Description
Book SynopsisThe question 'what is a human being?' remains one of the most vexing intellectual puzzles. This book reconstructs how contemporary sociologists and philosophers understand the key anthropological features that define our shared membership of the human species.
Trade Review'This is a major work on the relationship between sociology and philosophy. It provides a thorough and insightful analysis into the meaning of the notion of humanity.' Gerard Delanty, University of Sussex
'Chernilo's pathbreaking new book can be read as a most fruitful introduction to social philosophy, but it is much more than that: it re-invents the tradition of a philosophical sociology, thus bringing together the best of both worlds in a rigorous reflection of their anthropological underpinnings.' Hartmut Rosa, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany and Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Germany
'Debating Humanity cuts across the grain of mainstream sociology, if not the social sciences as a whole, in proposing that sociology cannot ignore philosophy if it is to engage effectively in normative argument. Critical of the positivistic, narrow and inward-looking character of much contemporary sociology, Daniel Chernilo returns to earlier debates with philosophical anthropology in order to ground his advocacy of a normative and philosophical sociology by paying attention to the universalistic features of human life over and against sociology's obsession with the particularities of gender, race, and ethnicity. A triumph in terms of the challenge and the clarity of his vision.' Bryan S. Turner, The Graduate Center City University of New York, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, and Universität Potsdam, Germany
'Daniel Chernilo, one of the more interesting social theorists emerging from Britain today, lays the foundation for a field he calls 'philosophical sociology', which aims for nothing less than a reorientation of social theory towards the twenty-first century. In these pages we catch a glimpse of someone who would recover a scope for sociology last seen in the writings of Max Scheler.' Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, University of Warwick
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Note on original versions; Introduction; 1. The humanism debate revisited: Sartre, Heidegger, Derrida; 2. Self-transcendence: Hannah Arendt; 3. Adaptation: Talcott Parsons; 4. Responsibility: Hans Jonas; 5. Language: Jürgen Habermas; 6. Strong evaluations: Charles Taylor; 7. Reflexivity: Margaret Archer; 8. Reproduction of life: Luc Boltanski; Epilogue; References; Index.
