Multiple Persons in Joint Possession

Part 2 undertakes the detailed philosophical work of rethinking personhood in ways that support a concrete, working concept of collective personhood. This is a properly philosophical project, not psychological or sociological, in that traditional personhood and the new theorization of the person embody different logics. The form of these logics and their political implications need to be worked out. A “logic of mutual inclusion” is proposed to replace the traditional logic of mutual exclusion that subsumes individuals as particular cases under a general category governed by criteria of resemblance and identity. The new logic concerns spectrums of differencing, as much within the individual as in its relations with others. The individual is composed of sub-persons, and co-composes with others into supra-persons. The general category is replaced by the logical operator of the “collective singular.” A distinction is developed between collective personhood and collective individuation. The main philosophical guides are C. S. Peirce, William James, and Alfred North Whitehead.