Institutional Externalism

Philosophy of the Social Sciences 47 (1):67-85 (2017)
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Abstract

Many philosophers regard collective behavior and attitudes as the ground of the whole of social reality. According to this popular view, society is composed basically of collective intentions and cooperative behaviors; this is so both for informal contexts involving small groups and for complex institutional structures. In this article, I challenge this view, and propose an alternative approach, which I term institutional externalism. I argue that institutions are characterized by the tendency to defer to elements that are external to the content of collective intentions—such as laws, declarations, and contracts. According to institutional externalism, those elements are the grounds of institutional statutes, rights, and duties.

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Author's Profile

Giuliano Torrengo
Università degli Studi di Milano

Citations of this work

Social Inconsistency.Thomas Brouwer - 2022 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 9.
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Two-Dimensional Theories of Art.Thomas N. P. A. Brouwer - 2022 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 11 (3):142-149.

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