Phil of Action Seminar: Human Agency in a Social World: Shared Agency, Social Rules and…

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Graduate Research Seminar in Philosophy of Action. Repeatable for credit. 2026 topic: Human agency in a social world: Shared agency, social rules and institutions. Our human agency involves multiple forms of mind-shaped practical organization. We act over time. We act together. We act within a social world shaped by social rules/social norms. We act within organized, rule-guided institutions with roles and offices. And these organized institutions may perhaps themselves be intentional agents. These multiple forms of mind-shaped practical organization should be a main target of philosophical theorizing about our human agency. This seminar will explore these themes along three separate lines: Collective agency and joint action; social rules, organized institutions, and institutional intention and agency; and examination of a 2025 book by Frank Hindriks, The Structure of the Open Society: Social Ontology Meets Collective Ethics. Enrollment is limited to graduate students in Philosophy and others by permission of instructor. 2-unit option is only for Philosophy PhD students beyond the second year. Students who take the seminar for only 2 units should take it Credit/No credit.