PHILO 1

SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY: VALUES

FORMATION
Definition:
An individual is born in the society and thereafter
interacts with the society throughout his life. The
society is the soil where his personality is
nurtured.
Social Philosophy is the philosophy of human
relations in Society.
Society is a group of individuals united together
with a definite end in view.
Society is a web social relationship.
The nucleus of the society is man.
Society is a dynamic organization of purposive
 Definition:
 According to Mackenzie, ‘Social Philosophy seeks to
explain the nature of society in the light of the
principle of social solidarity’. Social Philosophy aims
at interpretation of society with reference to the norm
of ‘social unity’.
 F W Blackmar maintained that Social Philosophy is
based upon the general facts of society. It makes
general observations on the nature of society. Social
Philosophy and Social sciences are closely connected.
 According to Morris Ginsberg, ‘Social Philosophy aims
at the formulation of the general principles of human
behavior through speculation on social phenomena’.
Definition:

 For Bertrand Russell, ‘Social Philosophy seeks the

conditions in which all the constructive
tendencies of man (such as love and sympathy)
Social marriage and education can provide
maximum possible opportunities to produce the
people who can save the world from future
catastrophe.
 “Social philosophy studies the interactions and
inter-relations that exist among men and their
groups”.
Nature of Social Philosophy:
 Social Philosophy is the philosophy of practice. It inquires
into ‘what is Right or Good for man and society’. Social
Philosophy deals with the individual’s Highest Good in the
society. It is primarily concerned with general questions
concerning the problems of society such as social cohesion,
social progress and social disintegration.
 In its early period, Social Philosophy tried to seek the
answer of the question, whether the society is natural or
conventional? Human beings have freedom of choice. The
question gave rise to the conceptions of Social Contract to
form society and Organic Unity of society. Rousseau said,
‘man is born free and yet is everywhere in chains’. Social
Philosophy seeks insight into the unity and order of human
society.
Nature of Social Philosophy:

 Social Philosophy is the philosophical study of

the questions about human social behavior. It
is concerned with the institutions like family,
educational institutions, economic institutions
such as business and markets. It is also related
with religious and social institutions for
recreation and enjoyment. The social
classifications like race, caste and gender too
are studied in Social Philosophy.
Nature of Social Philosophy:
 Social Philosophy is Normative.
Social Philosophy concentrates its attention on the unity of
mankind. Its effort is to study the meaning and worth of the
present, past and future modes of existence. Social Philosophy
looks beyond the actual existence and seeks to discover the
ideals that bring Highest Good for all. It shows that individual
Good is deeply involved in the realization of common Good.
Social Philosophy is concerned with what ought to be done to
realize the ideal involved in our social existence.
Social philosophy studies the ideals that are found in the
society. It suggests the means to realize those ideals through
the social institutions such as family, education, the state etc.
Nature of Social Philosophy:
 Social Philosophy is Evaluative.
Social Philosophy evaluates the various means to realize common
Good. Customs, traditions and various social institutions are means to
achieve order, stability and harmony in the society. These customs,
traditions and institutions with their set of rules and laws impose
several restrictions on the conduct and behavior of its members. Social
Philosophy aims at the criticism of social interactions and the social
relations in the community. It is mainly concerned with the study of the
values of various social phenomena.
Social Philosophy formulates the rules for ideal social interactions.
Social philosophy seeks to explain the nature of society in the light of
the principle of social solidarity. It shows the value on which social
progress of man depends. Social Philosophy tries to expose the
drawbacks of social institutions and the social behavior of people. It
sets the higher ideals for the guidance of conduct in human society.
 Nature of Social Philosophy:
 Social Philosophy is Speculative.
Social Philosophy is the speculation upon the basic principles of
human behavior, the supreme values of human life and the purpose
of entire existence. A social philosopher is deeply concerned with
the study of the inner implications of social phenomena. Social
Philosophy attempts to understand the patterns, changes and
tendencies of societies. It explores philosophical questions about
social issues, social behavior and social values.
Social Philosophy is not based on empirical method. Social
values are implied in social activities. The principles of Social
Philosophy are the basic conditions of any social relationship. The
ideals of Social Philosophy are a priori. They cannot be determined
from our experiences.
 Nature of Social Philosophy:

 Social Philosophy is Critical.

