Horizons of Thought

Volume.2, No.1, Spring & Summer 2016

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi

Received: 2016/06/06

Abstract

What most philosophical socialists claim, can be translated into philosophical language in term of considering individuals as the “matter” and society as the “form”, which result in a factual complex, called society. Therefore, they regard society as enjoying an objective existence and a real unity. This article studies arguments for the objectivity of society from collective spirit, objectivity of social phenomenon, social determinism, and society’s resistance in the face of change despite our will, and criticizes them as flawed. It shows that all such arguments only prove a reciprocal influence between different individuals living in a society, and not an objective and independent existence for society. The author extends the critique to the idea of man having two “selves”: natural and collective, by reminding the simplicity and unity of the human soul.

Key words: Society, Socialism, Individualism, Objective Existence of Society, Social Determinism, Soul, Self, Sociology, Psychology.