When local models fail

Philosophy of the Social Sciences 38 (1):3-24 (2008)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Models treating the simple properties of social groups have a common shortcoming. Typically, they focus on the local properties of group members and the features of the world with which group members interact. I consider economic models of bureaucratic corruption, to show that (a) simple properties of groups are often constituted by the properties of the wider population, and (b) even sophisticated models are commonly inadequate to account for many simple social properties. Adequate models and social policies must treat certain factors that are not local to individual members of the group, even if those factors are not causally connected to those individuals. Key Words: individualism • corruption • supervenience • model • cause.

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
361 (#50,770)

6 months
49 (#74,755)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Brian Epstein
Tufts University

Citations of this work

Ontological individualism reconsidered.Brian Epstein - 2009 - Synthese 166 (1):187-213.
Two concepts of mechanism: Componential causal system and abstract form of interaction.Jaakko Kuorikoski - 2009 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 23 (2):143 – 160.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Collective Intentions and Actions.John Searle - 1990 - In Philip R. Cohen Jerry Morgan & Martha Pollack (eds.), Intentions in Communication. MIT Press. pp. 401-415.
Shared intention.Michael E. Bratman - 1993 - Ethics 104 (1):97-113.
Walking Together: A Paradigmatic Social Phenomenon.Margaret Gilbert - 1990 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 15 (1):1-14.

View all 20 references / Add more references