Margaret Gilbert

Margaret Gilbert is a philosopher best known for her work in the philosophy of social science, and, more specifically, for her founding contributions to the analytic philosophy of social phenomena. She has also made substantial contributions to other philosophical fields including political philosophy, the philosophy of law, and ethics.

Life

Gilbert was born in the United Kingdom and obtained a "double first" B. A. degree in Classics and Philosophy from Cambridge University and a B. Phil. and D. Phil. degree in Philosophy from Oxford University. From 1983 until 2006, she taught at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, where she was Professor of Philosophy. As of Fall 2006, she holds the Abraham I. Melden Chair in Moral Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. She has been a visiting teacher and researcher at many academic institutions including Princeton University, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, Wolfson College, Oxford, Technische Universität Dresden, King's College London, and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, and regularly gives invited lectures in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. Gilbert was married to noted philosopher Saul Kripke and is the sister of famed British historian Sir Martin Gilbert.

Works

In her book On Social Facts (1989) Gilbert presented novel accounts of a number of central social phenomena in the context of critical reflections on proposals by the founders of sociology Émile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, and Max Weber and others, including the philosopher David Lewis. The phenomena discussed include social conventions, social groups in a central sense of the term, group languages, collective belief, and acting together. Gilbert argued that these were all 'plural subject phenomena'. In a summary passage she writes, with allusion to Rousseau, that "One is willing to be the member of a plural subject if one is willing, at least in relation to certain conditions, to put one's own will into a 'pool of wills' dedicated, as one, to a single goal (or whatever it is that the pool is dedicated to)" (18). If two or more people have openly expressed such willingness in relation to a particular goal, in conditions of common knowledge, then the pertinent pool of wills is set up. In other words, the people concerned constitute the plural subject of the goal. As an alternative to talking of a pool of wills Gilbert refers also to joint commitment as when she writes: " the wills of the parties are jointly committed" (198). In later work she has preferred the language of joint commitment. Gilbert compares the plural subject to the singular subject and argues, with allusion to Durkheim, that "In order for individual human beings to form collectivities, they must take on a special character, a 'new' character, insofar as they need not, qua human beings, have that character. Moreover, humans must form a whole or unit of a special kind...a plural subject" (431).

In subsequent writings Gilbert has continued the development and application of her plural subject theory. A selection of relevant articles, authored by her, are included in her books 'Living Together" (1996), 'Sociality and Responsibility' (2000) and 'Marcher Ensemble' (2003).

In her book 'A Theory of Political Obligation' (2006; 2008) Gilbert offers a new perspective on a classical problem in political philosophy, generally known as 'the' problem of political obligation. As Gilbert makes clear in her book, there are many versions of this problem. She addresses the question whether there is something about one's being the member of a particular society that means one is obligated to uphold the political institutions of that society. Unlike most contemporary writers on the subject, she does not insist that the obligation in question is a matter of moral requirement. Gilbert argues that there are obligations of a different sort, and that these that are a function of membership in a political society construed as membership in a particular kind of plural subject constituted, as are all plural subjects, by a joint commitment.

Other topics Gilbert has addressed in one or more of her publications include agreements and promises, authority, collective emotions, collective responsibility, shared values, and social rules. Her accounts of all of these involve a constitutive joint commitment.

Selected Publications

Books

On Social Facts, London, New York: Routledge, (1989, Reprinted 1992)

Living Together: Rationality, Sociality, and Obligation, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD. (1996)

Sociality and Responsibility: New Essays in Plural Subject Theory, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD. (2000)

Marcher Ensemble: Essais sur les Fondements des Phenomenes Collectif, Presses Universitaires de France: Paris, France, (2003)

A Theory of Political Obligation: Membership, Commitment, and the Bonds of Society, Oxford University Press: Oxford (2006)

Articles

(1) 'Vices and Self-Knowledge' (1971) Journal of Philosophy, vol. 68, no. 15, pp. 443-453.

(2) 'The Abilities of Prescriptivism' (1972) Analysis, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 141-144.

(3) 'About Conventions', Second-Order (1974) vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 71-89.

(4) 'On An Argument for the Impossibility of Prediction in the Social Sciences' (with Fred R. Berger) (1975) American Philosophical Quarterly, Mono¬graph 9, Basil Blackwell: Oxford, pp. 99-111.

