社会存在论:一种社会形成机制的分析

Social Ontology: An Analysis of the Formation Mechanism of Society

社会是聚集物(aggregate)还是由诸个体整合形成的具有自身属性的新的整体单元?作为整体单元的社会是自治的(autonomous)吗?作为整体单元的社会可以用某些心智概念(如意向性、记忆、情绪、意志等等)来刻画吗?社会是一个超级有机体吗?这些都是关于社会本质的讨论。过去20年,一些哲学家提出了若干有价值的概念来拓展社会存在论的研究。有的学者从个体优先的立场出发,探讨了多个体的共享意图和联合行动等集体或社会现象;有的学者则从社会优先的立场出发,探讨了将个体凝聚为社会的惯例、制度和文化的基础。通过这两种立场的互补,我们就能更全面地来理解集体或社会的组织-过程机理和存在形态。

Is the society a kind of aggregate or a new whole unit which be integrated by individual that has its own properties? As a whole unit,is the society autonomous? Can we describe the society as a whole unit with some certain mental concepts,such as intentionality,memory,emotion and volition? Is the society a super-organism? These are the discussions on the nature of society. In the past two decades,some philosophers put forward several valuable concepts to extend the research on social ontology. Some researchers take the view of individual priority,investigating some collective and social phenomenon on shared intention and joint action between multi individuals. Others stand in the place of society priority,exploring the basis of the individuals being cohesion into social routines,institutions and cultures. With the complementation of these two standpoints,we can get a full understanding of organization-process mechanism and existing form of the collective and society.