ORGANICIST THEORY: CHARACTERISTICS AND PROMINENT AUTHORS - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The organicist theory is a philosophical position in which the State is considered as a living organism that transcends individuals and where each one has a function to fulfill so that the life of the whole is possible.

For organicists, the structure of society is organized and functions as a biological organism of a higher nature, with its own entity and existence. Within this theory, society is a whole different from the sum of its parts (individuals), it is part of the essence of the human being, but it is prior to this.

That is, according to this sociological school, human society is a superior form of biological organization and, therefore, for it, the laws of biology apply.

From this perspective, individuals are like the cells of an organism that, always depending on its life, fulfill different functions. Organicism is also called bio-organicism in the field of sociology and is opposed to mechanism.

The organic conception of society dominated much of the Middle Ages, and was overcome with the emergence of individualism resulting from the institutionalization of the contract, a part of private law that justifies the founding of the State.

However, it resurfaces at the beginning of the 19th century, wrapped in the atmosphere of the French Revolution, and even today there are reminiscences of that conception in some countries of the world.

Main characteristics of the organic theory

Some of the characteristics that best describe the organic theory are:

- Society is a living organism with special characteristics that obeys, as a living organism, the laws of biology.

- The rulers have as their main mission to preserve the unity of the whole. This unity is only possible with concord.

- As a consequence of the above, discord is the worst evil in a society.

- The emergence or development of factions that could weaken the State must be avoided at all costs.

- The government has, in the political field, the same function that the heart has in the human body.

- A model of organic society par excellence is the family.

- The monarchical regimes attend to this conception of society.

Exponents of the organic theory

Throughout the years, history has seen philosophers and sociologists who support the organicist theory of society. The following lines try to reflect the contribution of some of them:

Johannes Saresberiensis (John of Salisbury)

He wrote Policraticus, before Aristotle's work, Politics, and in that text he compares the social body with the human body in a very detailed way:

• King = the head
• Senate = the heart
• Judges and public officials = eyes, ears, and tongue.
• The military = the hands
• The peasants = the feet

The essence of his work inspires Hobbes's Leviathan, and influences the thinking put forward by sociologists Spencer and Schaffle.

Aristotle

Aristotle affirmed that man is a social animal and that he is only man, in his full sense, when he lives within the polis. For him, just as the noblest part of the animal is the heart, within the soul of the social body the government is the most perfect part.

Likewise, it postulated that in the State, this composite whole, each of its parts fulfills a specific function. And it also established that "the city is by nature prior to the individual."

Hegel

Hegel also affirms in his time and environment, an organicist vision of the State.

Plato

This thinker, in his famous work, The Republic, expands on an analogy between the parts of the soul and those of the State.

For Plato, justice is expressed when each part of the community complies with what corresponds to it, in order to guarantee the harmony of the whole "without interfering in what concerns the others."

Marsilio of Padua

In the Defensor pacis he defends that a well-constituted city, necessarily and naturally, resembles a “well-disposed” animal.

In the same way, and faithful to the Aristotelian postulates, he proposes that the State arises in a society by imitating how the animal originates in nature.

And he concludes: "the relationship between the city and its parts as well as tranquility, will appear as similar to the relationship that runs between the animal, its parts and health."

Herbert Spencer

Modern sociologist who propagated and defended an organicist conception of the State, implying an analogy with the theory of evolution, namely:

• Society and organisms experience progressive growth throughout their existence.
• The growth of societies and organisms implies an increase in their complexity and structure.
• The functions of societies and organisms also become more complex over time.
• Society is made up of other elements just as an organism is made up of several units.

However, he also noted differences:

• While organisms are made up of dependent units, in societies these units are free.
• The consciousness of an organism is unique, while in society, it is as diverse as the individuals that comprise it.
• The end of the units that make up the organism is its benefit, while in society it happens the other way around: the objective is the well-being of individuals.

Little by little, Spencer breaks away from this organicist conception.

In fact today, sociological theories do not compare organisms with society, but rather resemble both with a system.

Organicist theories derive from the idea of ​​descending power, where a single ruler, the government of a single person, is vital, because only the unity of the leadership guarantees the unity of the whole.

This is the reason that in the Middle Ages, the golden age of this conception, the reigning systems were the Church and the Empire, conceived monocratically.

As said at the beginning, this organicist idea persists in this area in some latitudes where monarchical or dictatorial systems prevail.

References

1. Bobbio, Norberto. Organicism and individualism. Inaugural conference of the Individual-collective Congress. The problem of rationality in politics, economics and philosophy. Translation: José Fernández Santillán. Recovered from: www. file.estepais.com
2. Borja, Rodrigo (s / f). Organicism Recovered from encyclopediadelapolitica.org
3. Philosophy in Spanish (2015). Organicist theory. Recovered from Philosophy.org
4. Sociologicus (2001). Spencer. Recovered from sociologicus.com
5. Villalva, M. (2004). Presentation: Herbert Spencer organicist. Reis, (107), 227-230.
6. Webdianoia (s / f). Organicism in Glossary of Philosophy. Recovered from webdianoia.com.