페렐만 신수사학의 사회철학과 방법론 고찰

Abstract

This paper reviews three topics relating to the problematic issues of social philosophy and social sciences, a comparison of the methodology between social sciences and new rhetorics, and Perelman's thoughts and dialectics of new rhetoric. The transitions of social realities have led many philosophers to the direction of the social sciences in their scientific inquiries. At the same time social scientists have cast a certain regret on the limited explanatory power of social theories. The world has been changed into the multi-dimensional societies, and people's value systems have shifted from the one and only value orientation to a direction of the open attitudes accepting conflict values among peple and societies. Newly changed social environments and realities demand rebuilding of social orders and philosophies fitting into the new trends of modern societies. The existing social theories need to be substituted by the new perspectives which can resolve many social conflicts permeated in today's capitalism. A major changing trend in scientific methods of social sciences is a movement of quantitative orientation of proving a theory toward a direction of qualitative explanation on human behaviors and social realities. In this newly changed situations of the scientific inquiry we can find a desirable social philosophy and methodology to deal the human affaires. That is a theory of social argumentation adopting dialectics. Prelman's new philosophy and methodology are a new rhetorical social philosophy restored from the classical traditions of Aristotle's rhetorics. The thoughts and logics of the new rhetorics deny perfectible absolute values and assume the fact that there is no new things not changed in the world. Thus new rhetorics takes dialectics through using dialogues between a speaker and audiences on their interesting topics. The dialectical methods of new rhetorics let the people change their irrational opinions and allow them to listen their inner voices for realizing their true value and thoughts in their everyday life. A realization of the scientific humanism for the modern plural societies can be guided by the praxis being pursued in Perelman's new theory of rhetorics and dialectics.