(5) 'On Being Characterized in the Speech of Others' (1976) in Life Sentences: Aspects of the Social Role of Language, ed. Rom Harré, John Wiley and Sons: New York, pp. 10-20.

(6) 'Game Theory and Convention' (1981) Synthese, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 41-93.

(7) 'Agreements, Conventions, and Language' (1983) Synthese, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 375-407.

(8) 'Notes on the Concept of a Social Convention' (1983) New Literary History, vol. 14, pp. 225-251.

(9) 'On the Question whether Language has a Social Nature: Some Aspects of Winch and Others on Wittgenstein' (1983) Synthese, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 301-318.

(10) 'Coordination problems and the evolution of behavior' (1984) Behavioral & Brain Sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, 106-7.

(11) 'Modeling collective belief' (1987) Synthese, vol. 73, pp. 185-204.

(12) 'Rationality and Salience' (1989) Philosophical Studies, vol. 55, pp. 223-239.

(13) 'Folk psychology takes sociality seriously' (1989) Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 12, pp. 707-8.

(14) 'Fusion: sketch of a contractual model' (1990) in Perspectives on the Family, eds. R.C.L. Moffat, J. Grcic, and M. Bayles, Edwin Mellen Press; Lewiston, pp. 65-78.

(15) 'Rationality, Coordination, and Convention' (1990) Synthese, vol. 84, p. 1-21.

(16) 'Walking together: a paradigmatic social phenomenon' (1990) Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. XV, The Philosophy of the Human Sciences, eds. P.A. French, T.E. Uehling, Jr., and H.K. Wettstein, University of Notre Dame Press; Notre Dame, pp. 1-14.

(16a) Chinese Translation (1992) in Sociology Abroad pp. 111-120. (Chinese journal).

(16b) German translation (2009) 'Zusammen spazieren gehen: Ein paradigmatisches soziales Phänomen' in Kollektive Intentionalität, ed. H.B. Schmid und D.P. Schweikard, Suhrkamp: Frankfurt, pp. 154-175.

(17) 'Wittgenstein and the philosophy of sociology’ (1990) in Ludwig Wittgenstein: a symposium on the centennial of his birth, eds. S. Teghrarian, A. Serafini, and E. M. Cook, Longwood Academic; Wakefield, N.H., pp. 19-29.

(18) 'More on Social Facts: Reply to Greenwood' (1991) Social Epistemolo¬gy, vol. 5, pp. 233-344.

(19) 'Collective belief' (1992) in A Companion to Epistemology, ed. J. Dancy and E. Sosa. Basil Blackwell: Oxford, pp. 70-71.

(20) 'Group Membership and Political Obligation' (1993) The Monist, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 119-133.

(21) 'Agreements, Coercion, and Obligation' (1993) Ethics, vol. 103, no. 4, pp. 679-706.

(22) 'Is An Agreement An Exchange of Promises?' (1993) The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 54, no. 12, pp. 627-649.

(22a) Reprinted (1997) in Pragmatics: Critical Assessment, vol. 1 ed. Asa Kasher, Routledge: New York and London, pp. 470-492. (23) 'Norms' (1994) in Blackwell Dictionary of Twentieth Century Social Thought, ed. W. Outhwaite and T. Bottomore, Blackwell: Oxford, pp. 425--427.

(24) 'Durkheim and social facts' (1994) in Debating Durkheim, Routledge, ed. H. Martins & W. Pickering, pp.86-109.

(25) 'Remarks on collective belief' (1994) in Socializing Epistemology: The Social Dimensions of Knowledge, Rowman and Littlefield: Lanham, Md., ed. Frederick Schmitt, pp.235-253.

(25a) Italian trans. (1995) in Guido Piazza, ed., Esperienza e Conoscenza, Citta Studi: Milan, 129-145.

(26) 'Sociality as a Philosophically Significant Category' (1994) Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 25, no. 3, pp.5-25.

(27) 'Me, you, and us: distinguishing egoism, altruism, and groupism' (1994) Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 17 [comment on target article by D.S. Wilson and E. Sober].

(28) 'Social epistemology and family therapy' (1995) English original tr. into Italian, in Gianguido Piazza, ed., Esperienza e Conoscenza, Milan: Citta Studi, 247-8.

(29) 'Group wrongs and guilt feelings' (1997) Journal of Ethics, vol. 1, no. 1., pp. 65-84.

