Violence as a social fact

Alessandro Salice

pp. 161-177

in: Alessandro Salice, Luca Tummolini (eds), Social facts, Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 13 (1), 2014.

Abstract

This paper describes a class of social acts called "violent acts" and distinguishes them from damaging acts. The former are successfully performed if they are apprehended by the victim, while the latter, being not social, are successful only as long as the intended damage is realized. It is argued that violent acts, if successful, generate a social relation which include the aggressor, the victim and, if the concomitant damaging act is satisfied, the damage itself.