Durkheim, Social Facts Theory Study

The core task of this paper is to explain the viewpoint and the essence of the thought of Durkheim's social fact in the classical sociology frame,and then to make dialogue with Historical Materialism which was founded by Marx and Engels,the purpose of the paper is to expound the radical difference between the tradtion of positivism sociology theory and the tradtion of critical sociology theory opened by Historical Materialism.and the author will discuss Chinese context of this theory so that we can understand its importance for the construction of Chinese reality in the context of post revolution era and social transformation,As a result, the up-to-date significance of Durkheim's social fact theory can be highlighted.and the theory of Historical Materialism can clarified its theory premise, expand its domain, and deepen the complexity of the study on Historical Materialism through responses to challenges given by Durkheim.Study of the theory of Durkheim's social fact has two main purposes:one is that the paper can confirm the up-to-date significance of Historical Materialism again in the frame of the classical sociology;and another is that it can promote the study of Historical Materialism and make this research maintain an open perspective.In general, the theory of Durkheim's social fact supports positivism sociology theory, through the understanding of this research,we can not only solve some basic problems of positivism sociology theory but also make the contemporary study of Historical Materialism have a solid academic foundation,since the the study of Durkheim is extension research of the study of Historical Materialism.It is the critical dialogue(even with the interpretation of social theory created by Max Weber).In order to achieve the aims,the main work of this paper lies in the following three aspects.firstly, we need to understand the Enlightenment context of the tradtion of positivism sociology theory followed by Durkheim.after reviewing the thought history from the seventeen Century to the eighteenth Century,we think think that the basic topic of the Enlightenment is the principle of reason, progressive order and freedom.also we know this context is full of tension and conflict (including the enlightenment and anti-enlightenment confrontation).Secondly,the author will clarify The theory of Durkheim's social fact,it includes the understanding of the basic concept, theory purposes,the characteristics of the times, the reconstruction of moral order and even its own problems. In the paper it focuses on not only the concept of " social organism" and the method of " functional analysis"but also two main purposes, the true source, the post revolution era and social transformation of social historical characters, the basic understandingof moral facts and the integration of moral order, also including the division of labor, suicide, unity, occupation groups, ethics education.Thirdly,the paper points out the significance of its thought history and its contemporary issues.specifically,the author thinks the theory of Durkheim's social fact Is the result of the tradtion of the Enlightenment,and it makes a constitutive,normative social theory possible,at the same time,it is on the road of conservative Liberalsm and reformism.for its contemporary importance,this paper firstly points out that Durkheim's theory opens scientific significance, and in the paper,the author also points out that it is Durkheim's criticism on Marx that makes the clarification of Historical Materialism possbile.for this purpose,the athor does analysis of the concept of Historical Materialism,such as" social existence" and" division of labor".lastly,this paper stresses the Chinese context and reference value of the Durkheim's theory.The research methodically of this paper is based on five forms of congruence:the congruence between the thought history and realistic context and realistic concern, the congruence between theoretical analysis and case studies, the congruence between general issues and specific problems.The key points are as follows:Chapter 1 is devoted to illuminating the background in which the tradtion of positivism sociology theory occurred,firstly,the paper points out the basic theme of the Enlightenment is the rational principle, the progressive order and the pursuit of freedom.and then,the paper gives the answer to the question that how does the contexts embody the theme,for this question,the author do research about the thought of Bacon, Descartes, Newton,and Rock in the seventeenth Century.and then,the author examines enlightenment movement of the eighteenth Century,including these research on Smith, Montesquieu and Rousseau, as well as Meister who was on behalf of the French traditionalist and Burke who wasthe representative of the British Conservative. Finally,this paper explains the general context of enlightenment is in the internal tension and even in contradictory conflict,the reason is that the context lies in the rational principle and the immanence of consciousness, which is created by Descartes.The main task of Chapter II is the understanding of the basical logic of the tradtion of positivism sociology theory.firstly,the paper deals with the relationship between the positivism reason and the Enlightenment reason.there is a basic and difficult problem in the enlightenment reason, that is how do the two worlds communicate,for its founder Comte,he hopes to solve this problem by redefining reasonl, he tries to combine the principle of reason with social life,in his viewpiont, the reason has not only cognitive function but also support value dimension and it realizes the unity of fact and value.moreover,in this chapter,the author interprets the social organic theory and structural functionalism.in Comte and Spencer's viewpoints, the society is an organism and as a whole organism,various elements in the whole social structure and social organism in the framework are associated with each other and have different social functions, which are advantageous to the normal operation of society.Chapter III intends to express two purposes of Durkheim's theory.firstly,in this chapter, the author points out Durkheim's critique on the tradition of positivism sociology theory,in Durkheim's viewpoint, the focus of sociological tradition is still study of concept,also,the way of study includes political economics, psychology, and subjective feelings, the reason why he does critique on the above theories is that he hopes to determine the true object of sociological study. In addition,he puts forward the concept of moral facts by giving critique on Kant's moral theory.that is to say,Durkheim puts forward his viewpionts on moral problems by a critical dialogue with Kant.The work of Chapter IV is to explain the theory of