Social Ontology

In Ricki Bliss & James Miller (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics. New York, NY: Routledge (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Traditionally, social entities (i.e., social properties, facts, kinds, groups, institutions, and structures) have not fallen within the purview of mainstream metaphysics. In this chapter, we consider whether the exclusion of social entities from mainstream metaphysics is philosophically warranted or if it instead rests on historical accident or bias. We examine three ways one might attempt to justify excluding social metaphysics from the domain of metaphysical inquiry and argue that each fails. Thus, we conclude that social entities are not justifiably excluded from metaphysical inquiry. Finally, we ask how focusing on social entities could change the character of metaphysical inquiry. We suggest that starting from examples of social entities might lead metaphysicians to rethink the assumption that describing reality in terms of intrinsic, independent, and individualistic features is preferable to describing it in terms of relational, dependent, and non-individualistic features.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Social Ontology.Brian Epstein - 2018 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Easy Social Ontology.Miguel Garcia-Godinez - 2023 - In Thomasson on Ontology. Springer Verlag. pp. 183-208.
A Plea for Descriptive Social Ontology.Kathrin Koslicki & Olivier Massin - 2023 - Synthese 202 (Special Issue: The Metametaphysi):1-35.
B. Epstein’s Social Ontology.Andrey M. Orekhov - 2022 - RUDN Journal of Philosophy 26 (3):572-581.
Social ontology in metaethics.Gloria Mähringer - 2024 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 50 (9):1394-1413.
Hegel's Social Ontology.Nien-Feng Chiang - 1986 - Dissertation, Purdue University
Thomasson’s Social Ontology.Åsa Burman - 2023 - In Miguel Garcia-Godinez (ed.), Thomasson on Ontology. Springer Verlag. pp. 163-181.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-06-09

Downloads
1,770 (#8,145)

6 months
273 (#8,680)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Katherine Ritchie
University of California, Irvine
Rebecca Mason
University of San Francisco

Citations of this work

Resisting Social Categories.Sara Bernstein - 2024 - Oxford Studies in Agency and Responsibility 8:81-102.
Metaphysics.Peter Van Inwagen, Meghan Sullivan & Sara Bernstein - 2023 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Why Care About What There Is?Daniel Z. Korman - 2024 - Mind 133 (530):428-451.
Epistemological solipsism as a route to external world skepticism.Grace Helton - 2021 - Philosophical Perspectives 35 (1):229-250.
Substantive Social Metaphysics.Elanor Taylor - 2023 - Philosophers' Imprint 23:1-18.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Writing the Book of the World.Theodore Sider - 2011 - Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Every thing must go: metaphysics naturalized.James Ladyman & Don Ross - 2007 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Don Ross, David Spurrett & John G. Collier.
New work for a theory of universals.David K. Lewis - 1983 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 61 (4):343-377.
The social construction of what?Ian Hacking - 1999 - Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

View all 108 references / Add more references