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Wednesday, April 19, 2023
© 1998-2002 by Ronald Keith Bolender-Adapted for Educational Purposes Only. 1
SYA 3010 Sociological Theory:
Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory (Plato)andWhy Did Sociology Emerge?
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© 1998-2002 by Ronald Keith Bolender 2
Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological TheoryandWhy Did Sociology Emerge?
ReferencesDenisoff, R. Serge, Orel Callahan, and Mark
H. Levine. 1974. Theories and Paradigms in Contemporary Sociology. Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock Publishers, Incorporated.
Turner, Jonathan H., Leonard Beeghley, and Charles H. Powers. 1998. The Emergence of Sociological Theory. 4th ed. Cincinnati, OH: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
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Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory
The fundamental foundations of sociological theory have been gleaned (as all things seem to be) from the ancient Greeks.
(Denisoff, Callahan, and Levine 1974:3-7)
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Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory
Even though Plato is not considered the “father” of
sociology--he is probably the first person to systematically
study society in a “sociological” way. In other words, he he
thought like a sociologistthought like a sociologist.
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Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory
The basic notion of natural law is found in Plato’s Republic. There is an order to
society--a universalism, urged the Greek philosopher. The essence of this universal, unfortunately, was not totally
clear. On the one hand, society was characterized as an organism, an
enclosed, total, holistic unit. This was the Platonic “isis” of society.
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Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory
The entire state of nature, however, was not yet known. Consequently, man was in a
position to use logic--”the act and method of correct thinking”--to posit an “oughtought” of what society could be. This inherent contradiction between the Platonic “is” and the “ought” is fundamental to the processes of random fact gathering in
Western thought.
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Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory
Plato’s Six Basic Assumptions of Society Man is an organism. Organisms tend toward survival. Man survives in groups. Man is a social animal. Man lives in an ordered society. The order of society is knowable. (Rose 1967 and Carroll 1972 in Denisoff, Callahan, and Levine 1974:4-
5)
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Origins of Paradigmatic Assumptions of Sociological Theory
Important note regardingPlato’s Six Basic Assumptions of
Societyfor the Final Exam--
MemorizeMemorize each assumption “word for word”
ANDMemorizeMemorize the order of assumptions (1 to 6)
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
Sociology ---- So What?
Why do we need this discipline?
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
Humans have, no doubt, always thought about their lives and the
conditions of their existence. Such thoughts are the lifeblood of religion, philosophy, ideology, and the many other ways that humans can think about themselves and their world.
(Turner, Beeghley, and Powers 1998:1-6)
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
There is, therefore, nothing new in the basic impulse that eventually led to
the emergence of sociology as a discipline concerned with
understanding human behavior, interaction, and organization.
Sociology is, after all, only the more systematic study of what people do
in their daily lives and routines.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
But sociology did not emerge as an inevitable extension of what people
typically do; rather, it arose from the rebirth or Renaissance in Europe
after centuries of apparent stagnation and misery.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
These “dark ages” were the aftermath of the collapse of the last remnants
of the Roman Empire, and they were only dark in retrospective
comparison with the perceived accomplishments of the Greeks and
Romans.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
But life was not so stagnant: (a) New inventions and ideas were slowly accumulating, despite
the oppressive poverty of the masses, the constant warfare among feudal lords, and the
rigid dogma of religion. (b) New systems of commerce were slowly emerging. (c) New
forms and experiments in political organization were emerging from the patterns of war and conquest. (d) New religious ideas were subtly working their way around the dogmas of the
dominant church.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
Thus, the great awakening in intellectual thought, art, commerce, politics, and other human pursuits
was built on small achievements and advances that were slowly
accumulating between the fifth and thirteenth centuries in Europe.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
Yet, once a critical threshold was reached, human thinking took
sudden leaps, recapturing much that had been lost from the Greeks and Romans and, more significantly, re-creating systematic thought about the universe in terms of science.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was the first to articulate clearly the new
mode of inquiry: Conceptualizations of the nature of the universe should always be viewed with skepticism
and tested against observable facts. This sounds like a commonplace idea today, but it was radical in its time.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
This idea both legitimated and stimulated the great achievements of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries in astronomy, culminating in Sir Isaac Newton’s famous law of
gravity.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge?
Thinking about the universe took on a systematic character, but more than just
systematic: Thinking also became abstract, articulating basic and fundamental
relationships in highly general terms and, then, seeing if concrete events in the
empirical world conformed to these general statements. Such is the essence of science,
and it changed the world.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
Sociology emerged as a discipline in the early decades of the nineteenth century, but it was
not so much a dramatic breakthrough in human reasoning as an extension of what is
often termed “The EnlightenmentThe Enlightenment.” Perhaps The Enlightenment can be
considered an intellectual revolution, because it turned thinking about the human
condition toward the view that progress was not only possible, but inevitable.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
In England and Scotland, The Enlightenment was dominated by a group of thinkers who argued for a vision of human beings and
society that both reflected and justified the industrial capitalism that first emerged in the British Isles. Scholars such as Adam
Smith believed individuals are to be free of external constraint and allowed to
compete, thereby creating a better society.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
In France, The Enlightenment is often termed the Age of ReasonAge of Reason, and it
was dominated by a group of scholars known as the
philosophers. Sociology was born from the intellectual ferment
generated by the French philosophers.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
Although The Enlightenment was fueled by the political, social, and economic changes
of the eighteenth century, it derived considerable inspiration from the scientific
revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The scientific
revolution reached a symbolic peak, at least in the eye of eighteenth-century
thinkers, with Newtonian physics.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
The post-Newtonian view of science was dramatically different from previous views. The old dualism between reason and the senses had broken down, and for the first time, it could be
confidently asserted that the world of reason and the world of phenomena formed a single unity. Through concepts, speculation, and logic, the
facts of the empirical world could be understood, and through the accumulation of facts, reason
could be disciplined and kept from fanciful flights of speculation.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
The world was thus viewed as orderly, and people believed it was possible to
understand the world’s complexity through the use of reason and the collection of facts. Newton’s principle of gravity was
hailed as the model for this reconciliation between reason and senses. Physics
became the vision of how scientific inquiry and theory should be conducted.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
And the individual and society were increasingly drawn into the orbit of the
new view of science. This gradual inclusion of the individual and society
into the realm of science represented a break with the past because heretofore these phenomena had been considered
the domain of morals, ethics, and religion.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
Indeed, much of the philosophers’ intellectual effort involved the emancipation of thought about
humans from religious speculation, and although the philosophers were
far from scientific, they performed the essential function of placing
speculation about the human condition in the realm of reason.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
Indeed, as can be seen in their statements on universal human rights, laws, and the natural order, much of
their work consisted of attacks on established authority in both the church and state. From notions of
“natural law,” it was but a short step to consideration of the laws of human
organization.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
The philosophers’ view of human beings and society was greatly influenced by
the social condition around them. They were vehemently opposed to the
Old Regime in France and highly supportive of the interest of the
bourgeoisie [bů( r )zh-,wä-’ze] in free trade, free commerce, free industry,
free labor, and free opinion.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
The large and literate bourgeoisie formed the reading public that bought the books, papers, and
pamphlets of the philosophers. These philosophers’ concern with the “laws of human condition” was as much, and probably more,
influenced by their moral, political, and ideological commitments as by a dispassionate
search for scientific laws. Yet it would be a mistake to ignore the extent to which the
philosophers raised the possibility of a science of society molded in the image of physics or biology.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
The basic thesis of all philosophers, whether Voltaire, Rousseau, or others, was that humans had certain “natural rights,” which were violated by institutional
arrangements. It would be necessary, therefore, to dismantle the existing order
and substitute a new order considered more compatible with the essence and
basic needs of humankind.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
The transformation was to occur through enlightened and progressive
legislation; ironically, the philosophers stood in horror as their names and ideas were used to justify
the violent Revolution of 1789.
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Why Did Sociology Emerge? Sociology and the Enlightenment
In almost all of the philosophers’ formulation was a vision of human progress. Humanity was seen to be
marching in a direction and was considered governed by a “law of progresslaw of progress” that was as
fundamental as the law of gravitation in the physical
world. Note
Most sociological theorists adopted the philosophical concept of “the law of progress.” This is an
important concept to remember as you study the various theorists and theories in this course.
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