Sociological Theories, Concepts and Categories: Generalities, Philosophy and Sociology. Society and Human Behavior

Critical notes are presented on the following works: (1) Emilio Willems, DICTIONNAIRE DE SOCIOLOGIE (Dictionary of Sociology, French adaptation by A. Cuvillier, 2nd Ed expanded, Marcel Riviere, 1970); this book fills a gap; well-known terms as well as specialized ones are treated. (2) Auguste Comte, PLAN DES TRAVAUX SCIENTIFIQUES NECESSAIRES POUR REORGANISER LA SOCIETE (Plan of Scientific Works Necessary for Reorganizing Society, Paris, Aubier-Montaigne, 1970), a re-Ed of a work Comte himself considered as fundamental, & still of interest to sociol'ts. (3) TENDANCES PRINCIPALES DANS LES SCIENCES SOCIALES ET HUMAINES (Principal Trends in the Social and Human Sciences, Part I: Social Sciences; Paris, The Hague, Mouton. UNESCO 1970); compiled for UNESCO by specialists of the stature of Piaget, Lazarsfeld, Jakobson, the only thing wrong with this book is its bulk. (4) Georg Simmel, GRUNDFRAGEN DER SOZIOLOGIE (Fundamental Questions of Sociology, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1970); a re-Ed of a 1917 work that is still contemporary. (5) Guido Casetti DIE KATEGORIE DES SOZIALEN WANDELS IM LICHTE DER KONFLIKTHEORIE, DES DIALEKTISCHEN HYPEREMPIRISMUS, DER FELDTHEORIE (The Category of Social Change in Light of Conflict-Theory, Dialectical Hyper-Empiricism, Field-Theory, Universitatsverlag Freiburg, Switzerland, 1970); a critique of Dahrendorf, Gurvitch & Lewin which adds little to our understanding of these authors or the problems they deal with. (6) Ferdinand-Lucien Mueller, L'IRRATIONALISME CONTEMPORAIN (Contemporary Irrationalism, Paris, Payot, 1970); a study of "irrationalist" doctrines, including Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre, this work says more on the subject than many longer studies. (7) Jean-Francois Revel, NI MARX NI JESUS (Without Marx or Jesus, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1970); vigorously written but insignificant for sociol. (8) Charles Rihs, LES PHILOSOPHES UTOPISTES (The Utopian Philosophers, Paris, Marcel Riviere, 1970); this work covers the ground from More to Meslier & is competent throughout, though the concluding synthesis is shaky. (9) Giuseppe Palomba, SCIENZA E SOCIOLOGIA (Science and Sociology, Naples, Giannini, 1967); the possibility is considered of an axiomatization for a sci'fic sociol, inspired by the concepts of Hilbert. (10) Leopold Flam, DEMOCRATIE ET MARXISME (Democracy and Marxism, Brussels, Presses Universitaires de Bruxelles, 1969); the title is misleading, for this is a very superficial survey of the entirety of philosophical thought, to wha