No social life is possible without order. Order being the most constituent element of society, it is not surprising that so many theories have been developed to explain what social order is and how it is possible, as well as to explore the features that social order acquires in its different dimensions. The book leads these many theories of social order back to a few main matrices for the use of theoretical and practical reason, which are defined as 'paradigms of order'. The plurality of conceptual constructs regarding social order is therefore reduced to a manageable number of theoretical patterns and an intellectual map is produced in which the most significant differences between paradigms are clearly outlined. Furthermore, the 'paradigmatic revolutions' are addressed that marked the most relevant turning points in the way in which a 'well-ordered society' should be understood. Against this background, the question is discussed on the theoretical and practical perspectives for a cosmopolitan society as the only suitable possibility to meet the global challenges with which we are all presently confronted.

Puts the development of social paradigms into historical and ideological context on the way to developing a new perspective through which to consider contemporary institutions Challenges well-established assumptions about how best to organize a just and effective society in a critical and systematic way Uniquely links the concept of social order to more general concepts developed in the fields of ethics, social philosophy, philosophy of knowledge, and law

Autorentext

Sergio Dellavalle is Professor of Public Law and State Theory at the University of Turin, Italy, and Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Constitutional Law and International Law, Germany.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Social Order and Its Paradigms, or: What is a Paradigm of Order?.- Chapter 2. Holistic Particularism as the First Paradigm of Order.- Chapter 3. Holistic Universalism as the Second Paradigm of Order.- Chapter 4. Universalistic Individualism as the Third Paradigm of Order.- Chapter 5. The Failed Paradigmatic Revolution: Particularistic Individualism, or the Spontaneous Order of Transnational Economic Actors, as a Possible Fourth Paradigm of Order.- Chapter 6. The Post-unitary Paradigms of Order I: Systems Theory and the New Lex Mercatoria.- Chapter 7. The Post-unitary Paradigms of Order II: From Modernity to Post-modernity.- Chapter 8. The Post-unitary Paradigms of Order III: The Communicative Paradigm.