Life in Groups How We Think, Feel, and Act Together

Life in Groups: How We Think, Feel, and Act Together develops and applies the author's perspective on topics she relates to joint commitment. This kind of commitment unifies those who participate in it, guides their actions going forward, and determines their relations to one another in important ways. In particular, it grounds in each of the parties a set of rights and obligations of a central kind. This volume contains thirteen essays, together with a substantial introduction, which serves both to explain joint commitment for those unfamiliar with it and to advance discussion in light of some questions it has prompted, and a reflective conclusion. The essays range over collective beliefs and intentions; rational choice and collective preference; group lies and corporate misbehavior; remorse and other emotions in a group context; rights, obligations, and freedom.

Margaret Gilbert, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Melden Chair in Moral Philosophy, University of California, Irvine

A leading figure in the philosophy of the social world, Margaret Gilbert has regularly applied her ideas in that area to significant problems in moral, political and legal philosophy, and her work has been influential in such fields as developmental psychology. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, and has been awarded the Lebowitz Prize for philosophical achievement and contribution. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she will be president of the Pacific branch of the American Philosophical Association in 2023-4.