Social-Differentiation and Self-Differentiation The Jaina Concept of the Individual and Sociological Individualisation-Paradigms (Part I)

Flügel, Peter

Abstract

While ‘individuality’ is regarded as a cultural construct, this article argues that its trans-cultural investigation has hardly begun, both empirically and theoretically. Comparative work to date has been confined to euro-centric approaches. South Asian models of the individual, though amongst the earliest on record, have not been taken seriously as credible alternatives to European models, other than under the label of ‘ethnosociology’. The present article seeks to redress the balance, by offering a sociological reconstruction of the classical concept of the individual in Jaina philosophy and of its social implications. It argues that previously opaque aspects of the dualistic conception of individuality of the Jainas can be freshly understood, and analysed, with the help of the sociological concepts of G. Simmel and N. Luhmann, which in turn are interpreted as variations of broader transcultural themes.

Citation

Flügel, P. (2018). Social-Differentiation and Self-Differentiation The Jaina Concept of the Individual and Sociological Individualisation-Paradigms (Part I). Max Weber studies, 18(2), 212-273

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 10, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 2, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 2, 2018
• Journal: Max Weber Studies
• Print ISSN: 1470-8078
• Electronic ISSN: 2056-4074
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 212-273
• Keywords: Jainism, Individual, Dividual, Renunciation, Alienation, Hierarchy, Equality, Ātman, Nāma-karman, Vyakti, Self, Action, Person, Quantification, Dilthey, Dumont, Luhmann, Marriott, Simmel
• Publisher URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15543/maxweberstudies.18.2.0212
• Related Public URLs: http://maxweberstudies.org/