Michael E. Bratman, “Shared Agency: A Planning Theory of Acting Together” (Oxford UP, 2014)
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What is the central problem that the book Shared Agency addresses?
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Welcome to the New Books and Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talise, I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter. Carrie is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today my guest is Professor Michael Bradman. His new book is titled Shared Agency A Planning Theory of Acting Together. It has just been published by Oxford University Press. Bratman is U G and Abby Birch Dufre, Professor in the School of Humanity and Science and professor of philosophy at Stanford University. One striking feature of humans is the fact that we sometimes act together. That is We can recognize an intuitive difference between our simply walking alongside each other and
and are walking together. The former involves coordinated action and intention. But the latter involves something more. What we might think of as shared intentions. There are distinctively philosophical questions that emerge regarding shared intentions. What are they? What's their structure? How do they emerge? How do they connect with action? In his book Shared Agency, Michael Bratman addresses these questions. He argues that the planning theory of individual agency that he has developed in previous work provides sufficient resources for understanding small scale cases of acting together. His claim then Is that Modestly social agency can be accounted for without the introduction of new philosophical elements.
Shared agency is a fascinating exploration of a core set of human phenomena. Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Michael Bratman. Hi, Bob. How are you doing today?
Terrific. How are you?
Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Thank you for joining us on New Books in Philosophy.
My pleasure to be here. Thank you for the invitation.
Well great. And thank you listeners for tuning in. My guest is Michael Bratman and we'll be discussing his new book, which is titled Shared Agency A Planning Theory of Acting Together. This book, which I highly recommend, begins by acknowledging the centrality of shared activity in human life. Bratman's primary thesis is that once we understand the structure of individual agency and planning, we can build an attractive conception of shared agency and shared intention without need for the um introduction of new and philosophically suspicious perhaps states or entities or items. Put otherwise, Bradman holds that the move from individual agency to social agency is what we might call philosophically conservative.
A philosophically accurate account of individual agency includes much of the resources that would would be required for us to construct a philosophically attractive account of how we act together.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central problem that the book Shared Agency addresses?
0:00–7:23
2
What is Michael Bratman's main thesis about shared intentions?
7:23–17:18
3
How does Bratman's planning theory of individual agency extend to shared agency?
17:18–24:37
4
Why is walking together different from merely walking alongside each other?
24:37–31:25
5
What are the main alternative accounts (Searle, Gilbert) to Bratman's view?
31:25–40:35
6
How does the continuity thesis allow a philosophically conservative move from individual to social agency?
40:35–49:33
7
How does shared agency theory explain group deliberation and shared policies?
49:33–57:22
8
What open questions and future research directions does Bratman identify?
57:22–1:07:40
Speakers
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