Abstract:
This thesis explores the possibility that the topic of group agency (in moral and political
philosophy) and the topic of biological individuality (in the philosophy of biology) can be
mutually informative. I argue that ideas and perspectives germane to one topic might be
theoretically useful when taken up in the context of the other. There is a natural perspective
we take towards humans and human groups, that if applied to our theorizing about biological
individuals, allows us to give fuller explanations and descriptions of certain cases in which
philosophers of biology have taken an interest (such as those in which individuals at different
hierarchical levels exhibit individuality to a degree). Conversely, there is a pluralistic
approach commonly taken toward biological individuality that, if applied to cases of group
agency, suggests a useful, more nuanced taxonomy that distinguishes different kinds of
agents or degrees of agency. Beyond what is argued in detail, I have made efforts to raise a
number of related questions and problems, outlining them for future work in this interesting
novel intersection of subfields.