Norms and games as integrating components of social organizations

Abstract

Previous chapters in this book mainly discuss individual humans from the viewpoint of psychology or neuroscience. In this chapter, we discuss how mental states and attitudes of individuals are related to the society from a philosophical viewpoint. In this discussion, we are particularly concerned with the question of what kinds of roles norms play when individuals establish social connections. Then, we discuss how various kinds of human capacities are related to each other and how people build and maintain social organizations. In the end, we see that humans are beings that have cognitive capacities to form their own lives by behaving in accordance with the accepted norms and changing the norms for better lives.