According to Ginsberg, Social Philosophy must take into
account the results of social sciences before formulation
of the general principles of human behavior. Social
Philosophy has two main functions namely Critical and
Constructive. Social Philosophy criticizes the actual social
existence in the light of common Good. It points out the
shortfalls in the social phenomena. It tries to find out the
logic of the postulates and the methods of social sciences.
The Critical function of Social Philosophy consists in
verifying the validity of approaches and methods.
Nature of Social Philosophy:
 Social Philosophy is Constructive.
According to Ginsberg, the criticism by Social Philosophy is
constructive. The Social philosopher applies his standards of
value to the various social phenomena. He seeks to find out the
conditions which make the society a harmonious whole. The
Constructive aspect of Social Philosophy studies the validity of
the social ideals. Social Philosophy gives insight into human
tendencies which, with proper training can raise the level of
social life. It also seeks solutions to get rid of all defective
tendencies operative in a social group. Social Philosophy not
only points out the drawbacks in the social interactions but
shows the measures to rectify them and thereby improves social
conditions.
Nature of Social Philosophy:
 Social Philosophy Transcends the Conclusions of Other Sciences.
The thinkers like Mackenzie, Blackmar, Ginsberg and Sorokin maintained that
Social Philosophy is closely connected with social sciences. E. S. Bogadus points
out that Social Philosophy gives broad interpretation of human personality and
society on the basis of the scientifically collected data on social phenomena.
Social Philosophy is not a mere unity of the conclusions of various sciences.
Social Philosophy transcends various conclusions (data) provided by other
branches of knowledge. It is the study of the most fundamental and general laws
of social behavior and social change. Social Philosophy has passed through the
stages of the speculative study to the descriptive study; from the descriptive
study to the analytical study and from the analytical study to the philosophical
reflections. Now it is facing the critical issues of single parent family, marriage,
live-in-relationships, gender equality, and new educational and work institutions.
By going beyond the received data, Social Philosophy interprets the meaning of
ever changing human life in the society.
The Scope of Social Philosophy:

 Social Philosophy as a science of society reflects

upon the basic nature of human relationships in
society. It studies the interrelation of social
organizations and the relation of individual to
these organizations. It speculates upon the
principles that underlie the human behavior.
Social Philosophy studies the structure and
functions of social systems and investigates into
their philosophical implications.
 The Scope of Social Philosophy:

 Social Philosophy studies the most fundamental

laws which influence social cohesion, social
progress, social change and social disintegration.
It seeks insight into the causes of social crimes,
juvenile delinquency, child labor, honor killing,
gender differentiation, injustice, and inequality.
It tries to find out the root causes of social
pathology and suggests the remedies for it.
Social Philosophy seeks to discover and restore
the social bonds that hold the mankind together.
 The Scope of Social Philosophy:

 Social Philosophy reflects upon the impact of

science and technology on human society and gives
a comprehensive philosophy of civilization. It
incorporates the conclusions of other sciences and
gives their philosophical interpretation. Social
Philosophy has axiological point of view. It defines
the social values such as common good, happiness,
peace, security, justice, freedom, excellence/beauty,
punctuality and discipline.
The Scope of Social Philosophy:
 We live in globalizing world and society is becoming more
and more inclusive. Social Philosophy is concerned with
the problems of marginalization of certain sections of
society all over the world on the basis of birth, education,
skills, gender, age, profession and possessions. The
traditional social institutions such as religion, family and
marriage are undergoing radical changes. The social
values need modification or redefinition to enhance the
progress of individuals and groups. Social Philosophy tries
to meet all the requirements to maintain social solidarity. It
views the entire mankind as one family which has a unique
kind of fraternity and commitment. The unity and the
wholeness of such a family aim at the realization of love,
compassion and justice for its members. The scope of
Group Discussion:

1. How do you describe our society

today?
2. How is the history of mankind
developed?
Sociological Pioneers
 Auguste Comte
 Father of Sociology
 Proponent of Positive
Philosophy
 Positivism
 The ONLY valid
knowledge is knowledge
gained through the
Scientific Method.
Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl
Castillo
Positivist View of History
According to Comte the history of
mankind develops in three
stages:

1. Theological Stage
2. Metaphysical Stage
3. Positivist Stage
Theological Stage
 Man searched the causes of natural phenomena
behind the empirical world and found the
superhuman forces like idols (fetishism), gods
(polytheism) and God (monotheism).
 There was a progress of knowledge from the
knowledge of impersonal forces to personal
God.
 The social organization was absolutism
 But this stage can be compared with the
infantile stage of human person.
Metaphysical Stage
 In this stage the natural forces were not
imagined as superhuman forces. They were
grasped with abstract concepts like ‘cause’,
‘ether’ , ‘being’, ‘substance’ etc. There was no
more God in this stage, because God was
conceptualized as an abstract entity.
 The social organization was laws oriented
society
 This stage is comparable with the stage of
adolescence of human person.
Positivist Stage
 Man explains the natural phenomena
factually, i.e. he doesn’t try to explain
them through theological or metaphysical
causes. So, the fall of an apple is not
cause by God or by the ‘primal cause’,
but by ‘gravitation’. We can observe
neither God nor primal cause. They are
not facts. Only fact is observable.
 The social organization is industrial
society
 In this stage the mankind reach the stage
of maturity of his knowledge.
Group Discussion:

1. Why do women and men get

treated differently?
Sociological Pioneers
 Harriet Martineau
 Mother of Sociology
 Authored one of the earliest
analyses of culture and life in the
United States entitled Theory and
Practice of Society in America
 Translated Comte’s Positive
Philosophy into English
 Martineau examined social class,
religion, suicide, national
character, domestic relations,
women’s status, criminology, and
interrelations between institutions
and individuals.
Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl
Castillo
Harriet Martineau:

 Strong believer in
feminism
 First to speak on women
being viewed as
secondary partner in a
relationship (marriage)
 Women could contribute more
to society than just as a house
wife
 Talks of abuse that women
endure
 Revolutionary in helping
women learn to fight back
Society

 Believed society had to be

changed through social reforms

 Belief in social reform:

 Component of Necessarianism

 Also reflects Unitarian

background
Concept of society

 Social interaction and human

association existed for the
happiness of the individual
 Purpose of society: Serve social
needs of individuals
 To empower individuals to make
their lives better
Society
 Autonomy essential to individual
happiness and Progress of society

 The subjugation of women and the

enslavement of other humans denied
society assets that would be much more
valuable if they were allowed autonomy
Sociological Pioneers
Karl Marx
Karl Marx was born on 5th May
1818.
Marx is widely referred to as a
Philosopher, Political-Economist and a
Journalist.
Marx was married to Jenny von
Westphalen.
Marx`s close friend and fellow
scholar was Friedrich Engels.
Karl Marx died on 14th March, 1883.
The message carved on his
symmetry was written as
“WORKERS OF ALL LANDS,
UNITE”
Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl
Castillo
 Some important key Concepts
Capitalism: Marx believed that capitalism is not only an
economic system but it is also a political system.
Class Struggles: Marx believed that conflict produces class
and inherently class produces conflict.
Exploitation: Marx believed that Capitalism can only thrive
exploitation of the working class.
Alienation: The workers are forced to sell their labour to the
Capitalists in order to survive.
Some important key Ideologies
Capitalist society is divided into two classes:
The Bourgeoisie(wealthier ones) and the Proletariat(poor ones).
The bourgeoisie increase their wealth by exploiting the
proletariat:
The richer ones exploit and make the poor more weaker to gain
wealth and power.
Ideological Control:
Marx argued that the ruling classes used their control of social
institutions to gain ideological dominance. Thus, the
proletariats accepted this and didn’t fight back.
The result of the above is false class consciousness:
The end result of ideological control is false consciousness –
where the masses, or proletariat are deluded into thinking that
everything is fine and that the appalling in which they live and
work are inevitable.
Types of Marxism

