Synthese 198 (11):10237-10271 (2020)
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Abstract |
We say that each social group is identical to its members. The group just is them; they just are the group. This view of groups as pluralities has tended to be swiftly rejected by social metaphysicians, if considered at all, mainly on the basis of two objections. First, it is argued that groups can change in membership, while pluralities cannot. Second, it is argued that different groups can have exactly the same members, while different pluralities cannot. We rebut these objections, and argue that our plural view is superior to alternative reductive proposals which would identify social groups with the sets or fusions of their members. Finally we deal with some further potential challenges for the view of groups as pluralities. Thus we aim to establish it as a serious contender in the metaphysics of groups.
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Keywords | social ontology social groups reductionism identity social roles plural terms flexible terms metalinguistic negation higher-level plural logic |
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DOI | 10.1007/s11229-020-02715-y |
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References found in this work BETA
Four Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time.Theodore Sider - 2001 - Oxford University Press.
On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 1986 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 178 (3):388-390.
A Treatise of Human Nature.David Hume & A. D. Lindsay - 1958 - Philosophical Quarterly 8 (33):379-380.
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Citations of this work BETA
Composition as Identity, Now with All the Pluralities You Could Want.Jonathan D. Payton - 2021 - Synthese 199 (3-4):8047-8068.
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2020-08-11
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80 ( #144,718 of 2,504,831 )
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25 ( #36,173 of 2,504,831 )
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