Agency (philosophy)

About: Agency (philosophy) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10461 publications have been published within this topic receiving 350831 citations. The topic is also known as: Thought & Human agency.

Comparing Varieties of Agency Theory in Economics, Political Science, and Sociology: An Illustration from State Policy Implementation*

Abstract: As rational choice theory has moved from economics into political science and sociology, it has been dramatically transformed. The intellectual diffusion of agency theory illustrates this process. Agency theory is a general model of social relations involving the delegation of authority, and generally resulting in problems of control, which has been applied to a broad range of substantive contexts. This paper analyzes applications of agency theory to state policy implementation in economics, political science, and sociology. After documenting variations in the theory across disciplinary contexts, the strengths and weaknesses of these different varieties of agency theory are assessed. Sociological versions of agency theory, incorporating both broader microfoundations and richer models of social structure, are in many respects the most promising. This type of agency theory illustrates the potential of an emerging sociological version of rational choice theory.

Morals, reason, and animals

Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments Part I: The Moral (In)Significance of Reason 1. Why Should I Be Rational? "Rationality" and Its Alternatives * The Methodological Counterattack * The Moral of the Story 2. Where Reason Enters In--and Where It Doesn't Incidentally Good Actions * Ulterior Motives * Acting Out of Context * Moral Agents, Philosophers, and Judges * Summary and Conclusion 3. Being Rational and Acting Morally What "Rational" Refers To * Can Only Rational Beings Be Moral Agents? * Acting for the Right Reason * Acting on Principle and Acting Morally * The Free, the Rational, and the Moral * Everyday Freedom * Pursuing Ideals vs. the Value of Virtue 4. People and Persons Metaphysical vs. Moral Persons * The Humanist Principle * The Logico-linguistic Defense of Humanism * The Phenomenological Defense of Humanism * The Transcendental Defense of Humanism * The Consequential Defense of Humanism * Conclusion Part II: "Animal Rights"? 5. What Liberating Animals Is and Isn't About The Moral Sense of "Animal" * Applying the Rhetoric of Liberation to Animals * Applying the Concept of Equality to Animals * Applying the Rhetoric of Rights to Animals * Is Animal Liberation an Affront to Human Liberation? * Summary 6. Three Reasons for Liberating Animals Liberating Animals and Developing Moral Character * Liberating Animals and Making the World a Happier Place * Liberating Animals and Being Fair * Conclusion Part III: Answering Some Objections to Liberating Animals 7. Can Animals Have Interests? Language and Interests * "Having an Interest" * Language and Desire * Language and Belief * The Psychological (In)Significance of Grammar * Language and Truth * Language and Self-Consciousness * Conclusion * Reason and the Moral Significance of Interests * Being Rational and Having Interests * Having Interests and Moral Standing 8. Moral Community and Animal Rights The Reciprocity Requirement * The Agency Requirement * The Relations Requirement * The Humanist Requirement * Conclusion 9. The Misfortune of Death Why (Supposedly) Only Rational Beings Can Have a Right to Life * Having vs. Taking an Interest in Life * Having Interests and Having Rights * Having an Interest in Life and the Right to Life * Suffering a Loss and the Awareness of Loss * Summary and Conclusion 10. The Replacement Argument The (In)Significance of the Replacement Argument * Six Ways of Evaluating Moral Standing * Describing the Six Ways * Six Evaluations of the Replacement Argument * Total Population vs. Prior Existence Utilitarianism * Prior Existence Utilitarianism and Obligations to Future Generations * Summary Part IV: A Few Consequences 11. Vegetarianism The Simple Answer * Exploiting, Slaughtering, and Harvesting * Exploiting, Killing, and Scavenging * Starvation 12. Whither Animal Research? Can Animals Consent to Research'? * Should Research Be Done Only with Those Who Consent? * Are Humans a Superior Form of Life? * Should Superiors Exploit Their Inferiors? * Summary and Conclusion 13. Saving the Rabbit from the Fox The Variety of Absurdity * Ought Implies Can * "Avoidable" Suffering * Conclusion 14. Plants and Things Environmental Ethics and Inherent Value * Environmental Crisis and the (Supposed) Necessity of Inherent Value * The Variety of Goodness and the (Supposed) Necessity of Inherent Value * Conclusion * Environmental Ethics and Ecological Holism * The Biotic "Community" vs. Animal Liberation * The Arbitrariness of Total Holism * Environmental Ethics vs. Personal Preferences * Morality and the Affirmation of Life * Summary * The Good of Nonsentient Things * The Environmental Ethics of Animal Liberation Notes Bibliography Index

