Philosophical Sociology: Fifteen years of a research programme

Abstract

This brief text summarizes the main assumptions and theses of the research program of Philosophical Sociology. Taking as its starting point the tradition of Philosophical Anthropology of the first half of the last century, Philosophical Sociology argues that, as a species, humans have a set of anthropological properties that make the production and reproduction of the social possible. That is to say, these are general properties that, although they are socioculturally actualized, maintain a high level of autonomy in relation to the contexts. The article reviews three of the distinctive dimensions of Philosophical Sociology: (1) its commitment to a humanist but not anthropocentric position; (2) the post-metaphysical justification of its universalist orientation; (3) the centrality of the concept of “normative idea” to capture the way in which moral ideas are deployed in life.