Thinkers Basics
Thinkers Basics
Thinkers Basics
THOUGHT
&
THINKERS
Notes for Second Lecture
Certain Thinkers
I want you to know before we begin
What do you think how your explanations will be if you are living in an era
where Religion explains everything.
Like:
Solar Eclipse,
Spread of Diseases / Epidemics,
Lightening / Thunderstorm,
Volcanic Eruption
Now, tell me how your explanations will be if you are living in an era where
Science begins to Explain and Predict everything
Like:
Heliocentric Theory,
Laws of Gravity,
Vaccinations,
Mathematical Discoveries,
Newer Trade Routes, etc.
And then comes a major Societal Upheaval, French Revolution, You’d want to
Create a Science which can predict what will happen next in the society.
But it was not always known by the same name until August Comte Arrives.
Auguste Comte
Grew up in the period of great political turmoil that followed the French
Revolution of 1789–1799.
In August 1817, Comte met Henri Saint-Simon & became his secretary and
eventually a close collaborator.
They set out to develop a “science of man” that would reveal the underlying
principles of society much as the sciences of physics and chemistry
explained nature and guided industrial progress.
Comte saw this new science, which he named sociology, as the greatest of all
sciences.
Sociology would include all other sciences and bring them all together into a
cohesive whole.
Comte believed that rational thought married to the use of hard evidence
could advance human understanding on how societies successfully function
and why they go through historical change.
On the topic of how societies both function and change, Comte coined two
related terms –
“Social Statics”
and
“Social Dynamics”
Social Statics
Social Dynamics
Attends to how social institutions change over time to create social
transformation.
The flow of information around social institutions changes these structures
in different ways, and this creates human progress.
“Religion of Humanity”
Comte realized that the coming of industrial society would create new
political and social crises.
But his faith in scientific progress made him argue that such problems would
be resolved in a new rational system.
Marx believed that the industrial working class would win this struggle
between classes and this would lead to a communist society.
Marx noted that while all societies have social institutions, it is the economic
structure that shapes these institutions.
Émile Durkheim
(1858-1917)
Marx Believed:
The conflicts between social classes determined many things in society.
Durkheim was
Concerned about social cohesion in society.
Max Weber
Primary focus : Individual Meanings.
Meanings people attach to the world around them.
Weber majorly:
- Clarified
- Criticised
- Modified
Weber believed the role of intellectuals was simply to describe and explain
truth, whereas Marx believed the scholar should also tell people what to do.
Keep a copy of
• Syllabus,
• Ritzer &
• Haralambos