This is a very common position in the social sciences (including education): ""We can hold that any particular social entity at a given time and its causal powers are token identical with the sum of individuals composing it." Or "it might well be true that each instance of a social kind - for example, a state structure - is identical with an ensemble of individual actors having certain properties." This paper examines, in detail, some of the arguments for and against this position. It is a tough analytical slog and may well take several hours to work though. The effort is worthwhile, however, as it raises (among many others) questions like 'at what point does an ensemble turn into a team?' And even, 'what makes a team a team?' This in turn raises questions like 'is teaching a class the same as teaching an individual?' and 'how do you assign responsibility for the actions of a group?' 36 page PDF.
Today: 9 Total: 101 [Direct link] [Share]
