and group mentality and activity, society and culture,
social institutions and institutional facts, social role, norms, and
practices, and social and linguistic conventions. One basic question
here is how social relations and collectivities relate to the
individual human beings who instantiate or constitute them. Do
collectivities amount to anything over and above these individuals?
The other component of social metaphysics is the flip side of
collectivity. One question here is whether individual human beings
are already social in a way that precludes any sensible reduction of
collectivities to individuals. In this vicinity, we find such
questions as whether solitary individuals are possible, whether
language and mental representation are inherently social, whether a
private language is possible, etc. A broader issue is whether nature
is already in some sense social. This is the issue of social
constructionism. In this course, we will focus on issues about
collectivities and their relation to individuals. The most
substantial book written on this subject is Margaret Gilbert's On
Social Facts. We will need to devote close attention to it. We will
also read John Searle's The Construction of Social Reality. Other
authors treated will include Michael Bratman, Seumas Miller, David-
Hillel Ruben, and Philip Pettit. If there is any time left after
considering issues about collectivities, we may move on to questions
about whether individuals are already social, or to social
constructionism. For those who need more information about the sorts
of issues we will discuss, the introduction to my collection
Socializing Metaphysics gives a fairly detailed review of the
territory. This course will presuppose no knowledge of metaphysics.