Problems of the philosophy of man, and
particularly the question of the relationship between the individual and
society, become historically important when the stabilized social order begins
to waver and when, together with it, the socially accepted system of values is
shaken. As long as the social machinery functions without friction, as long as –
to use a Marxist phrase – there is harmony between the forces of production and
the relations of production, the individual, formed as he is by social
relations, tends to regard them as natural; in the same way he accepts the
prevailing norms of social intercourse be which his relationships with society
are regulated. This is a very simple process, and in most cases it takes place
unconsciously since people, through their upbringing within a social group,
receive from society a language, a definite way to see the world, a way of
thinking, and a system of values with its habits, customs and morals. It is
only the collapse of the social order, the rise of objective conflicts within
the base, and consequently in the superstructure, the upsetting and
disintegration of a traditionally accepted system of values that make the
individual begin to consider his separate identity and to ask about his
relationships with other individuals and society. What makes a decent life?
This is a question that, in various forms, has always faced human beings. But
in times of revolution or of transition from one socio-economic system to
another, when there is both a breakdown in the traditional relations between
the individual and society and also the arduous formation of new ones, this
question asserts itself before mankind with particular force. People become
acutely aware that they are no longer able or willing to live in the old way,
without not yet knowing how they should live. Such periods encourage the
individual to reflect on his status and destiny; and they stimulate the
development of a philosophy of man. Historically, these have been the periods
of an “explosion” of this kind of inquiry, when the Socratic current in the
history of philosophy, for which man is the primary object, has driven out the
Democritean current, the philosophy of nature for which the overriding task is
to investigate and formulate the general laws governing reality.