Remaking Modernity: Politics, History, and Sociology

Abstract: Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Social Theory, Modernity and the Three Waves of Historical Sociology / Julia Adams, Elisabeth S. Clemens, and Ann Shola Orloff 1 Part I: Historical Sociology and Epistemological Underpinnings The Action Turn? Comparative-Historical Inquiry beyond the Classical Models of Conduct / Richard Biernacki 75 Overlapping Territories and Intertwined Histories: Historical Sociology's Global Imagination / Zine Magubene 92 The Epistemological Unconscious of U.S. Sociology and the Transition to Post-Fordism: The Case of Historical Sociology / George Steinmetz 109 Part II: State Formation and Historical Sociology The Return of the Repressed: Religion and the Political Unconscious of Historical Sociology / Philip S. Gorski 161 Social Provision and Regulation: Theories of States, Social Policies, and Modernity / Ann Shola Orloff 190 The Bureaucratization of States: Toward an Analytical Weberianism / Edgar Kiser and Justin Baer 225 Part III: History and Political Contention Mars Revealed: The Entry of Ordinary People into War among the States / Meyer Kestnbaum 249 Historical Sociology and Collective Action / Roger V. Gould 286 Revolutions as Pathways to Modernity / Nader Sohrabi 300 Part IV: Capitalism, Modernity, and the Economic Realm Historical Sociology and the Economy: Actors, Networks, and Context / Bruce G. Carruthers 333 The Great Debates: Transitions to Capitalisms / Rebecca Jean Emigh 355 The Professions: Prodigal Daughters of Modernity / Ming-Cheng M. Lo 381 Part V: Politics, History, and Collective Identities Nations / Lyn Spillman and Russell Faeges 409 Citizenship Troubles: Genealogies of Struggle for the Soul of the Social / Margaret R. Somers 438 Ethnicity without Groups / Rogers Brubake 470 Afterword: Logics of History? Agency, Multiplicity, and Incoherence in the Explanation of Change / Elisabeth S. Clemens 493 References 517 Contributors 599 Index 603

Risk and the regulated self: the discourse of health promotion as politics of uncertainty

Abstract: Employing the concepts of risk and governance, this paper develops a specific theoretical and critical perspective on the discourse of health promotion. The paper begins by examining some problems with the influential formulations of risk offered by Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. It then discusses some recent Foucaultian contributions on the topics of risk and governance, and particularly the work of Robert Castel, which draw attention to the role of risk discourse and self-regulatory techniques of governance in those societies exhibiting a form of rule known as 'neo-liberalism'. The paper examines health promotion in the light of the new preventive strategies of social administration that have emerged in these societies and that target the 'at risk' individual and utilise the agency of subjects in processes of self-regulation. It explores some implications of the new risk discourse for the self, and raises some questions about the politics of the enterprise of health promotion as a whole.

The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism

Abstract: In this chapter, the author argues that free will entails determinism, and, being itself a consistent thesis, is a fortiori compatible with determinism. Even if determinism cannot, like predestinarianism, be seen to be incompatible with free will on the basis of a simple formal inference, there is, nonetheless, a conceptual connection between the theses. The author describes that there is a great deal of confusion in the argument, but to expose this confusion would require a lengthy discussion of many fine points in the theory of agency. He argues that, if determinism is true, then that man could not have performed that act. Because this argument will not depend on any features peculiar to our imagined case, the incompatibility of free will and determinism in general will be established, since, as will be evident, a parallel argument could easily be constructed for the case of any agent and any unperformed.