The social re-construction of agency

Katarzyna Paprzycka

pp. 323-338

in: Dennis Dieks, Stephan Hartmann, Thomas Uebel, Marcel Weber, Maria C. Galavotti (eds), New directions in the philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

One of the deep roots of opposition to social constructionism is the belief that the very idea of a social construction of physical concepts is highly suspect. In this paper, I want to call attention to the fact that such "constructions' can occur in the opposite direction as well. According to responsibilism, attributions of actions are to be understood in terms of ascriptions of responsibility. Responsibilists thus take the notion of action to be a social concept. I point out how, from the responsibilist point of view, the concept of action is misconstrued as mental by the predominant intentionalist approach in philosophy of action.