Abstract
Sally Haslanger undertakes groundbreaking work in developing an account of structural explanations and the social structures that figure in them. A chief virtue of the account is that it can show the importance of structural explanations while also respecting the role of individual autonomy in explaining many decisions, by demonstrating the way in which social structures may set up a ‘choice architecture’ in which these choices are made. This paper gives an overview of this achievement, and goes on to consider why there may be need to broaden the role of social structural explanations beyond those that involve explicit choice within a choice architecture. It develops the idea, familiar from work by Heidegger and Ingarden, that social artifacts, roles, and nodes in social structures may be constitutively defined by norms. It closes by suggesting that attention to the role of norms in social structures may enable us to broaden the account to include structural explanations of other kinds.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 131-139 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Philosophical Studies |
| Volume | 173 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2016 |
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Keywords
- Haslanger
- Norms
- Social structure
- Structural explanation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Philosophy
Cite this
Structural explanations and norms : comments on Haslanger. / Thomasson, Amie.
In: Philosophical Studies, Vol. 173, No. 1, 01.01.2016, p. 131-139.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural explanations and norms
T2 - comments on Haslanger
AU - Thomasson, Amie
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - Sally Haslanger undertakes groundbreaking work in developing an account of structural explanations and the social structures that figure in them. A chief virtue of the account is that it can show the importance of structural explanations while also respecting the role of individual autonomy in explaining many decisions, by demonstrating the way in which social structures may set up a ‘choice architecture’ in which these choices are made. This paper gives an overview of this achievement, and goes on to consider why there may be need to broaden the role of social structural explanations beyond those that involve explicit choice within a choice architecture. It develops the idea, familiar from work by Heidegger and Ingarden, that social artifacts, roles, and nodes in social structures may be constitutively defined by norms. It closes by suggesting that attention to the role of norms in social structures may enable us to broaden the account to include structural explanations of other kinds.
AB - Sally Haslanger undertakes groundbreaking work in developing an account of structural explanations and the social structures that figure in them. A chief virtue of the account is that it can show the importance of structural explanations while also respecting the role of individual autonomy in explaining many decisions, by demonstrating the way in which social structures may set up a ‘choice architecture’ in which these choices are made. This paper gives an overview of this achievement, and goes on to consider why there may be need to broaden the role of social structural explanations beyond those that involve explicit choice within a choice architecture. It develops the idea, familiar from work by Heidegger and Ingarden, that social artifacts, roles, and nodes in social structures may be constitutively defined by norms. It closes by suggesting that attention to the role of norms in social structures may enable us to broaden the account to include structural explanations of other kinds.
KW - Haslanger
KW - Norms
KW - Social structure
KW - Structural explanation
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U2 - 10.1007/s11098-014-0437-2
DO - 10.1007/s11098-014-0437-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84953368504
VL - 173
SP - 131
EP - 139
JO - Philosophical Studies
JF - Philosophical Studies
SN - 0031-8116
IS - 1
ER -