Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T23:11:40.886Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Concept of a Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

David Copp
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis

Extract

The concept of a society is central to several areas of philosophy, including social and political philosophy, philosophy of social science and moral philosophy. Yet little attention has been paid to the concept and we do not have an adequate philosophical account of it. It is a concept that is difficult to explain systematically, and it is subject to distortion or simple-minded attacks whenever it plays a major role in a philosophical theory. Methodological individualists have raised metaphysical or ontological concerns about the idea that there are such things as societies, and other philosophers have found the concept of a society to be unacceptably vague. For these reasons, I believe it worthwhile to devote this essay to an attempt to explain the concept.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aberle, D. F., Cohen, A. K., Davis, A. K., Levy, M. J. Jr, and Sutton, F. X. 1950The Functional Prerequisites of a Society.” Ethics, 60, 2 (January): 100–11.Google Scholar
Benedict, Burton 1968 “Societies, Small.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Edited by Sills, David L.. New York: Crowell, Collier and MacMillan.Google Scholar
Benn, Stanley I. 1967 “Society.” In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited by Edwards, Paul. Rpt. 1972. New York: MacMillan Publishing and The Free Press. Vol. 7, p. 470–74.Google Scholar
Brandt, Richard B. 1963 “Toward a Credible Form of Utilitarianism.” Rpt. 1968 in Contemporary Utilitarianism. Edited by Bayles, Michael D.. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books. P. 143–86.Google Scholar
Brandt, Richard B. 1979 A Theory of the Good and the Right. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Bunge, MarioGoogle Scholar
Bunge, Mario 1974 “The Concept of Social Structure.” In Developments in the Methodology of Social Science. Edited by Leinfellner, W. and Dordrecht, E. Kohler., Holland: D. Reidel. P. 175215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunge, Mario, 1979A Systems Concept of Society: Beyond Individualism and Holism.” Theory and Decision, 10 (January): 1330.Google Scholar
Copp, David 1979 “Do Nations Have the Right of Self-Determination?” In Philosophers Look at Canadian Confederation. Edited by French, Stanley G.. Montreal: Canadian Philosophical Association. P. 7195.Google Scholar
Copp, David 1984What Collectives Are: Agency, Individualism and Legal Theory.” Dialogue, 23 (June): 249–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devlin, Lord Patrick 1959 “The Enforcement of Morals.” Rpt. 1965 as “Morals and the Criminal Law.” In Patrick Devlin. The Enforcement of Morals. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 125.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, Edward E. 1940a The Nuer. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, Edward E. 1940b “The Nuer of the Southern Sudan.” In African Political Systems. Edited by Fortes, M. and Evans-Pritchard, E. E.. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gauthier, David 1986 Morals by Agreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian 1982 Symbols in Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Harry M. 1960 Sociology: A Systematic Introduction. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.Google Scholar
Kern, Louis J. 1981 An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias —The Shakers, the Mormons and the Oneida Community. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, David 1969 Convention: A Philosophical Study. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, Thomas H. 1956Anthropology Today.” British Journal of Sociology, 7: 5964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhew, Leon H. 1968 “Society.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Edited by Sills, David L.. New York: Crowell, Collier and MacMillan.Google Scholar
Nozick, Robert 1974 Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Parsons, Talcott 1951 The Social System. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Parsons, Talcott 1961 “An Outline of the Social System.” In Theories of Society. Edited by Talcott, Parsons E.Naegele, Shils K. D. and Pitts, J. R.. New York: Free Press of Glencoe. Vol. 1, p. 3079.Google Scholar
Parsons, Talcott 1966 Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Pojman, Louis 1989 “A Critique of Ethical Relativism.” In Ethical Theory: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Edited by Pojman, Louis, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Rawls, John 1971 A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John 1977The Basic Structure as Subject.” American Philosophical Quarterly, 14, 2 (April): 159–65.Google Scholar
Turnbull, Colin M. 1972 The Mountain People. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Wilson, Peter J., Grant, McCall W. R.Mark, Geddes A. K., Pfeiffer, John E., Boskey, James B. and Turnbull, Colin M. 1975More Thoughts on the Ik and Anthropology.” Current Anthropology, 16, 3 (September): 343–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar