Sartre and Sociology

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It can hardly be intelligible that most of the current sociologists pay little attention to the time societies have actually passed.. The author has persistently argued on the problem of “social time”, which properly be elucidated further. The “social time” is adequately treated in Sartre's Critique de la raison dialectique, which is an article with remarkable dynamic character and in which he endeavors to synthesize sociology and history. His attempt is, however, seemingly not successful and the article is criticized by Sorokin and Gurvitch as one of historical philosophy. Too much inclined to history though, it is issued by a really gifted one and is worth to be examined circumspectly. The present author makes his best effort to illustrate Sartre's dynamic argument unfolded in the article. In accordance to Sartre, dialectics is the only solution to overcome the deficiencies of the current sociology, i.e., indifference to time and superficial observations. He has developed extravagant dynamic dialectics which insist on dialectic movements being composed of totalization and distotalization. The movements does not, however, result in totality. Only an incompleted totality can be contemplated by Sartre. The dialectics originate in the “human praxis”, which come across the obstacles, i.e., “inertia”, of various sorts. Sartre terms social dimensions as “practical ensembles” which be understood in the dialectics of “practice” and “inertia”. Then, between the former and the latter, four categories are discriminated and arranged in the following order ; “series” “collectif”, “classes”, and “groups”. The “groups” are further divided into “group in fusion”, “oath group”, “organized group” and “institution-group”, each of which also moves between the “practice” and the “inertia”, and increasingly comes closer to the latter. A theory of alienation, which *consists in the alienation of an individual and the restoration of oneself, lies at the basis of Sartre's argument. The priority is here given to the individual and the society is overshadowed by both the individual and history. A society is thought to be a momentary movement (of individuals) towards history. Historical point of view as well as individualistic one can conspicuously be disclosed in his thesis. It is entirely agreeable that sociology be incorporated with history. Sociologists can not, however, go to excess as Sartre does : the former should employ not historical dialectics but social ones. The present author has repeatedly insisted on the significance of the social dialectics.