Collective Intentionality and the Study of Religion

In this open access book Andrea Rota makes the case for philosophical, theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of religion, drawing on the ongoing debate and challenging individualist and reductionist perspectives.

Rota begins with a survey of the work of John Searle, Raimo Tuomela, Michael Bratman and Margaret Gilbert exploring the relevance of their insights for religious studies. He sets out a theoretical framework to operationalize their philosophical ideas in an empirical research setting. Applying this framework in Part Two, Rota analyses the collective agency of Jehovah's Witnesses, focusing on the roles that print and electronic media play in structuring communicative processes that conduce to collective intentions and commitments. He presents extensive fieldwork carried out in Switzerland and Germany, examining both qualitative and quantitative data.

By demonstrating the fruitfulness of philosophical perspectives on collective intentionality and social ontology, Rota's study makes a timely contribution to our understanding of beliefs, emotions and aesthetic experiences within religious groups.