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The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in Western Thought
Book by Nisbet, Robert A
466 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1983
5 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Robert A. Nisbet
52 books80 followersAmerican sociologist, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Vice-Chancellor at the University of California, Riverside and as the Albert Schweitzer Professor at Columbia University.
After serving in the US Army during World War II, when he was stationed on Saipan in the Pacific theatre, Nisbet founded the Department of Sociology at Berkeley, and was briefly Chairman. Nisbet left an embroiled Berkeley in 1953 to become a dean at the University of California, Riverside, and later a Vice-Chancellor. Nisbet remained in the University of California system until 1972, when he left for the University of Arizona at Tucson. Soon thereafter, he was appointed to the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Chair at Columbia.
On retiring from Columbia in 1978, Nisbet continued his scholarly work for eight years at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C. In 1988, President Reagan asked him to deliver the Jefferson Lecture in Humanities, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Nisbet's first important work, The Quest for Community (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969) contended that modern social science's individualism denied an important human drive toward community as it left people without the aid of their fellows in combating the centralizing power of the national state.
Nisbet is seen as follower of Emile Durkheim in the understanding of modern sociocultural systems and their drift. Often identified with the political right, Nisbet began his career as a political liberal but later confessed a conversion to a kind of philosophical Conservatism
After serving in the US Army during World War II, when he was stationed on Saipan in the Pacific theatre, Nisbet founded the Department of Sociology at Berkeley, and was briefly Chairman. Nisbet left an embroiled Berkeley in 1953 to become a dean at the University of California, Riverside, and later a Vice-Chancellor. Nisbet remained in the University of California system until 1972, when he left for the University of Arizona at Tucson. Soon thereafter, he was appointed to the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Chair at Columbia.
On retiring from Columbia in 1978, Nisbet continued his scholarly work for eight years at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C. In 1988, President Reagan asked him to deliver the Jefferson Lecture in Humanities, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Nisbet's first important work, The Quest for Community (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969) contended that modern social science's individualism denied an important human drive toward community as it left people without the aid of their fellows in combating the centralizing power of the national state.
Nisbet is seen as follower of Emile Durkheim in the understanding of modern sociocultural systems and their drift. Often identified with the political right, Nisbet began his career as a political liberal but later confessed a conversion to a kind of philosophical Conservatism
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 19, 2022
Of course all those social philosophers were really writing about the quest for community. Duh.. but for the "anarchists" this guy loves so much, identity comes before that - the same "anarchists" promoting the merchant classes who waged "revolutions" and murdered our world's monarchs in order to claim power for their people alone. If you want to tackle community, start with identity. It's the basis of their "cultural studies" only they are allowed to write. Those who are denied identity are denied community.
March 26, 2011
This book belonged to my mother, and that's especially why I am keen on it. I used it to prepare studies for J.J. Rousseau. Chapters: The Military Community, The Political Community, The Religious Community, The Revolutionary Community, The Ecological Community, The Plural Community give essence of the work of different authors from Plato to Weber. It gives an overview of the development of western philosophy. Must read again!
October 1, 2009
This is a good comprehensive book about focusing on communal theories from the history of social philosophers. It separates the social philosophers into categories of political, religious, ecological, and revolutionary. This book is apprently based on a larger book that Nisbet wrote on the subject. I assume the larger volume delves deeper in the subjects and is a smoother read.
August 21, 2012
An interesting survey of western political and religious thought.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews