Collective belief and acceptance

Margaret Gilbert explores the phenomenon referred to in everyday ascription s of beliefs to groups. She refers to this type of phenomenon as "collectiv e belief'' and calls the types of groups that are the bearers of such belie fs "plural subjects''. I argue that the attitudes that groups adopt that Gi lbert refers to as "collective beliefs'' are not a species of belief in an important and central sense, but rather a species of acceptance. Unlike pro per beliefs, a collective belief is adopted by a group as a means to realiz ing the group's goals. Unless we recognize that this phenomenon is a specie s of acceptance, plural subjects will seem prone to change their "beliefs'' for irrelevant reasons, and thus frequently appear to act in an irrational manner.