The Natural Law Foundations of Modern Social Theory

A Quest for Universalism
Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-1-107-46278-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 258 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 379 g

After several decades in which it became a prime target for critique, universalism remains one of the most important issues in social and political thought. Daniel Chernilo reassesses social theory's universalistic orientation and explains its origins in natural law theory, using an impressive array of classical and contemporary sources that include, among others, Habermas, Leo Strauss, Weber, Marx, Hegel, Rousseau and Hobbes. The Natural Law Foundations of Modern Social Theory challenges previous accounts of the rise of social theory, recovers a strong idea of humanity, and revisits conventional arguments on sociology's relationship to modernity, the enlightenment and natural law. It reconnects social theory to its scientific and philosophical roots, its descriptive and normative tasks and its historical and systematic planes. Chernilo's defense of universalism for contemporary social theory will surely engage students of sociology, political theory and moral philosophy alike.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chernilo, Daniel

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I. On the Relationships between Social Theory and Natural Law: 1. Contemporary social theory and natural law: Jürgen Habermas; 2. A natural law critique of modern social theory: Karl Löwith, Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin; Part II. Natural Law: 3. Natural law and the question of universalism; 4. Modern natural law I: Hobbes and Rousseau on the state of nature and social life; 5. Modern natural law II: Kant and Hegel on proceduralism and ethical life; Part III. Classical Social Theory: 6. Classical social theory I: Marx, Tönnies and Durkheim on alienation, community and society; 7. Classical social theory II: Simmel and Weber on the universality of sociability and reasonableness; 8. Social theory as the natural law of 'artificial' social relations; Epilogue.

Über Autor(innen)

Chernilo, Daniel
Daniel Chernilo (BA, University of Chile; PhD, University of Warwick) is Reader in Social and Political Thought at Loughborough University. He has written widely on nationalism, cosmopolitanism and the problem of universalism in classical and contemporary social thought. He is the author of A Social Theory of the Nation-State (2007) and, in Spanish, of Nacionalismo y Cosmopolitismo (2010) and La Pretensión Universalista de la Teoría Social (2011). He has given over fifty invited seminars and lectures in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Czech Republic, Germany, Singapore and the UK. He is also a member of the international advisory boards of the British Journal of Sociology, the European Journal of Social Theory and Revista de Sociología.