Social Goodness: The Ontology of Social Norms

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Charlotte Witt (Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Hampshire)

Social Goodness

The Ontology of Social Norms

Charlotte Witt (Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Hampshire)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
21 August 2023

Ethics & moral philosophy; Social & political philosophy; Social issues & processes; Behavioural economics

We are all immersed in a sea of social norms, but they are sometimes tricky to observe with any clarity. They are often invisible to us and emerge only when they are not observed. Social norms are important to understand because they are both limiting of our freedom, such as gendered and racialized norms, and at the same time the very conditions of our agency.

Social Goodness presents an original, externalist answer to the question of the source or origin of social role normativity. Rather than grounding social normativity in the attitudes of persons, the book argues for an externalism that roots social role normativity in the social world itself: in its positions, institutions, and larger architecture. The core insight of externalism is that the function or structural feature of an enterprise or activity can bring with it normative demands quite independently of the attitudes of those who engage with it. According to the artisanal model, just as a carpenter, ceramicist, or chef is responsive to and evaluable under a set of artisanal norms or techniques, so too is a mother and or an academic or a President. The source of normativity is this technique or expertise, independent of the preferences, endorsements, or recognitive attitudes of individuals. The artisanal model for social role normativity has resources to explain both the

By: Charlotte Witt (Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy University of New Hampshire)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 146mm, Width: 211mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 288g
ISBN: 9780197574799
ISBN 10: 0197574793
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 21 August 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements Preface Introduction 1. Social Role Normativity: Internalism and Externalism 2. The Artisanal Model 3. Social Norms and Social Reality 4. Habituation, Imitation, and the Critical Self 5. Self-Creation and Transformation 6. The Artisanal Model and Social Hierarchy Epilogue: Social Roles and Oppression Bibliography Index

Charlotte Witt is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire. Her most recent books include The Metaphysics of Gender (Oxford University Press, 2018), Feminist Metaphysics: Explorations in the Ontology of Sex, Gender, and the Self (Springer Publishing, 2010) , and (coedited with Sally Haslanger) Adoption Matters: Philosophical and Feminist Essays (Cornell University Press, 2005).

Reviews for Social Goodness: The Ontology of Social Norms

This is a terrific book on the source and nature of social normativity. These are important topics that philosophers have only recently started to turn to and this work will be a benchmark. * Asta, Author of Categories We Live By * Norm governed practices, roles, and skills pervade everything we do. Charlotte Witt's astute and compelling account of the authority and critical assessment of social roles and norms appropriately brings them into the center of philosophical discussions of normativity. * Joseph Rouse, Author of Social Practices as Biological Niche Construction and Articulating the World *