Facets of Sociality

The aim of this volume is to explore new approaches to the problem of the constitution of the various aspects of sociality and to confront these with received ideas. Therefore many of the contributions to this volume are devoted to a rather holistic and antireductionist conception of social objects, groups, joint actions and collective knowledge. The topics, that are dealt with are: a) the question of the ontological status of social objects and their relation to physical objects, b) collective agency and c) the question whether there can be shared knowledge and shared beliefs - a rather new topic in the discussion of the social aspects of personal life.

Auteur
Katinka Schulte-Ostermann has studied Philosophy, East and Southeast European History and German Literature in Kiel and Leipzig. She obtained her MA phil. degree at the University of Leipzig in 2003. She works since 2005 as research assistant at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Recent publications: Basishandlungen und Intentionalität: Komplexe Handlungen oder über die Unmöglichkeit ein Menü zu kochen (Basic actions and intentionality: Aggregate actions, or about the impossibility to cook a menu, MA thesis) Leipzig 2002; Vier schlechte Verkaufsargumente für Enhancement-Techniken (Four bad selling arguments for Enhancement technologies), Dialektik 2006 (in the press). Nikos Psarros has studied Chemistry and Philosophy in Würzburg and Marburg. He received 1988 his Ph.D. in Chemistry and 1997 his Habilitation in Philosophy at the University of Marburg. He is working since 1998 at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Leipzig, where he was appointed 2004 extraordinary professor of Philosophy. Recent publications: Die Chemie und ihre Methoden Eine philosophische Betrachtung (Chemistry and its methods a philosophical approach), Weinheim 1999; Die Entwicklung sozialer Wirklichkeit (The evolution of social reality coedited with Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer und Georg Vobruba), Weilerswist 2003; Wilhelm Ostwald at the Crossroads of Chemistry, Philosophy, and Media Culture (coedited with Britta Görs and Paul Ziche), Leipzig 2004; Facetten des Menschlichen (Facets of the human nature - forthcoming).

Contenu
Introduction I
PART I: SOCIAL ONTOLOGY
Barry Smith, Saarbrücken/Buffalo
Searle and De Soto: The New Ontology of the Social World
Nikos Psarros, Leipzig
The Constitution of Social Objects by Common Actions
Wolfgang Detel, Frankfurt
Mental Causation and the Notion of Action
Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer, Leipzig
From Individual Mind to Forms of Human Practice
Jakob Lindgaard, Warwick
The Logic of Mind-Talk - Comment on Stekeler-Weithofer s
From Individual Mind to Forms of Human Practice
Ingvar Johansson, Saarbrücken
How do non-Joint Commitments come into Being?
An Attempt at Cultural Naturalism
PART II: COLLECTIVE ACTION
Margaret Gilbert, Storrs/CT
Acting together, Joint Commitment, and Obligation
Raimo Tuomela, Helsinki
Joint Action
Frank Kannetzky, Leipzig
Levels of Collectivity
Boris Hennig, Saarbrücken
Social Facts Explained and Presupposed
Richard Raatzsch, Heidelberg
'We intend.'
Hans Bernhard Schmid, St. Gallen/Basel
On Not Doing One s Part
PART III: EPISTEMIC HOLISM
Deborah Tollefsen, Memphis/TN
Collective Epistemic Agency and the Need for Collective Epistemology
Lars Lundsten, Helsinki
Epistemology of holes
Bernt Österman, Helsinki
Interpretation, Understanding, and Application
Arto Siitonen, Helsinki
Kosmos Noetos and Carnap s Constitution of Cultural Objects