We‐Mode as Layered Agency

We humans are social beings.1 As such, our agency can take on goals and means that are not only determined by an agent individually but by cooperating and coordinating with other people. Agents that are part of groups can act with the group in mind. They can act as group members taking on the group's motivational structure. I can act as a member of the philosophy department aiming for what the department agreed on, even if that might conflict with my personal beliefs. I can shut out these personal beliefs for a moment and reason from the group's standpoint. And I can also switch from my reasoning as a group member back to my individual point of view when the situation requires it. I suggest that this ability to switch between agencies is best described as a form of layered agency—a we-mode layer of agency. The idea of layered agency has been proposed by Nguyen (2019, 2020) in his seminal work on striving play—play we partake in with the aim of experiencing a struggle. I argue that the idea can also be explanatory powerful in the social realm more generally. How we reason in many cooperative activities is best described as taking on a new layer of agency that is jointly established with other people. The ability of agents to submerse themselves in this jointly established layer of agency is the key to understanding actions in a group mindset, the nature of social groups, and the mental states of group agents. Much of our social life is shaped by this ability to take on a we-mode as a temporary layer of agency. I can smoothly transition from practical reasoning based on my own individual goals to reasoning based on goals established jointly with other people, such as the goals of the philosophy department. I can also transition between different we-modes as different temporary layers of agency. At one point, I reason as part of the philosophy department, at another point, I reason as part of a football team. The goals of these groups are different, and some accepted cornerstones that guide my reasoning will also be different. These cornerstones are goals and attitudes that provide fixed points for practical reasoning as a department member or a member of the football team. As a philosophy department, we might have jointly accepted that Katherine is a good job candidate and, in my reasoning as part of the department, this acceptance is held fixed to guide practical reasoning. But as part of the football team, nothing requires me to hold that acceptance fixed to guide my reasoning. The football team is not interested in good job candidates for a philosophy department. There has not been any agreement on job applicants at all for the football team. My practical reasoning has different cornerstones depending on what layer of agency I take on board: the philosophy department layer or the football team layer. I can switch between these different kinds of agencies with their individual cornerstones depending on what the situation calls for. I suggest that the we-mode layer of agency is the basic building block of social groups and collective mental states. The we-mode layer itself is only dependent on joint commitments and my abilities of submersion and layering of agency. It does not depend on the prior existence of groups or collective mental states. Moreover, the we-mode layer does not entail any form of plural subject as is accepted in other accounts using the notion of joint commitment, such as Gilbert's (1989, 1990, 2009) proposal. social group is in of agents a we-mode agency with the cornerstones by joint collective mental is in of a of the we-mode attitudes in group members the is determined by the cornerstones of the we-mode I these with a of not for the proposed will be in My aim is to a view of to the we-mode in a new It is an of using the idea of layered agency in the social realm and more work will be to out the proposal. Agents can a we-mode as other of a we-mode I the we-mode as a temporary layer of agency that agents to take on goals and These goals and means are based on cornerstones jointly to by agents of is the I to out in more I a of I a temporary agency that to the I that temporary agency I but But as the of our agency with such a we the temporary agency our and our striving I for a of struggle. It is not the itself that is my in but the to is the of striving in to be for the of striving is that I aim for the my practical reasoning I the my aim I Nguyen this with a a his of his in that the to his to the The a with the reasoning can the to a a using this of reasoning be at The of the not be take part in striving the by the has to be on in a that to the agency. The of experiencing has to be shut out from practical reasoning for a I have to submerse the goals and means by the is a only can I take on temporary goals and but I can in a that my practical reasoning and my actions I a new layer of is a motivational I have the of experiencing striving and in to I to take on the temporary goals and means in a that the itself out of my practical reasoning. ability does itself in other as Nguyen the of and from work I my and by to I to submerse in some other that my from for a or And I to this in a that out the aim from my reasoning and I have to on the in the of I to take on a temporary layer of agency with goals and means and I this agency I suggest that a we-mode is another of this of layered agency. the we-mode a of layered agency is that the goals and that the cornerstones for my reasoning in the layer of agency are not determined by in the are determined from the in the The cornerstones are determined jointly with other people. They are established joint commitments I from my and in to the new joint commitments in my reasoning and motivational structure. I that in to some individual aim I can best if I take these jointly established goals and means on I to submerse in that new layer of agency with of practical reasoning in to my individual in the of a is a motivational I with a individual that the of a new layer of agency. the we-mode is an that I not by me to joint commitments with other that a I take on this we-mode as a new layer of agency and I reason and act in the new layer of agency based on the goals and means jointly My goals and in the but are shut out and only when the layer of agency in or with some or more to be I take on the we-mode layer of my is only by the new goals and means jointly my individual of the as are not with the joint Gilbert's of for a I the of for a with by Moreover, I the other to in a that is more of to for a at the at the It requires commitments to other that and for a that or to for a we jointly to I take this to be described by of a temporary layer of agency of as a And in to Gilbert's my does not entail any of plural subject that is in of joint jointly to for a we our individual agencies and some cornerstones for of our new we-mode but these new we-mode agencies are of There are individual act and reason in a we-mode agency based on the but is plural subject in Gilbert's The of the social of for a are such of individually on as for practical reasoning. of not to the to and the for And of not to or to the other These are of cornerstones that the individual we-mode agency for of My actions are determined by my practical reasoning based on these cornerstones and my beliefs the are with the cornerstones jointly idea of reasoning and actions determined by cornerstones and by personal beliefs also with an by not that all but to a to a of by an agent has when their have the and It is a of such the and of actions to the of is to actions that best with the attitudes and to actions as for the to be a on individual agents Agents to to and their group agency and the as a notion that also to and reasoning to reason and act the to some members hold beliefs and if to act and reason that to a can be for joint and members not to be in all me this with of to a to have to on what one of work out and can only be if as if have only one point of view with to their They to work with the of and the their joint this does not that to all and that the have any beliefs or They only to that to their joint the of the and to on a other But does not if one to are and the other one has a different might to for different but to to a with to the to and in some their beliefs what can form a point of view is what when to cornerstones for the cornerstones the jointly accepted point of view and a of between the There are many beliefs and that individual has but for a a of is and that is established as all take on the cornerstones as fixed points for reasoning and fixed points other beliefs held by can also be to in the joint different of between the and more or cornerstones that the one might the joint on the all to take on many only a cornerstones to be and cornerstones are agency is shaped by the at that to The of a we-mode as a form of layered agency with cornerstones can on such we-modes can be to agency and the of our ability to between agencies more generally. agency some with of a we-mode with beliefs beliefs that a has a My layer of agency and idea of a we-mode that an individual can reason and act from different points of their own personal point of and a point of view jointly established with other people. to I to this jointly established point of view in of group I to the jointly established layer of agency to social groups, a we-mode with to the we-mode as the agents as a group for the group the of collective and a requires that the group members or in we-mode activities and a group member a we-mode or if that or is not for all other group members as that to be a of the we-mode My layer of agency for we-modes does not a agent can have we-mode goals and attitudes that can be only for the as as are not cornerstones for the layer of agency. The reason for this is that individual agents in a we-mode layer of agency can form new goals and attitudes based on the jointly established These goals and attitudes are in the as the temporary layer of agency. But not be between jointly to the cornerstones and on a we-mode layer of agency. such a one might have a we-mode that is not in another and can that any such taking for I might jointly with my football on and for the football on the I act and reason the we-mode layer of agency established by such joint I can form and goals individually in that we-mode I can form a we-mode to the and I can that by But might not be a we-mode in my They not have the of me the as an as a we-mode My we-mode layer of agency has the cornerstones as but the There is nothing to be for is a of in the in the we-mode layer of agency. is a between understanding of a we-mode and my layer of agency proposal. we-mode goals to only be that are established by joint or as a of joint commitments on a I take we-mode goals to be any goals in a layer of agency with cornerstones that established in a joint I the I a that a we-mode can only be if the is also for all other group members have the we-mode The that we-mode goals can between individual members and goals and from the group's point of view is that such They from goals the group's best in mind. These practical that some form of conflict and joint as a for we-mode attitudes these these but that we-mode goals that have the of will all be at the we-mode goals with the of in their agents have the we-mode is for only one of to their we-mode The of layered agency has of a we-mode with beliefs. The layered agency is to that has nothing to with groups or social of by taking a and to and the of layered agency for the ability for striving It is a of the layered agency that the can and also the beliefs on the other with the not the of Moreover, layered agency a good explanatory for and one between different I can submerse in a temporary layer of agency in the my agency is to that me to the temporary layer of agency if I with of The temporary layer of agency is on in to a that not not be The temporary layer of agency is in the agency of the that is the or when the of the temporary agency I it. Moreover, I can that is the There will be at I I to act with the jointly goals and means in mind. is also that has of the we-mode or any form of I a a situation might in I back and I to is when I to my by taking a I might to the is and me my all these I back from the layer of agency I on reasoning and that layer is for my and to that layer of agency or submerse back I or I in a layer of agency. is what when I act joint commitments with other as There will be a to to the joint commitment, but that can be in of the we-mode layer of agency. layered agency more beliefs The we-mode is one form of layered based on joint I suggest that the we-mode is a form of layered agency with cornerstones determined by joint one is to on