Brian Epstein received his PhD in philosophy from Stanford University, his master's in philosophy from Oxford University, and graduated summa cum laude with an AB in philosophy from Princeton University. His research interests include philosophy of social science, metaphysics, and philosophy of language, focusing in particular on issues in the theory of reference and the ontology of social kinds. He also has interests in conceptual schemes, the philosophy of music, and the philosophy of economics. Between degree programs, he worked at a number of technology startups and consulting firms.

An extremely serious and significant book, as good a treatment of the metaphysics of the social world as there is, by some way. It provides an outstandingly elegant illustration of why metaphysical foundations really matter to the practice of science, and opens the door to a more productive philosophy of social science than has hitherto been available. The arguments are careful and rigorous, with the right mixture of theories and examples, arriving at quite original conclusions. The book is praised as beautiful and engaging, original and ambitious, exemplary in its clarity, and extremely enjoyable to read.

• INTRODUCTION ; PART ONE DL FOUNDATIONS, OLD AND NEW ; 1 Individualism: a recipe for warding off <"spirits>" ; 2 Getting to the consensus view ; 3 Seeds of doubt ; 4 Another puzzle: a competing consensus ; 5 Tools and terminology ; 6 Grounding and anchoring ; 7 Case study: laws as frame principles ; 8 Two kinds of individualism ; 9 Against conjunctivism ; PART TWO DL GROUPS AND THE FAILURE OF INDIVIDUALISM ; 10 Groups and constitution ; 11 Simple facts about groups ; 12 The identity of groups ; 13 Kinds of groups ; 14 Group attitudes: patterns of grounding ; 15 Group action: more than member action ; 16 Group intention ; 17 Other theories I: social integrate models ; 18 Other theories II: status models ; LOOKING AHEAD ; Acknowledgements ; Bibliography ; Index

Brian Epstein received his PhD in philosophy from Stanford University, his master's in philosophy from Oxford University, and graduated summa cum laude with an AB in philosophy from Princeton University. His research interests include philosophy of social science, metaphysics, and philosophy of language, focusing in particular on issues in the theory of reference and the ontology of social kinds. He also has interests in conceptual schemes, the philosophy of music, and the philosophy of economics. Between degree programs, he worked at a number of technology startups and consulting firms.

An extremely serious and significant book, as good a treatment of the metaphysics of the social world as there is, by some way. It provides an outstandingly elegant illustration of why metaphysical foundations really matter to the practice of science, and opens the door to a more productive philosophy of social science than has hitherto been available. The arguments are careful and rigorous, with the right mixture of theories and examples, arriving at quite original conclusions. The book is praised as beautiful and engaging, original and ambitious, exemplary in its clarity, and extremely enjoyable to read.

• INTRODUCTION ; PART ONE DL FOUNDATIONS, OLD AND NEW ; 1 Individualism: a recipe for warding off <"spirits>" ; 2 Getting to the consensus view ; 3 Seeds of doubt ; 4 Another puzzle: a competing consensus ; 5 Tools and terminology ; 6 Grounding and anchoring ; 7 Case study: laws as frame principles ; 8 Two kinds of individualism ; 9 Against conjunctivism ; PART TWO DL GROUPS AND THE FAILURE OF INDIVIDUALISM ; 10 Groups and constitution ; 11 Simple facts about groups ; 12 The identity of groups ; 13 Kinds of groups ; 14 Group attitudes: patterns of grounding ; 15 Group action: more than member action ; 16 Group intention ; 17 Other theories I: social integrate models ; 18 Other theories II: status models ; LOOKING AHEAD ; Acknowledgements ; Bibliography ; Index