The Ant Trap : Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences
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| Title: | The Ant Trap : Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences |
|---|---|
| Description: | We live in a world of crowds and corporations, artworks and artifacts, legislatures and languages, money and markets. These are all social objects - they are made, at least in part, by people and by communities. But what exactly are these things? How are they made, and what is the role of people in making them? In The Ant Trap, Brian Epstein rewrites our understanding of the nature of the social world and the foundations of the social sciences. Epstein explains and challenges the three prevailing traditions about how the social world is made. One tradition takes the social world to be built out of people, much as traffic is built out of cars. A second tradition also takes people to be the building blocks of the social world, but focuses on thoughts and attitudes we have toward one another. And a third tradition takes the social world to be a collective projection onto the physical world. Epstein shows that these share critical flaws. Most fundamentally, all three traditions overestimate the role of people in building the social world: they are overly anthropocentric. Epstein starts from scratch, bringing the resources of contemporary metaphysics to bear. In the place of traditional theories, he introduces a model based on a new distinction between the grounds and the anchors of social facts. Epstein illustrates the model with a study of the nature of law, and shows how to interpret the prevailing traditions about the social world. Then he turns to social groups, and to what it means for a group to take an action or have an intention. Contrary to the overwhelming consensus, these often depend on more than the actions and intentions of group members. |
| Authors: | Brian Epstein |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Social sciences--Philosophy, Social groups |
| Categories: | PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, PHILOSOPHY / Social |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: The Ant Trap : Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: We live in a world of crowds and corporations, artworks and artifacts, legislatures and languages, money and markets. These are all social objects - they are made, at least in part, by people and by communities. But what exactly are these things? How are they made, and what is the role of people in making them? In The Ant Trap, Brian Epstein rewrites our understanding of the nature of the social world and the foundations of the social sciences. Epstein explains and challenges the three prevailing traditions about how the social world is made. One tradition takes the social world to be built out of people, much as traffic is built out of cars. A second tradition also takes people to be the building blocks of the social world, but focuses on thoughts and attitudes we have toward one another. And a third tradition takes the social world to be a collective projection onto the physical world. Epstein shows that these share critical flaws. Most fundamentally, all three traditions overestimate the role of people in building the social world: they are overly anthropocentric. Epstein starts from scratch, bringing the resources of contemporary metaphysics to bear. In the place of traditional theories, he introduces a model based on a new distinction between the grounds and the anchors of social facts. Epstein illustrates the model with a study of the nature of law, and shows how to interpret the prevailing traditions about the social world. Then he turns to social groups, and to what it means for a group to take an action or have an intention. Contrary to the overwhelming consensus, these often depend on more than the actions and intentions of group members. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Brian+Epstein%22">Brian Epstein</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+sciences--Philosophy%22">Social sciences--Philosophy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+groups%22">Social groups</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22PHILOSOPHY+%2F+Ethics+%26+Moral+Philosophy%22">PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22PHILOSOPHY+%2F+Social%22">PHILOSOPHY / Social</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 300 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Social sciences--Philosophy Type: general – SubjectFull: Social groups Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: The Ant Trap : Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Brian Epstein – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Brian Epstein IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2015 – D: 05 M: 02 Type: profile Y: 2015 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780199381104 – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780190871758 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780199381111 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780190238391 Titles: – TitleFull: The Ant Trap : Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences Type: main |
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