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Single Idea 20028

[filed under theme 20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 1. Intention to Act / d. Group intentions ]

Full Idea

Rational group action may involve a 'collectivising of reasons', with participants acting in ways that are not rationally recommended from the individual viewpoint. This suggests that groups can be rational, intentional agents.

Gist of Idea

Groups may act for reasons held by none of the members, so maybe groups are agents

Source

Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 2)

Book Ref

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.10


A Reaction

[Pettit 2003] is the source for this. Gilbert says individuals can have joint commitment; Pettit says the group can be an independent agent. The matter of shared intentions is interesting, but there is no need for the ontology to go berserk.

Related Idea

Idea 20027 If there are shared obligations and intentions, we may need a primitive notion of 'joint commitment' [Wilson/Schpall]