HUMAN SOCIETY

SOCIAL THEORY: WHOLES, PARTS, AND THE FIELD OF TOLERATION

by Ragnar Stara ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

An attempt to articulate a philosophically unified definition of society.

According to Stara, a historian, sociologists have abandoned any serious attempt to rigorously define society—largely assuming that the theory behind it is simply self-evident or too unempirical to matter. The author argues that such an omission is the “fundamental conflict for the social sciences” today, and one that fatally undermines their theoretical and conceptual progress. Stara proposes a solution by offering an understanding of society that’s deeply influenced by the work of Finnish philosopher Uuno Saarnio (1896–1977), and his interpretation of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s concept of ecclesiastical toleration—specifically, his notion of a “virtual union.” Stara considers human society to be this type of union, “since it claims to encompass all people within an undefined unity. The extent of this unity cannot be defined in concrete terms.” In language that’s frustratingly vague, the author argues that a society is held together by contracts that determine the bounds of “mutuality” and establish self-contained spheres that rest upon common agreements on major issues—such as the prohibition of slavery—while tolerating disagreements on other, less fundamental matters. In order to limn the kind of whole that society is, and how it encompasses disparate parts, he draws upon the “typology of the whole,” as discussed by Saarnio. The author goes on to provides a sweeping account of historically accepted definitions of society, including classical ones proposed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes, as well as more recent ones based on culture and class. Along the way, he thoroughly draws out the implications of his definition on such things as social action and motivation.

Stara should be commended for astutely noting the contemporary lack of philosophical rigor in sociology, and its litany of “uninspiring books” that blithely neglect foundational theoretical issues in the name of a myopic empiricism. His goal is as ambitious as it is admirable: to formulate an inclusive notion of society that also accounts for profound questions involving “the meaningful and the valuable.” However, his prose can be circuitous and hazy, as when he refers to a “community of the congregation which encompasses those people who adjoin themselves to the community,” a phrase that’s blandly uninformative, if not simply tautologous. He indulges in generality when precision is necessary, as when he addresses the aforementioned typology of the whole: “The position of the parts in relation to one another is determined by the type of the whole, not the characteristics of the parts. On other hand, it is not determined how the parts affect one another or what causal connection there might exist between the parts.” The entire book proceeds in a similarly leaden, halting manner, although it’s unclear if this is an artifact of Myatt’s translation from the original Swedish, or a symptom of the original work. Stara is certainly correct to call for an infusion of conceptual clarity and depth into sociology, but he contributes neither of these elements in sufficient measures.

An ambitious scholarly study that promises more than it delivers.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-952-69507-1-6

Page Count: 399

Publisher: Starabooks

Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | GENERAL HISTORY