the joint idea to my of the might that to for can be is as are as and this are on an There is nothing collective in the that joint commitments I a for my mental states to the cornerstones for the we-mode layer of agency. the the the collective nature established with the to joint might argue that such an more and to be It might even be a with the to an in the such an will not the commitments with personal cornerstones in the we-mode layer of agency for all But at the joint commitments are more They as personal cornerstones in and as a on the that jointly to jointly to the take on a we-mode layer of agency and are to reason and act that layer of agency. does not reason or act in a that is that layer and with that to the joint and is when we jointly to for a but I for personal with the I to my I act from reasoning we-mode the that from joint commitments by (1989, 1990, that the we-mode layer in of a has this is at the of the between and I Gilbert's 2009) that personal as proposed by will not be to the of that is in joint to a for of as in is not The in groups and joint is best by a joint is that joint commitments and an in the does not entail any of plural subject as is with Gilbert's of joint commitments (1989, 1990, of or more his jointly to all in a and their these is between the this I that the are out in the between and Agents take on a we-mode layer of agency individually based on joint They not form a in the by are as all have the cornerstones for practical reasoning in the They all act with the layer of agency. They are only the layer of agency the that have been jointly individual can have their own of the their own as as these not conflict with any jointly might jointly to for a but can in their of the and their beliefs on to a The joint is on these and the can individual in the we-mode that with to what is best to for of the other for that are or by the joint commitments such a is not jointly to on of the can reason with the that be best to on The for we-mode attitudes agents have a that of by They to work and jointly to that to the jointly to a of and goals that to as cornerstones for practical reasoning. on a we-mode layer of agency with these cornerstones as fixed points in their individual The agents can jointly to to the cornerstones if and their individual we-mode reasoning and we-mode attitudes have to based on to They might with a joint to but out that as a is and from aiming for the jointly this can jointly to the prior and the attitudes that based on the acceptance that have to to the in the Moreover, the we-mode reasoning and we-mode attitudes also have to based on to the of the I football with my team. We have as a football team a of joint commitments on football in and on the in a My we-mode cornerstones our my that is in of me might my practical reasoning to that I But I an my cornerstones my new might me to my and the to a The we-mode cornerstones all the only my individual of the and my to to attitudes can be in in the as as the cornerstones themselves can only be by joint or attitudes in this are of the nature as only is the layer of agency even I to of I to an in a we-mode layer of not an of the the between we-mode attitudes and attitudes is only the layer of agency the attitudes are at that any that can be in the layer can also be in the we-mode layer. also that the we-mode layer of agency beliefs. I to take this on beliefs can be established by joint commitments is one (1989, by and in with and that group beliefs can be established by joint the other and argue that joint commitments but be at will and group beliefs by jointly to for to at My itself is on this The proposed in a that for all attitudes to be in a layer of agency established by joint commitments and in a that the attitudes in such a layer to beliefs. the a to beliefs to form and to in the we-mode layer of agency. of we-mode and be is one that is to a social and to cornerstones are for coordinating more the layer of agency might that are only to a and a acceptance that is the such a might be to and form for a group by the joint commitments a acceptance that that the jointly is a for part of the joint commitment, even for that not have the work of has the to and the acceptance that is a that the we-mode reasoning is to conflict with the has to take the cornerstones It is part of the layer of agency that has these and I have the of my of the we-mode as a layer of agency. for we-mode can be attitudes that are to we-mode attitudes but to one of the these from we-mode I these I will of I attitudes any attitudes that are and in an agent such that are but are not attitudes in the as we-mode They can be themselves or attitudes that are at based on the But we-mode attitudes are to in other attitudes in the layer of agency. form of are I attitudes any attitudes that an agent in a layer of agency that the agent to be established by joint when in such joint has an agent that a joint has been take on a temporary layer of agency with cornerstones and act if has not been an joint commitment, this new temporary agency does not a we-mode layer of agency. any such the of in the we-mode will also be I might take to have jointly to not provide part in I will to actions and that But will not any in that by out that we not to not form a joint my individual attitudes can the as we-mode the that we-mode attitudes between different and the to act in the we-mode established between the of a joint attitudes to we-mode but the in some As such, can be the for group attitudes even we-mode attitudes not to group attitudes are we-mode attitudes is that are established in a that the we-mode layers of agency of agents by the cornerstones for we-mode reasoning. we-modes to be the basic building block for social groups and group the we-mode as a layer of agency in I can the notion of a social are based on agents layers of agency that are by of the cornerstones of joint The joint commitments the agency for all group My a of with Gilbert's (1989, 1990, proposal. groups with jointly to my from Gilbert's in of what these joint commitments a temporary layer of agency with the cornerstones in of the and to to reason that temporary layer of agency. How the group members act as group members is by that new by of the joint attitudes are as of members and reasoning their new layer of agency. group attitudes are on the we-mode attitudes of group many of these are group attitudes with a of individual of the group we-mode that is a for the temporary layer of agency is also a group is by all group attitudes that are not cornerstones can to group when are in reasoning in the we-mode layer of agency. reason and act for the group the group members on that reasoning or of these can be with joint for when the group has jointly to a with a by themselves that as a joint is part of my of at with the ability to form joint But not all can be that a group's actions are best by that the group has a even if joint of any when group members have we-mode attitudes such that the group's in a situation is determined by and the other group members not we-mode attitudes and the group if to with take a group that to a of the group to the and we-mode that be a good idea to to one of the group to the There joint in that to joint commitments to a group based on the in the that to have the the group for a The in the group established we-mode cornerstones that are the for the we-mode reasoning to the It best to as a for the even if not such a for the in the we-mode layer of agency and the of the group also if in The group's is best as the group that the even the we-mode acceptance is only in be different if the we-mode reasoning of other group members have to different we-mode other members have that the not be in not be as for the And this can be by at the of the other group members when the of the their we-mode reasoning is in with will be and not have an with the their we-mode reasoning with will be the and on what to with is in by at what with if to to form the in a are many members to form the as for to as for the the individual group members all have the some of be more These are but I can be on a of the depend on the of the group in group with and as part of the cornerstones of the we-mode layer of agency different to an group of my aim is more I aim to provide a of group attitudes can on we-mode layers of agency in And my can the job I will by to the proposed we-mode as a layer of agency and the for social groups and group I to that for my proposed can we to It a for and the group members act with the group's beliefs and goals in and the members reason based on the group's with the established cornerstones as points for and the on the group members to act in a My does all this as as It only on humans the ability for layered ability that for to my requires plural subject at of Gilbert's is the group to in the group can and the group on the or in the group a by all that the of the is the group members can back to that agreement as the group to be The jointly to the of the Gilbert's of the also in my proposed How joint commitments is the and the that with that are The is in what the joint does and does to in my the joint does not a plural subject a group the joint a we-mode for all the individually and a to reason that we-mode in the we-mode has as a acceptance that the of the is individual the we-mode has to reason such that is conflict with that And to reason the can to that acceptance in the as a fixed The acceptance that the of the is is also a group It is a we-mode in and the for group It can be to and the group's actions a plural subject in Gilbert's another the a my this is by a joint to the a joint to in These joint commitments to cornerstones for a we-mode layer of agency. The to the the to and the acceptance of to as the for we-mode reasoning that new layer of agency for agents. have the cornerstones for their temporary agency and cornerstones established by joint commitment, a The cornerstones also some as group are in the we-mode agency of all as in the group this of a group the we-mode with cornerstones in the individual group members does not entail any of plural subject as in Gilbert's on the joint and the the agents can and to the a to more joint commitments and some of are in we-mode agency in a that between agent has and goals that and to the have the that is in of the and is in of the from the such that are not in that conflict with for are not using different and are not At the can reason and form we-mode and attitudes by as as are not in conflict with any of the cornerstones jointly the agent for the can form on to the in the we-mode layer of agency the to with the other of and my the that to with the as in my from my is more to personal I the notion of joint commitments to a we-mode in individual joint with to act and reason that of these my can the have to one another and to their in that have a to the other if not as the established is that but my can by on some of the from (1989, 1990, philosophy department is an of a group that different members different in the department. These are by cornerstones that are established by basic joint As in the other this any form of plural subject that is the philosophy department. The philosophy department in of members we-mode agencies with the are established the joint are on in a that a joint that a to a new the department the we-mode layer of agency of the department. are in to new the cornerstones to to in to the These cornerstones other the of the is for are and can for of new joint commitments that as cornerstones for the we-mode layer of agency. might with a that on to for the or when the that have to be by the department and some can joint the on might a candidate take that candidate to be and the to be by the They might even individual member that this is the best candidate of the we-mode reasoning that individual members is that the has to be The does not have the to form the joint of a in with the agents in the can joint commitments a candidate to the These are not we-mode layers of and group attitudes in many and the provide a good of my with in the all these my can a explanatory My that these different kinds of groups and their I have for a new to a we-mode as a form of layered agency. on (2019, 2020) work on striving I that and reasoning from a group's point of view also be as a new layer of agency with cornerstones jointly with other people. we-mode layer of agency only the ability to submerse that layer and joint It does not groups as a the we-mode layer of agency can be as a building block to social groups and their states. I have a at that and with I that the I can provide explanatory work in understanding social I the of that to some will be in the I this is a for the of layered agency in social The of