The Criteria for the Emergence of Collective Epistemic Traits
The Criteria for the Emergence of Collective Epistemic Traits

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to offer an analysis of the emergence that group epistemic traits may exhibit. Our research implements a methodological shift in the study of collective traits from defensive argumentation against summativism (the position that rereduces the collective traits to the sum of members’ traits), to offering a positive thesis on the nature of irreducible collective traits. We start from the assumption that there are cases of emergent epistemic traits. By analyzing and comparing examples of emergent traits, we establish three criteria that a trait must meet in order to be consid- ered emergent. Additionally, based on the established criteria we introduce a distinction between the two types of emergences – strong and weak. In the end, we discuss whether there is a correlation between the types of emergence and types of epistemic traits (viz. character and faculty).

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