Socializing Metaphysics: The Nature of Social Reality [Paperback]

Frederick F. Schmitt (Author, Contributor), Gary Ebbs (Contributor), Margaret Gilbert (Contributor), Sally Haslanger (Contributor), Kevin Kimble (Contributor), Ron Mallon (Contributor), Seumas Miller (Contributor), Philip Pettit (Contributor), Abraham Sesshu Roth (Contributor), John Searle (Contributor), Raimo Tuomela (Contributor), Edward Witherspoon (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003 | ISBN-10: 0742514293 | ISBN-13: 978-0742514294

Human life is conducted within a network of social relations, social groups, and societies. Grasping the implications of that fact starts with understanding social metaphysics. Social metaphysics provides a foundation for social theory, as well as for social epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, action theory, ethics, and political philosophy. This volume will interest anyone concerned with mind, action, or the foundations of social theory. Socializing Metaphysics supplies diverse answers, from a broad array of voices, to the basic questions of social metaphysics. What is it for human beings to stand in social relations or form social groups? Do these relations and groups bring about something above and beyond the individuals involved? Is there any sense to the notion of a human being apart from social relations? How can an individual achieve autonomy within a society? In what sense are human kinds like race and gender socially constructed? The answers are found within.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Anyone interested in the subject of the metaphysics of the social should own this anthology and study it with care. It contains the latest developments in the thinking of some of the main contributors to the field, and the admirable introduction sets the context for these contributions in a way that allows even the uninitiated to find them accessible. (Carol Rovane )

... the volume has far too many virtues to be left outside an course reading lists or library orders on social theory. (Metapsychology )

About the Author

Frederick F. Schmitt is professor of philosophy at Indiana University. He is author of Knowledge and Belief (1992) and Truth: A Primer (1995), and editor of Socializing Epistemology: The Social Dimensions of Knowledge (Rowman & Littlefield, 1994).

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742514293
• ISBN-13: 978-0742514294
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)