Concessive Joint Action
A New Concept in Theories of Joint Action
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25365/jso-2022-7307Keywords:
social ontology, joint action, intention, shared goalAbstract
Representative theorists of joint action traditionally argue that shared intention is necessary for joint action and that it must be common knowledge among participants that they share intentions (Bratman 1993; 2014; Gilbert 1996; 2014; Miller 2001; Searle 1990; 2010; Tuomela 2005; 2013; Tuomela & Miller 1985) However, minimalists criticize these conditions; many of them contend that common knowledge is unnecessary (Blomberg, 2016). In fact, the absence of common knowledge is occasionally necessary to induce the occurrence of joint action (Schönherr, 2019). Other minimalists even argue that the assertion of shared intentions is too zealous (Butterfill, 2012). In general, however, even minimalists accept or not seriously question the following assumption: The goal shared by people in initiating a joint action is the one whose realization amounts to the accomplishment of that action. I utilize a class of counterexamples that I label concessive joint action to argue that this assumption is excessive.
References
Blomberg, O. 2016. “Common Knowledge and Reductionism about Shared Agency.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 94 (2): 315–326, URL https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2015.1055581.
Bratman, M. E. 1993. “Shared Intention.” Ethics 104 (1): 97–113, URL https://doi.org/10.1086/293577, Reprinted in Bratman M. 1999. Faces of Intention: Selected Essays on Intention and Agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 109-129.
Bratman, M. E. 2014. Shared Agency: A Planning Theory of Acting Together. Oxford: Oxford University Press, URL https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199897933.001.0001.
Butterfill, S. 2012. “Joint Action and Development.” The Philosophical Quarterly 63 (246): 23–47, URL https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2011.00005.x.
Clark, H. H. 1996. Using Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, URL https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620539.
Gilbert, M. 1996. Living Together: Rationality, Sociality, and Obligation. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Gilbert, M. 2014. Joint Commitment: How We Make the Social World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, URL https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199970148.001.0001.
Grice, P. 1957. “Meaning.” The Philosophical Review 66 (3): 377–388, URL https://doi.org/10.2307/2182440, Reprinted in Grice, P 1989. Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 213–223.
Grice, P. 1969. “Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions.” The Philosophical Review 78 (2): 117–137, URL https://doi.org/10.2307/2184179, Reprinted in Grice, P 1989. Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 213–223.
Heinonen, M. 2016. “Minimalism and Maximalism in the Study of Shared Intentional Action.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 46 (2): 168–188, URL https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393115614533.
Knoblich, G., S. Butterfill, and N. Sebanz. 2011. “Psychological Research on Joint Action: Theory and Date.” Psychology of Learning and Motivation 54: 59–101, URL https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385527-5.00003-6.
Ludwig, K. 2020. “What Is Minimally Cooperative Behavior?” Minimal Cooperation and Shared Agency, edited by A. Fiebich, Springer, Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality, volume 11, 9–40, URL https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29783-1.
Miller, S. 2001. Social Action: A Teleological Account. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Paternotte, C. 2020. “Joint Action: Why So Minimal?” Minimal Cooperation and Shared Agency, edited by A. Fiebich, Springer, Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality, volume 11, 41–58, URL https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29783-1_3.
Pettit, P., and D. Schweikard. 2006. “Joint Actions and Group Agents.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 36 (1): 18–39, URL https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393105284169.
Saint-Germier, P., C. Paternotte, and C. Canonne. 2021. “Joint Improvisation, Minimalism and Pluralism about Joint Action.” Journal of Social Ontology 7 (1): 97–118, URL https://doi.org/10.1515/jso-2020-0068.
Schönherr, J. 2019. “Lucky Joint Action.” Philosophical Psychology 32 (1): 123–142, URL https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2018.1520207.
Searle, J. R. 1990. “Collective Intentions and Actions.” Intentions in Communication, edited by P. R. Cohen, J. Morgan, and M. E. Pollack, The MIT Press, 401–416.
Searle, J. R. 2010. Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, URL https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195396171.001.0001.
Tuomela, R. 2005. “We-Intention Revisited.” Philosophical Studies 125: 327–369, URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-005-7781-1.
Tuomela, R. 2013. Social Ontology: Collective Intentionality and Group Agents. Oxford: Oxford University Press, URL https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199978267.001.0001.
Tuomela, R., and K. Miller. 1985. “We-Intentions and Social Action.” Analyse & Kritik 7: 26–43, URL https://doi.org/10.1515/auk-1985-0102.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Nayuta Miki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
