What is a society? According to sociologists and philosopher the concept is a self-evident one. They describe society as an aggregate of people, as a society divided into classes or as a community - but also as an impossible object. Why is the answer so vague? There is a conceptual wall that stands in the way of a definition of society, at the same time as society must be defined for the social sciences to be possible. The book shows how society can be defined based on philosopher Uuno Saarnio´s logical categories of the whole and the field of toleration from Leibniz. Through this, it is also possible to describe the structures of society and man´s actions within society. This volume argues in favor of a reshaping of the social sciences.
Ragnar Stara (born 1948) received a Bachelor of Arts in Political History from the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 1972. His volume the Concept of the Nation was published in 1980 in Swedish after phd studies in Uppsala, Sweden.