Organicism
This article is a work-in-progress because it is incomplete and pending further input from an author. Note: The contents of this article are not considered canonical and may be inaccurate. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. |
Organicism is a political and moral philosophy based on the existence of organically developed, interconnected societies and public life as an expression of these concepts. Organicists argue that all human persons are social animals and, consequently, humans are created to be governed and live in society. In this model, since society is an organically developed set of social relationships to which all individuals are subject, it is in society's interests to ensure the common good, defined as "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily". Organicists espouse a somewhat wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support social democracy, organized religion, moral law as public law, degrees of social equality, with some proponents of organicism supporting nationalism or organic socialism.
Organicism became a distinct movement in the 18th century, when it became popular among Occidental philosophers and economists as a position contra social contract theory. Organicism sought to reform the norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, the divine right of kings and traditional conservatism into more inclusive systems without creating a definitive rupture. Organicists reject both absolutism and the social contract, and consequently spent much of the 18th and early 19th centuries opposed by both liberals and absolutists. Organicist criticism of absolutism specifically came from the perspective of restoration or defense of traditional, inclusive forms of society, such as local communes and the paternal obligation of Monarchy. Organicism also proposed its own view of history and society, eschewing whig history in favor of continuity thesis and other similar ideas.
Levantine leaders and thinkers embraced organicism during the 18th century, producing the Constitution of Urcea and the philosophical underpinning of The Two Derics. Organicists largely succeeded in establishing reformed states in Levantia during the 19th century.
Etymology and definition
Philosophy
Major themes
Religion as the practice of the whole nation
====Heredity as