How relevant are the classical approaches to understanding society Essay

How relevant are the classical approaches to understanding society - Essay Example The essay will trace back to the classical approaches towards understanding of human beings with the Marxism, Functionalism and Interactivism theories and then will confer to the relevance of these theories for understanding the contemporary society. The roots of the phenomenon of this beginning traces back to our philosophers who first attempted to study the basic elements of our Universe and the nature. It was found that around 600 BC, a Greek named Thabes of Miletus (640-546 BC), became the first philosopher to speculate about the nature of the Universe in order to predict a solar Eclipse. (Lerner 2001: 20) It is amply clear that before the philosophical disposition towards the study of human beings started, philosophers were more delving into the mysteries of nature. It was only 200 years later that philosophers began to disperse their knowledge and skills in the study of the nature of human development and Plato’s philosophical statements regarding the human development was first significant contribution. But his derivations and statements of the many of the philosophers following him were indirect. For complete 2000 years, their major works were concern on physical, spatial, and temporal body, mind and soul. (Lerner 2001: 20) But his ideas presented before us not only the study of intricate human nature rather on nature or nurture issue. He said that it is not necessary for human beings to learn about their own nature, as it is inherent in them, in the form of their soul. Plato divided the soul into three parts desire, spiritual and rational whereas Aristotle looked at human beings as having only two souls: the philosophical/ theoretical and the rational. Even Giddins pinpointed to the fact that the systemic study of the human behavior and society only began during late 1700 and early 1800 after the world saw complete change in their social, economic and political set up at the aftermath of French revolution and Industrial revolution respectively