Ontology of the Social: Agency, Attitudes, and Ethics

How should we understand the social world, and what makes collective action, shared intentions, and group responsibility possible? Ontology of the Social: Agency, Attitudes, and Ethics brings together philosophical contributions that investigate the foundations and features of social reality. Edited by Bhaskarjit Neog, this collection addresses central questions in analytic social ontology and collective ethics. Its themes include collectivity, social groups, plural and collective action, agency, “we-attitudes,” and collective responsibility. The chapters consider how social phenomena can be understood without reducing every explanation to the actions or intentions of isolated individuals. Readers can expect a scholarly examination of the relationships between individual and collective agency, the nature of social groups, and the ethical questions that arise when responsibility is shared. The volume connects debates in social metaphysics with moral philosophy and broader discussions of human action, normativity, and collective life. The book is particularly relevant to researchers, postgraduate students, and advanced readers in philosophy. It may also interest those studying ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of mind and action, and interdisciplinary approaches to collective behaviour. Rather than serving as a general introduction for casual readers, this collection is best approached as an academic resource for readers seeking sustained engagement with contemporary debates about social reality and collective responsibility.