Diagnosing Social Pathology: Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, and Durkheim

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Publication date:

07 October 2022

27 October 2022

ISBN:

9781009235020

9781009235037

9781009235006

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009235020

Dimensions:

(229 x 152 mm)

Weight & Pages:

0.67kg, 386 Pages

Dimensions:

(229 x 152 mm)

Weight & Pages:

0.56kg, 388 Pages

Subjects:: Philosophy of Social Science, Philosophy, Political Philosophy

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Subjects:: Philosophy of Social Science, Philosophy, Political Philosophy

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Can a human society suffer from illness like a living thing? And if so, how does such a malaise manifest itself? In this thought-provoking book, Fred Neuhouser explains and defends the idea of social pathology, demonstrating what it means to describe societies as 'ill', or 'sick', and why we are so often drawn to conceiving of social problems as ailments or maladies. He shows how Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, and Durkheim – four key philosophers who are seldom taken to constitute a 'tradition' – deploy the idea of social pathology in comparable ways, and then explores the connections between societal illnesses and the phenomena those thinkers made famous: alienation, anomie, ideology, and social dysfunction. His book is a rich and compelling illumination of both the idea of social disease and the importance it has had, and continues to have, for philosophical views of society.

‘The concept of ‘social pathology' seems to be both indispensable to critical social theory and at the same time fraught with problems, as it may invoke illegitimately organicist, conservative conceptions of society. In this path-breaking new book, Frederick Neuhouser, with characteristic philosophical depth and rigor, provides the most potent analysis and defense of the legitimacy of the concept in social theory yet to have appeared.'

Arash Abazari - Sharif University of Technology

‘Neuhouser's achievement in Diagnosing Social Pathology is an exceedingly rare one: it is at once a highly erudite examination of the ontological commitments underlying social theories of Hegel, Durkheim, and Marx (among others) that will be quite rewarding for anyone with a scholarly interest in those figures, while at the same time laying the groundwork for a thoroughly compelling and original method of social critique. This is a deeply fascinating work that will change the way its readers think about the possible modalities of social critique.'

Todd Hedrick - Michigan State University

‘This highly theoretical work will interest students and scholars of social philosophy, social theory, and the history of social thought. … Highly recommended.’

A. J. Trevino Source: Choice

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Diagnosing Social Pathology

Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, and Durkheim

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Contents

Diagnosing Social Pathology
pp i-ii

Diagnosing Social Pathology - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Preface
pp ix-xix

Note on Citations
pp xx-xxii

Chapter 1 - Can Societies Be Ill?
pp 1-28

Chapter 2 - Society as Organism?
pp 29-44

Chapter 3 - Marx: Pathologies of Capitalist Society
pp 45-71

Chapter 4 - Marx: Labor in Spiritual Life and Social Pathology
pp 72-91

Chapter 5 - Plato: Human Society as Organism
pp 92-104

Chapter 6 - Rousseau: Human Society as Artificial
pp 105-138

Chapter 7 - Durkheim’s Predecessors: Comte and Spencer
pp 139-155

Chapter 8 - Durkheim: Functionalism
pp 156-191

Chapter 9 - Durkheim: Solidarity, Moral Facts, and Social Pathology
pp 192-228

Chapter 10 - Durkheim: A Science of Morality
pp 229-254

Chapter 11 - Hegelian Social Ontology I: Objective Spirit
pp 255-280

Chapter 12 - Hegelian Social Ontology II: The Living Good
pp 281-311

Chapter 13 - Hegelian Social Pathology
pp 312-344

Chapter 14 - Conclusion: On Social Ontology
pp 345-350

Bibliography
pp 351-359

Index
pp 360-364

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Diagnosing Social Pathology

Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, and Durkheim

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