From Tribes to Tribunals: Social Ontology and the Holocene Shift with Phil

About this event

Join us for a special guest presentation featuring Phil as we examine the philosophical mechanics behind one of the most radical shifts in human history: the transition from Pleistocene foraging bands to complex Holocene institutions. While our ongoing Fire, Cells, and Circuits sessions continue to investigate the biological, cognitive, and gene-culture coevolutionary forces underpinning human cooperation, this session steps into the realm of social ontology. Phil will guide us through the philosophical frameworks that explain how humans construct, maintain, and navigate institutional reality. In this full-length presentation and discussion, Phil will explore: • Brute Facts vs. Institutional Facts: How status functions, collective intentionality, and deontic powers turn physical objects into binding social realities like money, property, and law. • The Cognitive to Institutional Shift: What philosophical frameworks reveal about moving from small, kin-based social structures to large-scale, rule-governed societies. • The Architecture of Shared Reality: How constitutive rules create invisible scaffolding that organizes human behavior at scale. This talk provides the philosophical foundation that complements our deep dives into cumulative culture and biocultural evolution. The presentation will be followed by open Q&A and group discussion.