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ultimate aim | individual vs plural subjects of mental states |
intermediate step | collective vs distributive interpretations of sentences |
The tiny leaves blocked the drain.
The people weigh 227kg.
plural -> suprapersonal weight
The people broke the elevator.
The injections saved her life
-- collective vs distributive
ultimate aim | individual vs plural subjects of mental states |
intermediate step | collective vs distributive interpretations of sentences |
The tiny leaves blocked the drain.
The people weigh 227kg.
plural -> suprapersonal weight
The people broke the elevator.
The injections saved her life
-- collective vs distributive
The people intend to break the elevator.
-- collective vs distributive???
collective -> suprapersonal intentions (and minds) (?)
What is shared intention?
Functional characterisation:
shared intention serves to (a) coordinate activities, (b) coordinate planning and (c) structure bargaining
Constraint:
Inferential integration... and normative integration (e.g. agglomeration)
Substantial account:
We have a shared intention that we J if
‘1. (a) I intend that we J and (b) you intend that we J
‘2. I intend that we J in accordance with and because of la, lb, and meshing subplans of la and lb; you intend [likewise] …
‘3. 1 and 2 are common knowledge between us’
(Bratman 1993: View 4)
all intentions have individual subjects
On accounts like Bratman’s or Gilbert’s, ‘it makes some sense to say that the result is a kind of shared action: the individual people are, after all, acting intentionally throughout.
However, in a deeper sense, the activity is not shared: the group itself is not engaged in action whose aim the group finds worthwhile, and so the actions at issue here are merely those of individuals.
Thus, these accounts ... fail to make sense of a ... part of the landscape of social phenomena’
Helm (2008, pp. 20-1)
How?
aggregate subject
‘[...] a distinctive mode of practical reasoning, team reasoning, in which agency is attributed to groups.’
Gold and Sugden (2006)
‘somebody team reasons if she works out the best possible feasible combination of actions for all the members of her team, then does her part in it.’
(Bacharach, 2006, p. 121)
An individual who engages in team-directed reasoning appraises alternative arrays of actions by members of the team in relation to [...] team-directed preferences.’
‘At the level of the team, team preference is a ranking of outcomes which is revealed in the team's decisions.’
(Sugden, 2000)
Why suppose that team reasoning explains how
there could be aggregate subjects?
game theory is already agnostic about agents ...
individual adult humans (suspects under arrest)
bower birds (maraud/guard nests)
business organisations (product pricing)
countries (international environmental policy)
(Dixit, Skeath, & Reiley, 2014, p. chapter 10)
... so aggregates with preferences that maximise their expected utility are already in view.
How?
aggregate subject
contrast aggregate vs plural
The tiny leaves formed an impenetrable barrier
which blocked the drain.
Plural subject
-- some individuals who collectively have an attitude.
Aggregate subject
-- a subject with multiple parts that are subjects.
Identical to the individuals.
Distinct from the individuals.
Could not involve other individuals.
The component individuals can change.
True: Collectively form an aggregate subject.
False: Does not form an aggregate subject.
False: Do not collectively sting or eat.
True: Does sting and eat.
Gilbert, Schmid
Pettit, List, Helm, ?Gilbert
Gilbert on joint commitment
[1] The subject:
‘a commitment
by two or more people
of the same two or more people.’
[2] The content:
All joint commitments are commitments to emulate, as far as possible, a single body which does something (2013, p. 64).
Plural subject
-- some individuals who collectively have an attitude.
Aggregate subject
-- a subject with multiple parts that are subjects.
Identical to the individuals.
Distinct from the individuals.
Could not involve other individuals.
May involve other individuals.
True: Collectively form an aggregate subject.
False: Does not form an aggregate subject.
False: Do not collectively sting or eat. [?]
True: Does sting and eat.
Gilbert, Schmid
Pettit, List, Helm, ?Gilbert
1. What is team reasoning? ✓
2. [background] aggregate agents ✓
3. How might team reasoning be used in constructing a theory of shared intention? ✓