Suchergebnisse

The programmes of political parties and movements are attempts to formulate policies or guidelines in relation to social change. Social philosophy concerns the fundamental issues on which those programmes divide. This introductory work gives an account of several highly influential systems of social philosophy - systems which serve as the landmarks by reference to which modern discussions still orientate themselves. The description of various stages in the history of social philosophy is set within an account of its changing social environment - from feudalism and the philosophy of Aquinas to

MANY OF J. P. SARTRE'S WORKS SHOW AN AMBIVALENCE: CALLING FOR AN ANTIINTELLECTUAL RADICALISM WHILE THEY ARE SCHOLARLY & SELF-INDULGENT. IN HIS CRITIQUE DE LA RAISON DIALECTIQUE (CRITIQUE OF DIALECTICAL REASON, PARIS, FRANCE: 1960), THE ENGAGED & POLITICAL SARTRE SURFACES, & THE BUILT-IN PROBLEMS OF HIS EXISTENTIALISM REVEAL THEMSELVES. HIS ADVENTURE INTO THE UNDERSTANDING OF MAN IN HIS WORLD IS A NOTABLE TRIUMPH. HOWEVER, SOME OF HIS BASIC CONCEPTS CAN BE QUESTIONED. IN THE DESCRIPTION OF SERIALITY MAN ACTS ALONE; HE ONLY APPEARS TO ACT TOGETHER WITH OTHERS. THIS ONTOLOGICAL POSITION IS CENTRAL TO MOST OF THE ASSERTIONS MADE IN THE CRITIQUE, & CONTINUES TO HAMPER THE TREATISE THROUGHOUT. MAN'S RELATIONSHIPS ARE SEEN AS BEING CONDITIONED BY SCARCITY; BECAUSE OF IT HE ACTS INDIVIDUALLY RATHER THAN IN UNISON. SARTRE FAILS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SCARCITY IS DETERMINED BY EXISTING WAYS OF ARRANGING THE COMMON STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL & THE LEVEL OF PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY IN A SOCIETY. HE ASSERTS THAT SCARCITY IS PRIOR TO HUMAN ACTION, THUS RELEGATING MAN TO PASSIVITY. AS A MARXIST, HE FAILS TO POINT TO FLUIDITY, OR TO STRUCTURED INTENTIONAL ACTIVITY WHICH IS BEHIND ALL APPARENT GIVENS. IN HIS EXPLANATION OF THE PRACTICO-INERT, HE TAKES A TRANSHISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW. THE WORLD REMAINS FOREVER A POWER OVER MAN, A FORCE BEYOND HIS CONTROL. BY IGNORING THE CONCEPT OF 'SOCIETY', HIS SOCIAL THEORY IS BUILT ON ISOLATED, ABSTRACT INDIVIDUALS. THOUGH HE ATTEMPTS TO LOCATE THE INDIVIDUAL'S BASIC SR, ISOLATED INDIVIDUALS ARE CONTINUALLY ENCOUNTERED IN THE TEXT. THE GOAL--AN ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL MAN--CONTINUALLY CONTRADICTS THE PREMISE, THE ISOLATED INDIVIDUAL. IF THE APPROACH WERE BASED ON THE NATURE OF THE DIALECTIC, HE WOULD RECOGNIZE PRAXIS AS SOCIAL, NOT AS INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY. SARTRE'S MARXISM BECOMES A PHILOSOPHY OF DESPAIR BECAUSE THE INDIVIDUAL WILL ALWAYS BE OVERWHELMED BY THE PRACTICO-INERT, ISOLATED & THREATENED BY OTHERS EXCEPT FOR THE MOMENT WHEN THE GROUP COMES TOGETHER. A. KARMEN.