Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory

Mandelbaum, Maurice

ISBN 10: 0801834708 / ISBN 13: 9780801834707

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987

About this Item

Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.

Seller Inventory # 3491592-20

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Purpose and Necessity in Social Theory
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication Date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801834708
• ISBN 13: 9780801834707
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Originally published in 1987. Philosopher Maurice Mandelbaum offers a broad-ranging essay on the roles of chance, choice, purpose, and necessity in human events. He traces the many changes these concepts have undergone, from the analyses of Hobbes and Spinoza, through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Mandelbaum examines two contrary tendencies in the history of social theories. Some thinkers, he shows, have explained the character of institutions in terms of their individual purposes, whereas others have stressed relationships of necessity among society's institutions. Mandelbaum discusses chance, choice, and necessity at length and reaches some provocative conclusions about the ways in which they are interwoven in human affairs.

About the Author

Maurice Mandelbaum was a professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and Dartmouth College. His work focused on phenomenology, epistemology, and intellectual history.