Why group mental states are not exhaustively determined by member states

Philosophical Issues 32 (1):417-433 (2022)
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Abstract

With few exceptions, theorists analyze group attitudes in terms of the attitudes of members. In Epstein 2015, 2019a, 2019b, I argued that this thesis (which I call "MEMBERS ONLY")—and hence any theory that analyzes group attitudes in terms of member attitudes—is mistaken: the attitudes of many groups are ontologically determined by a broader range of factors than member attitudes. My aim in the present paper is to consider new arguments against MEMBERS ONLY. I argue that arguments based on the "hypothesis of the extended mind" are not persuasive for challenging MEMBERS ONLY, but reinforce my earlier arguments, and I also propose new arguments from group content externalism are more promising.

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Brian Epstein
Tufts University

Citations of this work

Pluralistic Summativism about Group Belief.Fernando Broncano-Berrocal - 2025 - In Jennifer Lackey & Aidan McGlynn, The Oxford Handbook of Social Epistemology. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press.
Social Ontology.Brian Epstein - 2018 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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References found in this work

Quotation.Herman Cappelen, Ernest Lepore & Matthew McKeever - forthcoming - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Knowledge and its limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Group agency: the possibility, design, and status of corporate agents.Christian List & Philip Pettit - 2011 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Philip Pettit.
Knowledge and Its Limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - Philosophy 76 (297):460-464.

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