social fact,in this chapter,the author analyzes some basic problems,including the definition of social fact,the structure and the function of social fact,social morphology,the true source of social fact,the social and historical context of post-revolution and social transformation.Specifically, the meaning of social fact is all behaviors, including substance social facts (natural forms) and immaterial social facts (moral, law, custom, religion and so on);in addition,social facts have the structure function, social classification is based on the different characteristics of these structure and function of social facts.the author also pionts out the true source of the theory is Saint Simon's theory and it originates from Montesquieu and Rousseau; the social and historical context is the post revolution era and social transformation. These discourses are connected with Durkheim's theme which is on the understanding of social order and and the reconstruction of moral order.The task of the Chapter V is to discuss social moral facts understanding and integration in social transformation.Firstly,the author explains the basic understanding of division of social in Durkheim's point, division of social is not only the foundation of social order, but also moral basis. Secondly, this chapter explains Durkheim's anomie phenomenon in his theory, and the author gives some more details on abnormal division and suicide.it discusses the reason why Durkheim pays attention to these phenomenons,in his theory, the problem of suicide is converted to the problem of social structure and social solidarity,and he makes classifications of suicide.Finally, this chapter discusses the path of social and moral order integration,and makes interpretations on the importance of the construction of occupation groups and moral education. this part also discusses the utility of occupation groups and occupation ethics in the social integration, the development of citizen moral and rational moral education. In addition, this chapter points out that the significance of religious concern lies in carrying the social ideal.The work of the Chapter vi mainly discusses the significance of the history of thought and contemporary value of Durkheim's theory.For the significance of the thought history,when we regard its theoretical essence, we can get a conclusion that Durkheim's theory is a response to enlightenment tradition,is still in the frame of consciousness philosophy,and his theory opens a kind of structural, constitutive, normative social theory; and Durkheim's social theory is on the way of the conservative Liberalism and reformism.for its contemporary theory value,the author points out that his theory open a new discipline,and in this chapter, the author emphasises the Chinese context and reference value of Durkheim's theory.especially the influence of his theory for social integration of China in the social transition and the author also gives some suggestions.The work of the final Chapter discusses Historical Materialism transcends Durkheim's theory. the core problem of this chapter is to explain how does Historical Materialism transcend the whole consciousness philosophy,which includes Durkheim's theory.these discussions is in favor of the basic understanding of Historical Materialism.this chapter is divided into four aspects:the first aspect is to discuss the criticism of Marx,the second aspect is to understand the concept of Marx's"social existence ".specifically,the author points out how does Marx transcend the tradtion of philosophy.and the concept of social existence is not a consciousness concept,but a ontology concept which means the condition of material life,in addtion, social existence has its historic source.the focus of the third aspect is that Marx dis-cover and criticize modern society by the study of the division of labor.Specifically, the division of labor can be said to be synonymous with productivity in a certain extent,and spontaneous is the perceptual existence of alienation labor.moreover,labor is the real reason of social power,which lead to the relationship among people.the last aspect is that Historical Materialism transcends Durkheim's theory.in this part, the author points out the value of the study of Durkheim's thought and also explains the reason that Historical Materialism transcends Durkheim's theory. Specifically, Historical Materialism realizes ontology revolution and makes a way of ontology understanding, in contrast, Durkheim's thought is still on the way of epistemology, the view of Historical Materialism is beyond the view of Durkheim's theory.furthermore, historical dialectics also exceeds the method of the analysis method of the structure and function.all these discussions can not only respond to the challenges given by Durkheim's theory but also can clarify the Historical Materialism itself.The achievements of this dissertation are as follows:firstly,the topic "the study of Durkheim's social fact theory" is based on the core cncept of his theory:social fact and the paper tries to show the whole theory of vision. the job in domestic theory study is in the front rank so far.and it is necessary and important to rethink the classical social theory,in addition,on the base of the current research situation,this paper can be regarded as one of the front row studies on, in this paper the study of Durkheim is comprehensive and also disscuss systematically.it emphasizes not only the relationship with the its theory tradition but aslo his theoretical quality;it has a solid text basis and concerns with reality problems;it has a theme "the understanding of social order and moral reconstruction and integration"and gives some important details. In all, the paper deals with a lot of theory problems including social fact,structural functionalism, the tradtion of sociology,the enlightenment context and the enlightenment tradition, psychology, political economics,Kant's theory, pragmatism, socialism, division of labor, suicide, social transformation, social organism, occupation ethics, moral education, patriotism, and Marx and so on.so we think that this paper nuionizes the general problem and details.this paper can be regarded as the first systematic, overall discussion on Durkheim,or at least can be regarded as a tentative effort to understand Durkheim systematically.Secondly, there are some innovation points in details. Such as the enlightenment context of Durkheim's thought, real source of his theory, critical dialogue with Kant's moral theory, the historical context of post revolutionary era and social transformation,all these can be seen as the innovation points.in addtion,the author chooses another core concept social existence from Marx,and makes contrast with Durkheim's social fact concept,maybe it is a better method of a comparative study.