Communism: is the end state of having key means of production

owned in common (communally) without class
Socialism: is an intermediate transition state where a social
revolution (that is, of the workers, the vast majority of society) is
required to get to communism.
Criticisms of Marxist ideas
Criticisms of Marxism have come from various political
ideologies which include ethical and economical criticisms.
Democratic socialists and social democrats reject the idea that
socialism can be accomplished through class conflict and a
proletarian revolution.
Some thinkers have rejected the fundamentals of Marxist
theory, such as historical materialism and the labour theory of
value, and gone on to criticise capitalism - and support
socialism - using other arguments.
Some contemporary supporters of Marxism argue that many
aspects of Marxist thought are viable, but that the corpus is
incomplete or somewhat out-dated in regards to certain
aspects of economic, political or social theory.
Contributions of Marxism in the modern
world system
Elaboration of the conflict model of society, specifically his theory of
social change based on antagonisms between classes.
The idea that power originates primarily in economic production.
Concern with the social origins of alienation.
Understanding of modern capitalism.
Welfare State.
 Sociological Pioneers

 Herbert Spencer
 Parallelism in the society
between animals and ma n.
 Survival

 Man
 Has never ending compe tition to
win.
 Survival

Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl

Castillo
 HERBERT SPENCER
 Evolution of the social organism= evolution/development of
the physical world, biological organisms, human mind,
human culture and societies
 He contributed to a wide range of subjects (religion, ethics,
anthropology, sociology, psychology etc)
 HERBERT SPENCER
 Acquired knowledge from friends and acquaintances
 He believed that the ultimate goal of societal
evolution is complete harmony and happiness.
 Spencer's theory of evolutionary change is built
upon three basic principles:
 1) integration (the bringing of people of different
racial or ethnic groups into unrestricted and equal
association, as in society or an organization);
 2) differentiation (to form or mark differently from
other such things; distinguish);
 3) definiteness (considerable variation in the
expression)
HERBERT SPENCER
 Homogenous phenomena are inherently unstable, which makes
them subject to constant fluctuations.
 These fluctuations force homogeneous systems to
differentiate, which results in greater differences.
 In other words, homogeneous systems grow to become
heterogeneous.
 He argued that people might think they deal with the same
issues as sociologists do; however, they are not trained to
adequately comprehend these issues. One of the ways that
Spencer believed sociology could become more legitimate
was for sociologists to study other disciplines, especially
biology and psychology. Biology could be linked to sociology
through the search for the basic "laws of life," understanding
society as a "living body" and focusing on human beings as
the starting point of sociological inquiries
 HERBERT SPENCER
 Functionalist approach:
 According to functionalism, society is a system of interconnected
parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of
balance and social equilibrium for the whole.
 For example, each of the social institutions contributes
important functions for society: Family provides a context for
reproducing, nurturing, and socializing children; education offers
a way to transmit a society’s skills, knowledge, and culture to its
youth; politics provides a means of governing members of
society; economics provides for the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services; and religion provides moral
guidance and an outlet for worship of a higher power.
 The functionalist perspective emphasizes the
interconnectedness of society by focusing on how each part
influences and is influenced by other parts.
 ACTIVITY
Question:

What are the qualities of a woman/man

you are attracted most?
Theory of Natural Selection

 Mate
 Male
 Handsome
 Strong/ Muscular/ Tall/ Physic
 Financially Stable

 Female
 Beautiful
 Sexy
 Caring and Neat

Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl

Castillo
Sociological Pioneers
EMILE
DURKHEIM
 EMILE DURKHEIM
 Believed that capitalism was productive as it made
countries richer.
 And in certain ways was liberating.
 Believed that the economic system was doing
something to people’s minds….it was literally
driving them to suicide.
 Once a nation became industrialised (developing of
countries), suicide rates went up. He made
comparisons with nations in his time.
 Suicide theory was to shed light on the unhappiness
in societies: mental distress created by capitalism.
 EMILE DURKHEIM
 He tried to explain why people become so unhappy in modern
societies due to capitalism. 5 factors:
 Individuals
 Excessive hopes
 More freedom
 Religion. Atheism.
 Weakening of the nation and family
Sociological Pioneers
 Emile Durkheim
 Studied on Suicide
 Most suicide
 Protestants
 Wealthy
 Males
 Disgusted
 Less suicide
 Catholics
 Poor
 Females
 Contented
 Suicide
 Product of Social Factors
Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl
Castillo
Emile Durkheim

 Kinds of Suicide
 Egoistic Suicide
 Little Social Interaction

 Altruistic Suicide
 Self Sacrifice for others

 Anomic Suicide
 Unable to fulfill the need s

Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl

Castillo
Emile Durkheim

 Kinds of Anomic Suicide

 Acute Economic Anomie
 Unreligious

 Chronic Economic Anomie

 Wealthy but unhappy

 Acute Domestic Anomie

 Inability to adapt
 Widowhood

 Chronic Domestic Anomie

 Bachelor tended suicide than
married.

Social Philosophy and Values Formation Mr. Joe Carl

Castillo
Max Weber
1864-1920

Rationality
and
Organization
Background

 Maximilian Karl Emil "Max" Weber

 Born in Erfurt, Germany (1864)

 Well-to-do family

 Eldest of eight children

 Sickly child
 Physical problems
 Mental problems
 HBa ckg rou nd
is mother (Helene
Fallenstein):
 Calvinist
 Concerned with social issues
 Very religious

 His father (Max Weber):

 Politician
 Lawyer
 Self-centered and authoritarian
Mr. and Mrs. Max Weber
 Background
 Parents had marriage
problems
 Different beliefs and values

 Max Weber and his brother

Alfred became sociologists
and economists.
Max Weber

 Weber
Pronounced:

“vay-bear”

 Max, Alfred, and K arl ->

(1879)
 Max Weber’s Sociology
 Concerned with
individuals, as well as
social structure
Macro
Micro
 Max Weber: Sociology
Comprehensive science of
Social Action

 Behavior versus Action

 Behavior= move, react,
eat etc.
 Action=Behavior +
Meaning
 Diferent from Other Theorists
Spencer: Evolution of society as
analogous to an organism
 Natural laws of society

Durkheim: Society as an
organism
 Maintaining cohesion of social
structures
 Social Solidarity
Different from Other Theorists

Marx: Society influenced by

economy
 Conflict between social classes
 Max Weber: Social Action

Weber’s primary focus:

 Subjective meanings that humans attach to their actions and
interactions
 Within specific social contexts

Behavior without meaning, is not in

the purview of sociology
 Max Weber: Social Action

Four Major Types of Social Action

1. Traditional Action
 Guided by custom or habit
 Action is simply "always
done"

 Example: Celebrating holidays

 Max Weber: Social Action

2. Emotional or Affective Action

 Motivated by emotional state
 Love, Anger, Happiness,
Revenge
 Examples:

 Going to college because your

boyfriend or girlfriend is
attending that school
 Hitting a person out of anger
 Max Weber: Social Action

3. Value-oriented Rational Action

 Working toward a goal, which may not be rational
 But is pursued through rational means
 Values: Ethical, Religious, Philosophical

 Not rationally "chosen“

 Example: Going to college because you value learning and
knowledge
 Max W ber: Soc al Action
e ntal Ration al
4. Instrume
(Goal-oriented Rational Action)
Goals & means are rationally chosen

Example:

 Earning a college degree in order

to get a good paying job
 Max Weber: Social Action
 Primarily concerned with modern
Western society

 Behavior increasingly dominated by

goal-oriented rationality

 In the past: Motivated by tradition,

affect, or value-oriented rationality