On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action
In this paper, we evaluate the proposal that a central function of commitments within joint action is to reduce various kinds of uncertainty, and that this accounts for the prevalence of commitments in joint action. While this idea is prima facie attractive, we argue that it faces two serious probl...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Vienna
2014-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of Social Ontology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journalofsocialontology.org/index.php/jso/article/view/6897 |
| _version_ | 1827940119699521536 |
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| author | John Michael Elisabeth Pacherie |
| author_facet | John Michael Elisabeth Pacherie |
| author_sort | John Michael |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
In this paper, we evaluate the proposal that a central function of commitments within joint action is to reduce various kinds of uncertainty, and that this accounts for the prevalence of commitments in joint action. While this idea is prima facie attractive, we argue that it faces two serious problems. First, commitments can only reduce uncertainty if they are credible, and accounting for the credibility of commitments proves not to be straightforward. Second, there are many other ways in which uncertainty is commonly reduced within joint actions, which raises the possibility that commitments may be superfluous. Nevertheless, we argue that the existence of these alternative uncertainty reduction processes does not make commitments superfluous after all but, rather, helps to explain how commitments may contribute in various ways to uncertainty reduction.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:04:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-811207faa99346ffbe93905615b0fdaa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2196-9663 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:04:52Z |
| publishDate | 2014-11-01 |
| publisher | University of Vienna |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social Ontology |
| spelling | doaj.art-811207faa99346ffbe93905615b0fdaa2023-05-28T07:32:33ZengUniversity of ViennaJournal of Social Ontology2196-96632014-11-0111On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint ActionJohn Michael0Elisabeth Pacherie1Central European UniversityInstitut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, CNRS In this paper, we evaluate the proposal that a central function of commitments within joint action is to reduce various kinds of uncertainty, and that this accounts for the prevalence of commitments in joint action. While this idea is prima facie attractive, we argue that it faces two serious problems. First, commitments can only reduce uncertainty if they are credible, and accounting for the credibility of commitments proves not to be straightforward. Second, there are many other ways in which uncertainty is commonly reduced within joint actions, which raises the possibility that commitments may be superfluous. Nevertheless, we argue that the existence of these alternative uncertainty reduction processes does not make commitments superfluous after all but, rather, helps to explain how commitments may contribute in various ways to uncertainty reduction. https://journalofsocialontology.org/index.php/jso/article/view/6897commitmentcooperationcoordinationjoint actionsocial cognitionsocial interaction |
| spellingShingle | John Michael Elisabeth Pacherie On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action Journal of Social Ontology commitment cooperation coordination joint action social cognition social interaction |
| title | On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action |
| title_full | On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action |
| title_fullStr | On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action |
| title_full_unstemmed | On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action |
| title_short | On Commitments and Other Uncertainty Reduction Tools in Joint Action |
| title_sort | on commitments and other uncertainty reduction tools in joint action |
| topic | commitment cooperation coordination joint action social cognition social interaction |
| url | https://journalofsocialontology.org/index.php/jso/article/view/6897 |
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