The Logical Mechanism Of Social Contradictions

In Logic and Society,a foundational book on "Analytical Marxism",Jon Elster puts forward a particular notion of "real contradictions",which refers to mental or social situations that exist in reality and can be specified in terms of "logical contradiction".Then,he defines "social contradictions" as a subclass of "real contradictions".Starting from the individual "mental contradictions",Elster develops a systematic "theory of social contradictions" by virtue of the logical notion "modal fallacy of composition".However,Elster's exposition on the "theory of social contradictions" mainly focuses on the field of sociology,and with his own research interest diverted to philosophy of politics,he does not go any further to investigate the logical and philosophical foundation of "social contradictions".Therefore,based on the overall idea of Elster's work,this thesis aims to clarify the logical mechanism of social contradictions from the perspective of "paradoxical situations".In addition,it also explores the approaches of solving social contradictions with the purpose of promoting the study in this field.To be more specific,this thesis consists of the following work:First,this thesis has examined the background of Elster's "theory of social contradictions" and defined the notion of "social contradictions".By reviewing the origin of "social contradictions",it refutes the view held by some scholars that "Elster is radically against dialectics".Instead it claims that Elster does not oppose the opinion that Hegel and Marx's dialectics can be formalized by formal logic,and he further claims that "social contradictions" are special kinds of dialectical contradictions.Furthermore,this thesis uses the latest achievements in the study of logical paradoxes to illustrate the essence of "social contradictions" and obtains the idea that "social contradictions" are the "paradoxical situations" that agents encounter in real actions.By introducing the methodology of logical actionism,this thesis also explains the relationship between social contradictions and action based on the stratification of the levels of action.Second,by analyzing the logical structure of mental contradictions,it points out that the mental contradictions are the paradoxical situations of mental actions,which are related to the problem of logic omniscience.Social contradictions of multi-agents include mental contradictions.Elster distinguishes different degrees of mental contradictions.He classifies mental contradictions into contradictory beliefs and contradictory desires,and provides corresponding examples.However,Elster does not set a distinction between mental action and its products,and he fails to recognize the mental contradictions which are actually formed in mental actions.According to the stratification of the levels of action in the methodology of logical actionism,this thesis makes it explicit that believing and hoping are mental actions and that mental contradictions are the paradoxical situations of mental actions.By analyzing the examples of mental contradictions,it is clear that these examples are the paradoxical situations in an individual's mental actions.Considering the internal structure of mental contradictions,it is easy to find that the origin of paradoxical situations is closely related with the problem of logic omniscience.Third,this thesis discusses the problem of the composition of action and analyzes the obstacles of the rational action among multi-agents.According to Elster's philosophy of explanation,the difference among causal explanation,functional explanation and intentional explanation is very clear."Casual explanation" employs causality to interpret events,"functional explanation" employs real results to interpret actions,while "intentional explanation" employs intentional results.Based on causation and intentionality,"mental contradictions" can be subsumed under the heading of subintentional causality while "social contradictions" belong to supra-intentional causality.However,when extending "mental contradictions" to "social contradictions",Elster does not clarify the collective intention that affects multi-agents' interaction.By clarifying different kinds of collective attitudes,it is clear to find that multi-agents'interactions are affected by aggregative attitude,distributive attitude and public attitude,and it is possible to encounter the "aggregation problem" and the "modal fallacy of composition",both of which directly give rise to social contradictions.Next,by analyzing the game models of social contradictions,it points out that social contradictions are the paradoxical situations of objective actions;thereby it proposes the "discretion model" of social contradictions.Elster puts forward the"counterfinality model" and "suboptimality model" of social contradictions:if individuals act in their own interests,then due to the aggregation of action,they may achieve unintended consequence in the action and may lead to counterfinality;if individuals act according to the principle of dominant strategy,then due to the composition of action,they can only get a suboptimal solution that may lead to suboptimality.From the perspective of "paradoxical situations",both of them are the paradoxical situations of objective actions.Furthermore,this thesis tries to extend the models of social contradictions.It suggests the "discretion model" of social contradictions by extending the static game to the dynamic game.Discretion model reveals not only the paradoxical situations of procedural rationality and results-oriented rationality,but also reveals the continuous paradoxical situations of action.Finally,inspired by the ideas of solving paradoxes,it makes efforts to utilize Elster's theory in exploring the solution of social contradictions.Since a paradox is a theoretical fact based on the background beliefs of epistemic community,the key point to the solution is to revise the subjective beliefs.It implies that the work can be started from the beliefs that affect action,and it is possible to solve paradoxical situations and change the action situations by revising agents' intentions of action.To solve mental contradictions is to revise or update the beliefs of an individual or compensate for cognitive blind spot.Similarly,solving social contradictions is to revise the beliefs of individuals and change the intentions of actions.According to the methodology of logical actionism,the three types of action,i.e.,speech action,mental action and objective action,interrelate and synchronize with each other.However,Elster's "theory of social contradictions" is only concerned about "mental action" and "objective action",rather than "speech action".Therefore,by introducing the perspective of speech action,agents are able to revise their mental intentions in communication and negotiation and then change their strategic thoughts to achieve cooperation and get a new dependency equlibria in the action.This may be a viable approach to solve social contradictions.The research indicates that revealing the formation mechanism,logical structure and the method for the solution of social contradictions has its practical significance in reality.The existence of paradoxical situations of action suggests the possibility of freely chosen self-destruction.Meanwhile,to solve some realistic problems in the development of a society is to deal with paradoxical situations.Breaking out of paradoxical situations of action not only calls for public reason in decision making,but also puts forward a rational requirement among individuals for exchanging information and communicating.Therefore,solving social contradictions is not merely a theoretical program but also a social project.