Philosophy of Society

Social Philosophy (Theory of Society)

Sociological Concepts Before Comte

The first attempts to understand the nature of society emerged as soon as society itself came into being. People, having formed communities, sought to explain why they lived together and why such communal living was necessary. Thus, the earliest theories of society have very ancient origins. Those who banded together into tribes explained their communal existence through kinship ties, believing they descended from a common ancestor and thus constituted one large family. The idea of the tribe as a large family persists among many peoples in Australia, Oceania, and Africa. Sometimes, the common ancestor revered by tribal members was not a human being but rather an admired creature, such as a wolf, snake, lion, or even plants or natural forces. This recognition of a common ancestor is known as totemism, a term derived from the word "totem," used by the Ojibwe people to denote a common ancestor. The theory of totemism was first proposed by the English scholar Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917), who argued that totemism represented the earliest form of human socialization, uniting people into cohesive communities.

As tribes evolved into states, people began to equate society with the state. In early states, the foundation of unity was religion. People united in a single community for the shared practice of religious rites. Temples were constructed at the centers of city-states, around which communal life revolved. The king acted as the chief priest in this temple, leading religious ceremonies on the most sacred days. When a city-state conquered another city, the cults of the two cities would be merged. Even when some Greek cities abandoned monarchy, they generally retained the sacred status of kings, continuing to crown them to fulfill their ritual roles, though they were excluded from administrative duties. Theoretical reflections on society were rare during this time. As long as ancient states had kings who symbolized communal unity, the notion that people should live together in one society was taken as an axiom and did not warrant debate. It was only when some ancient states transitioned to republican forms of government that kings lost their administrative roles. With the disappearance of the symbol of societal unity, intellectuals began to ponder why people unite in society. Since the first republics emerged in Greek city-states, the first theories of society also originated there. Given that the ancient Greeks identified society with the state, their philosophical concepts paid more attention to politics than to society. Nevertheless, they laid the groundwork for social philosophy. Aristotle distilled the essence of ancient social thought, asserting that humans are rational and political beings, naturally inclined to live in society. Humans, like their need for food, water, or air, cannot exist without society.

In the European Middle Ages, all cultural and philosophical achievements were grounded in Christianity. People were created by God, who instilled in them a yearning for communal life. Only within society could humans find happiness. Christianity, viewing humanity as a divine creation that had fallen into sin, presented social institutions as aligning with this anthropology. The highest calling for humans was to become like God, and since this noble goal could only be achieved collectively, people joined the Church—a community established by Christ and reflecting the Kingdom of God. However, since humanity had sinned, resulting in a tendency toward evil, an institution was needed to restrict these malevolent impulses through coercion. This institution was the state, tasked with the moral education of its citizens.

With the advent of the Modern Age, the question of society re-emerged with renewed vigor. Thinkers of the time questioned why people united and began to live and act together. Nearly unanimously, modern philosophers responded with the theory of the social contract, which posits that people united to achieve their goals through collective effort. However, the social contract theory places greater emphasis on the state rather than society itself, indicating that English and French Enlightenment thinkers had not yet differentiated between society and the state. This separation of social theory from political theory was achieved by Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology.