24 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
The dominant ethical and political tradition in Chinese civilization, founded by Confucius and developed by Mencius, Xunzi, and later Neo-Confucians, emphasizing ritual propriety, filial piety, virtue cultivation, and benevolent government.
Greek-French philosopher and psychoanalyst who argued that society is constituted by a radical social imaginary — a creative capacity for instituting new meanings — and developed a philosophy of radical autonomy.
Ancient philosophical movement founded by Antisthenes and radicalized by Diogenes of Sinope, holding that virtue consists in living according to nature and reason, and that convention, wealth, honor, and social institutions are obstacles to the good life.
American philosopher who has worked on collective intentionality, group belief, and the social dimensions of mind.
Jane Addams's argument that ethics must be democratic and social — emerging from the experience of living with diverse others — rather than derived from abstract individual principles.
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's analysis of how Enlightenment reason, aimed at human liberation, reverses into a new form of domination and myth.
Georg Lukács's seminal contribution to Western Marxism developing the concept of reification and arguing that the proletariat occupies a privileged epistemological position as the subject-object of history.
American settlement house founder and pragmatist philosopher who developed an ethics of care and democratic theory grounded in direct engagement with immigrant and working-class communities.
British philosopher who developed the plural subject theory of collective intentionality — 'we-intentions' and 'we-beliefs' are irreducible to aggregates of individual intentions and beliefs.
German philosopher who directed the Institute for Social Research and co-developed Frankfurt School critical theory with Theodor Adorno.
Margaret Gilbert's foundational work arguing that genuine social groups are plural subjects — entities formed by joint commitment — and that social facts (obligations, beliefs, intentions) cannot be reduced to facts about individuals.
American philosopher who argued that corporations are genuine moral persons — capable of acting and being held morally responsible — on the basis of their internal decision structures.
Finnish philosopher who developed the we-mode theory of collective intentionality — a systematic account of how individuals can think and act as group members versus as private persons.
The social and political philosophical tradition holding that a fundamental human need is for recognition by others — and that misrecognition (disrespect, invisibility, contempt) constitutes a fundamental injustice.
American philosopher who has worked on the nature of social kinds, race, and the philosophy of social science.
American philosopher who has developed an ameliorative approach to social ontology — analyzing what race and gender should mean to advance justice — and contributed to critical metaphysics.
Cornelius Castoriadis's major theoretical work arguing that society is not determined by economy or rational principles but constituted by a radical social imaginary — a creative capacity for instituting meanings.
German research institute affiliated with Goethe University Frankfurt, founded in 1923, that became the institutional home of the Frankfurt School of critical theory.
Jürgen Habermas's two-volume systematic work developing the theory of communicative action as the foundation for critical theory and social rationality.
German philosopher and musicologist who co-developed the Frankfurt School's critical theory, analyzed the culture industry as a mechanism of domination, and developed negative dialectics as a method resisting identity thinking.
Same as Theodor Adorno (ID 43). German philosopher and musicologist who co-developed Frankfurt School critical theory and negative dialectics.
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish essayist and historian whose The French Revolution: A History (1837) shaped how the English-speaking world understood revolutionary terror.
Canadian philosopher who contributed to the development of informal logic as a discipline and has written on forgiveness, social trust, and reconciliation.
Jane Addams's memoir documenting twenty years of life at Hull House — the Chicago settlement house she co-founded — as both autobiography and social philosophy.