Lawford-Smith, H (2015) What 'We'? Journal of Social Ontology, 2 (1). 225 - 250 . ISSN 2196-9655
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to explain why certain authors – both popular and academic – are making a mistake when they attribute obligations to uncoordinated groups of persons, and to argue that it is particularly unhelpful to make this mistake given the prevalence of individuals faced with the difficult question of what morality requires of them in a situation in which there is a good they can bring about together with others, but not alone. I will defend two alternatives to attributing obligations to uncoordinated groups. The first solution has us build better people, who will coordinate their actions willingly and spontaneously when the occasion arises. The second solution has us build better groups, so that when the occasion arises, there is a framework in place for coordinating members into action.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, Holly Lawford-Smith, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) |
Keywords: | Collective obligation; Unstructured groups; Climate change; Bearers of obligations; Poverty; Non-collectives’ obligations; Humanitarian intervention |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of Philosophy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 Dec 2015 16:33 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2023 21:56 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jso-2015-0008 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | De Gruyter |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1515/jso-2015-0008 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:92757 |