The complex and plural social reality makes it difficult to speak of it in brief strokes, since it is influenced by culture, traditions, dynamisms, and varied environments. Throughout history, philosophers, sociologists, economists, jurists, and scientists have contributed visions, sometimes complementary, sometimes antagonistic, on the origin, structure and organization of the society in which they live and on how it could be the most perfect, or at least the best possible.
What we have learned in history is that society remains in continuous movement, without an established program, and in the current era, given the massification, globalization, specialization and the irruption of new technologies, there has been a social shift such that the institutions that make up society find themselves in the need to adopt new organizational, political, social, pedagogical, etc. modes, in accordance with the new reality. The process of change has now taken on significant speed. In the past there were also profound changes, such as those that took place during the Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution, but the environment changed very slowly, unlike the rapid and significant transformations that are taking place at the present time.
It is complex to dare to give a definition of who man is, but at the same time it is necessary to come close to one in order to enter into the subject that concerns us. We will say synthetically that man is an individual being, unique, unrepeatable, endowed with a body spiritualized by intelligence and will that enable him to channel tendencies, appetites or inclinations and forge his temperament into a character. At the same time as individual, man is – in Aristotle’s expression – a social animal («zoon politikon») that develops his ends within a community.
Man is not born alone and does not die alone; he is not a single verse. The life of each person is necessarily intertwined with other lives, and thus society is formed, which is the sphere of realization of the person. We can define society as a natural or agreed grouping of people who form a community for the purpose of achieving some or all of the ends that life presents through mutual cooperation. Robert Gahl explains that «Every human being finds himself in the midst of a network of relationships that constitute the sphere in which he develops and influences». In this sense, society is a task, since each person is called upon to contribute actively to help vitalize the various sectors of society that concern him or her. Only in this way can these environments be spaces of freedom, coexistence, and peace.
I invite everyone to read Matias’ post with the theme of the day.
El Arbol de la Vida - Tercer Ciclo 