Title of Study: LOVE, SYNERGY, AND THE MAGICAL -- THE FOUNDATIONS
OF
Name: William David Du Bois Date of Degree: July, 1983,
Doctor of Philosophy
Institution: Oklahoma State University Location: Stillwater,
Oklahoma
Pages in Study: 302
Major field: Sociology
Scope of Study: The scope is to explore the theoretical foundation
for a humanistic society.
Findings and Conclusions:
Sociology originated in the "change the world" conversation
of August Comte and Karl Marx. This quest has remained a latent undertone of the field and
it is this effort to which Humanistic Sociology formally returns. If we follow the work of Erich Fromm,
Ernest Becker, Theodore Roszak, and Edmund Carpenter, it is possible
to conceive of sociology as an artistic effort.
Sociology has been hampered from its effort to create a better world precisely in its allegiance to scientific status. There is a crucial difference between the social disciplines and the physical sciences. The social world centers upon social reality and self-fulfilling prophecies. It is a matter of becoming rather than concrete reality. Humanistic Psychology has recognized this and sought to make human nature into a better self-fulfilling prophecy.
Psychological attempts at humanism have visualized towards
the good. Attempts
to create the Good are interfaced with the efforts of the hero
and must
be viewed as subject to the problems which Becker noted as the "escape
from evil" and Jung analyzed as the "shadow." Social
change strategies have remained heroic. Another possibility emerges: the magician as a social change
strategy. The magician
interfaces with the art of the lover.
The core humanistic
value is love and the recovery of the magical.
With synergy as an exploration it is possible to begin re-visioning
society. This effort would
become the
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