(30) 'Concerning sociality: the plural subject as paradigm' (1997) in The Mark of the Social, John Greenwood, ed., Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 17-35.

(30a) French translation: ‘A Propos de la Socialite: Le Sujet Pluriel Comme Paradigm’ (2000) in L'Enquete Ontologique: due Mode D’Existence des Objets Sociaux, L'Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales: Paris, pp. 107-126.

(31) 'What is it for us to intend?' (1997) in Contemporary Action Theory, G. Holmstrom-Hintikka and R. Tuomela, eds, vol. 2, Dordrecht: D. Reidel, pp. 65-85.

(31a) 'Was bedeutet es, dass wir beabsichtigen?' (2009) in Kollektive Intentionalität, ed. H.B. Schmid und D.P. Schweikard, Suhrkamp: Frankfurt, pp. 356-386.

(32) 'Credenze Collettive e mutamento scientifico' (1998) (English original ‘Collective belief and scientific change’ tr. into Italian by G. Piazza), Fenomenologia e Societa, vol 21, no. 1, 32-45.

(32a) French translation ‘Croyance collective et changement scientifique’ (2007) in L’epistemologie sociale. Une theorie sociale de la connaissance, ed. Alban Bouvier and Bernard Conein, Editions de L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

(33) 'Social Norms' (1998) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, New York: Routledge, vol. 8, pp. 834-836.

(34) 'In Search of Sociality' (1998) Philosophical Explorations, vol.1, no.3, pp. 233-241.

(35) 'Reconsidering the 'Actual Contract' Theory of Political Obligation' (1999) Ethics, vol. 109, pp. 226-260.

(36) ‘Obligation and Joint Commitment’ (1999) Utilitas, vol. 11, pp. 143-163.

(37) ‘Social Rules: Some Problems for Hart’s Account, and An Alternative Proposal’ (1999) Law and Philosophy, vol. 18, pp.141-171

(38) 'Sociality, Unity, Objectivity' (2000) Proceedings of the 1998 World Congress of Philosophy: Invited papers, pp. 153-160.

(39) ‘Joint Action’ (2001) Elsevier Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, N. J. Smelser and P. J. Baltes, eds.,vol. 12, pp. 7987-92.

(40) 'Collective Remorse' (2001) in War Crimes and Collective Wrongdoing: A Reader, ed. A. Jokic, Basil Blackwell, pp. 216-235.

(41) 'Considerations on Collective Guilt' (2001) From History to Justice: Essays in Honor of Burleigh Wilkins, ed. A. Jokic, Peter Lang: New York, pp. 239-249.

(41a) German translation in Tätertrauma (2004) ed. B. Giesen, Ch. Schneider, Nationale Erinnerungen im Offentlichen Diskurs (Konstanz: UVK Verl. ges).

(42) ‘Collective Preferences, Obligations, and Rational Choice’ (2001) Economics and Philosophy, vol. 17, pp. 109-119.

(43) ‘Philosophy and the Social Sciences’ (2002) In The Scope of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, eds P. Gardenfors, J. Wolenski and K. Kijania-Placek, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 439-449.

(44) ‘Belief and Acceptance as Features of Groups’ (2002) Protosociology, vol. 16, pp. 35-69 (online journal: www.protosociology.de).

(45) ‘Collective Guilt and Collective Guilt Feelings’ (2002) Journal of Ethics, vol. 6, pp. 115-143.

(46) ‘Acting Together’ (2002) in Social Facts and Collective Intentionality, ed Georg Meggle, German Library of Sciences, Frankfurt: Hansel-Hohenhausen, pp.53-72.

(47) ‘Aspects of Joint Commitment’ (Response to critics/comments) (2002) in Social Facts and Collective Intentionality, ed Georg Meggle, German Library of Sciences, Frankfurt: Hansel-Hohenhausen, pp. 73-102.

(48) ‘The Structure of the Social Atom: Joint Commitment as the Foundation of Human Social Behavior’ (2003) in Social Metaphysics, F. Schmitt, ed., Lanham, MD: Roman and Littlefield, pp. 39-64.

(49) ‘Scanlon on Promissory Obligation: the Problem of Promisees’ Rights’ (2004) Journal of Philosophy, pp. 83-109.

(50) ‘Collective Epistemology’ (2004) Episteme, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 95-97.

(51) ‘A theoretical framework for the understanding of teams’ (2004) in Teamwork: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Natalie Gold, ed. Palgrave-MacMillan.

