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Living Together: Rationality, Sociality, and Obligation
Author(s): Margaret Gilbert (Author)
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
- Publication Date: 19 Sept. 1996
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 0847681505
- ISBN-13: 9780847681501
Book Description
Following up her landmark work On Social Facts, this collection of essays by noted social philosopher Margaret Gilbert develops and deepens her theory of social groups as “plural subjects.” She asks, how far can our rationality take us when we pursue our personal goals? What does it mean to be a member of a group? Does group membership involve obligations and rights, and, if so, how? Gilbert argues that, in order to understand the social dimensions of human life, we must go beyond the prevailing “game theoretic” picture of people acting as independent individuals, to incorporate their situation as group members, or plural subjects bound together by joint commitments. Her new theory of obligation will be of interest to scholars engaged in empirical research as well as to philosophers and social and political theorists.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Living Together greatly develops the account in her ground-breaking book, On Social Facts. With great originality, depth, and insight, and with care, she investigates such topics as agreements, collective belief, political obligation, and the experience of guilt for actions of a group to which one belongs. This book should be read by anyone interested in political, legal, or social philosophy. — Gilbert Harman, Department of Philosophy, Princeton University
[Gilbert] carefully details the subtle dimensions of human sociality in crisp and critical analyses that avoid both mystification and simplification. These essays will be of great interest to those already familiar with her work . . . For those unfamiliar with her work, these diverse essays provide perhaps the best introduction to it. — John D. Greenwood
About the Author
Margaret Gilbert is professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut and the author of On Social Facts (1989).
