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Файл:Philosophy. Educational manual
.pdf
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5. WHERE ARE THE BOUNDARIES OF THE SOCIAL?
PERSONALITY VS SOCIETY
Content of the topic:
Philosophical comprehension of society and its history. Society
as a self-developing system. Civil society, nation and state. Culture
and civilization. Diversity of historical processes in human
development. Necessity and conscious activity of people in the
historical process. Dynamics and typology of historical development.
Social and political perfections and their historical fate (the Marxist
theory of "class society"; K. Popper's "open society"; F. Hayek's
"free society"; neoliberal theory of globalization). Violence and NonViolence. Sources and subjects of the historical process. Basic
concepts of the philosophy of history.
After the topic completion students should:
1) know:
- subject matter and tasks of social philosophy;
- relations between concepts of "society" and "social";
- types of society;
- specificities of theories of "human death" and "end to the
social" in philosophy;
- main models of social reality;
- such concepts as: social, social reality, the Other;
2) able to:
- reproduce the studying material of philosophy in definitions,
judgements and conclusions;
- use philosophical and socio-political terminology;
- navigate in philosophical systems easily, understand their
basis;
- practise tolerance to another views and points;
3) have:
- skills of logical construction of public speech (message,
report) structure;
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- skills of abstraction in order to select the significant features,
specificities and relationships in studying issues and doctrines;
- skills of reasonable written presentation of their own points of
view;
- skills of comparing, generalizing, systematizing of
information for further goal and task setting;
- skills to demonstrate the ability and availability for dialogue,
perception of alternatives and participation in the discussions about
social and world-view issues.
Main lines
1. Society as a subject of social philosophy.
Speaking of society as the subject of social philosophy, we
must first of all separate the subject of social philosophy from
sociology. Because, as we suppose, you even intuitively understand
that both subjects — social philosophy and sociology are social
sciences.
Sociology and social philosophy study society as a whole, from
the point of view of the general patterns of its functioning and
development in the interconnection of all aspects and relations of
people's life activity.
Sociology as a science begins in the 30s of the 19
th
century. Its
founder, Auguste Komte (1798–1857) in his "Course of Positive
Philosophy" (1830–1842) formulated the main provisions of a new
exact science of society, sharply breaking with metaphysics (in his
opinion it was speculative reasoning).
Let us remind you that the positivists defend the thesis of the
unity of the sciences. All sciences, both natural and humanitarian,
must be accurate and use uniform scientific methods of observation
and generalization of data. Empirical testability is the main
distinguishing feature of science as opposed to non-science.
Therefore, sociology focuses on the study of society from the
standpoint of social fact. Sociologists fix large and small social
elements — social communities, social groups, social institutions,
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social norms, social statuses and social roles with the help of
a quantitative description using a survey, observation, experiment.
1. Sociology deals with "faceless" social institutions and
structures, as if "inhabited" by average human units.
The task of social philosophy is the analysis of sociality as
such, as a special type of non-natural artificial cultural reality. This
reality largely determines the meaning of human existence.
Therefore, reflections of philosophy on human sociality always
point to the key questions of philosophical anthropology about the
nature, essence and purpose of man. In this regard, social philosophy
can be understood as a series of different images of a person and the
social conditions of his existence.
Let us give two examples to explain this philosophical
approach to understanding the social life.
So, for example, for Hume, sympathy is the basis of sociality.
The ability to sympathize with others and enter into a wide variety of
relationships with them is one of the fundamental characteristics of
a person, which determines all other patterns of his behavior.
Hume wrote: "Sympathy in general operates as follows. First,
observation of the outward expression of another person’s
«affection» (feeling or sentiment) in his «countenance and
conversation» conveys the idea of his passion into my mind. So does
observing the typical cause of a passion: for example, viewing the
instruments laid out for another’s surgery will evoke ideas in me of
fear and pain. We at all times possess a maximally vivid and forceful
impression of ourselves"1.
So, human nature and its fundamental characteristic —
sympathy creates human sociality.
In Marxism we can see a different image of man and sociality.
For Marx, the economic (labor) activity of a person is the decisive
basis of social relations. Labor made a man out of a monkey and the
essence of man is a set of social relations. A change in economic
1
David H. A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the
Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects & Dialogues Concerning
Natural Religion. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1998.
94
foundations leads to a change in social relations. This is the theory of
socio-economic formations.
The discovery of the successive replacement of socioeconomic
formations provided an objective basis for dividing the historical
process into basic historical epochs. The transition from one
socioeconomic formation to another or the replacement of one phase
by another within a single socioeconomic formation always signifies
the transition to a new historical epoch. A distinction, however,
should be drawn between these concepts. A socioeconomic
formation denotes a specific stage in the development of society,
while a historical epoch is a specific segment of history within which
different formations may coexist temporarily by virtue of the uneven
course of the historical process. At the same time, the basic meaning
and content of each epoch depend on "which class stands at the hub
of one epoch or another, determining its main content, the main
direction of its development, the main characteristics of the historical
situation in that epoch, etc."2. Furthermore, every historical epoch is
characterized by a broad spectrum of social phenomena and contains
typical as well as atypical events. Partial movements, both forward
and backward, occur within each epoch, as well as individual
deviations from the average rate and type of movement. We also
find, in history, transitional epochs between one socioeconomic
formation and the next. The basic content of the current epoch, for
example, is the transition from capitalism to socialism on
a worldwide scale. The mark of this epoch is the collapse of
capitalism and the birth of socialism. It is the epoch of socialist
revolutions and revolutions for national liberation.
2. Sociology mostly studies modern society, while social
philosophy takes into account the historical context in a broader
sense, and if it necessary, takes into account all types of human selfdescription known to us. That is why than social philosophy, in
Hegel's words, is "its own time apprehended in thoughts".
2
Lenin V.I. ibid. Vol. 26. Р. 142.
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"Philosophy is its own time apprehended in thoughts. It is just
as absurd to fancy that a philosophy can transcend its contemporary
world as it is to fancy that an individual can overleap his own age"3.
This means that for Hegel the point of departure for the
operation of his method is the immediately given experience at
a particular historical juncture. But at first this immediate experience
is not "apprehended". And so thought must proceed from that which
is initially given onwards.
3. Sociology is a science that does not set itself the task of
making predictions about the development of society. The
possibilities of social philosophy allow it to create a broader
perspective than that of sociology, the perspective of the image of
modernity, and to a greater extent streamline social space. Immersing
social events in the broad context of not only past, but also present
and future culture, social philosophy purifies these events from
historical accidents, separates the important from the secondary, and
emphasizes the main lines of social development.
In this regard, social philosophy deals with the ideal
constructions of society. Comparison of real events with these
constructions makes it possible to understand the essence of social
processes more clearly.
Thus, social philosophy is a science and at the same time
a form of social consciousness. Therefore, sometimes social
philosophy is perceived as an ideology.
After all, any ideology gives an idea of the goals and prospects
of social development and contains criticism of previous epoch.
4. Sociology and social philosophy differ in methodology.
Social philosophers suggest that the study of society on the model of
nature is impossible. A person cannot objectively study society, since
he himself is a member of this society. This means that any person is
a hostage to the traditions and norms of his society, produces
a certain type of thinking.
3
Hegel, G.W.F. Outlines of the Philosophy of Right / translated by
T.M. Knox; revised and edited by S. Houlgate. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2008.
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Philosopher Georg Simmel introduces the concept of social
a priori — these are pre-experimental prerequisites that make
possible the coexistence of individuals in society, and hence the
knowledge of this society.
Many scientists consider social philosophy as an ideological
and methodological basis for constructing the concepts of particular
social disciplines. Thus, as a philosophy of society, it forms the
highest level of sociology ("general sociology") and creates a general
theory of the historical process ("philosophy of history"). Social
philosophy formulates the initial concepts of the social sciences,
establishes which factors in the life of society are decisive, and
argued the understanding of man as a social person.
We can say that social philosophy is the science of the most
general patterns of organization, functioning and development of
human society.
Social philosophy studies "society as a whole" as an ideal type
that synthesizes the essential properties and features of any selfsufficient social community that has existed, exists or is able to exist
in history.
Social philosophy is the study of questions about social
behavior and interpretations of society and social institutions in terms
of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers
place new emphasis on understanding the social contexts for
political, legal, moral, and cultural questions, and to the development
of novel theoretical frameworks, from social ontology to care ethics
to cosmopolitan theories of democracy, human rights, gender equity
and global justice.
Social being is a systemic set of properties and features
inherent in the phenomena of the collective and individual life of
people, thanks to which they are included in a special world, isolated
from nature and different from nature.
Social being is a process of collective being of people, a system
of stable connections between interacting people and social groups.
Social philosophy most often uses not the concept of society,
but the concept of social being or "supraorganic world",
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"sociocultural reality", "social form of the movement of matter",
"society".
2. Problems of social philosophy.
Some questions social philosophers think about include:
1. What is a society? What is the essence of social life? How
should we live together in a society? How do we come to know about
each other, and to know about things together? How do our social
practices work to create categories of people, and why does this
matter?
2. What is the structure of the society? A part of social
philosophy focuses on the categories that are produced by the way
we organise society, such as race, gender, sexuality, disability and
class. Understanding these categories — what they are, how they
exist, how they affect what we can know and what we should do —
is important for social justice movements.
3. What are the patterns of existence and development of
society. Is there a progress or regression? Is it possible to build
a legal social order?
4. The relationship of the individual and society. Does the life
of an individual person matter in the context of social life? Or do you
have to be famous person for your life to matter?
These are abstract questions, but we don’t ask them idly. We
investigate them better to understand our shared social world, and to
improve it. This means our answers are important: we have to get it
right. And, just as importantly, we have to communicate our answers
clearly and effectively to those who are best placed to bring about
change.
