Phenomenology and Mind (Apr 2016)

Joint Commitment and Collective Belief: a Revisionary Proposal

  • Leo Townsend

DOI
https://doi.org/10.13128/Phe_Mi-18151
Journal volume & issue
no. 9

Abstract

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According to Margaret Gilbert, two or more people collectively believe that p if and only if they are jointly committed to believe that p as a body. But the way she construes joint commitment in her account – as a commitment of and by the several parties to “doing something as a body” – encourages the thought that the phenomenon accounted for is not that of genuine belief. I explain why this concern arises and explore a different way of construing joint commitment, in order to avoid the concern. This leads me to propose a revised Gilbertian account of collective belief, according to which two or more people collectively believe that p if and only if they are jointly committed to p as true.

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