Philosophy 290-2

There is a recent growth of philosophical interest in the ontology of the social. Some of the questions in this field are: What is a social fact? What are the relations between individual and collective intentionality? What are human institutions? How does human society differ from other primate societies? What is the role of language in constituting human society? How do power relations enter into social relations generally? What sorts of facts can be “socially constructed” and what sorts cannot?

In this seminar we will discuss works by Habermas, Gilbert, Tuomela, Searle and others.