Document Type : Research Article / Original Article
Authors
Abstract
The "rule-governed" or "law-governed" nature of the social sphere is a fundamental issue in sociology that has occupied the attention of many classical thinkers, including Weber, Durkheim, and Marx, as well as contemporary theorists such as Habermas, Giddens, and Bhaskar. The positions taken on this dual subject have significant implications for social thought formulation and, consequently, social change. Accepting either of these options portrays the "what" (ontology) of social phenomena in a particular way. Furthermore, it influences sociological epistemology and methodology, as well as topics such as the degree of human agency and the possibilities for social change. Although this discussion has expanded in the existing social science literature through the reflections of German hermeneuticists and historicists, and more recently through the ideas of the later Wittgenstein, particularly Peter Winch's theories, it can also be traced in Iran through the philosophical reflections of Allameh Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai and compared with the existing literature in this field. This article examines some of Allameh Tabatabai's works on the nature of social phenomena. It also identifies Tabatabai's perspective and reasoning system regarding rule-governance and law-governance in the social sphere within the horizon of new sociological debates. The research method used is library study and intra-textual analysis. Tabatabai considers "social matters" as part of "conventionals" and, on this basis, views the social sphere as rule-governed, directing social sciences towards "reason-seeking." However, he does not reduce all subjects and issues of social sciences and sociology to "rule-seeking." He believes that conventionals are rooted in "realities" on one hand, and thus social sciences can examine the real foundations in the formation of social conventionals through a "causal-seeking" method. On the other hand, these conventionals have real effects through a causal mechanism, which can again be causally examined with the help of social sciences. Based on this, Tabatabai presents a simultaneously rule-governed and law-governed image of social sciences, which has also been formulated in the views of some contemporary thinkers.
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