A Simple Logic of Cohesive Group Agency

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formal logical framework for modeling cohesive group agency using cohesion networks, representing social fabric through graphs of subgroups and pro-social behaviors, with a focus on assistance relations.

Contribution

It presents a novel formal structure called cohesion networks and develops a logical theory of cohesive group agency based on assistance relations within groups.

Findings

Defines cohesion networks as graphs of subgroups with pro-social edges

Develops a family of logics for different classes of cohesion networks

Formalizes group agency through assistance relations in a logical framework

Abstract

We propose a structure to represent the social fabric of a group. We call it the `cohesion network' of the group. It can be seen as a graph whose vertices are strict subgroups and whose edges indicate a prescribed `pro-social behaviour' from one subgroup towards another. In social psychology, pro-social behaviours are building blocks of full-blown cooperation, which we assimilate here with `group cohesiveness'. We then define a formal framework to study cohesive group agency. To do so, we simply instantiate pro-social behaviour with the more specific relation of `successful assistance' between acting entities in a group. The relations of assistance within a group at the moment of agency constitute the social fabric of the cohesive group agency. We build our logical theory upon the logic of agency "bringing-it-about". We obtain a family of logics of cohesive group agency, one for every class of cohesion networks.