Debating Humanity
Towards a Philosophical Sociology

An original approach to the question 'what is a human being?', examining key ideas of leading contemporary sociologists and philosophers.

Daniel Chernilo (Author)

9781107129337, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 April 2017

304 pages
23.7 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.55 kg

'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

Debating Humanity explores sociological and philosophical efforts to delineate key features of humanity that identify us as members of the human species. After challenging the normative contradictions of contemporary posthumanism, this book goes back to the foundational debate on humanism between Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger in the 1940s and then re-assesses the implicit and explicit anthropological arguments put forward by seven leading postwar theorists: self-transcendence (Hannah Arendt), adaptation (Talcott Parsons), responsibility (Hans Jonas), language (Jürgen Habermas), strong evaluations (Charles Taylor), reflexivity (Margaret Archer) and reproduction of life (Luc Boltanski). Genuinely interdisciplinary and boldly argued, Daniel Chernilo has crafted a novel philosophical sociology that defends a universalistic principle of humanity as vital to any adequate understanding of social life. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Acknowledgements
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.

Subject Areas: Anthropology [JHM], Social theory [JHBA], Sociology [JHB], Sociology & anthropology [JH], History of ideas [JFCX], Social & political philosophy [HPS]