Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds
There is a well-developed view of artifacts according to which their nature depends on the intentions of their authors or creators. However, in the modern world of artifact design and creation, typically not one but many agents are involved in the process of making an artifact. In this paper, I show...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Design Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470116000032/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156418622914560 |
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| author | David Pearce |
| author_facet | David Pearce |
| author_sort | David Pearce |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is a well-developed view of artifacts according to which their nature depends on the intentions of their authors or creators. However, in the modern world of artifact design and creation, typically not one but many agents are involved in the process of making an artifact. In this paper, I show how the intentional view can be maintained even for ‘collective’ artifacts having multiple authors. My approach is to combine some basic concepts that have been proposed in the study of collective intentionality with a suitable model of artifact creation that takes account of the multiple agents and processes that arise in design, engineering and manufacturing a new or existing product. In this way, we can explain how an artifactual kind can be understood via a form of collective intentionality. For the design sciences, notions such as we-intentionality and group agency can help to model different types of cooperation and, in particular, to reconcile individualism with strong forms of collectivity at a group level. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:51:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-26cd078a12c7486ebd018c93204990d9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2053-4701 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:51:15Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Design Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-26cd078a12c7486ebd018c93204990d92023-03-09T12:31:54ZengCambridge University PressDesign Science2053-47012016-01-01210.1017/dsj.2016.3Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kindsDavid Pearce0Department of Artificial Intelligence, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Boadilla del Monte, 28660, SpainThere is a well-developed view of artifacts according to which their nature depends on the intentions of their authors or creators. However, in the modern world of artifact design and creation, typically not one but many agents are involved in the process of making an artifact. In this paper, I show how the intentional view can be maintained even for ‘collective’ artifacts having multiple authors. My approach is to combine some basic concepts that have been proposed in the study of collective intentionality with a suitable model of artifact creation that takes account of the multiple agents and processes that arise in design, engineering and manufacturing a new or existing product. In this way, we can explain how an artifactual kind can be understood via a form of collective intentionality. For the design sciences, notions such as we-intentionality and group agency can help to model different types of cooperation and, in particular, to reconcile individualism with strong forms of collectivity at a group level.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470116000032/type/journal_articlecollective intentionalityartifactssocial ontologyphilosophy of design and engineering |
| spellingShingle | David Pearce Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds Design Science collective intentionality artifacts social ontology philosophy of design and engineering |
| title | Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds |
| title_full | Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds |
| title_fullStr | Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds |
| title_short | Collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds |
| title_sort | collective intentionality and the social status of artifactual kinds |
| topic | collective intentionality artifacts social ontology philosophy of design and engineering |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470116000032/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidpearce collectiveintentionalityandthesocialstatusofartifactualkinds |