Abstract

"Absorbed in their routine activities, the social sciences often lose sight of one of their original goals: to reform societies. This is at least what Pitirim A. Sorokin thought: for him, sociology had no reason to exist except as a discipline committed to the service of humanity. This article takes a journey through the Sorokinian concept of altruistic creative love, from its genesis, caused in the late 1930s by the diagnosis of a crisis of our time, to its practical applications, which culminated, fifteen years later, in the proposal of a new science: amitology. A prophetic voice recently forgotten in Europe thus regained its place among the major expressions of altruistic thought of the twentieth century."

Excerpt

"The birth of sociology begets some open questions, including the debate on altruism or moral solidarity. The term “altruism” was coined by Auguste Comte (1929 [1851-1854], I, p.621, 693, 733; 1966 [1852], p.70, 142-143, 173, etc.) and spread following the translations of his works (Dixon, 2012). It is one of the few terms born in the scientific field that will enter the common language whilst retaining its original meaning: those actions that benefit others than the actor. In a nutshell (and Comte’s words), altruism means “vivre pour autrui” (live for others). For Comte, a positivist, altruism represented the powerful impulse necessary for the intellectual and moral development of humanity, towards which we should all strive.

The centrality of altruism in the social sciences can be observed in many classics (see Wuthnow, 1993; Bykov, 2017). Durkheim explains the basis of social solidarity in modern society precisely through the contrast between altruism and egoism."

Pitirim A. Sorokin’s Contribution to the Theory and Practice of Altruism

Abstract

Excerpt

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