Realism in Action: Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (Synthese Library Book 321)

**Realism in Action** is a selection of essays written by leading representatives in the fields of action theory and philosophy of mind, philosophy of the social sciences and especially the nature of social action, and of epistemology and philosophy of science. Practical reason, reasons and causes in action theory, intending and trying, and folk-psychological explanation are some of the topics discussed by these leading participants. A particular emphasis is laid on trust, commitments and social institutions, on the possibility of grounding social notions in individual social attitudes, on the nature of social groups, institutions and collective intentionality, and on common belief and common knowledge. Applications to the social sciences include, e.g., a look at the __Erklären-Verstehen__ controversy in economics, and at constructivist and realist views on archeological reconstructions of the past. Front Matter....Pages i-vii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 What Philosophers Should Know About Truth and the Slingshot....Pages 3-32 From ErkläRen-Verstehen to Prediction-Understanding: The Methodological Framework in Economics 1 ....Pages 33-50 The Archaeological Construction of the Past: Some Realist Moderations....Pages 51-68 The Backward Induction Paradox and Epistemic Logic....Pages 69-81 Front Matter....Pages 83-83 The Scope of Motivation and the Basis of Practical Reason....Pages 85-97 Activity and Passivity....Pages 99-111 Reasons and Causes: The Case of Collingwood....Pages 113-127 Intending and Trying: Tuomela vs. Bratman at the Video Arcade....Pages 129-135 Spinoza on Causal Explanation of Action....Pages 137-154 On the Structuralist Constraints in the Explanation Schema of Folk Psychology....Pages 155-165 Front Matter....Pages 167-167 Commitments....Pages 169-178 The Components of Rational Trust....Pages 179-193 Grounding We-Intentions In Individual Social Attitudes....Pages 195-212 Social Groups, Collective Intentionality, and Anti-Hegelian Skepticism....Pages 213-231 Social Institutions....Pages 233-249 Common Belief and Common Knowledge....Pages 251-258 Others Will Do It: Social Reality by Opportunists....Pages 259-268 Science as Collective Knowledge....Pages 269-278 This is a selection of essays written by leading representatives in the fields of action theory and philosophy of mind, philosophy of the social sciences and especially the nature of social action, and of epistemology and philosophy of science. Practical reason, reasons and causes in action theory, intending and trying, and folk-psychological explanation are some of the topics discussed by these leading participants.