Collective Intentionality, Team Reasoning and the Example of Economic Behavior

Abstract

Collective intentionality is essential to understanding how we act as a “team”. In this article, I will offer an overview of the contemporary debate on the sense of acting together. There are some theories that focus on unconscious processes and the capabilities we share with animals (Tomasello, Walther, Hudin) and others that concentrate on the voluntary, conscious processes of acting together (Searle, Tuomela, Bratman, Gilbert). Collective intentionality is also a relevant issue for economic theories. The theories of team reasoning move from the assumption that agents can sometimes behave according to the beliefs and preferences attributed to a group or a team. From a philosophical perspective, intentionality is the propriety of the human mind which allows it to be directed at objects, state of affairs, goals and values. In this sense, intentionality is the means for knowledge and action. Consequently, collective intentionality (CI) corresponds to that property of human minds to be “jointly” directed at objects, states of affairs, goals and values. There are some important modes in which CI occurs in everyday life: 1) shared intention, 2) joint attention, 3) shared beliefs, 4) collective acceptance, 5) collective emotion. Shared intention means that the participants act in the world together intentionally, in a coordinated and cooperative fashion, and to achieve collective goals. Joint attention is the process through which the world is experiCollective Intentionality, Team Reasoning and the Example of Economic Behavior