3. What is the essence of social life?
As we have already said, the task of social philosophy is to
explain the nature of the social.
It means to understand what underlies social solidarity and,
therefore, the integrity of society as such, regardless of the specific
characteristics of this society.
Classical theories of explaining society are characterized by
consideration of the unity of mankind in its socio-cultural aspect. The
emergence of society was explained by the need for people to live
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together. A person outside of society could not exist or lost his
human essence.
Classical concepts pay attention to various factors that ensure
the deep unity of society. Some thinkers associated the fundamental
structure of social life with spiritual culture. Others paid special
attention to the economy, economic life. The most prominent
representative of the first position was G. Hegel. The second point of
view is related to Marxism.
Non-classical theories of society are based on a skeptical
attitude to the principle of the unity of the world humanity based on
the values of Western culture. The civilizational model of the
historical process is based on the idea of the existence of local
civilizations — special cultural and historical entities, each of which,
like a living organism, lives through its own stages of origin, growth,
maturity, decay and death.
Personality is the primary subject and bearer of sociality in
non-classical theories. There is an understanding that the individual
is primary, and society is secondary. The society should promote
realization by the individual of his human potential.
Post-non-classical theories consider the social as a way of
human existence in relation to the "I" — another (other, alien). Social
reality, from a stable object of consideration, turns into a complexly
organized process of a person's special being in the world.
The first thesis of the non-classical theory of society sounded
very provocative — society is not people!
Society appears in this case as a world of meanings,
interpersonal and intergroup relations, products of civilization.
Society that does not exist as an objective reality, but is constructed
at the moment of people's interaction.
In the theory of social action by Max Weber, society is
a certain system of relationships, and society arises at the moment
when we act and, in relation to our action, count on interaction.
According to Max Weber, human beings adapt their actions
according to social contexts and how these actions affect the
behaviour of others.
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For Max Weber, social action explains the behaviours, effects
and consequences of human behaviour and how this behaviour can
influence the behaviour of other people and become a social
movement, where it is no longer an isolated behaviour, but part of
a whole (society).
According to Max Weber, social action can trigger means and
ends for social actors and social interaction who want to achieve
something specific.
For example, a company organizes activities for each
individual and assigns a different role to each employee, but each
action performed by employees is connected to each other in order to
keep the organisation going.
The responsibilities and rules that employees take on, help the
social action to be organized and these individuals interact with each
other in the organisation in order to deliver the results that the
organisational hierarchy wants.
The essence of the theory can be summarized by the following
sentence: The actions of others develop one’s own behaviour.
Four types of social action according to Weber
In his work Economy and Society (1921), Max Weber
mentions four forms of social action:
1. Traditional action.
These are actions which are the result of traditions and customs
and which are performed in certain situations.
Traditional social action example. Having lunch with the
family every Sunday. Traditional actions can become a cultural
reference. Tradition is divided into two subgroups: customs and
habits. A custom is a practice that is familiar, normally done and
popularized within the culture.
Customs, on the other hand, can last from generation to
generation. A habit is something that is learned little by little and is
sometimes something that becomes normalized in everyday life and
even becomes attached to a person’s personality.
2. Affective action.
Also known as emotional action where the human being acts
impulsively and does not necessarily think about the consequences.
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Affective social action example. Crying at a victory or crying
at a funeral are affective social actions. This social action is divided
into two subgroups: uncontrolled reaction and emotional tension.
In the uncontrolled reaction the person takes less account of the
feelings of others and puts the feelings of the person him / herself as
the main focus. Emotional tension is the frustration that a person may
have when not fulfilling his or her aspirations, and it is then where
the internal tension creates dissatisfaction.
3. Value-rational action.
This social action, rational action is characterized by moral or
ethical principles that are implemented collectively for the good of
society. Therefore, the rational action is guided by ideology or
collective ethics.
Rational social action with values example. Religion.
4. Rationally-Purposeful action.
These are actions that are carried out in order to achieve
a specific result.
Rational-instrumental social action example. Alina is 19 years
old and wants to study medicine, however, she is aware that she has
to take a rigorous exam in order to be able to go to university and
study what she wants to study. This exam makes Alina study every
day in order to pass the exam and finally study medicine.
If we take this everyday life example into account, we can
understand Alina’s desire to achieve her goal and what she has to do
in order to achieve it.
Alina then applies social instrumental action because each step
she takes to achieve her goal will bring a positive or negative
consequence depending on how she carries out the process, in this
case her process is one of discipline and study.
Georg Simmel in How Society Is Possible? proposes the
concept of social a priori.
Georg Simmel wrote: "Kant could propose and answer the
fundamental question of his philosophy, How is nature possible?
Only because for him nature was nothing but the
representation (Vorstellung) of nature. This does not mean merely
that «the world is my representation», that we thus can speak of
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