ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the principles that, according to Tarde, rule social contagions (laws of imitation) and also examines how social currents compose with each other giving rise to social innovations (laws of adaptation). Moreover, it describes Tarde’s conceptualisation of social system as the integration of psycho-social fluxes of popular faith and passion (social ensembles). Finally, it examines the concepts of social intelligence (or social logic) and collective willingness (or social teleology) developed by Tarde. The key argument of this chapter is that every invention entails specific convictions and goals that are articulated in a syllogistic way and that its spreading propagates specific ways of believing, desiring and acting.
