Publication · 2017
The Paraphrase Argument Against Collective Actions
Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95(1), 81–95, 2017
Abstract
This paper is about the status of collective actions. According to one view, collective actions metaphysically reduce to individual actions because sentences about collective actions are merely a shorthand for sentences about individual actions. The paper reconstructs an argument for this view and shows via counterexamples that it is not sound. The argument relies on a paraphrase procedure to unpack alleged shorthand sentences about collective actions into sentences about individual actions. The paper argues that the best paraphrase procedure that has been put forward so far fails to produce adequate results.