ABSTRACT
Gilbert is a realist in the sense that groups cannot be reduced or analysed out of our best explanations and descriptions of the social world, and plural subject theory tells us that groups are characterised by two essential features. The emphasis which Gilbert places on individuals sharing a conception or understanding of themselves as linked through a common belief, attitude or goal, has been widely endorsed by social scientists and philosophers as essential in the formation of a group. In this respect Gilbert is firmly in the mainstream of the sociological and philosophical tradition approach to groups. That is, in as far as plural subject theory looks at the ontological nature of groups, it is not about a kind or sub-class of social group, but pursues the general or global question of what kind of thing is a group.
