ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part describes several ways in which the philosophical theory of social institutions intersects with the theory of collective intentionality. It describes several important but overlooked ways in which understanding language use as a collective intentional activity can illuminate issues in philosophy of language. The part argues that criminal law embeds a theory of necessary and sufficient conditions for collective intention and action. It presents a temptingly simple picture of institutions. The part discusses the methodological debates encountered in the study of the social world. It also argues that the philosophical theories of collective intentionality widely adopt individualism while rejecting singularism and the philosophical study of collective intentionality benefits from expanding its methodology to incorporate the insights of empirical research. The part shows that institutions necessarily depend on collective intentionality.