(52) ‘On the Nature and Normativity of Intentions and Decisions: Towards an Understanding of Commitments of the Will’ (2005) in Patterns of Value II, eds. Wlodek Rabinowicz and Toni Ronnow-Rasmussen, Lund: Lund University, pp. 180-189.

(53) ‘Shared Values, Social Unity and Liberty’ (2005) Public Affairs Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 25-49.

(54) ‘Corporate Misbehavior and Collective Values’ (2005) Brooklyn Law Review, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 1369-1380.

(55) ‘Shared Values and Social Unity’ (2005) Experience and Analysis: Proceedings of the Austrian Wittgenstein Society, pp. 373-376.

(56) ‘Rationality in Collective Action’ (2006) Philosophy of the Social Sciences, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 3-17.

(57) ‘Character, Essence, Action: reflections on character traits after Sartre’ (2006) The Pluralist, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 40-52.

(58) ‘Can a Wise Society be a Free One?’ (2006) Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 44, pp. 1-17.

(59) ‘Croyances Collectives’ (2006) in Le Dictionnaire des Sciences Humaines, Presses Universitaires de France: Paris, pp. 225-229.

(60) ‘Acting Together, Joint Commitment, and Obligation’ (2006) in Facets of Sociality, Nikos Psarros and Katinka Shulte-Ostermann, eds. Ontos Verlag: Frankfurt.

(61) ‘Who’s to Blame? : Collective Moral Responsibility and Its Implications for Group Members’ (2006), Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Peter French ed., vol. 30, pp. 94-114

(61a) German translation of (61), to appear in Kollective Verantwortung und internationale Bezichingen, (eds.) D. Gerber and V. Zanetti, Surhkamp: Frankfurt.

(62) ‘Mutual Recognition, Common Knowledge and Joint Attention’ (2007) in Hommage à Wlodek. Philosophical Papers Dedicated to Wlodek Rabinowicz. Ed.T. Rønnow-Rasmussen, B. Petersson, J. Josefsson & D. Egonsson, www.fil.lu.se/hommageawlodek

(63) ‘Searle on Collective Intentions’ (2007) in Intentional Acts and Social Facts, ed. Savas Tsohatzidis, Dordrecht: Springer.

(64) ‘Collective Intentions, Commitment, and Collective Action Problems’ (2007) in Rationality and Commitment, (eds.) Fabienne Peter and Hans-Bernard Schmid, Oxford University Press

(65) ‘La Responsabilite Collective Et Ses Implications' (2008), Review Francaise de Science Politique. Vol. 92:2, pp. 268-285. (French translation of revised version of (61).)

(66) ‘Social Convention Revisited’ (2008) in Topoi, special issue on convention, vol. 27, pp. 5-16.

(67) Interview (2008) in Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Five Questions, (ed) Diego Rios and Christoph Schmidt-Petri, Automatic Press: U.S.A., pp. 47-55.

(68) ‘Two Approaches to Shared Intention: An Essay in the Philosophy of Social Phenomena’ (2008) in a special anniversary issue of Analyse u. Kritik, vol. 30: 483-514.

(69) ‘A Real Unity of them All?’ (2009) The Monist, special issue on Europe, vol. 92:2, pp. 268-285.

(70) ‘Shared Intention and Personal Intentions’ (2009) Philosophical Studies (special issue comprising selected papers from the Pacific APA meetings, Pasadena, 2008) vol. 144, pp. 167-187.

(71) ‘Pro Patria: An Essay on Patriotism’ (2010) in a special issue of the Journal of Ethics, ed. I. Primoratz.

(72) ‘Joint or Collective Intention’ (in press, e.p.d. 2010) in Encyclopedia of the Mind, Sage Publications.

(73) ‘Collective Action’ (2010) in A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Wiley-Blackwell.

(74) ‘Culture as Collective Construction’ (2010) to appear with a commentary and author's response in Kolner Zeitschrift for Sociologie (2010).

To Appear:

(75) ‘Three Dogmas about Promising’ (in press) to appear in Understanding Promises and Agreements ed. H. Sheinman, publisher Oxford U. P.

(76) ‘Mutual Recognition and Some Related Phenomena’ (in press) to appear in Recognition and Social Ontology, (eds.) H. Ikaheimo and A. Laitinen, Brill.

References

Persondata
Name	Gilbert, Margaret
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1942
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death