Full Description
Contemporary social ontology is a rapidly growing but divided area of study. In Nonideal Social Ontology, Åsa Burman provides a systematic overview and synthesis of core ideas in the field by showing that its key questions and central dividing lines can be fruitfully reconstructed as a clash between ideal and nonideal social ontology.
Burman argues for the use of nonideal theory in social ontology, claiming that a paradigm shift from ideal to nonideal social ontology is underway, and that this shift should be fully followed through.
Burman offers a new theory, called the Power View, of nonideal social ontology. It uses social power as the central building block, showing how this can partly bridge the divide between ideal and nonideal social ontology. The Power View replaces the flat and narrow conception of social power in ideal social ontology with a richer and more extensive conception. In addition, it rectifies a shortcoming in other theories of nonideal social ontology by attending to class, which has been notably overlooked in that literature.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Permissions
Introduction: Ideal and nonideal social ontology
PART I. CRITIQUE: IDEAL SOCIAL ONTOLOGY
Chapter 1: The Standard Model of Ideal Social Ontology
Chapter 2: Critique of The Standard Model of Ideal Social Ontology
PART II. RECONSTRUCTION: NONIDEAL SOCIAL ONTOLOGY
Chapter 3: Nonideal Social Ontology
Chapter 4: Critique of Nonideal Social Ontology
Chapter 5: Telic Power
Chapter 6: A Taxonomy of Social Facts
References
Index
