One’s a Crowd? On Greenwood’s Delimitation of the Social

In an effort to carve a distinct place for social facts without lapsing into a holistic ontology, John Greenwood has sought to define social phenomena solely in terms of the attitudes held by the actor(s) in question. I argue that his proposal allows for the possibility of a “lone collectivity” that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of the social sciences 2013-12, Vol.43 (4), p.519-530
Main Author: Champagne, Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Crowds
Game theory
Greenwood, John
Individualism
Ontology
Philosophical thought
Philosophy
Philosophy of history. Social and political philosophy. Philosophy of law
Social and political philosophy
Social facts
Social psychology
Social sciences
Sociology
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Summary:In an effort to carve a distinct place for social facts without lapsing into a holistic ontology, John Greenwood has sought to define social phenomena solely in terms of the attitudes held by the actor(s) in question. I argue that his proposal allows for the possibility of a “lone collectivity” that is (1) unpalatable in its own right and (2) incompatible with the claim that sociology is autonomous from psychology.  As such, I conclude that the relevant beliefs need to be held by more than one person.
ISSN:0048-3931
1552-7441
DOI:10.1177/0048393112454335