Work

Treating people as individuals and as members of groups

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Many believe that we ought to treat people as individuals and that this form of treatment is in some sense incompatible with treating people as members of groups. Yet, the relation between these two kinds of treatments is elusive. In this paper, we develop a novel account of the normative requirement to treat people as individuals. According to this account, treating people as individuals requires treating people as agents in the appropriate capacity. We call this the Agency Attunement Account. This view has the surprising implication that it's not only possible to fail in treating people as individuals but also possible to fail in treating people as members of groups, on the presumption that people's agency is sometimes nested in, and exercised via, agential groups.

Source: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

DOI: 10.1111/phpr.13108

Authors: Lauritz Aastrup Munch, Nicolai Knudsen

Institution: Aarhus University

Language: English

Topic: Philosophical Ethics and Theory

Subfield: Philosophy

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,760

Funder: Carlsbergfondet