ABSTRACT
The transition from an atomistic and an - (if not anti-) social condition to continuous, permanent social existence is explained in accordance with the assumptions of evolutionary naturalism. Permanent social life emerges because it functions to secure adaptation – survival under prevailing conditions of human existence. The sociologists who adopt the position that humankind descended from prehuman ancestors who were substantially social do agree substantially on speech, language, and communication as conferring a distinctive quality on human association. The essence of most social relationships, sympathy prompts beneficence, restricts excessive discipline and subordination, and engenders a sensitivity to the conditions of others. Applied to the social realm, the philosophical traditions of materialism and idealism yield two sociological counterparts, a ‘social materialism’ and a ‘social idealism.’ Significantly, the early sociologists who accepted the pre-organic theory of human social origins are at least relatively balanced materialists-idealists or predominantly idealist in their outlook.
