In his final work, Donald N. Levine, one of the great
late-twentieth-century sociological theorists, brings together diverse
social thinkers. Simmel, Weber, Durkheim, Parsons, and Merton are set
into a dialogue with philosophers such as Hobbes, Smith, Montesquieu,
Comte, Kant, and Hegel and pragmatists such as Peirce, James, Dewey,
and McKeon to describe and analyze dialogical social theory. This
volume is one of Levine’s most important contributions to social
theory and a worthy summation of his life’s work. Levine
demonstrates that approaching social theory with a cooperative,
peaceful dialogue is a superior tactic in theorizing about society. He
illustrates the advantages of the dialogical model with case studies
drawn from the French Philosophes, the Russian Intelligentsia,
Freudian psychology, Ushiba’s aikido, and Levine’s own
ethnographic work in Ethiopia. Incorporating themes that run through
his lifetime’s work, such as conflict resolution, ambiguity, and
varying forms of social knowledge, Levine suggests that while dialogue
is an important basis for sociological theorizing, it still vies with
more combative forms of discourse that lend themselves to controversy
rather than cooperation, often giving theory a sense of standing still
as the world moves forward. The book was nearly finished when Levine
died in April 2015, but it has been brought to thoughtful and
thought-provoking completion by his friend and colleague Howard G.
Schneiderman. This volume will be of great interest to students and
teachers of social theory and philosophy.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781351294904
Publisert
2018
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Routledge
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter