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About us
The Social Ontology Research Group (SORG) was created by Rachael Mellin and Miguel Garcia in 2018 while both were Law PhD students at the University of Glasgow. The group's aim is to investigate the main connections between social ontology and analytic legal philosophy, as well as to critically examine the most recent developments at the intersection of these areas.
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Although it began as a reading group, the SORG quickly grew into something bigger. In August 2018, it held its first event: The Social Ontology and Philosophy of Law Workshop, where the group was honoured to host the late Prof Katherine Hawley as a keynote speaker along with seven PhD students from three top Scottish universities: the University of Edinburgh, the University of St Andrews, and the University of Glasgow.
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Due to the success of this, the SORG organised a larger, two-day event in May 2019: Social Ontology, Normativity and Philosophy of Law. This conference saw internationally leading experts, including Prof Emeritus Raimo Tuomela, Prof Jessica Brown, Prof Brian Epstein, Prof Kirk Ludwig, and Prof Hans Bernhard-Schmid present original work on the metaphysics of the social world and some fundamental problems of legal philosophy. The SORG was proud to co-edit the proceedings of this event alongside Raimo Tuomela in a book published by De Gruyter in 2020, entitled, Social Ontology, Normativity and Law.
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Just before the 2020 lockdown began, the SORG teamed up with the social ontology group at Manchester to offer one of the first virtual reading groups dedicated to exploring both classical and contemporary works in the field.
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After a short break, the SORG is now back with a new project. Social Ontology. The Video Series aims to introduce some of the key topics in social ontology to anyone who might be curious in learning more about the nature of the social world. You can follow the series by heading over to the “Videos” tab, visiting our Twitter page, or by checking out our YouTube Channel.
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You can also make sure to catch any updates, as well as to get in touch with us, by sending a message under the “Contact” tab. We are always happy to hear from anyone who shares our interest in social ontology and its applications!