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Classical Theorists
SPENCER
For Spencer, simlar to Comte--- two primary factors of social
phenomena are the external environment and the physical and social
constitution of the individual. The former can influence society
only through the latter, which thus becomes the essential force of
social evolution. If society is formed, it is in order to permit the
individual to express is nature, and all the transformations
throughwhich this nature has passed have no other object than tomake
this expression easier and more complete.
II. MONTESQUIEU
1. Montesquieu---18th century philoshoper, historian--tried to
make history intelligible;
2. Montesquieu took a "determinist" view of institutions; yet
he examined these against universal values. .
3. He looked at unemployment in context of changing technical
changes, etc.
4. But focused especially on law and political philosophy (SIGNIFICANCE:
This shaped how subsequent theorists examined the subject; ie,
provided a MODEL, an EXAMPLE, and posed questions and issues.
5. For MONTESQUIEU, then, society was diverse, and for him the
INTELLECTUAL TASK was to create order from apparent chaos.
SIG of montesquieu was sociological analysis of positive law,
the application of determiniism to social nature. The logic of
his thought consisted of three elements:
1) Observe the diversity of positive laws
2) analyze this diversity in terms of multiple
(social) causes
3) develop practical advice to offer legislator as
result of scientific exposition of laws. Montesquieu
was devoid of the ideology which constitutes almost
all contemporary sociology:
THE BELIEF IN PROGRESS.
This was a major theme of Comte's work. Note here the TYPE of
practice. .. Theory shapes PRAXIS--different than today, which is
other way around...practice tends to shape theory
AUGUSTE COMTE
COMTE was an early 19th century social philosopher. He is
considered the SOCIOLOGIST OF HUMAN AND SOCIAL UNITY. He says
Human History as a single entity. For him, SOCIAL ORDER was an
expression of CIVIL ORDER, and "the preponderate social forces, of
necessity, at last, become the directing ones." That is, there is
an instinctual independent tendency toward social (or species)
improvement, both in the individual and in the race, which leads to
the progress through history of the human mind and of people's
intellectual, emotional, and powers. The political order, in turn,
MUST REFLECT this organization (rather than vice-versa) and must be
able to DIRECT this development. This requires, for a "good" society,
a UNITY between political organization and the social attributes to be
directed. (NOTE: AN "evolutionist" theme).
1. He was responding to Hegel's "negativity" (negation,
etc)...for comte, world was unity, not dissolving into new
forms, etc
2. Considered FIRST sociologist (but only because he came up
with the term
3. the FUNCTION of sociology, for Comte, was to understand the
necessary, indispensable, and INEVITABLE course of history in
such a way as to promote the realization of a new order
(EG--NOTE PURPOSE OF KNOLWEDGE HERE. . .)
4. From Durkheim (p 98)--Durkheim opposes Comte's emphasis on the
psychological: For Comte, he says, the social phenomenon,
conceived in its totality, is fundmentally only a simple
development of humanity,without the creation of any special
faculties whatsoever." The predominant fct in social life is
progress, which depends on an exlucisvely ychological factor,
namely, the tendency which impels man to perfect his nature
more and more. He identified THREE stage of human evolution
and science, ie, that the human mind passes through 3 stages:
a) We explain things by ascribing them to beings or forces
comparable to ourselves (eg, "GOD", "BEINGS")
b) Metaphysics, ie, we invoke abstract entities like "nature"
c) We observe things and discover regularities and laws
For comte, sociology became a SCIENCE like other sciences, and
just as there is no free will in math, there is none in
society. But sociologists nonetheless do IMPOSE their verdicts
(eg, discoveries) in sociology and politics just as in math or
astronomy.
5. SUM: For Comte, then, the SOCIOLOGICAL task was to
contemplate the internal contradiction of the society of his
age, the contradiction between the theoological and military
type of society (which characterized his period (ie, 17th,
18th centuries) and the scientific-industrial type emerging
in the 18th-19th century. Ideas would GOVERN the emerging
social order, and thus KNOWLEDGE was seen as the means to
guide evolution of human development.
The TASK of sociology, for COMTE, is to understand the necessary,
indispensable, and INEVITABLE course of history in such a way as to
PROMOTE the realization of the new order. [NOTE: He was responding
especially to the French revolution, and the contradiction between
the old monarchy and the new revolutionary and democratic forces].
We can thus identify three major themes in Comte's thinking:
a) Industrial society (ie, western Europe) would become the
society of all species-kind
b) Universality of scientific thinking. . .in two senses: a)
It's THE way to think, and b) would be spread to everybody
c) Human nature is fundamentally the same (as is social
order): thus comes the questions: Where does DIVERSITY come
from?
7. Comte borrowed his answer from others in the early 19th
century, who recognized that something NOVEL was occuring, ie,
industrialization, which had six features:
a) Industry is a form of scientific organization
b) involves tremendous development of wealth and resources
c) there emerges WORKING MASSES 4) this brings about an
antagonism between social classes (pre-dates MARX)
d) Although wealth and benefits increase, so do social and
econ crises e) Free enterprise (unchecked profit seeking)
becomes the primary social organizing force
Where Montesquieu posited the principle of determinism in historical and
social phenomena, Comte offered a simplified interpretaation. To
him, this became a deterministic evolution.
His central IDEAL: SOCIAL PHENOMENA ARE SUBJECT TO A STRICT
DETERMINISM WHICH SEPARATES IN THE FORM OF AN INEVITABLE EVOLUTINO
OF HUMAN SOCIETIES WHICH IS GOVERNED BY THE PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN
MIND.
This was a positivist phiosphy, ie, a philosophy of observation,
experimentation, analysis and determinism. The sociology which he
offers is the study of the LAWS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
NOTES: THESE EARLY ANALYSTS WERE CONCERNED PRIMARILY WITH MACRO
TOPICS (EG, HISTORY, SOCIAL EVOLUTION, ETC)
For comte, the history of intelligence proceeds from fetishism (ie,
imputing meaning to inanimate objects) to postivism (discovery of
laws). History, therefore, leads to increasing differentiation of
social functions and characteristics (because of influence of mind on
the world), and thus history is a PROCESS of unification (something
like HEGEL, but UPSIDE DOWN).
Comte saw such development as being governed by FORCE, namely, number
and wealth. That force should prevail is normal, and it is primarily
HOW force is applied and for what ends, NOT WHETHER IT EXISTS that is
the important question.
NOTE: BOTH Montesquieu and Comte opposed to VIOLENCE. They did not
believe societies required revolutions, etc, to resol crises and
conflict, or that even if such violence was successful in the short
term, it would ultimately help a society fulfill it's DESTINY.
History subject to laws of evolution, NOT revolution.
SO: Comte's over-all tasks, then, was a) social reform, and b)
unification of all scientific knowledge (into positivism) Comte viewed
a "social science" as a "natural science" in that we apply the same
rules of logic and method (ie, systematic observation) to inquiry.
For this reason, his is often called the "FATHER" of sociology.
One way he examined this was to examine the contradiction between
society AS IT EXISTED (eg, the theological and military and the
emerging "rational" society (eg, industrial and scientific type).
Three major themes in his work:
1. Industrial society (equivalent to society of Western Europe at
that time) would eventually become "universal." Some see Comte
as combining Montesquieu's theme of DETERINISM and Condorcet's
theme of necessary sequential stages in the progress of the
human mind to arrive at his central idea. This central idea
may be summarized as follows:
Social phenomena are subject to a strict determinism
which separates in the form of an inevitable evolution
of human societies--an evolution which is itself governed
by the progress of the human mind (Aron, 1969: 82).
Comte was concerned with reducing the seemingly infinite
variety of human societies in time and space to a fundamental
set, The development of the human race, and to a single
design: the culmination in an ultimate state of the human race
and of the human mind. For Comte, the POSTIVIST METHOD was
based on
a) observation
b) experimentation,
c) the establishment of general laws
Page maintained by: Jim Thomas - jthomas@sun.soci.niu.edu