 The methodological individualism—holism debate that concerns the proper focus of social scientific explanations is just one among several individualism—holism disputes. Most notably, there are individualism—holism debates about ontology, confirmation, and morality. Within these discussions, holism is the view that social phenomena exist sui generis, or in their own right (the ontological debate); that social scientific explanations need not always be confirmed by looking at what happens at the level of individuals (the debate on confirmation); and that moral responsibility may sometimes be ascribed to social phenomena such as groups (one version of the moral debate). It is perfectly possible, and in fact quite common, to subscribe to methodological holism in the sense defined in this entry without endorsing these other forms of holism. Though interesting, these debates will not be directly addressed here.