Joint commitment

How we make the social world

Margaret Gilbert

This book comprises eighteen wide-ranging essays that share a common theme: the centrality of joint commitment to human life, both private and public. After an opening chapter that introduces joint commitment and the themes of the book, it is divided into four sections: shared agency; collective attitudes; mutual recognition, promises, and love; and political life. An important aspect of joint commitment is its provision of directed obligations and rights to the parties.