Lecture
Social philosophy is a branch of philosophy that studies the most general properties of various social systems and the most general laws of their development. The main functions of social philosophy are: worldview-forming, epistemological, methodological, humanistic, prognostic, and transformative. The basic concepts of social philosophy are: nature, society, historical process, formation, civilization, economy, social structure, politics, state, civil society, man, culture, and so on. The main problems of social philosophy are: 1. the relationship between society and nature; 2. understanding society as an integral system; 3. analysis of various spheres of social life; 4. identifying the sources, driving forces, and laws of social development; 5. understanding the historical process and its periodization, and others. The philosophical understanding of society consists in the interpretation of society on the basis of philosophical views. In Ancient Greece, conceptions of society took shape on the basis of the concepts of Plato's ideas or Aristotle's forms. Plato regarded society as the embodiment of the idea of justice, linking it to the cosmic principle. Morality, in Plato's view, is subordinate to the ideal of the state. Aristotle, proceeding from the necessity of building a just society, considered justice a combination of human virtues. In the Middle Ages, the philosophical understanding of society was based on the philosophy of the absolute person, God. On this basis Augustine Aurelius (the Blessed) (354–430) distinguishes the «heavenly city» and the «earthly city». He saw the meaning of history in the movement of the earthly city toward the perfection of the heavenly city. It must be emphasized that both Christianity and other world and national religions have their own models of the structure of society and the state. Their essence lies in the idea of the divine predetermination of the structure of society, which must provide man with the conditions for a worthy meeting with God in this life and in the life to come.
+The first to attempt a many-sided analysis of society was Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831). Among the problems raised in his socio-philosophical conception were: the structure of society and its governance, forms of state organization and the spirituality of society, the essence of world-historical development, and the individual within the system of social relations, as well as questions of morality, family, property, and others. The philosopher based society and its history on the idea of the realization of human freedom. Hegel regarded history as the progress of the absolute spirit, realized through the spirit of individual peoples, called upon to fulfill their particular mission. Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) developed the dialectical-materialist conception of society, for the first time extending materialism to the explanation of the most complex form of the motion of matter – the social form. According to this conception, all the components of society, forming a contradictory dialectical unity, are determined by material, productive relations, the totality of which constitutes the base, i.e. the economic foundation of society. In the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, alongside historical materialism, a number of new socio-philosophical conceptions arose. Thus a psychological direction took shape, whose representatives – Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), Erich Fromm (1900–1980), and others – sought an explanation of complex social processes in the psychology of the individual person and of large social groups. Max Weber (1864–1920) developed the concept of ideal types, representing peculiar schemes, models for the acceptable and convenient depiction of various periods in the history of human civilization. Dividing the whole of history conventionally into three large periods – traditional, feudal, and capitalist – he considers that what is common to them is the presence of the domination of some people over others, while the forms of domination and the causes generating them were different. Weber distinguishes three types of domination: traditional, charismatic, and rational. Weber considered capitalism the most perfect form of domination and governance, since under capitalism, more than under any other form, a rational, reasonable approach is manifested. Its essence lies in the fact that the decisions made by those in power bear a considered character and, what is especially important, are perceived as such by other people. Members of society acknowledge that the state authority has a legitimate right to make certain decisions, and consider themselves obligated to carry them out. Thus, understanding society presupposes taking into account and critically rethinking the past and the present in accordance with the realities of contemporary history.
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