Patologías sociales: ¿un concepto clave para entender la sociedad?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7203/qfia.11.2.28474Keywords:
patología social, ontología social, organismo social, crítica inmanente, funcionalismo, libertadAbstract
Social Pathologies: A Key Concept for Understanding Society?
Resumen: Hay grandes diferencias entre las perspectivas filosóficas de los miembros de la Escuela de Fráncfort, pero todos tienen en común el compromiso con la importancia del concepto de patología social como recurso para comprender la realidad social. En este sentido, Horkheimer, Adorno, Habermas y Honneth pertenecen a una venerable tradición que se extiende desde Platón hasta Durkheim y que apela a la idea de enfermedad social para evaluar y criticar la vida social. Precisamente en este aspecto, la Escuela de Fráncfort diverge del pensamiento social y político dominante hoy en el mundo anglosajón, que generalmente rechaza por completo el concepto de patología social. En este artículo examino aspectos de la historia del concepto de patología social que revelan tanto por qué ha caído en desgracia casi universal como por qué los filósofos de siglos anteriores lo consideraban esencial para comprender y diagnosticar los problemas de la vida social. Sobre la base de estas investigaciones espero mostrar por qué el concepto de patología social sigue siendo útil para la filosofía social de hoy. Sostengo que concebir los males sociales como formas de enfermedad refleja una verdad importante sobre el tipo de cosas que son las sociedades humanas. Mi tesis será que las sociedades humanas deben concebirse como seres vivos y que ignorar este hecho ontológico nos pone en peligro de perder de vista una serie de problemas sociales que se entienden mejor por analogía con la enfermedad animal.
Abstract: There are great differences among the philosophical outlooks of the members of the Frankfurt School, but all have in common a commitment to the importance of the concept of social pathology as a tool for understanding social reality. In this respect Horkheimer, Adorno, Habermas, and Honneth belong to a venerable tradition stretching from Plato to Durkeim that appeals to the idea of social illness in evaluating and criticizing social life. In precisely this respect the Frankfurt School diverges from mainstream social and political thought of today (in the English-speaking world), which generally rejects the concept of social pathology altogether. In this paper I examine aspects of the history of the concept of social pathology that reveal both why it has fallen into nearly universal disfavor and why social philosophers of earlier centuries found it essential for understanding and diagnosing problems of social life. On the basis of these investigations I hope to show why the concept of social pathology remains useful for critical social philosophy today. I argue that conceiving of social ills as forms of sickness reflects an important truth about the kind of thing human societies are. My thesis will be that human societies should be conceived of as living beings and that ignoring this ontological fact puts us in danger of losing sight of a host of social problems best understood by analogy to animal illness.
Palabras clave: patología social, ontología social, organismo social, crítica inmanente, funcionalismo, libertad.
Keywords: social pathology, social ontology, social organism, immanent critique, functionalism, freedom.
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References
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