scholarly journals Searle's conception of institutional reality

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-198
Author(s):  
Ivan Mladenovic
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Collective Intentionality ◽  
Central Notion ◽  
Institutional Reality ◽  
Rationality Assumption

This paper aims to present Searle's conception of institutional reality as an important contribution to contemporary political philosophy and social theory. Its importance notwithstanding, the two objections will be raised concerning the central notion of collective intentionality. Searle thinks of this notion as crucial for explaining human cooperation and social reality. The first objection is that Searle missed to take into account the rationality assumption in his explanation of cooperation and human interaction. The second objection is related to the previous one. Additionally, Serle missed to investigate the role of autonomous moral agent in the procedure of constructing social reality. Given this shortcoming there is no possibility for addressing the question of justice within Serle's theory of institutional reality.

Collective Intentionality, Self-referentiality, and False Beliefs: Some Issues Concerning Institutional Facts

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Celano
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Collective Intentionality ◽  
False Beliefs ◽  
Institutional Facts ◽  
Irreducible Form ◽  
Institutional Reality ◽  
Relevant Community

AbstractJ. R. Searle’s general theory of social and institutional reality, as deployed in some of his recent work (The Construction of Social Reality, 1995; Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society, 1998}, raises many deep and interesting problems. Four issues are taken up here: (1) Searle’s claim to the effect that collective intentionality is a primitive, irreducible form of intentionality; (2) his account of one of the most puzzling features of institutional concepts, their having a self-referential component; (3) the question as to the point, or points, of having institutions; (4) Searle's claim to the effect that false beliefs on the part of the members of the relevant community are compatible with the existence of related institutional facts. It is argued that, under all four respects, Searle's theory proves to be hardly satisfactory.

scholarly journals Rorty and contemporary social theory

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Srdjan Prodanovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Moral Progress ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Cultural Field ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Postmodern Thought ◽  
Contemporary Social Theory

The aim of this paper is to show certain aspects of Rorty?s philosophy that are relevant to social theory, and also to point out the most important divergences of Rorty?s insights from postmodern understanding of social reality. Therefore, in the first part of the paper I will examine both Rorty?s philosophy of edification and all relevant criticisms to his view of philosophy ?as a communication of mankind?. Furthermore, I will try to establish to which extent Rorty?s understanding of contingency and its implications really falls close to postmodern thought. I will also argue that the impossibility of philosophical justification of social reality, according to Rorty, does not entail impossibility of moral progress and that the role of social theory is actually in raising the level of inclusion of social interaction and in providing social hope. Moreover, it will be shown that Rorty, unlike Foucault and Derrida, thought that the institutions of Western democracy and liberalism are quite capable to achieve these goals and that accomplishment of this liberal utopia greatly depends on the degree of commitment to moral progress that all actors (writers, social scientists and philosophers) within the cultural field share.

Cosmopolitanism and Globality: Kant, Arendt, and Beck on the Global Condition

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Axtmann
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Intercultural Dialogue ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Transnational Actors ◽  
Global Condition

The notion of cultural plurality and the idea of intercultural dialogue have been central to the discussion of cosmopolitanism in both political philosophy and social theory. This point is developed in an exposition of the arguments put forward by Immanuel Kant and Hannah Arendt and through a critical engagement with Ulrich Beck's social theory of cosmopolitanism as a “social reality.“ It is argued that Beck's analysis fails to convince as a sociological extension of a long philosophical tradition and that instead of Beck's macrostructural analysis it is more promising to formulate an actor-centred sociological theory on the transnationalization of social spaces and the formation of a “cosmopolitan“ consciousness or awareness of transnational actors.

Social Explanation: Structures, Stories, and Ontology. A Reply to Díaz León, Saul, and Sterken

Disputatio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (50) ◽  
pp. 245-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Haslanger
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Social Agency ◽  
Metaphysical Explanation ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Social Explanation ◽  
Critical Social

Abstract In response to commentaries by Esa Díaz León, Jennifer Saul, and Ra- chel Sterken, I develop more fully my views on the role of structure in social and metaphysical explanation. Although I believe that social agency, quite generally, occurs within practices and structures, the relevance of structure depends on the sort of questions we are asking and what interventions we are considering. The emphasis on questions is also relevant in considering metaphysical and meta-metaphysical is- sues about realism with respect to gender and race. I aim to demon- strate that tools we develop in the context of critical social theory can change the questions we ask, what forms of explanation are called for, and how we do philosophy.

The role and relationship of mindreading and social attunement in HRI – position statements of interdisciplinary researchers. Workshop HRI'20

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Wykowska ◽  
Jairo Pérez-Osorio ◽  
Stefan Kopp
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This booklet is a collection of the position statements accepted for the HRI’20 conference workshop “Social Cognition for HRI: Exploring the relationship between mindreading and social attunement in human-robot interaction” (Wykowska, Perez-Osorio & Kopp, 2020). Unfortunately, due to the rapid unfolding of the novel coronavirus at the beginning of the present year, the conference and consequently our workshop, were canceled. On the light of these events, we decided to put together the positions statements accepted for the workshop. The contributions collected in these pages highlight the role of attribution of mental states to artificial agents in human-robot interaction, and precisely the quality and presence of social attunement mechanisms that are known to make human interaction smooth, efficient, and robust. These papers also accentuate the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to advance the understanding of the factors and the consequences of social interactions with artificial agents.

Political Consumerism for Sustainable Tourism

2018 ◽  
pp. 348-366
Author(s):  
Machiel Lamers ◽  
Jeroen Nawijn ◽  
Eke Eijgelaar
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Sustainable Tourism ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Consumerism ◽  
Global Environmental

Over the last decades a substantial and growing societal and academic interest has emerged for the development of sustainable tourism. Scholars have highlighted the contribution of tourism to global environmental change and to local, detrimental social and environmental effects as well as to ways in which tourism contributes to nature conservation. Nevertheless the role of tourist consumers in driving sustainable tourism has remained unconvincing and inconsistent. This chapter reviews the constraints and opportunities of political consumerism for sustainable tourism. The discussion covers stronger pockets and a key weak pocket of political consumerism for sustainable tourism and also highlights inconsistencies in sustainable tourism consumption by drawing on a range of social theory arguments and possible solutions. The chapter concludes with an agenda for future research on this topic.

Politics and Kingship in the Historical Books, with Attention to the Role of Political Theory in Interpretation

2020 ◽  
pp. 186-200
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Parsons Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Abstract Ideas ◽  
Theological Message

This chapter explores the thesis that the historical narratives of the Hebrew Bible address abstract ideas about politics, government, and law. Taking issue with critics who view the Bible’s spiritual and theological message as incommensurable with political philosophy, the chapter argues that the stories of politics and kingship in the Hebrew Bible’s historical books set forth set forth an impressive political theory that rivals, in some respects, the work of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek thinkers. The key is to bring out the general ideas behind the specific narrative elements. The chapter illustrates this thesis by examining the Hebrew Bible’s treatment of a number of classic problems of political theory: anarchy, obligation and sovereignty, distributive justice, and the comparative analysis of political organizations.

scholarly journals François Fénelon: Modern philosopher or conservative theologian?

2021 ◽  
pp. 147488512110020
Author(s):  
Alexandra Oprea
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
Political Philosopher

Ryan Patrick Hanley makes two original claims about François Fénelon: (1) that he is best regarded as a political philosopher, and (2) that his political philosophy is best understood as “moderate and modern.” In what follows, I raise two concerns about Hanley’s revisionist turn. First, I argue that the role of philosophy in Fénelon’s account is rather as a handmaiden of theology than as an autonomous area of inquiry—with implications for both the theory and practice of politics. Second, I use Fénelon’s writings on the education of women as an illustration of the more radical and reactionary aspects of his thought. Despite these limits, the book makes a compelling case for recovering Fénelon and opens up new conversations about education, religion, political economy, and international relations in early modern political thought.

The Role of Constraints and Human Interaction in Evolving MEMS Designs: Microresonator Case Study

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffi Kamalian ◽  
Alice M. Agogino ◽  
Hideyuki Takagi
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithms ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Design System ◽  
Current State ◽  
Mems Resonator ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Generative Methods

In this paper we review the current state of automated MEMS synthesis with a focus on generative methods. We use the design of a MEMS resonator as a case study and explore the role that geometric constraints and human interaction play in a computer-aided MEMS design system based on genetic algorithms.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document